Too Bright

cnoat

Hello all,
I just aquired a parasound 1000a.It is awesome compared to my onkyo 898.Would a good pre amp tone down the highs.It gets a little harsh on some of the harder stuff I play.I am new at the seperate amp deal so any feedback would be great.

Steve

Tony M

Do you have a different CD player you could try? That might help besides turning the treble down.

cnoat

No,
I do have a couple of dvd players I can try but they are all sony.Would any of them be different then the next?

wingnut4772

Parasound and harsh does not go hand in hand. I would look to another source for that issue.

cnoat

Like the cd itself?

george daniel

Possibly the CD-- what pre are you using?

cnoat

Onkyo 898 avr

cnoat

This is probably a stupid ? Can I put the cd player directly to the amp?I am pretty sure I need a dac.Just thought I would ask before I start tearing up my system.


Steve

Tony M

NO ,
How's the settings on your 898?
You might have it set to small speakers for front L/R.

You should be getting great sound even at loud volumes.;)

comfortablycurt

cnoat wrote: »

This is probably a stupid ? Can I put the cd player directly to the amp?I am pretty sure I need a dac.Just thought I would ask before I start tearing up my system.


Steve

Yes, but only if your CD player has a built in volume control. For a short while I ran a Cambridge Audio DVD89 directly into my Adcom GFA-545, to power my Monitor 7A's. The Cambridge has a built in volume control, so I was able to do that. It sounded pretty good, but things got a LOT better when I got a separate 2 channel preamp.

If your CD player only has fixed level outputs though, I wouldn't recommend it, as it will be extremely loud, and you'll have no control over the volume.


A preamp could either help the problem, or contribute to it, or not change it at all. Different preamps have different tonal signatures. Some would be considered warm, others would probably make it sound even brighter, and others are neutral. If you want to tame down the highs, you'd want to find one that's on the warmer side.

What speakers are you using? I saw in another post that you recently got some RTi12's. If you're using those...it's possibly the speakers.

The 12's aren't as bright as the rest of the RTi series, but they are still fairly bright sounding regardless. The entire RTi series is pretty far on the bright side. Great HT speakers, but they really lack as far as 2 channel listening goes IMO.

Are you trying to set up a 2 channel rig?

cnoat

I am currently running rti8's.My driver hasn't come in yet.I have heard on this forum that the 8's are bright.They just seem to be a lot brighter than when I was running just off my avr.

cnoat

I never even thought about volume control.Thanks Curt youve helped me out alot since I have joined this forum.

cnoat

Tony,
I have my speakers on the small setting.I like it loud,my 8's can't handle the juice on the large setting.My bass management settings are really sh***y.

comfortablycurt

RTi8's are very bright sounding...I used to have a pair.

For 2 channel listening, I was never happy with them. FWIW, the RTi6's made a better 2 channel speaker in my experience.


The new brightness issues could simply be due to the external amp letting the speakers true colors shine through.

When the driver for the 12 comes in, hook those up and see if they're any better. The 12's are a lot less bright sounding than the other RTi's, due to the D'appolito(mid-tweeter-mid) array...which smooths the high end out.

I've often wondered why they didn't make the RTi8 in a M-T-M array. I'm sure they have their reasons, but it seems to me that it could have been a much better sounding speaker that way.




Also, are you running a sub? If not, set your 8's to large. Your worries that the 8's can't handle the juice on the "large" setting is needless. The more power, the better. You're more likely to damage a speaker with too little power, than too much power. Driving a speaker with too little power causes the actual speaker to work much harder to produce sound at any given volume...which causes damage. When being driven with a higher powered amp, the speaker itself is able to reproduce sound at higher volumes with much more ease, and much more headroom. The amp isn't going to be hitting it's peaks as often...which means the voice coils aren't going to be heating up nearly as much as they would be with a less powerful amp.

Don't take that the wrong way though. There's a big difference between a 100 watt AVR and a good 100 watt external amp. My Adcom GFA-545 is 100 watts per channel...but it'll smoke any 100 watt AVR out there. There simply is no comparison between the two.

cnoat

I have a pair of 6's also.I am going to hook them up to the front's right now.

cnoat

Wow,the 6's are almost flat.Big difference.Thanks again.I will post when I get my driver for my 12's.In the mean time I will keep an eye out for some sda's

Thanks again
Steve

comfortablycurt

Yep. The 6's have a much smoother sounding high end than the 8's do. I've never regretted selling my RTi8's...but I can see myself getting another pair of RTi6's eventually. Or possibly a pair of RTiA3's.

daboyz

comfortablycurt wrote: »

Yep. The 6's have a much smoother sounding high end than the 8's do. I've never regretted selling my RTi8's...but I can see myself getting another pair of RTi6's eventually. Or possibly a pair of RTiA3's.

The 6's are a great bookshelf. I almost regret selling them to ya. I suppose that's the cost of upgrading.

comfortablycurt

daboyz wrote: »

The 6's are a great bookshelf. I almost regret selling them to ya. I suppose that's the cost of upgrading.

Very understandable. I regret selling them a bit myself. Like I said, the 6's were a much better 2 channel speaker than the 8's...but neither of them could hold a candle to my Monitor 7A's or SDA 2A's. I'd have loved to keep them...but I've only got room for so many pairs of speakers here...and I've already got 4 pairs.

Like I said, I can easily see myself buying another pair of 6's someday. They're a great sounding speaker. They've got very detailed high end, but they aren't exactly what I'd call bright, especially in comparison to the rest of the RTi series. IMO, the 6's are really the gem of the RTi series...I've heard them all, and the 6's are by far my favorite. If not for the lack of solid low end, I'd easily take a pair of 6's over a pair of 12's in a 2 channel rig. A sub or two can easily remedy that problem though.

tonyb

Personally,spinning CD's from a cheap Sony dvd player,may have something to do with it. Also cables,what cables are you useing? Placement,cables and source are the area's you need to tackle rather than the speakers first. Just my .02.

F1nut

Spinning CD's from a cheap any brand CDP or DVDP has a lot to do with it. Sony's house sound is what I would describe as bright and sterile, Yamaha as well. It all starts with the source....garbage in, garbage out.

Getting good musical sound is generally not one thing, but the sum of the parts including what Tony mentions above. Tube gear generally helps, but even some of that can sound more SS than SS does.

Synergy trumps everything and you haven't found it yet.

Face

Want some warmth, check out Marantz.

Amherst

F1nut wrote: »

Spinning CD's from a cheap any brand CDP or DVDP has a lot to do with it. Sony's house sound is what I would describe as bright and sterile, Yamaha as well. It all starts with the source....garbage in, garbage out.

Getting good musical sound is generally not one thing, but the sum of the parts including what Tony mentions above. Tube gear generally helps, but even some of that can sound more SS than SS does.

Synergy trumps everything and you haven't found it yet.

Ahhh....the elusive SYNERGY!

Well said F1.

cnh

Good luck! You can spend a lifetime trying to 'find' that (synergy)...and all of your money as well. Hope you have a nice tent to live in in the meantime and some pork and beans!

cnh

cnoat

As long as I have some power so I can listen to my music.(: