Glasgow Guys Amp loan

[twotone]

Hi mods please move this if it's the wrong place to post this and apologies in advance if that is indeed the case.

Hi guys, would anyone be able to let me have a loan of an integrated amp with a phono amp for a few days, happy to make a forum contribution or charity contribution, beer tokens etc.

I bought a pair of speakers recently and foolishly sold my Dali Oberon 1s on the back of this purchase but the new speakers don't seem to be gelling with my system/amp.

The speakers sound okay but nothing like the reviews from guys who have them on PFM, amongst other places, to me the speakers sound as though there's something in front of the speakers ie they sound a bit veiled and I'm wondering if my amp is the issue?


I've had this before with an impedance mismatch with a Parasound integrated and a valve phono stage so before I put the new speakers back up for sale I'd like to try them with a different amp.

I have an old Sony amp but unfortunately only one channel works so that's not particularly useful.

Anyway the speakers are Mark Audio Cesti MBs full range speakers and the amp is a Yamaha R-N803D.

My previous speakers (Dalis) sounded excellent with the Yamaha in fact they were bought together on recommendation from RicherSounds Glasgow so I know that the amp is fine.

The new speakers sound okay with vinyl and not too bad with CD (I don't listen much to either BTW) but the sound really closed in and, frankly, poor with the spoken voice ie radio 4 FM and Radio four digital/DAB, they also sound a bit meh with internet radio and streaming stuff from the likes of Tidal, Amazon Music & Spotifiy, basically there's no life to them.

Thanks

Tony

[Ianmac]

Tony
Im in Stewarton 12 mls south of Glasgow.
I have an old Cyrus 1 , the last of them (transformer from Glasgow). It is mint so ive recapped it and modded the PCB weaknesses, you are welcome to try it - BUT -
Im just a little concerned with your statement that your new speakers sound OK with vinyl and CD but not FM, DAB internet and streaming.

At best DAB audio quality is poor and what you get from internet and streaming will be heavily dependant on the sample rates you are receiving. FM used to be good but the old analogue signals sent from the Beeb to the transmitters is of course now digital and anything can happen there, particularly as the politicians keep trying to switch off FM. The quality argument in favour of FM can easily be cancelled out by digitally tweaking the path from Studio to transmitter.

[Firebottle]

Tony, I think you are hearing the weaknesses of a single driver loudspeaker.

I would guess the frequency response of your previous Dali's was a lot smoother than the new Cesti.
Having looked at the response curves of single drivers they can be quite peaky.

Change you speakers mate, particularly as you say the Dali's sounded excellent with the Yamaha.

[twotone]

Tony, I think you are hearing the weaknesses of a single driver loudspeaker.

I would guess the frequency response of your previous Dali's was a lot smoother than the new Cesti.
Having looked at the response curves of single drivers they can be quite peaky.

Change you speakers mate, particularly as you say the Dali's sounded excellent with the Yamaha.

Hi Alan, thanks, yes I'm coming to the same conclusion, I have spent most of the day trying all sorts of things and while they sound good with some things they sound terrible with other stuff so they will end up driving me nuts, it's unfortunate though cause they look really nice and well made but they're just not for me.

I've a pair of stands coming, at the moment they're on a pair of Ikea stools, so I'll try them with the stands but I can't honestly see the stands making much difference.

Tony

[graham67]

Due to a design that intentionally has a rising top end when you listen directly on-axis, I set up the Cesti MBs facing directly forward, with no turn-in whatsoever. They ended up almost 45 degrees off-axis from the listening position.

Interesting comment on home theatre review. May be worth trying some different speaker positioning

[VanDerGraaf]

Hi Tony, a couple of amps available here if you need something, on the South Side. PM me if you would like some assistance.

[twotone]

Tony
Im in Stewarton 12 mls south of Glasgow.
I have an old Cyrus 1 , the last of them (transformer from Glasgow). It is mint so ive recapped it and modded the PCB weaknesses, you are welcome to try it - BUT -
Im just a little concerned with your statement that your new speakers sound OK with vinyl and CD but not FM, DAB internet and streaming.

