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Expert Glare Tamer Required And More Depth Please

Hello everyone.

I am happier than I have been in years with my current set up, having changed the tubes in my preamp and added MYE Sound spikes and stands to the Tympanis both of which have made huge improvements and the system generally sounds very good.

Nonetheless, I am getting a fairly flat image and still have a bit a glare -- even after adding the resistors in line with the tweeters. At any serious volume, it quickly becomes fatiguing.

Other than throwing out the SCD-1 and adding a turntable,

1) I plan to upgrade my mixed bag of old MIT, Monster and Home Depot hacked cables with Signal Cable copper speaker wires, interconnects and "magic" power cables all around

2) Wondering if adding a tubey type DAC - Audio Research? Audio Note? in line with the SCD-1 would make a big difference?

3) Wondering if the SP-11 is actually overrated and a bit hard sounding?

and

4) The Levinson 23.5 is the least likely culprit here, but still wondering if Bryston monoblocks or some other monstrously powerful amp might make everything a bit more effortlessly dynamic and therefore, perhaps less fatiguing?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
cwlondon
7 responses Add your response
aggielaw
267 posts
 
I'm no expert, but I had a similar problem despite using equipment not known to be bright. The culpit? My room. I found that I could cure the glare by getting the speakers farther away from the walls (especially the side walls). I started by using the "golden ratio" (found on the Cardas website) and made small adjustments from there.

Good luck.
rwwear
2,846 posts
 
Some tube preamps do exhibit glare. But you can probably get rid of the brightness by doing as Aggielaw says. It may also be helpful to toe the speakers in until the sound improves. But, they should be well out into the room.
rockvirgo
587 posts
 
The flat image I got running a Nakamichi CD Player 2 by itself went away when I added a Theta Pro Prime IIa DAC. Glare vanished when I went from a Forte F44 to a Threshold FET ten preamp. I've since moved on but that's what happened here. Have patience, you'll find the culprit(s).
bob_bundus
1,834 posts
 
Hi CW you don't mention anything about AC line conditioning. Your old M1 cables were very good in their day; cabling changes might be worthwhile experimenting, but what about AC line noise, and are you using any upgrade AC cables? I mention this because I had glare issues which were cleaned up via line conditioning, then the sound was further improved by upgrading various AC cords. YMMV of course.
bigkidz
3,307 posts
 
Address your AC first, that will give you a blacker, quieter background so you can judge component and cable changes better. It may aslo solve your problem. It really works.

Happy Listening.
warnerwh
539 posts
 
Read up on room acoustics. The improvements can be huge at best and quite an improvement no matter what.
plato
1,543 posts
 
The SP-11 responds well to tube rolling. I think it is bright in the upper-midrange in stock form. Installing good 7308 tubes in place of the 6922's could make a world of difference.

Beyond that, experimenting with different AC cords is a good idea. The SignalCables are great cables and I use them in two of my systems. That said, the Analog Two interconnects can (in certain combinations with other gear) sound a tiny bit zingy in a narrow band of the upper midrange -- the effect is system dependent. I recommend going to the 7308's first and then trying other things from there.
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