My Jolida and Rti 10's are to bright.

PRC

Hello,

I’ve been listening for the last couple months to my new system. I really like the tube sound. In the distant future I would like to go all tube.

However, I need some help with fine-tuning. What I’m finding is that the clarity (IMO) is very good. Sound stage and depth are pretty good for a hybrid. I’m hearing a lot of new sounds. The negative is that the system seems a little to bight. I bi-wired the speakers and used the Kimber Kable, which is designed for clarity. I don’t want to change components so I wanted to know if anyone has some ideas on how to help with the brightness. New tubes came to mind, but I don’t know what brand would soften the sound. Thanks for the input.


Patrick

Ricardo

Unfortunately I think your problem is the speakers....the RTi line is bright, which is great for Home Theater, but not so good for music.....you might be able to do something changing tubes, but IMO if you want to get rid of that brightness and if you use those speakers only for 2 channel music....then you should try trading them for something else....

reeltrouble1

If the Jolida has those stock chinese tubes you should change them out that which should help some. The usual suspects are Amperex, Mullard, Telefunken, on down.

There was once a time when you could not tell anyone but you could turn down the treble a bit to see how you like it. This heresy of audio however has pretty much been eliminated on gear by removing the tone control.

As suggested your speakers are considered to be detailed, made with focus on HT, you may find the lsi7 most enjoyable, using them for you music.

RT1

Early B.

I agree with HTrookie. Changing tubes will only provide a slight change.

If you're using a subwoofer, you can substitute your Rti10's for a nice pair of bookshelf speakers -- maybe the Lsi7's or Lsi9's if you want to stay with the Polk brand. Otherwise, there are tons of options out there, many of which cost less than what you could sell your RTi10's for.

ND13

I don't know, but if you were to throw some of those "Bucket O Mud" Mullards in their, they might tone the RTi 10s down a bit.

steveinaz

How much toe-in are you using on the RTi's? Try facing them more forward or reduce toe-in to a 1/2"

Mike Reeter

I bought a pair of RTi12's to pull double duty,HT and 2-channel...Those tweeters are just too bright for music listening.

I would try to find something different,or start putting together a dedicated 2-channel rig...you can find used SDA's for less than a pair of used LSi 9's...

keith allen

I have RTi8's,and love them,other than the harsh tweets...how bout an upgrade from Polk,Id be happy to plunk down a little dough for something a little warmer,then I'd have perfect speakers

janmike

Enlighten me. What is toe-in?

amulford

when you toe in, you aim the speakers towards you at the "sweet" (listening) spot instead of just straight forward.

janmike

Thanks, I do that, just didn't know the technical term.

Mike Reeter

keith allen wrote:

I have RTi8's,and love them,other than the harsh tweets...how bout an upgrade from Polk,Id be happy to plunk down a little dough for something a little warmer,then I'd have perfect speakers

Now,that is a good idea!!!

cmy330go

What is your room like? Carpet or Hardwood? Drapes or Shades? etc...

If you have a lot of hard flat surfaces in the room you might try some soft treatments. I agree that the RTi tweeter is a little aggresive, but I have found that in the right room they can be quite pleasing with music.

Dave

danger boy

janmike wrote:

Enlighten me. What is toe-in?

slightly toe them in.. not like 20 degrees or anything. most speakers only need a slight toe in.. play around with that. although it's doubtful that will help with your brightness problem.

You may want to sell them and go with some model of LSi instead.. the LSi's i've heard are more true and not so bright with a different tweeter.

organ

Getting them set up right should help if they're not properly placed at the moment. Tube rolling would be next if placement/toe-in, etc doesn't solve the problem.

What you should look for is a tube with a very laid back presentation and with a lot less high frequency output. The only one I can think of is the JJ ECC83s(same as 12AX7). You're using 12AX7, right?

Maurice

McLoki

There is a set of SDA 3.1tl's for sale in eureka for about $600. I bet you could get them for closer to $500 though. I don't know what your speakers would sell for, but it may not be that expensive a change and for two channel listening, I bet they would be a pretty significant upgrade....

Just a thought.

Michael

PRC

Thanks for the input. Couple things: I toed in the speakers a fuzz. To be honest, I like th 10's. They are a little bright, but I ike the crispness and clairity. I am resisting replacing them because they are new and I paid a reasonable price for them. I did however listen to a comprable pair of Canton's. The Canton's were a little warmer but not mutch. So....I did a couple easy things that have helped already. I replaced the stock power cord with a Audio Magic cable. I also switched the CD interconnect Kimber Kable "Timbre" to a Cardas "MicroTwin". The Cardas is less forward and tones down the highs a minor amount. Im going to listen for a while and see. Thanks again for the responses. Alos, ORGAN - I know the tubes are Telefunken, but I'm not sure the exact #.

Patrick

F1nut

anonymouse wrote:

I drive mine with a Rotel 980BX, and it is night and day between this and the Sony ES receiver I was using before. Your tube amp may just not have enough juice/damping to settle the 10's. A couple of things you may want to try - swap out your high end speaker cable for some garden variety (e.g. RS or Monster) 12AWG wire(short runs). Use a single run, but remove the stock gold jumpers and replace them with a small length of the same wire. I noticed that when the speakers are driven properly, the midrange really clears up. When this happens, the highs are not fatiguing and the bass seems more forward, even though I suspect thats an auditory illusion.

I'm sure going from a receiver to a separate amp was an improvement, but the "juice" difference between the SS Rotel (120wpc) and the hybrid integrated Jolida (100wpc) is nothing, besides the damping factor has not to do with a bright tweeter.

I don't get your idea of downgrading the speaker cable, but I do agree about replacing the stock jumpers.

When we demoed these at Polk HQ on some very decent gear, all ten of us said the same thing, too effing bright for music, good for HT.

cmy330go

I'm with F1 on this one (even though he busted my balls on the RatShack wire ). I wasn't at polkfest, but I have heard the RTi's on a variety of systems. Multiple receivers, my Parasound Halo gear, and also on tubes (55w/ch KT88s). In all cases the RTis were just too bright for my taste.

To each his own.

F1nut

cmy330go wrote:

(even though he busted my balls on the RatShack wire)

It was my pleasure

shellrob1

I have had the same problem with my Rti-10's. I fixed the problem by removing the tweeter and installing a 25 Watt, 3.9 Ohm resister inline on the positive side. This toned down the tweeters and now the sound is bright and balanced. If you do the same, I feel that you will be very please. Good Luck, Rob.

PRC wrote:

Hello,

I’ve been listening for the last couple months to my new system. I really like the tube sound. In the distant future I would like to go all tube.

However, I need some help with fine-tuning. What I’m finding is that the clarity (IMO) is very good. Sound stage and depth are pretty good for a hybrid. I’m hearing a lot of new sounds. The negative is that the system seems a little to bight. I bi-wired the speakers and used the Kimber Kable, which is designed for clarity. I don’t want to change components so I wanted to know if anyone has some ideas on how to help with the brightness. New tubes came to mind, but I don’t know what brand would soften the sound. Thanks for the input.


Patrick

aaharvel

i miss the Trilam.