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High end sound

So I'm gonna get to the point. My system sounds kind of flat and dull

It doesn't seem to have crisp tight sound it all. It should sound much better. I think than it does. I'm wondering if it's the old speaker cables and interconnects and I have a old vintage phono cartridge it just seems like it's kind of dead sounding...Vpi classic 

Goldstein ph10

Audible  Illusions  m3a.  New tubes

Bryston 4bsst 

Magnapan  1.7i

Here comes the questionable part, the cables. I have old cables monster m one thousandHere comes the questionable part, the cables. I have old cables monster M 1 series. One speaker's cables M 1000 series.One speaker's cables m one thousand series one interconnects ..one pr.m1000 is

Talisman s cartridge retipped. I don't have a lot of extra money. My wife just died last year. Can anybody give me a hand with this? Thank you much.

 

 

But i

pointtrucking
robeffy's avatar
robeffy
79 posts
 

Sorry about your loss.

It sounds to me that your main input is turntable?  If so, can you hook up another source, as an experiment?

You most likely have a cell phone. Spotify lets your stream music at CD quality. Getting the spotify signal into your stereo, could be tricky.  You can hook up a PC with the output from a sound card to your stereo. Maybe your PC has a CD drive?

A pawn shop type of outlet lets will sell a Blu Ray player or CD player for less than $100. Blu Ray and DVD players will play CD's. Try one of those as a source, to see if the sound quality changes, for the better?

Just throwing ideas out there.  See if a different source makes a difference. If the sound stays the same, it points towards the amp / speaker combo.

bimmerlover's avatar
bimmerlover
151 posts
 

You’re getting the usual go-to solutions - buy more expensive cables, upgrade your gear, yada yada yada.

The truth is, speaker placement and room treatments have far more impact and are more important to sq than upgrading cables or gear. 

Get that sorted first, and it’ll take some effort, before reaching for your purse to buy more gear. 

lostsouth
10 posts
 

What type of room treatment do you have?  If you're hearing the same sound multiple times due to reflections that's a problem.  Watched a Darko video a few days ago and he believes that room treatment is the most important thing in your system.  I tend to agree with him.  Until you get that right (which is very difficult) or at least better you're working against yourself with other changes.

parkergetdean
1,032 posts
 

by pure elimination it's the amp.

elliottbnewcombjr
7,705 posts
 

I agree, get the cheapest CD player hooked up, see how your system sounds. 

Speaker wires, sometimes if bare wire, I trim to get fresh copper terminations.

Cables, connectors, jacks, it won’t hurt to spritz contact surfaces with a Contact Cleaner with Lubricant, 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006LVEU?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_3

https://www.amazon.com/CRC-Contact-Cleaner-Protectant-Aerosol/dp/B007I9Y200?ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_hxwhrp_sspa_dk_bia_0_1_ec_i

 

I have that Sumiko Talisman S Cartridge, Van Den Hull Line Contact on Sapphire Tube, OEM Stylus, it sounds excellent, I suspect you need to have it looked at, perhaps get it to Steve Leung at VAS for evaluation.

https://vasnyinc.com/repair-service/

Your phono stage and preamp have many settings, are you certain they are correct?

Live near me at Plainfield, NJ 07062, you could bring/listen to your cartridge/phono/preamp here.

 

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