Bummin

[ARCVT100]

Hi all. I'm bummin out. My ML Ascents sound terrible. They scream at me in the midrange. I have an ARC VT100 MKIII Amp and an ARC LS15 preamp.

The only thing that sounds half way decent now is my FM (because it is toned down).

I am using MIT speaker cables. I've tried moving the speakers. Going from 4 to 8 ohm to the amp. And Gasp! even disconnected the MIT cables and gone with zip wire. (not much difference actually). My next step is to go to SE from balanced but I suspect there is something major wrong here. It sounds the same on both speakers. The best way I can describe it is loss of detail on complex music and an almost ear bleeding midrange.

I'm going to retube the preamp tommorow.

My question is this. Do i need some cables such as Transparent Audio's?

What kind of cables do you all use?

Help I'm desperate.

Thanks

 

[Sky Saw]

Are your Ascents panels new? If so, have patience; otherwise, try positioning:
1) Moving them closer to the rear wall
2) changing the forward angle of the speakers
3) Increasing toe-in
4) Sound dampening if your room is very live

 

[aliveatfive]

I am using an ARC VT 100 III to drive Ascent is also. Previously, the amp drove my Sequel IIs. Preamp currently is a BAT VK51 SE. The speakers do take quite a while to break-in. The major factor here, however, is the break-in time for the amp. I've been told by a tech (and I have confirmed on my own) that this amp takes an enormous amount of time to break-in. One full year is not out of the question, if played a moderate amount of time. The amp also is quite tranparent in that any poor source material will be apparent immediately. However, under the right circumstances, your combination can be a sonic knock-out.

Good luck!

PS: Iam using Transparent Bi-Wire Music Wave Plus.

 

[ARCVT100]

break in

Thanks for the input. I just had the mKII upgrade 4 months ago. I haven't done much listening since then. I had a pair of transparent cables one time and was really impressed. I think I'll check into a set and interconnects too.

By the way i retubed the preamp and went to SE for the inputs to the amp. Not much difference. My room is samll so i have now moved the right speaker to the kitchen (until the wife gets home!

I'd like to tear down this one wall but not yet. i think the problem is not enough room.

 

[roberto]

Thanks for the input. I just had the mKII upgrade 4 months ago. I haven't done much listening since then. I had a pair of transparent cables one time and was really impressed. I think I'll check into a set and interconnects too.

By the way i retubed the preamp and went to SE for the inputs to the amp. Not much difference. My room is samll so i have now moved the right speaker to the kitchen (until the wife gets home!

I'd like to tear down this one wall but not yet. i think the problem is not enough room.

.
In other words, you don't like the mid-range or you have too much mids? what is the distance from the back wall measured from the center of the panel? Do you have enough highs?...what about bass?.

You should have a great sound, because you have very good components and cables. Swap the cables from you cd to pre for the pre to amp. Also, try to have them at least one meter away from the back wall. The listening distance must be at least even or more than the distance from each other. If you want more bass, use the 8 ohm tabs at the amplifier. If you don't have highs, did you vacuum the panels? Sometimes this helps a lot regarding high frequency lost at the panels. Also don't play the music too loud. Sometimes this kind of mids are due to reflections of your room. If the sound is better at moderated level, it is a reflection wall problem. Hope this can help.
Happy listening and trust your ears!
Roberto.

 

[Kevin]

I am using MIT speaker cables

I was going to say that is the problem but then I read the rest.

 

[ARCVT100]

Later

Since my original post almost two weeks ago I have since purchased Transparent Audio Plus interconnects between the AMP/Preamp and CD Player and Preamp and also 10' Plus speaker cables.

The differnece is incredible!

Once again I am listening to the music and not the speakers. These cables match up extremely well with my system.

i plan to go to the next level super or Ultras in a year .

The sonic difference is absolutely stunning.

thanks for the tip Roberto.

 

[attyonline]

Since my original post almost two weeks ago I have since purchased Transparent Audio Plus interconnects between the AMP/Preamp and CD Player and Preamp and also 10' Plus speaker cables.

The differnece is incredible!

Once again I am listening to the music and not the speakers. These cables match up extremely well with my system.

i plan to go to the next level super or Ultras in a year .

The sonic difference is absolutely stunning.

thanks for the tip Roberto.

Glad it sounds great! However, if you feel up to it, put back your old cables in the system and listen again to check if it was the cables that made the difference or some coincidental change caused by break in or some other factor.

 

[Kevin]

The differnece is incredible!

Are you sure? I have seen pictures of cut open transparent cables and there is nothing but junk inside the so called "network" boxes.

 

[DavidG]

Yup!

Are you sure? I have seen pictures of cut open transparent cables and there is nothing but junk inside the so called "network" boxes.

I recently demo'd a set of transparent cables with 'network boxes' held together by screws. Since I was demoing at home, I opened the boxes. 99% was empty space, and right next to the speaker end exit was a small piece of potting compound connecting the two cables together. Couldn't confirm whether there was anything inside the compound or not, but there was no way that it could hold more than a single component (cap, resistor etc).

Despite this, I carried on auditioning purely on sonic ability. Eventually I bought Nordost, simply 'cause it sounded better than anything else in the audition.

However, I do think transparent are taking the mick by putting a large box in the cable, when the box has effectively nothing in it. Had the transparent won the audition on sonic grounds, I'd have had a big problem relating to it having the lowest WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) of them all.

Cheers,

David

 

[Kevin]

Eventually I bought Nordost

I still have a pair of nordost red dawn rev2. What did you buy.

 

[DavidG]

Blue Heaven

I still have a pair of nordost red dawn rev2. What did you buy.

Went with 'Blue Heaven 2' in the end. Of everything I tried, this had the clearest 'step up' of all. Red Dawn did give a *slightly* better sound, but the improvement didn't justify the fact that it cost twice as much - and I'm using 4 metre lengths.

Cheers,

David

 

[garmtz]

I also use Blue Heaven Rev2 ls-cable, GREAT cable for ML. The Blue Heaven interlinks are good as well, although I find them to have not much depth in the soundfield and exaggerated transients. I use MIT MI-330 Shotgun instead (second hand of course, these cables are much too expensive new, even 2nd hand actually, if they didn't sound that good, I wouldn't even bother).

 

[DavidG]

I also use Blue Heaven Rev2 ls-cable, GREAT cable for ML. The Blue Heaven interlinks are good as well, although I find them to have not much depth in the soundfield and exaggerated transients. I use MIT MI-330 Shotgun instead (second hand of course, these cables are much too expensive new, even 2nd hand actually, if they didn't sound that good, I wouldn't even bother).

For interconnects, I use only VdH. Simple reason is that all my source / amplification is Meridian, which uses VdH cable internally. This seems to give better sonic results than anything else I've tried.

Cheers,

David