RTi Brightness
Playing compressed music from a thumb drive sounds fine (as far as brightness), movies from Dish or BDP sound excellent, but 50% of music CDs sound too bright. And a couple CDs can't be played, they are excruciating. I'm currently using an Audioquest Chocolate HDMI to connect the BDP to the AVR. I know these speakers are known for being bright, but if I used analog IC's to connect the BDP for music, would that have any effect on the brightness? Could it possibly tone it down any? I don't have any high quality IC's or I'd just try it for myself.
I can take a CD that is too bright, rip it to MP3 and it's no longer too bright. I'm trying to figure out if it's something between the player and AVR or if it's just the fact that the highest of the highs and lowest of the lows get removed from MP3s.
Thanx
I can take a CD that is too bright, rip it to MP3 and it's no longer too bright. I'm trying to figure out if it's something between the player and AVR or if it's just the fact that the highest of the highs and lowest of the lows get removed from MP3s.
Thanx
Post edited by Hermitism on
Comments
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Lets just say that MP3 adds a lot of "cloud cover" to the music. Get yourself some decent IC's and hook up the analog outs on the BDP, should be better. What have ya got laying around ?
Also on the receiver, use "stereo" instead of pure direct for music, that might tame down the highs some.HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
Tony is correct and let's just say that the RTi series leans to the bright side anyway. Tube buffer?
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I've got some 25+ year old gold plated ICs from Radioshack. Don't be hatin'!!
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Does your Pio AVR have different auto-eq modes that you could try and run to tone down the treble?
Maybe even do a manual 'tweak' using the parametric eq settings to pull down the upper frequencies a bit?
What about the room itself? Is it highly reflective with windows and bare walls?
Analog ICs can make a difference if you want to try that....what is your budget?
However, there are some CDs that are beyond help and will forever be like ice picks in the ears.
H9: If you don't trust what you are hearing, then maybe you need to be less invested in a hobby which all the pleasure comes from listening to music. -
I'm actually not familiar with a tube buffer. My shelf space is filled to capacity. I might have room for another piece of hardware, but it can't weigh much, GLASS SHELVES AND ALL. Damn caps lock! Their weight capacity is just about filled.
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Erik Tracy wrote: »Does your Pio AVR have different auto-eq modes that you could try and run to tone down the treble?
Maybe even do a manual 'tweak' using the parametric eq settings to pull down the upper frequencies a bit?
What about the room itself? Is it highly reflective with windows and bare walls?
Analog ICs can make a difference if you want to try that....what is your budget?
However, there are some CDs that are beyond help and will forever be like ice picks in the ears.
Just got some OC703, but haven't had a chance to buy fabric yet. Maybe by weeks end. I've left the EQ the way the calibration set it, buy I have a separate treble and bass control. As far as analog ICs, I just bought some SP's from Doug, I should have brought this up before ordering the speaker cables. If I end up having to buy some, I'd like them to be from him.
The Cars Greatest Hits, original version, not remastered if there is one, is just beyond tolerable. -
Have you tried setting the "restorer" mode to "on" on the avr. Really opens up the low end with digital recordings
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Tube buffer isn't your answer imho anyway. Get some better IC'S and run the analog outs from the bdp into the receiver for 2 channel. Also, maybe your speaker cables aren't a good match either.HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
Doug's IC's are superb and will sound great with that 51.
Yes his cables are great, but not so sure a great match with RTI's.HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
Just got some OC703, but haven't had a chance to buy fabric yet. Maybe by weeks end. I've left the EQ the way the calibration set it, buy I have a separate treble and bass control. As far as analog ICs, I just bought some SP's from Doug, I should have brought this up before ordering the speaker cables. If I end up having to buy some, I'd like them to be from him.
The Cars Greatest Hits, original version, not remastered if there is one, is just beyond tolerable.
You may want to look at the Pio manual - if that AVR is like others, you have several choices of 'modes' that you can run the auto-calibration on - one of which may 'soften' the treble presentation a bit.
And if your AVR has multiple memory settings, run the auto-calibration with these different modes and save them in different memory settings. Then, test them out during playback to see which one sounds best to you.
H9: If you don't trust what you are hearing, then maybe you need to be less invested in a hobby which all the pleasure comes from listening to music. -
Polk says RTi8, 25-250 WPC. Your SC-05, 250 WPC.
With my RTiA9s (Polk says 50-500WPC), the SC-07's 140 WPC made CDs too "bright." Both the QSC-GX7 (740 WPC) and now, Yamaha P7000S (700 WPC) pro amps have polished off the "brightness." The Yamaha's fan has never come on.
