My 2B TL seems slightly bright

gmcman

This isn't all the time but when I have the volume up at a slightly high level. By high I mean about 1/2-3/4 throttle and mainly on some female vocals it just seems that the highs are overpowering the mids slightly for lack of a better description.

The tweeters are very crisp and detailed, I generally don't see any issues and this could be my ears, but it just seems the highs start to somewhat break up at higher levels.. and I really need a better term than "break up"...sorry to be so vague.

I have the .5 Mills and almost think it may need just a tad more but just a very tiny bit. Would the same resistor value in a Duelund provide any more padding on the top end? Could also be the side walls are at the minimum of 3', good thing is I will finally experiment in the next week or so and put them on my long wall, providing a good 10' easy on each side.

Current CD rig is Denon 2910 to Denon 5700 via .5 meter Kimber Hero RCA, then to B&K ST202. Speaker wire is Bi-wire AQ Crystal, so basically the whole setup is slightly on the warm side.

My first guess is acoustics, then the tweeter resistor. Any input appreciated.

Nightfall

It's not your speakers, you're asking too much of whatever you're powering them with. This is one of the first things I learned when I came here too. If I get too close to 12 o'clock on the volume dial the sound is bright and stressed sounding. Keep the volume to 11 o'clock max and start saving for better power in both quality and quantity.

gmcman

Yeah I did see that when I had my 3300 as a pre. The 5700 is much cleaner and I can pretty much go all the way and it's still clean, but the highs are stressed like you stated, just nearly not as much.....the 3300 was almost unusable at 12-2 O'clock but it was too loud to listen that way anyhow.

I guess I can say the highs on the current setup are still clean at 12 O'clock, just very overpowering and when I hear that I cut it back to avoid damage.

Nightfall

Do the polyswitches ever trip on you?

hoosier21

the long wall set up will really change what you are hearing, for the good.

got any way of dampening the side wall(s) until then?


I agree with Nightfall, watch the volume.

and lastly, the sooner you remove the Denon from your preamp duty, the sooner you will be hearing better sound, no doubt a great HT receiver, but not a great preamp

gmcman

No polyswitches......I replaced all the caps with Sonicaps and used a .5 Mills resistor when I did the TL mod.

F1nut

It's a combination of things. The pre amp section of just about any AVR is not that good, at those volume levels you are stressing the amp and your source is not on the warm side. Basically, you have found the limitations of your rig.

hoosier21

gmcman wrote: »

I guess I can say the highs on the current setup are still clean at 12 O'clock, just very overpowering and when I hear that I cut it back to avoid damage.

sounds like you are running out of juice, don't forget you are running 150w amp on a pair of overgrown bookshelf speakers, only so much they can give

gmcman

I can say for sure that watching movies on the 5700 is very enjoyable, and while being cleaner than the 3300, I agree for 2ch listening I need to take a different angle to this.

I guess I could try a different pre and then move on to more power. I would like to keep the amp purchase under $500 but that could be swayed....should I be looking at 200W minimum?

I think I will try the CX-1000 again and see if anything changes only because I have it sitting around.

gmcman

What are your thoughts on the B&K Reference 30? Are these too old to start adding to the setup and if so where should I look to preamps in the B&K lineup or stay away from? Seems they can be had for decent prices.

drumminman

Have you thought about a tube pre or linestage? It's often great synergy with SS amps.

gmcman

drumminman wrote: »

Have you thought about a tube pre or linestage? It's often great synergy with SS amps.

Not really, but anything is an option. I wouldn't know where to start looking in the tube pre area......that is uncharted territory.

TennMan

gmcman wrote: »

Not really, but anything is an option. I wouldn't know where to start looking in the tube pre area......that is uncharted territory.

I've thought about a tube preamp as the next step in improving the gear for my 2BTL setup, but like you, I wouldn't know where to start looking. I hope you get some good suggestions.

hoosier21

The Ref 30 is a good preamp, it is still a computer chip based unit.

Look for something simple and has no Home Theater circuitry, I don't know your budget, but many "Stereo only" pre amps are out there at many price levels.

A tube preamp is a great idea, but not 100% required

gmcman

I may be able to pick up a Ref 50 for about 350 at the moment. For the price it's alot of unit, could I even get into a tube 2ch at the same quality or better for that price?

drumminman

gmcman wrote: »

I may be able to pick up a Ref 50 for about 350 at the moment. For the price it's alot of unit, could I even get into a tube 2ch at the same quality or better for that price?

Several folks on this forum have raved about Dared linestages, which is a pre without a phono pre amp built in. Here's a brand new one from the U.S. importer for$459:

http://app.audiogon.com/listings/tube-new-2013-dared-sl-2000a-tube-linestage-preamp-with-remote-two-outputs-us-limited-edition-2013-10-23-preamplifiers-60540

May be able to find a used one a little cheaper.

gmcman

drumminman wrote: »

Several folks on this forum have raved about Dared linestages, which is a pre without a phono pre amp built in. Here's a brand new one from the U.S. importer for$459:

http://app.audiogon.com/listings/tube-new-2013-dared-sl-2000a-tube-linestage-preamp-with-remote-two-outputs-us-limited-edition-2013-10-23-preamplifiers-60540

Thanks for the link...I did however pull the trigger on a B&K Ref 50 last night. Heard of issues with popping and seems to be dependent on equipment and firmware versions....we shall see.