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Please Help Me, I'm Lost

I'm at a point here where I really need some help. I feel like I've made some good choices in my equipment but I'm not getting the results I'd like. I do feel I'm somewhat rooted in the past as my formative years in audio were the 70's and early to mid-80's and this is reflected in some of the equipment I own. I think AudioGon and eBay have enabled me to try to recreate the past but it has been disappointing after the initial excitement. I listen to a wide variety of music both CD's and records. What has been driving me crazy is a sibilance I hear on female vocals and some other HF content playing CD's and some records. I have Maggies 1.6qr's which I bought used from a dealer about a year ago, supposedly broken in. The rest of the chain is; a vintage GAS Thaedra recently serviced and in great shape, a Classe CAV-150 which I use only two channels (there are some issues with this amp,one channel is out and only one pair of the three pairs will bridge), a Pioneer Elite DV-59AVI, and an Ortofon 2MBronze cart mounted in a Grace arm on a Linn Basic TT. I was using a single run of 80's era Theta Litz cable which I thought were pretty good. I had experienced upper end harshness before with a really cheap cable so I changed the Theta cable to a run of shotgun DH Labs T-14s I bought from Swampwalker when I purchased his Vandersteens awhile back. I also switched to a GAS Son amp. The DH's are a bi-wire set-up so I actually made three changes, maybe not the best way to figure things out. I don't have resistors installed to pad down the Maggie top end but I do use the Thaedra's tone control for that purpose.This was a positive change. Top to bottom my Maggies sound better but not there yet(I have tried many positions for the speakers and don't think an improvement will be made there). I disconnected a sub from the Thaedra which I had been driving with the second set of preouts and this seemed to make an improvement. I switched back to the Classe amp slight overall improvement but didn't improve the sibilance issue. This Pioneer(which I bought for my home theater system several years ago, now replaced by a Blu-ray) as a CD presents alot of detail nice image and sense of the space but lacks whatever it is to make it special and I know that, but the sibilance issue persists.I would have expected the Pioneer would be at fault for what it didn't do and not for adding this sibilance. Records seem to be fine as the condition of the record and quality of the recording appear to dictate the results.I feed my HT system into the Thaedra so I tried a cd in the blu-ray connected digitally to a HT receiver and then to the Thaedra. It sounded fine not the detail of the other player but no sibilance. Movies and music DVD's sound fine too. Soooo..... what should I do? Are the DH cables with silver a bad match with Maggies? Is the Theadra outdated and out classed? Would a Dac solve the cd problem? Or get a new player? Or are my Maggies not broken in yet or even defective? Please HELP! I feel like I'm chasing my tail..
rickmac
10 responses Add your response
dwhitt
347 posts
 
try a detailed cd player, with a good dac, if money is an issue...marantz 5003 is outstanding, around 2 to3 hundred used , it is a detailed player with a good dac and see what that does, if it works then you know the detail and the dac of the marantz works, then make a choice to upgradge or use it....if it is too detailed or bright , whcih i can't imagine with the maggies and the amp....then, wow...i like the amps and maggies....but the front end is so important...dwhitt
rickmac OP
43 posts
 
Thanks for the suggestion. Thanks also for reading my post, it was kinda long and rambling.
jult52
155 posts
 
It sounds like you need a resistor in the signal path (try the Mouser site, maybe 2 ohm ceramic or cement resistors - they are dirt cheap). I would also advise you to look into Al Sekala's RF/EMI choke tweak.

Your post was difficult to understand:

1) Is high frequency sibilance the only problem you are encountering? My suggestions above will help with that issue.

2) How big is your room?
maddoggy
77 posts
 
I too was once lost ,but now I am found. Thats the good news. To think You,d have to spend 2 to 3 thousand to get to a starting point?A marantz?Great looking product. What will be your main listening?2 channel,5.1,7.1,& beyond.Your deck may do with your 59avi.RAM of riverside offers a mod on your deck. I was able to get a great sound from SUPRA diy speaker cables.I had mags on wood stands No sub on 2.0 excellent bass.When my h/t was switched to by pass it did not give the best sound in comparison to the AXIOM pass/pre for 2 chan,IMHO Good Luck
etbaby
138 posts
 
From what your describing, I think that you have an RFI/EMI problem. Before you spend any real money, I would suggest that you by a couple of ferrite cores from Radio Shack and place these cores around the speaker cable and see if you get any benefit.
rickmac OP
43 posts
 
Thanks for your posts. My room is 15' wide by 24' long and is open in the rear to the kitchen. Do the Maggies come with resistors to pad the top? The Poineer wouldn't have been considered at all if at the time if my focus was two channel, but as a dvd player it is excellent, one of the first to offer HDMI, upsampling video, and SACD to boot. I have kept my HT and my music systems basically separate. I feed the main channels of my HT Receiver to the Thaedra Aux 2 and have a vol. position which level matches the system for HT use.

I will have to change my speaker cables because the DH'ers are too short for my set-up. I would consider a new player but a Dac might be a better choice especially if it has a USB to connect my computer, and if the Pioneer will function as a decent transport.

Thanks All
dfhaleycko
178 posts
 
ETbaby has the right idea, I think. Maggies turn out to be excellent RF receivers, and are happy to feed that signal back to the amp. Theory has it that the signal heterodynes with the audio signal and generates high frequency harmonics which some people find disturbing.

There are several threads on the Audio Asylum Planar forum on inserting inductors on the speaker cables to ameliorate this tendency.

I used to run my Maggie 1.6's with Classe CA-200's. I used Analysis Plus copper oval speaker wires, but got even better results switching to the very humble (and Cheap!) Paul Speltz Anticables, which are basically terminated magwire.

A few years ago, I gutted the stock crossovers and went to an active crossover, putting one amp per driver (120wpc tube amps on the tweeter/mid drivers, and 600wpc Innersound amps on the bass panels). Since moving to the tube amps and using the Magwire cables, I have had no issues with high frequency harshness. OTOH, your hearing at high frequencies may be more acute than mine . Anyway, the Maggies are capable of producing extremely high quality sound, but they do require care in placement (as you know) and in amplification.

The HF inductor fix is a cheap thing to do, and others who share your pain have had good results -- no more sibilence.

Hope this helps!
rickmac OP
43 posts
 
I couldn't find any ferrite cores at my local Radio Shack but did buy and purchase those 1 ohm resistors and installed them. Thought I was onto something but that changed when I played Alison Krausse and Union Station Live on SACD. I think the suggestion of inductors on the speaker cables is what I'll try next. Thanks Jult52,ETbaby,and Dfhaleycko for your advice.
donjr
1,335 posts
 
Please let us know how the ferrite cores work out.
rickmac OP
43 posts
 
Just an update:I started by organizing and routing my interconnects so a/c wasn't next to signal. Things had gotten sloppy. I turned my cable box off. Bought some suggested inductors from Mouser as suggested and as explained in the Planar Asylum. Found the ferrite cores and placed them on speaker cables and a/c lines.These were applied in steps and each one yielded an inprovement in taming the sibillance. The cores on the speaker cable made a change which I'm still on the fence about. I also determined that I have a 'hot' corner in my room which is contributing to the problem. Lastly there is a drum kit broken down but still in the room which is resonanating. A light bulb went off this morning when I blew my nose and could hear the drums responding.Duh!
I think the main thing I relearned from this exercise is that everything matters. Some might call them tweaks but these are really the basics. You really do need to remember the fundamentals.
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