Tony's subjective musicality meter reads "nada" on the pro amp scale. I'm not aware of anyone else who is pushing the RTiA9s beyond a Parsound HCA-3500's 350 WPC, which I believe also banished the "brightness." -
Yep, there were three modes for calibration. And I did all three, can't remember which one it's on, but it's the better sounding of the three.
I don't remember coming across a "restorer mode" except for compressed music playback, but I'll check.
My tablets about to die, gotta go track down the cord. -
Yep, there were three modes for calibration. And I did all three, can't remember which one it's on, but it's the better sounding of the three.
I don't remember coming across a "restorer mode" except for compressed music playback, but I'll check.
My tablets about to die, gotta go track down the cord.
Yup, the restorer mode is for compressed music playback -
If your SC-05 has X-curve, you can tone down the treble using that.The Cars Greatest Hits
The sound quality of that one is awful, nothing is going to help it.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Keep in mind too, the more revealing your system becomes, the more those old crappy recordings will sound like horse ****. Nothing you can do about that unless you want to search out better quality recordings if available for that particular band/song.
Otherwise render it to casual listening at low volumes....to hide that horse ****.HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
Thanks everyone! This has been a problem that has bugged me since I brought those speakers home. Once I did my last calibration, after you guys helped me with proper speaker placement, I haven't adjusted anything. I'll do a little tweaking. This small room isn't doing me any favors either. I've got everything set up in a spare bedroom that is slightly smaller than 15' x 12'.
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It's always the older CDs that sound horrible. Not all the older CDs, but the bad ones are always pre-1990.
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Polk says RTi8, 25-250 WPC. Your SC-05, 250 WPC.
With my RTiA9s (Polk says 50-500WPC), the SC-07's 140 WPC made CDs too "bright." Both the QSC-GX7 (740 WPC) and now, Yamaha P7000S (700 WPC) pro amps have polished off the "brightness." The Yamaha's fan has never come on.
Tony's subjective musicality meter reads "nada" on the pro amp scale. I'm not aware of anyone else who is pushing the RTiA9s beyond a Parsound HCA-3500's 350 WPC, which I believe also banished the "brightness."
nbrowser has some RTi's, and he just bought a parasound amp and he said it helped with the brightness. -
nbrowser has some RTi's, and he just bought a parasound amp and he said it helped with the brightness.
Ya, had a Parasound 1500a that was a good match with RTi12s. Can't go wrong there. -
The term on the pioneer units is call "sound retriver"
Also on older CD's the Quality Control is wide on sound and mainly follow the desires of the producers and not the artist. The most consisting sounding CD's are from jazz artist.Family Room HT 7.2/i]:Vizio Oled55h1 Pioneer Elite SC-LX502 Pioneer Elite BDP 85FD Eversolo DMP A6 Panamax M5300-EXSpeakers Fronts Fluance XF8L Center Polk Audio S35 Side Surrounds Fluance bipolar Rear Surrounds FluanceXF8 Bookshelf Subs SVS PB4000 x2 Living room 2ch: Crown Xli 1500 amp x2, Teac EQ MKII FX Audio X6 Mk II DAC Squeezebox Touch Polk Audio R700 Speakers Panamax M5100-EXOffice media room:Vizio M50Q6 50" Pioneer Elite VSX LX301 Eversolo DMP-A6 Polkaudio R600 Towers Polkaudio Center R350 Panamax M4300 Monoprice 12" subMaster bedroom:Vizio M55Q7 Pioneer Elite VSX LX302 Pioneer Elite BDP 85FD Squeezebox Touch Fluance Signature Bookshelf fronts, Rears Fluance Signature Bipolar Polk Audio CS10 center Monoprice 12" sub Panamax M5300-EX -
It's always the older CDs that sound horrible. Not all the older CDs, but the bad ones are always pre-1990.
That could be it in a nutshell pal. Good recordings are far and few between in that era on cd.HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
recoveryone wrote: »The term on the pioneer units is call "sound retriver"
Also on older CD's the Quality Control is wide on sound and mainly follow the desires of the producers and not the artist. The most consisting sounding CD's are from jazz artist.
Yes, sound retriever....that's what i meant. Was thinking of the Yammy.....God I'm getting old! -
That could be it in a nutshell pal. Good recordings are far and few between in that era on cd.
Is that why vinyl is so popular with older recordings? I have no history with vinyl. I just remember being at a buddy's house in junior high jamming out to a Pink Floyd record and it sounding like firecrackers going off in the background. It had a few pops!!! It was probably a $100 Technics record player. At the time, I thought that's what all records sounded like, so I never went that direction. It was hissy cassettes tapes for me baby! And good old Dolby noise reduction that made everything sound muffled. -
The Parasound did indeed help with the brightness, evened out the tonal delivery to my liking.