At best DAB audio quality is poor and what you get from internet and streaming will be heavily dependant on the sample rates you are receiving. FM used to be good but the old analogue signals sent from the Beeb to the transmitters is of course now digital and anything can happen there, particularly as the politicians keep trying to switch off FM. The quality argument in favour of FM can easily be cancelled out by digitally tweaking the path from Studio to transmitter.

Hi Ian, thanks for the offer and the reply, yes I understand the FM issues but the sound has changed since the new speakers were plugged in yesterday so it's not the sources it's the speakers that aren't suiting me.

I've a Ron Smith galaxy aerial Ian with a great signal for FM and the Dab signal isn't too bad either but with the Dalis everything was fine, problem is I don't listen to vinyl much and rarely ever listen to CD now but these speakers are either very very good (with some vinyl) and really really bad with a particular CD or excellent with another CD and great with FM radio two and terrible with FM radio 4.

I've bought an old Technics amp for my son from someone on the wam so I can try that with the speakers once it arrives and I've also bought a set of stands too, the amp is a SU-V500 mk2 integrated with phono stage however I also have a built in MM phono stage in my TT so I can try that into a line stage on the Technics amp too.

Having said all of that though, I agree with Alan, those speakers will have to go:lol:

[twotone]

Hi Tony, a couple of amps available here if you need something, on the South Side. PM me if you would like some assistance.

Thanks Rohan, much appreciated.

[twotone]

Due to a design that intentionally has a rising top end when you listen directly on-axis, I set up the Cesti MBs facing directly forward, with no turn-in whatsoever. They ended up almost 45 degrees off-axis from the listening position.

Interesting comment on home theatre review. May be worth trying some different speaker positioning

Hi Graham, yes I've tried everything so far (I read that review too BTW) I'll try the speaker stands when they arrive but I'm already preparing myself to move the speakers on, the only problem I have is that I've sold my Dalis ( in less than a day) and the new speakers have to be gloss white and, whilst I loved the Dalis, this is an opportunity to try something else ie Dynaudio or B&M or similar (quite fancy the Dali minuets in Gloss white).

[VanDerGraaf]

Hi Graham, yes I've tried everything so far (I read that review too BTW) I'll try the speaker stands when they arrive but I'm already preparing myself to move the speakers on, the only problem I have is that I've sold my Dalis ( in less than a day) and the new speakers have to be gloss white and, whilst I loved the Dalis, this is an opportunity to try something else ie Dynaudio or B&M or similar (quite fancy the Dali minuets in Gloss white).


There's always the Heco Direkt (looks very Good in White). Highly-regarded speaker.

httphttps://www.heco-audio.de/media/image/articles/testbericht/Direkt_HifiChoice_02_16_EN.pdf

[twotone]

There's always the Heco Direkt (looks very Good in White). Highly-regarded speaker.

httphttps://www.heco-audio.de/media/image/articles/testbericht/Direkt_HifiChoice_02_16_EN.pdf

Thanks Rohan.

Tony

[twotone]

Hi Graham, yes I've tried everything so far (I read that review too BTW) I'll try the speaker stands when they arrive but I'm already preparing myself to move the speakers on, the only problem I have is that I've sold my Dalis ( in less than a day) and the new speakers have to be gloss white and, whilst I loved the Dalis, this is an opportunity to try something else ie Dynaudio or B&M or similar (quite fancy the Dali minuets in Gloss white).

Hi @graham67, when you say that you set the speakers up 'almost 45 degrees off-axis' do you mean the speakers are toed/pointed towards your listening position at 45 degree towards or turned at 45 degrees away from the listening position?

I've tried them toed in 45 degrees and they do sound a bit better, my listening position is basically at the point of a triangle with the speakers about 2.5mts apart and I'm about 2.5mts away from them at the point of the triangle but I now have the speakers pointing towards me at 45 degrees.

Thanks

Tony