Poor quality sound woes (hifi).
Discussion
Hi all, I started a thread a while ago about some Monitor Audio S8 speakers. I ended up buying some RS6 speakers instead, which initially, I thought sounded great. However, one day, I powered everything up as usual and tried to play a few vinyls and all I got was a muffled, flat sound.
My system then consisted of a choice of two decent integrated amps which both sounded fine before (a Denon and a vintage Rotel) to trouble-shoot with. They both suddenly sounded as bad as each other. There is a Numark M2 DJ mixer involved too, which my two Technics SL1210s go through. I bypassed this with the decks and plugged them both directly into the amps, but there was no improvement. I then thought it may be the speaker cables as I've got a few different sets of speakers to also trouble shoot with (again, there was no improvement).
I happened to obtain some high quality CS2.3 speaker cable with good quality banana jacks with the RS6s and I'd been hunting down a Rotel RB981 power amp and got a Rotel RC971 pre-amp to go with it which will accommodate the banana jacks (my previous amps wouldn't). These are now in place.
So to summarise, my system now comprises of;
2x Technics SL1210s (both recently serviced and with new Ortophon cartridges)
New Numark 101 mixer (recently changed from the original due to a different issue)
Rotel RB-981 power amp
Rotel RC-971 pre-amp
CS2.3 speaker cable
Monitor Audio RS6 floorstanders.
And it still sounds muffled and flat. No depth or treble.
Could it be something as silly as interconnecting cables? I'm pinning my hopes on this now, and have ordered a couple of sets of Cambridge's AUD300 interconnecters, as the ones I have are cheapos at the moment (just bog standard red and white cables).
I will be at a complete loss if this doesn't work though!
Sorry for the jumbled post, but my head is stewed.
My system then consisted of a choice of two decent integrated amps which both sounded fine before (a Denon and a vintage Rotel) to trouble-shoot with. They both suddenly sounded as bad as each other. There is a Numark M2 DJ mixer involved too, which my two Technics SL1210s go through. I bypassed this with the decks and plugged them both directly into the amps, but there was no improvement. I then thought it may be the speaker cables as I've got a few different sets of speakers to also trouble shoot with (again, there was no improvement).
I happened to obtain some high quality CS2.3 speaker cable with good quality banana jacks with the RS6s and I'd been hunting down a Rotel RB981 power amp and got a Rotel RC971 pre-amp to go with it which will accommodate the banana jacks (my previous amps wouldn't). These are now in place.
So to summarise, my system now comprises of;
2x Technics SL1210s (both recently serviced and with new Ortophon cartridges)
New Numark 101 mixer (recently changed from the original due to a different issue)
Rotel RB-981 power amp
Rotel RC-971 pre-amp
CS2.3 speaker cable
Monitor Audio RS6 floorstanders.
And it still sounds muffled and flat. No depth or treble.
Could it be something as silly as interconnecting cables? I'm pinning my hopes on this now, and have ordered a couple of sets of Cambridge's AUD300 interconnecters, as the ones I have are cheapos at the moment (just bog standard red and white cables).
I will be at a complete loss if this doesn't work though!
Sorry for the jumbled post, but my head is stewed.
I'd start by taking each item out of the chain as a possible problem.
Do you have a CD player or iPod that you can plug into your pre-amp using another interconnect? If that sounds ok you know the problem is with your current source.
If another source sounds bad as well, it gets a bit more difficult as you are unlikely to have spare amps and speakers laying around! Are you able to plug the mixer straight into the power amp to test that? I am not sure if you can with the model you have got.
Do you have a CD player or iPod that you can plug into your pre-amp using another interconnect? If that sounds ok you know the problem is with your current source.
If another source sounds bad as well, it gets a bit more difficult as you are unlikely to have spare amps and speakers laying around! Are you able to plug the mixer straight into the power amp to test that? I am not sure if you can with the model you have got.
This is how the speakers are set up.
Interconnects are still in place.
I have swapped everything out including speakers and amps. I've directly plugged both my decks into the amps via the phono stage and through both mixers which will go through the aux and phono stages on the amps. Nothing makes any difference, it still sounds dull and wooly.
Edited by Baz Tench on Thursday 12th November 15:40
Monty Python said:
Do the bass/treble/tone controls on the RC-971 do anything to the sound?
Yes they do. A little update as I've managed to dig out a cable which I can connect my iPod to the pre-amp with and it does sound better than the decks, but still not quite as good as it used to sound IMO.Anyway, at least that's something. It could be that the decks don't like going through the mixer and then the mixer going through the aux stage. There is no phono stage on the pre amp, maybe that's the next thing I need to change, and get one with.
Saying that though, both the integrated amps I used before had phono stages, but it made no difference in sound quality really whether I used the aux or the phono stage for the mixer.
I think each unit has its own potential compatibility problem. It feels like a fine balancing act, which as being an amateur, I'm finding out the expensive way (although I will be able to resell things quite easily).
I think each unit has its own potential compatibility problem. It feels like a fine balancing act, which as being an amateur, I'm finding out the expensive way (although I will be able to resell things quite easily).
Baz Tench said:
This is how the speakers are set up.
Interconnects are still in place.
I have swapped everything out including speakers and amps. I've directly plugged both my decks into the amps via the phono stage and through both mixers which will go through the aux and phono stages on the amps. Nothing makes any difference, it still sounds dull and wooly.
Good amp the Rotel RB-981. I have 3 of them and 3 RB-971s in an active system
Baz Tench said:
This is how the speakers are set up.
You have connected only to the lower terminals.
Unless you want to bi-wire or bi-amp your speakers, you are missing the vertical link bars which join the right hand terminals together and the left hand terminals together.
No wonder it sounds s
t!Edited by FarmyardPants on Thursday 12th November 17:44
FarmyardPants said:
It looks as if you have two-way speakers: the top two terminals are for the tweeter and the bottom two for the main driver aka woofer.
You have connected only to the lower terminals.
Unless you want to bi-wire or bi-amp your speakers, you are missing the vertical link bars which join the right hand terminals together and the left hand terminals together.
No wonder it sounds st!
Those gold strips between the speaker terminals are the link bars (which I'm assuming are in the right place).You have connected only to the lower terminals.
Unless you want to bi-wire or bi-amp your speakers, you are missing the vertical link bars which join the right hand terminals together and the left hand terminals together.
No wonder it sounds s
t!Edited by FarmyardPants on Thursday 12th November 17:44
crmcatee said:
My mate had exactly the same problem - his was sounding great and then all of a sudden it sounded garbage.
His stylus was buggered.
Both of the decks have just been serviced and both have new Ortophon DJ stylus'.His stylus was buggered.
I suppose I could chuck the old ones on to eliminate them, bit i doubt there's anything wrong with them.
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