This was the only thread that your new purchase hasn't been mentioned in, so I thought I'd add it! Lol Buying something new that turns out to be better than you ever expected is the best feeling in the world. It just makes life suck less. Congratulations!!!
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It's always the older CDs that sound horrible. Not all the older CDs, but the bad ones are always pre-1990.
The reason most early CD's don't sound as good as possible is the record companies did not bother to compensate for the RIAA curve. Bright highs and not much bass is the result.Is that why vinyl is so popular with older recordings? I have no history with vinyl. I just remember being at a buddy's house in junior high jamming out to a Pink Floyd record and it sounding like firecrackers going off in the background. It had a few pops!!! It was probably a $100 Technics record player. At the time, I thought that's what all records sounded like, so I never went that direction.
I grew up with LP's and even to this day I've never heard one that didn't pop at least once no matter how well it was cleaned or what it was played on. Folks say you get use to it......yeah right, not this kid.
If you can find one and are willing to pay the price, the DCC gold CD of the Cars Greatest Hits is very good.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Another Parasound vote. Tamed the a9's right down.
Further up the line the better. HCA- 3500 is pretty sweet with them. Allows me all the volume I could want and makes my ears happy.Up
LSi15 LSiC - RX-V3000
Down
LSiM707 - 706c - 702f/x - Dual HSU VTF-15H Mk2
Parasound HCA-3500 - HCA-2003A - Marantz SR7005
Sim2 D60 - Dragonfly 106" Panny 500 -
There is no rain man... Except for the notion that it is going to really open the rabbit hole for you. Hermit, if I still had a pair of mits laying around, I'd send them your way free of charge. I already gave the last two pair to a friend though.
I appreciate the thought, but I'm good. I've got some cables somewhere just to play around with. I remember putting them in a safe place. Just can't remember exactly where. -
Two great suggestions in here that I read, one relates to what another member tried and he's a lot happier with it, the other, I tried and there's merit to it.
1) Turn down the treble some.
2) Adding power has a profound affect on the highs.
I listened to my A9's with just the AVR, 135wpc in 2ch mode, symptom; cymbal hit seemed to have too many "S's" on the end of it. I added a 300wpc amp, the "S's" disappeared, the cymbal hit became deliberate and sounded much better. Then I added 860wpch............well, it didn't change the sound, the added power did the trick the first time, but man, the head room I gained is phenomenal.Source: BRP Panasonic UB9000, CDP Emotiva ERC3 - Display: LG OLED EVO 83 C3 - Pre/Pro: Marantz 8802A - Amplification: Emotiva XPA-DR3, XPA-2 x 2, XPA-6, Speakers, Mains/2ch-Focal Kanta No2's, C-LSiM706, S-702F/X, RS-RTiA9's, WS-RTiA9's, FH-RTiA3's, Subs - Epik Empire x 2
Cables: AudioQuest McKenzie XLR's/CDP/Amp, Carbon 48/BRP, Forest 48/Display, 2 channel speaker cable: Furutech FS Alpha 36 12AWG PCOCC Single Crystal (Douglas Connection)
EXPERIENCE: next to nothing, but I sure enjoy audio and video MY OPINION OF THIS HOBBY: I may not be a smart man, but I know what quicksand is.
When I was young, I was Superman but now that old age has gotten the best of me I'm only Batman -
Okay, you guys need to come out with a thesaurus! When you say you gained head room, could you describe what you mean? Do you mean you can turn the volume up higher? Sometimes you guys make me feel an inch tall!
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In my case, I was able to get more sound without using as much volume.
With 300wpc, Audyssey set my mains at -4 and -3.5
With 860wpch, the were set at -9 and -8
Now, I don't need as much volume to get the sound I had before. It's pretty cool.Source: BRP Panasonic UB9000, CDP Emotiva ERC3 - Display: LG OLED EVO 83 C3 - Pre/Pro: Marantz 8802A - Amplification: Emotiva XPA-DR3, XPA-2 x 2, XPA-6, Speakers, Mains/2ch-Focal Kanta No2's, C-LSiM706, S-702F/X, RS-RTiA9's, WS-RTiA9's, FH-RTiA3's, Subs - Epik Empire x 2
Cables: AudioQuest McKenzie XLR's/CDP/Amp, Carbon 48/BRP, Forest 48/Display, 2 channel speaker cable: Furutech FS Alpha 36 12AWG PCOCC Single Crystal (Douglas Connection)
EXPERIENCE: next to nothing, but I sure enjoy audio and video MY OPINION OF THIS HOBBY: I may not be a smart man, but I know what quicksand is.
When I was young, I was Superman but now that old age has gotten the best of me I'm only Batman
