2. speakers
  3. 1431993928

My stereo isn't doing it for me. Need advice

I have been trying to get a great sounding room for a while now and it still doesn't sound great or even good. I have a Prinaluna Dialogue 5 power amp and a Primaluna Prologue preamp. All with stock tubes so far. A Marantz c6005 CD player. Morrow mc3 interconnects and Kimber 8tc speaker cable. My speakers are Dynaudio x12's which sound the best in my room. I also have Dynaudio x32 speakers and a pair of KEF LS50 speakers. Also a REL T-5 subwoofer. My room is my office and is 9 x 11 with 8 Foot ceilings. Some acoustic stuff sounds great but the louder stuff not so much. I find I listen to music that sounds good rather than music I want to hear. Any suggestions on what I can change. I also bought a Class D Audio 200 watt per channel amplifier that makes everything sound even worse.
128x128dylanfan

Showing 2 responses by newbee

newbee
4,751 posts
 
My experience mirrors Shakey's advise. If this room is dedicated to audio you might try a nearfield set up (for example a 6' triangle) where the speakers are well out into the room. At moderate levels this could sound quite nice.

The alternative I chose when I faced your problem was to use quality headphones and a dedicated headphone amplifier. Then you can get a recliner, close the door, and literally shut out the world! :-)
newbee
4,751 posts
 
Almarg's suggestion is excellent (I operate my speakers with a Dialogue on the 4ohm taps and get a much more linear response than when using the 8 ohm taps). You might get a lot of mileage out of using a sound pressure meter and a frequency response test disc to help you identify nulls and nodes at the listening positions (and speaker placements). This should help find the most linear sound you room can produce and the best position for your speakers. Once you do this you can fine tune using acoustic treatments which are appropriate to your problems.

But, FWIW, there are no quick fixes. Takes a lot of time an patience to get it as good as it can be.
More to discover