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system sounds 'bright'

Edwar65 said:
My listening area is a 12 x18 room with engineered oak flooring. Speakers are approx 7 ft from my listening position,
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Sounds like the listening position is quite central in the room? There may well be bass mode cancellations there - this could be perceived as more top. Also consider a rug to mitigate first reflections off the floor (and tie the room together ...)
 
I think it might just be the speakers too, as mentioned try experimenting with positioning i.e. tweeters firing down the room, or a slight toe-in.
 
If you turn the tweeters so they fire straight down the room you will cut the output from them at your listening position.
Keith
 
I'm limited with seating position as the room is used as a dining room with table to my left and speakers positioned on side of room,not at ends. I sit at other side of room approx 7/8ft away on sofa, hope this makes sense?
I can't situate kit at ends of room due to radiator on wall and afformentioned table at other end near fireplace.
A rug is an option,could try that. A friend of mine uses the same speakers,albeit with naim kit 200/202 flatcaps etc and a cd5x and it sounds great, obviously his room layout is different to mine with carpets etc.
Cheers
 
Hmm..I've heard the Arcam 73 and its a beautiful sounding deck. I've got the CD6000ki and its wonderfully balanced. So I think you can rule them out.

As for the speakers, I've found that, like with a radio etc, a bright sound can suddenly become balanced once you've increased the bass a little.

Short of switching speakers (eg S8s or 9s if you want to stay with Spendor) you could try removing the spikes and experimenting with different siting methods a la Townshend bases. Perhaps there might be a way to change EQ settings via your amp?

Having said all that I'd consider changing the speakers. The 5se's are great for their size but are not full bandwidth designs, especially in their current location.

They are not difficult to sell/trade on, and it can be a pain but...
 
Haven't had them long, so going to be keepers for foreseeable future,always got the minstrel's to go back to,however I did intend to sell these as I wanted a bit more bass.......ho hum.
I do think it may be room,however I don't have anywhere else to site them.
 
Edwar65 said:
Haven't had them long, so going to be keepers for foreseeable future,always got the minstrel's to go back to,however I did intend to sell these as I wanted a bit more bass.......ho hum.
I do think it may be room,however I don't have anywhere else to site them.
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Sound is generally well balanced when seating and speakers are distanced 1/3 or 1/6 the length of the room from front and back walls.
If possible you could try that.

I'd also borrow your friend's amplifier, even though Naim amps aren't really famous for their output impedance (as transistor amps go).
 
Not fond of firing across a room; lots of compromises therein. Not sure about your oak floor, but if it's just that, the finger's pointing to a bright sound as a simple consequence. I's easy and financially painless to 'carpet' the area between speakers and you with anything you have to hand.

Another point is that if your seating is right against a wall, this not only constitutes a possible brightness via reflections but doesn't allow 'air' (ambience) to the sound. This is often another drawback of firing across a room, 12 x 18 feet is a nice audiophile space and you should make full use of it as a priority. Furniture, dining and everything else come as secondary considerations. Come to that, if your Spendors are ported, you're doing them no favours close to a back wall anyway.
 
A picture or 2 of the room etc would be real handy

Brightness resides between 2-7khz , top notch equalisation is to be had these days
A parametric filter centred on 4k , with a Q of 1 and a 1.5 to 2 db cut, this will take the edge off without losing sparkle
Playback programs like J river and roon have parametric equalisers included and there are some cheap hardware solutions from minidsp. You can get rid of those pesky bass peaks too , while you at it
 
How is the sound of the music of your system further on, so other than not good in heighs?
Is the sound coming loose from the speakers(so not sticking to..), do you have left right image and front to back depth? (correct phase/neutral connections are crucial in this aspect)
What interlinks, speakercable and powerdivider/powercords do you use?

it's all about a system and its synergy!!
 
My guess Is It's the high Impedance causing the problem. It would be easy to try a cap and resistor across the tweeter terminals to rule It out - Say 10ohm and 10uf.
 
Arkless Electronics said:
Nah...
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You're probably right but my own diy speakers have a peak In the Impedance of 145ohms at 2.1k, and when I crank the volume on my little 20watt per channel amp the midrange on certain female vocals sounds rather glassy. I know through experience that a bump around 2k causes glassy vocals (a dip sounds dry), so I'm guessing It's caused by the high Impedance. If I get time tomorrow, I'll see If my theory Is correct...

Edit: My 50watt Quad 306 sounds much better at the same volume, so I assume It's a high Impedance / low power problem.
 
145R ? is that a typo? A SS amp will laugh at high impedances as it approximates a voltage source. If that's not a typo I'd be more concerned about what's going on with the speakers to give a reading like that!
 
Maybe try taming the room a little, wood flooring can cause issues with reflections, bare walls too, hang a few rugs & place one front, centre between you & the speakers, takes 5 minutes to try out.
 
Ok will do when I get five, may have some offcuts off carpet in loft I can try.
Noticed tonight that the rear links have been replaced by lengths of single copper strands approx 1.5mm in diameter.
Wouldn't think this would make any difference from the original links as resistance would be very small??
 
Edwar65 said:
Ok will do when I get five, may have some offcuts off carpet in loft I can try.
Noticed tonight that the rear links have been replaced by lengths of single copper strands approx 1.5mm in diameter.
Wouldn't think this would make any difference from the original links as resistance would be very small??
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No it won't make any difference from the original links. Make sure connections are clean and tight of course.
Ragamans advice is pretty on the money as the best thing to try first...
 
Your old Royds had big suck outs at 2k and 3k. Anything more accurate will sound bright by comparison.
Try damping the room a bit with rugs and maybe a wall hanging and try to get used to the sound
 
Arkless Electronics said:
145R ? is that a typo? A SS amp will laugh at high impedances as it approximates a voltage source. If that's not a typo I'd be more concerned about what's going on with the speakers to give a reading like that!
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No, not a typo. I can get the Impedance nice and flat with an L-pad but It means two extra components In series with the tweeter (The series resister has to be bypassed with a small capacitor to stop the highest frequencies from drooping). I know It's controversial but I try to keep series components to a minimum.
 
davidsrsb said:
Your old Royds had big suck outs at 2k and 3k. Anything more accurate will sound bright by comparison.
Try damping the room a bit with rugs and maybe a wall hanging and try to get used to the sound
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To be fair they sound a lot better than they measure - although treble Is a touch too hot IMO. Also, I only measured them at 1mtr, so there's a possibility that the frequency response is better than that at a more realistic listening distance.
 
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