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"new" audio setup

Guitarist 28

Guitarist 28

pfm Member
Hi
Its been a while since I've posted but am in need of some guidance.
I've set up a 'small' system in a box room that become my business office about 8 x 10ft (its not huge but suits my needs). The system comprises of an earlyish A&R A60 (din plug input with mag pu), technics pg580a, Dali Zensor 1's, Atacama nexus 10i stands with QED79 strand cables. Now I have it up running its not a bad system, the Zensors are more articulate and revealing than I would thought they would be albeit a wee bit base light. However, the overall sound is somewhat brash and bright.
i am aware that there is an attenuation problem, as the output from the CD player is much higher than the input to the amp (I'm using the tape input).
Should i use line attenuators to correct this although I am concerned that this may affect the overall sound quality?
Additionally, I'm wondering if I can make an improvement by changing the cd player (I've been considering an older Marantz CD63 KI??).

Any thoughts most welcome.

Thanks

Rob
 
Attenuators will help the amp - it was not designed for 2V output of CD players. You can run them in line before your Phono to Din cable that I presume you are using. No need to worry about sound quality changing - it is only some resistance.

The brashness may still be there though - could be partly the room - a 10 x 8 office is very square and being office mostly 'hard' materials? If so you are going to get a lot of bouncing sound around which could easily come across as brightness.

You know the solution... some absorbent materials - sofa, curtains, carpet, rug even sound panels and stuff....deaden the space down and the system will sound very different.
 
Old amp, experts lower input, all cd players, almost all, output a standard voltage. Add some attenuation.
 
Guitarist 28 said:
Thanks for your replies.
Any thoughts on updating the CD player??

Regards
Click to expand...

One of Arcam's own machines might well suit, the 5+ is a real peach, so long as it's in good working order... or a Linn Genki, it's still a fantastic sounding CD player, won plenty of awards and rightly so. It's a highly musical, rhythmic player but not at all harsh... and it has a variable output. Finally, Rega CD players are very good too, the Apollo is a good bet.
 
linnfomaniac83 said:
One of Arcam's own machines might well suit, the 5+ is a real peach, so long as it's in good working order... or a Linn Genki, it's still a fantastic sounding CD player, won plenty of awards and rightly so. It's a highly musical, rhythmic player but not at all harsh... and it has a variable output. Finally, Rega CD players are very good too, the Apollo is a good bet.
Click to expand...

I decided to treat myself to a recapped and upgraded Arcam Alpha 5+.
I had an opportunity to listen to a Philips Digital Classics recording of Bach Toccata & Fugue by Daniel Chorzempa at relatively low volume this afternoon. I had really forgotten how good the A60 is and it works well with the Zensor 1's although they are far from being run at the moment.
Having listened to my home cinema systems (Denon receiver with Mordaunt Short Avant speakers), its been a real pleasure to listen to a two speaker system again.

Regards

Rob
 
The Zensors are brilliant little speakers, i have the smaller Picos in a bedroom system with a well regarded Sony amp (in the main room acoustically treated and some extreme positioning they were laugh out loud good), they made me question everything about Hifi.
 
Guitarist 28 said:
I decided to treat myself to a recapped and upgraded Arcam Alpha 5+.
I had an opportunity to listen to a Philips Digital Classics recording of Bach Toccata & Fugue by Daniel Chorzempa at relatively low volume this afternoon. I had really forgotten how good the A60 is and it works well with the Zensor 1's although they are far from being run at the moment.
Having listened to my home cinema systems (Denon receiver with Mordaunt Short Avant speakers), its been a real pleasure to listen to a two speaker system again.

Regards

Rob
Click to expand...



Good choice, I've owned a lot of CD players from a £80 genexxa (my first player aged 12) all the way up to a Linn CD12 for a little while. I can honestly say that the A5+ is really one of the stand out machines, mine cost me £180 used in 2000 and stayed with me in various setups until about 2012 when it started to get a little temperamental and I gave it to Adam (current owner of Royd audio). I still miss it.
 
Thanks for that.
I must admit that I do regret selling my Meridian 101/103 when I was convinced that home cinema (5.1) beat any 2 speaker system. However, on a positive note its rekindled my desire set up a decent system to listen and relax to music again.
 
I received my Arcam Alpha 5 plus (upgraded) and have fitted source attenuators (GoldenJacks). The brightness has indeed gone and overall the system is neutral and well balanced. I am now very surprised the Dali Zensor 1's have more bass than I expected. its still early days as the speakers really do need to bed in have had such little use.

I'm in the process of buying another A&R A60 in order to do undertake an upgrade (decibel dungeon).

With regard to the Arcam it came without a remote - I bought a Logitech Harmony 350 for the fraction of the price of a used Arcam remote and it works perfectly.

Rob
 
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