Why does my system now have shrill top end.


The equipment in my system (listed below) has not changed but I now find on both CD and Vinyl a high end shrillness to the sound (treble is very harsh) that has become very annoying, especially at high volume levels. I have no idea why this happened all of a sudden.

Endevour E-3
Pass 30.8
Pass XP 20
Esoteric K01x
Linn LP12 (Ortofon Black cartridge)
Linn Linto Phono Preamp
PS Audio P5 (Amp plugged in directly to wall)
JL Audio F112 v2 sub
OCOS Speaker cable (15 feet)
Pass XLR interconnect (Preamp to Amp)
Harmonic Technology Cable Magic Link (not current version). RCA termination

Any ideas?
proacman

Showing 3 responses by randy-11

 LED bulbs is likely

turn them off and see if that fixes things - if not, post exactly what type they are (built in or replacement screw in type)
dimmer bad

does it have an all the way OFF detent on it?

dimmers work by 'chopping' up the voltage - this creates a lot of high freq. noise on the line (maybe radiated RFI too)

if setting it all the way down - whether you feel a detent in the knob or not - doesn't solve the problem then either power the lights on a different circuit from the stereo or get rid of them or use an isolation transformer on your system (often a good idea anyway)

if the detent Off doesn't work and you don't need those lights on when listening (i.e. you have another light source), then you can wire in an old-timey (off is off) light switch ahead of the dimmer circuit


Erik’s ideas are all good, but this happened suddenly w/out any room changes...

so do them after finding & fixing the cause of the sudden glare onset