HELP Why no bass? Why bright?


I recently purchased a new Arcam FMJ A22 integrated and the matching power amp (P25) and am struck by the lack of bass. By comparison, my Arcam DIVA A65 integrated was very warm sounding. Is it the amps, interconnects (Transparent Music Wave) speaker cables (DH Labs silversonic Q14 bi-wire) or the B&W CM2 and B&W CDM7 NT speakers? Do the amps need to break in? Could it be that the bass not lacking, but much more controlled?

HELP!!!
sydneysophia

Showing 1 response by jcbtubes

Sydney- My experiences, as Phild stated, have proved to me the necessity to allow components to "break-in". With all due respect to Perk, all of the vendor spec sheets that I've seen indicate that component drift or variation occurs more profoundly during the initial and then again near the end-of-life operation periods. Most of this is due to thermal effects, both steadystate and cyclic. Last I looked, electronic components were composed of quite a few resistors and capacitors, and tubes and/or transistors. I agree that if a component is "bad", that time will rarely repair it for you. However, the sound attributed to components does and will change over time, and predominately during the initial use period.
As for your system, was the integrated the only piece that you changed(are the ICs and/or speaker cable new?)? After the amp has been used for at least a week, you can then determine if you need to consider speaker placement tweaking (toe-in/tilt), some room treatment, or possibly try other wires to help shift the tonal balance to more of your liking. Take your time, and enjoy.