the sound of massed violins in classical orchestral recordings

This is a fascinating string. I agree that the sound of strings is very tough to reproduce. Perhaps I lack the sophistication to comment here, but I do play the classical violin. My complaint with most recordings is that the sound doesn't sound real. I want to hear that the violin(s) is/are made out of wood. I want to here the zzzzhiitt sound at the frog of the bow. The recordings on DG are in my humble opinion the best at capturing string sound. Decca is positively the worst. If the original recording equipment doesn't accurately capture the sound, it won't matter what equipment we use to play it back. 

Absolutely, massed violins can be damned well ugly. You know that your system is getting there when you can listen to Barber's Adagio for Strings and not wince.

Magnepan MG12/QR speakers are rated at 86dB with 4 ohm impedance. These are ribbon speakers and very complex loads for the amplifier. Your preferred amp Proton D1200 amp is rated 100W at 8 Ohms. You need a SS amp with plenty of power, I would say at least 400 W at 4 ohms before you can really determine if mass strings are a problem. Find a good dealer who can loan you a good amp with plenty of current and try that in your system first.

I understand issue with mass strings all too well. I think your problem is with the amplifier. Old Krell and McCormack amps can handle mass strings with ease. But they are not the only ones.

Good Luck!

Violin, and piano are very good test for audio system...

For me with basic good electronic components, the day i was able to stand violins in mass, this day only comes after controlling vibrations, decreasing the noise floor of the electrical grid, and mostly treating and controlling the acoustic....(getting a good dac help for me a NOS one)

For a bad recording of violin there exist also good one for testing....

The problem is not with recording, there exist very good one...

The problem,often, is not with the basic good audio equipment each of us owns, the problem is controlling all these 3 necessary embeddings that makes, when uncontrolled, impossible for an audio system to reach his true S.Q. potential....

My recording of violins sound great now without harshness, and before implementation of embeddings controls i was not able to listen classical at all.... Classical is my favorite music but it is more easy for the ears to listen jazz if the system is not at his optimum...Right now i listen to Vivaldi 4 seasons, mass of violins, a polish version on TACET with many violins...Perfect sound....

I know reading all these forums about audio problems, that most of them are linked to the complete underestimation of the impact of acoustic, noise floor, and unwanted vibrations.... People dont know the destructive scale of these non adressed problems....And no simple unique ready to apply out of the box solution exist....We must work, it is not difficult but it takes time.... It takes me 2 years to figure it out with luck....


For test i recommend Bach Variation Goldberg music by FRETWORK a group of strings instruments.... Very beautiful and difficult to listen to if your embeddings and dac are not so good.... But marvellous to listen too in the opposite case....

I found massed violins a problem until I changed to a multibit DAC. Similarly with choirs, changing the DAC (and later, the amp) fixed that up.

My guess is @6119 try an external multibit (R2R) DAC with your CD player, assuming it has digital out.