[bundee1]

I hope I spelled dillemna right. Anyway heres my problem, my system comprises of an Arcam A65 (40w/ch) plus int. amp, Music Hall MMF CD25 cdp, and JMLab Chorus 706 (89db) speakers. The Music Hall is very smooth, The Arcam is warm , fast, and punchy. The Chorus 706's are detailed, dynamic and bright at the high frequencies (freakin titanium tweeter). When I played the new Doors Legacy there was distortion at busy high energy passages like the solo during "Break on Through". I dont think there is anything wrong with the setup. All connections are secure and proper.
Should I just give up and get warmer speakers?
Any suggestions for warmer speakers?
Should I give up on the amp and get a Jolida 102b tube amp?
Any suggestions for other inexpensive tube amps?
Should I just suck it up and live with the harshness?

I love every other aspect of the sound of my system except the harshness at the highs. When Im really losing myself in the music the highs sometimes attack me and bring me back to reality. I appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks guys!!!!

 

[usc goose]

you spelled dilemma right in the title if it helps.

otherwise i'm not sure how much help this will be but i used to feel mad harshness in sony v6s. then a month later i didn't. hopefully you learn to love your rig in time.

good luck either way.

 

[Sovkiller]

titanium tweeters in general tend to be harsh (unless very good ones, of course, but I'm not familiar with the one JM uses,but according to the review below, they seem to be harsh......specially on female vocals, and sometimes show some sibilance according to this article)
JMLab 706

I suggest you to try first a couple of other monitors with silk dome tweeters instead, just to see if the harshness persists, (I have a pair of Alesis monitor one MKII that sound very nice, are not expensive, and the highs are very smooth) if they still sound harsh, then move the rest of the setup, but is more expensive to begin with the amps....rock recordings, specially old ones, sometimes are very controversial for testing purposes BTW....

 

[MoLtoSoLo]

The amp is a very good one, and I don't think you will like rock music from 102B.
I would suggest change the room setting first. Then think about new speakers, sometimes speaker cable helps too.

 

[zeplin]

bundee1,
i have the arcam a75 and there are tone (bass and treble) controls. are there any on the a65? because this amp can be a little bright sometimes, at which point i lower the treble a wee bit. my kef q5's have titanium tweeters and they are nice and warm plus delicate. try getting some sort of eq like the Behringer, i know you can get one from one of the members on head-fi for about 100. they are very good eq's and are highly regarded. i've heard JM labs before, but it was powered by a high end Denon, and they were very warm/neutral sounding...anything but bright. the high end Denon had tone controls also. so look into some sort eq if you don't already have one. good luck to you

 

[Howie]

The distortion you here might very well be related to the volume control of your preamp. Is it possible to try out a good quality preamp? Most integrated amps have a stronger amp section than preamp section. I don't have much experience with Arcam gear but I don't think I've heard them described as warm.

Unless you're sensitive to titanium tweeters there might be other things involved that is making the sound bright. The 706 is a good pair of speakers. Can you give us some info on speaker placement?

 

[Mastergill]

Hi bundee1,

I'm sure the problem is JM lab, they're not know to be very neutral.

Try some good 2 ways speaker from England.

 

[lini]

bundee1: Have you checked back with your headphone, whether the particular distortion you've mentioned is not already on the cd? How long have you run in your speakers? The JMlabs usually need a good while before the tweeter smoothens down - but it will still convey quite a lot of treble energy even then, just not in a harsh or shrill way... What you could try is tweaking the placement (turning the speakers upside down, turning them a bit outward...) and experimenting with different speaker cables and/or line-interconnects, I'd say.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[bundee1]

Thanks everyone. This is a bedroom system with the speakers about 4 ft apart and slightly toed in and Im sitting about 5 ft away. I know I know cramped quarters but thats NYC apartment living. If I activate the tone controls the sound sort of deadens, Ill try that though. The harshness/distortion only occurs on some cds. When I compared the AE evo 1 (silk dome tweeter) to the JMLAB chorus 706(titanium) the evo 1 was smoother but also lifeless. Im sorry to hear that about the 102b, thats the amp the reviewer used. Thanks for all the help guys, any other suggestions?

 

[bundee1]

Oh, let me add Ive owned the speakers for 9 months and they should be broken in. Dont get me wrong I think these speakers are great for about the lower 90% of the frequency spectrum but the last 10% on some recordings are irritating. I think I may need better amplification to get the right sound out of the speaker. That may be too expensive. Should I give up on them and get cheaper speakers with rolled off top end or should I save up for better seperates (amp/preamp)? Any suggestions would be most appreciated!!!

You guys have been extremely helpful, thanks!!

 

[bundee1]

Its happened with this cd and
Fleetwood Mac- The Very Best of (remastered)
James Brown-Live at the Apollo II (remastered)

I just played the same passage on my Sony ns500v DVD/SACD/CD
player and I got some distortion but not as bad as with the Music Hall cd player. I lost some detail and rhythm with the Sony as well. I tried using the tone controls but it deadened the sound. Most of the distortion occurs on the right channel but the left channel also tizzed with the cymbals.

 

[pbirkett]

I'd recommend you check out some Quad 11 or 12L speakers, with a smooth silk dome tweeter, these speakers are nothing if they aint smooth...

 

[Kirium]

If you're happy with the Source and the amp, i'd look for a smoother speakers. I'm not familliar with the power of your Arcam, but if you could swap the JMLab's for something more refined like Mission 780's or Quad 11L's.... both have soft domes, and i know the Missions are anything but lifeless (although they may me a bit lacking in extended lower freq's...) but i cant speak for the Quads, i haven't heard them, only read reviews on them..

And then there's the problem of finding the above mentioned speakers in the US...

 

[BlindTiger]

I have metal dome tweeters on my Monitor Audio's and it could be your amp. (MA PMC703) You need more power.
Right now, I'm breaking in a pair of Advantage S250 into the MA's.
The source is the Advantage S1.
The sound from the MosFet amp is very airy. The separation is awesome. You hear "ssssss" very distinctly. and it wasn't fatigueing at all.
I'm surprised how good these speakers are when connected to quality equipment. Granted it's 250 watts into each channel.
The CD player connects directly to the amps via Balanced inputs.
All this will go back to the original owner in a week and I'll see a jump in next months electricity bill.

 

[Howie]

Again I would be inclined to try adding a preamp.

Since this is a bedroom system I assume the sound might bounce around quite a bit.

I really don't think it's your speakers. To my knowledge the 706s are not bright and harsh. In fact you can even describe them as warm in the midrange and rolled off in the highs. Since you do tend to like a dynamic sound you should get that with the 706s.

Again opposite of what you said I think it's the Arcam that is giving you the harsh and bright sound rather than the 706s.