[musicbuff]

I've revamped my system and I'm in love with the accurate, expansive soundstage, and the fantastic level of details, separation, and dynamics my Calyx 24/124 DAC sends to my Sennheiser HD800's (balanced through the HDVA600).  I think I've come to prefer listening through headphones versus speakers because of it.  I just got my Marantz PM-8005 integrated yesterday.  I've got my Calyx DAC connected to the Marantz by RCA cable (nothing special but better than the regular thin wired stuff).  After listening through the Senn HD800's I'm a little disappointed with the lack of separation of instruments and voices through my Monitor Audio RX-6 speakers.  Will upgrading the interconnects from my DAC to the Marantz produce pin sharp detailing and help with separation of instruments and voices?  If so, which interconnects would be best for this? Thanks. 

 

[Speedskater]

The Blue Jeans Cable LC-1 is at the sweet spot in price and quality.

 

[yage]

You probably need to play with speaker placement to change tonal balance (e.g. sharp detail) and imaging to your liking. If you like the bass response from your speakers, I would start with various angles of toe-in towards the listening position and see if that makes a difference.
 
Also check if you're sitting too high or too low - generally speakers sound best when ears are at tweeter level or slightly below.

 

[cel4145]

You probably need to play with speaker placement to change tonal balance (e.g. sharp detail) and imaging to your liking. If you like the bass response from your speakers, I would start with various angles of toe-in towards the listening position and see if that makes a difference.

Also check if you're sitting too high or too low - generally speakers sound best when ears are at tweeter level or slightly below.

+1

The placement of speakers in a room relative to the listening position can definitely significantly impact performance. Also, the room does influence the speakers in other ways. If you aren't using lots of room treatments, a Marantz or Denon AVR with Audyssey MultEQ XT or XT32 room EQ software could have easily been a better choice to smooth the in-room response of the speakers. What is your setup like? The geometry of the speaker positioning, where in the room, where is the listening position?

Upgrading your cables? Waste of time. Using room EQ? A much bigger difference.

 

[musicbuff]

I've done some furniture moving.  My set up is in my living room.  It measures 17 feet wide by 15 deep.  My system spans across the 17 foot wall. Each speaker is 4 1/2 feet from the side walls and 1 1/2 feet out from the wall behind them.  The speakers are 8 feet from each other.  The sweet spot is about 5 feet from the wall behind me.  The speakers are slightly toed in.  The floor is carpeted and there are drapes at the 2 windows on the wall to the right of the right speaker.  After remeasuring for the sweet spot and moving my love seat over the spot, the center image is spot on and I can hear separate instruments and voices from the left and right speakers (no where near as crystal clear as through my headphones, but it's better.  I think this is going to be okay after all.  I've been advised to let the amp run for about 200 hours then reevaluate.  One thing's for sure, I'm finding out which CD's are high quality and which ones are a little (or a lot) worse.

 

[cel4145]

I've done some furniture moving.  My set up is in my living room.  It measures 17 feet wide by 15 deep.  My system spans across the 17 foot wall. Each speaker is 4 1/2 feet from the side walls and 1 1/2 feet out from the wall behind them.  The speakers are 8 feet from each other.  The sweet spot is about 5 feet from the wall behind me.  The speakers are slightly toed in.  The floor is carpeted and there are drapes at the 2 windows on the wall to the right of the right speaker.  After remeasuring for the sweet spot and moving my love seat over the spot, the center image is spot on and I can hear separate instruments and voices from the left and right speakers (no where near as crystal clear as through my headphones, but it's better.  I think this is going to be okay after all.  I've been advised to let the amp run for about 200 hours then reevaluate.  One thing's for sure, I'm finding out which CD's are high quality and which ones are a little (or a lot) worse.

That sounds great. Placement is everything. Probably helps, too, that your windows have curtains to stop some of the reflections.

Burning in the amp? I wouldn't expect much. Next step would be to measure your speaker output at the listening position and see if it needs smoothing. This mic and REW measurement software would let you see what's happening.

 

[coli]

Solid core silver is the way to go