Super high end sound system...sounds bad?

[Oaktree]

On your old system, with the left channel cutting out, have you tried spraying the volume control with DeoxIT? My neighbor buys, sells, trades, collects old audio equipment and DeoxIT works really well.

Not just the volume control, but all pots and switches (with the exception of the power switch). Any one or combination of them can cause intermittent audio if they get oxidized.

 

[sd455dan]

Back in the day I ran EPI speakers with a 45 watt receiver. Those EPI 100's were great. Later upgraded to an 80 watt Onkyo and EPI 200's. I now have a small 8" sub woofer with a set of Axiom's. Great sound.



I bet your woofer's are not connected or the crossover is malfunctioning.

That could very well be it, if the straps have been removed- and the speakers were were bi -amped wired
which if true would mean there could be a whole other set of amplifiers still missing from the system.
This would make sense except as N80 posted the drivers are all working.

 

[N80]

Not just the volume control, but all pots and switches (with the exception of the power switch). Any one or combination of them can cause intermittent audio if they get oxidized.

I知 game to try the DeoxIT. Nothing to lose but do I spray it around the edges of the dials or do I need to remove them?

 

[om21braz]

Down at my cabin I have been using a Toshiba tuner/amp that I got in 1980 with a set of Bose bookshelf speakers that I got in 1990. It has decent sound for just using at the cabin but the left channel in the Toshiba is cutting out. Well, my cousin recently gave his high end stereo system to my brother-in-law who never used it and he said I could have it.

I was shocked at this system. It consists of an Audio Research Tubed Pre-Amp, a Proceed Monaural Amplifier that is almost too heavy for me to pick up. There is an Arcan CD player and a Sony turntable neither of which are anything special. There are two 4 foot high tower speakers with two woofers, a mid range tweeter and a high range tweeter. There is a base port opening behind each speaker. The speaker cables are literally bigger around than my thumb and each one has big metal brick attached inline mid cable. I needed help carrying the speakers (but my back is out).

Anyway, I get it all hooked up correctly, pop in a CD, and then total disappointment.

For the record I am not an audiophile by any stretch but I have an idea of what good quality sounds like. And the high end and mid-range on this system are amazingly crisp and clear even at low volumes. But there is very little base. Less than my old Bose bookshelf speakers. Even my wife noticed. First I tried Brahms symphony #4, the Robert Plant, then Pink Floyd, all on production CDs. All the same. Then The Struts on a CD burned off iTunes. Same thing.

There are no tuning adjustments on the pre-amp or the amp. In fact, the amp has only one button: power.

So what am I missing here folks?

Probably telling you something you already know, but systems as you have utterly depend on the best signal source available. Everything down stream is simply increasing volume with the ideal of neither adding or subtracting anything from the original recording. An excellent signal source with a mediocre amp and speakers can deliver pretty accurate music.
I can just about guarantee you adding a Linn Sondek turntable on the front side would change things drastically providing two things are available. One - a good quality album and Two - possibly enough time to get used to hearing something different. It may take a little while, but you値l soon notice that the speakers may seem to disappear and you can actually place each person and instrument.

And a third item that can be important is getting it set up in the room to suit you. I guess you could say I drank the Kool-Aid at one time and it was pretty good. Enjoy your time with good music !

 

[cdb2]

And a third item that can be important is getting it set up in the room to suit you. I guess you could say I drank the Kool-Aid at one time and it was pretty good. Enjoy your time with good music !

This is an important point. And not just to suit the listener; the speaker placement in the room has a pretty big effect on the sound, especially frequency response. It's pretty easy to accidentally setup 1st or 2nd order reflections that interfere with and partially cancel the directly radiated sound.

If I remember correctly there are online applications that you can use to map out your room and calculate the ideal speaker placement for a particular listening location.

 

[Richard]

I think this system must have been for a big room at big volumes.

I would tend to not agree with that (though I'm not an expert)

If everything is in good order, then they're probably not very sensitive.

The 7T's for example, are rated at 89db's @ 1 watt (2.83 volts input)

Mine (which are horns) are about 105 db @ 1 watt

Means that when yours have to work a lot harder than mine to get to the same loudness.

Example.... if you pump 128 watts into your speakers, they will be playing about 110 db's loud.

That's a level my horns can hit with around 4 (FOUR) watts of input.

Put into different lingo.....

Your car can travel 89 miles per gallon.... mine will go 105 miles on that same gallon.

How many people will brag to you that "I get 7 miles per gallon??"

That is in essence that that company built.... "gas hogs"

There is NOTHING wrong with that.... it is what it is. Means you would need a more powerful amp to maybe hit certain levels of loudness. That usually means a more expensive amp.

If you had 500 watts available, that would let you hit (all approximate numbers) 113 db's with 3 db of headroom. Same 500 watts would allow me to hit 129 db's with 3 db of headroom. (double stupid loud)

Some tradeoff with that sensitivity number.... being direct radiator speakers (visible woofers), your speakers are (from my perspective) fairly small. My horns are just under six feet tall by maybe three feet wide. Most people wouldn't want something the size of a refrigerator in their room.

But another trade-off is dynamics. Don't know that there is anything out there that will beat a fully loaded horn system for incredible dynamics.


I would still urge you to start minimal.... bypass those wires for now.

 

[N80]

Richard, I guess big is relative. So is loud. Again, I know nothing about high end audio, and I知 also not a bass junky. But, with a guitar heavy rock song with the volume about 1/3 of the way up it is close to as loud as I知 comfortable with in the main room of my cabin which is about 20x25 feet and my wife wants to leave the house. The bass is good at this level of volume. It falls off below 1/4 volume but is still okay.

The sound quality is exceptional. Very crisp clean top end and midrange. When I compare with the bookshelf Bose their high end sounds hollow and tinny even though they have good bass even at low volume.

The system is growing on me as I致e gotten it tuned up. Still need to read the manual on the Onkyo as there are lots of different surround sound modes and room settings that have a big impact.

I致e wrestled the speakers and components into place.

I値l keep the current cables since they are just long enough and fit behind the couch. No sense in replacing them at this point.

There are three remaining issues. The first is that starting this thing up is like a space shuttle launch sequence. The tubed preamp takes close to a minute. You have to turn the amp on and the push it痴 standby button before it will play. I値l have to leave instructions for anyone else.

Second, there is no radio tuner. I値l have to buy one. We listen to the local radio station a lot. Quality isn稚 relative with this. I値l get one with Bluetooth so I can play off my cellphone. I realize that will not be a good quality source.

The third problem is heat. The amp is basically a giant heat sink. The tubed preamp makes a ton of heat too. Fortunately an AC vent blows up behind the amp. I guess it will be nice in the winter.

 

[rustyshakelford]

Listen to better music. Cardi B has some good stuff out now

Brett

 

[N80]

Better than Brahms 4th?

 

[MossRoad]

Better than Brahms 4th?

No, but almost as good as a 5th of Jack.