Insane in the mainframe?

[Tom_E]

I can't sleep, i can't eat. Theese cornwall III's are killing me!

I can't seem to get the sound right! I got my new McIntosh MC275, a Parasound 2100 pre-amp and a Roksan cd/dvd as a cd player.

My problem isnt easy to explain, but i'll give it a go: I usaly listen to rock/hard rock/heavy metal/death metal, but also everything else, like pop, dance, classical and so on.

Some tracks on some cd's sound amazing. Like Porcupine Tree's "Deadwing" is good. But my main problem is that i feel like i "lack" some frequencies! It's like this: I turn the volume up, and the high's are louder than the mid's. I lack some dynamic's and some midbass. The vocal's are amazing though, and can give me chills.

The question is this: Is this because of my pre-amp? Some say that the "music" comes from the pre-amp. And my pre is an ok amp, but its far cheaper than my mac ofcourse.

I have considerd 3 options:

1. Buy the McIntosh MCD301 and hook it up to my mc-275 and use the pre in the cd. Then buy the C2200 when i rob another bank.

2. Buy the McIntosh C2200, and hook my english Roksan cd/dvd to it. Then buy the MCD301 when i rob another bank.

3. Change to solid state McIntosh!

Please help me... I'm going insane!

[bluesboy]

Why don't you try hooking the cd player directly to the Mac and bypass the preamp altogether? I'm assuming the new 275s have gain controls like the old ones.

[Guest David H]

Before you do anything make sure the problem is your gear and not your room.

[Guest " "]

See the attached PDF.

You might find putting the LF section on a higher tap and the HF section on a lower tap more appealing.

McIntosh%20Autoformer%20Training%20Page.pdf

[Tom_E]

@ Bluesboy: I don't have the volume controlls... But thanks for the idea.

@ GotHover: I think it's a bit of both. The gear and the room.

@ speakerfritz: Thanks for the drawing. I'm problably stupid, but when you write "higher tap", do you mean an higher impedance? Like instead of the 8 ohm i got now, i go to 16? Or 4 for lowe?

I took the liberty to draw my living room in paint. Pretty impressed by my drawing skills. I think maby some of the probleme is this. I don't have a carpet on the floor in front of the speakers. The McIntosh importer said that would be a nice idea, to lay 2 thick hairy carpets there, to absorb some of the sound.

[Mallette]

>Some tracks on some cd's sound amazing.

That's all I need to know. Odd's are you don't really understand just how bad the majority of the source material is out there. If something sounds amazing, then your system is simply delivering what you feed in. GIGO.

>I usaly listen to rock/hard rock/heavy metal/death metal, but also everything else, like pop, dance, classical and so on.

That about covers it right down to Chinese opera.

Dave

[oscarsear]

I'll go with GIGO too. Good systems allow good reproductions to shine and exposes poor recordings for what they are, poor recordings. I do have a set up that allows me some tone controls but I rarely use them. Frankly if the recording sucks dithering with it won't make that much of an improvement.

[Tom_E]

I totaly agree on "GIGO", but it's so bad sometimes, that when i turn it up a notch, it hurts my ears, because of the "harshness".

I Talked to a soundtechnician, and he said that he is positive that my problem is the acoustics of my "room". So now i have ordred 2 absorbing acoustic plates to hang on the wall where the sound "bounces", and 8 "pillows" to have under my CW's. Really looking foreward to trying this things.

@ Mallette: Hehe, well, what i meant was that i usaly listen to rock/hard rock/heavy metal/death metal 70-80 % of the time, but also other things.

[fenderbender]

If your Mc 275 is new, it will take some time (+100hrs ) to burn the tubes in...New tubes really change over time until they are fully "plated"

Heavy/death/hard metal, I find is some of the WORST recorded music out there!!! There sales are dismal compared to the rest of the industry/ an there is no budget...and most producers figure that it's young teens listening on gaabage systems.... to Ipods and Boom car stereos....so the compress the crap out of the recording ...and jack up the volume as high as it will go...

Don't get me wrong I've seen Slipknot 3 times ...metallica about 10, Maiden, Megadeth, Prong, Faith no More.....etc. i love it live..... haven't found one satisfactory recording that I can listen to through my Klipschorns, without making my ears bleed!!!!!!

let your system settle in for a while before making radical changes......treat your room....Let your ears adjust to the tone of the Cornswalls.....Get the Mcintosh test cd from your dealer....it is very well recorded ......it will help you to set up your room and make changes to your equipment with a quantifiable source.

[DrWho]

But my main problem is that i feel like i "lack" some frequencies!

Room modes will behave exactly like that.

Try walking around the room to see if the sound is more or less acceptable in different positions. You might need to try moving the speakers and listening position around.

[SWL]

. i love it live..... haven't found one satisfactory recording that I can listen to through my Klipschorns, without making my ears bleed!!!!!!

I hear ya..........try Godsmack "Changes" dvd. [Y][Y]

Tom_E.........speaker placement and dealing with room acoustics can do wonders (my experience). []

[fenderbender]

. i love it live..... haven't found one satisfactory recording that I can listen to through my Klipschorns, without making my ears bleed!!!!!!

I hear ya..........try Godsmack "Changes" dvd.

Tom_E.........speaker placement and dealing with room acoustics can do wonders (my experience).

Ohhh...I have a fat Best Buy gift certificate...may just pick that one up......

[SWL]

Ohhh...I have a fat Best Buy gift certificate...may just pick that one up......

Yeah, it's a must. Pick it up and let er rip. I'm not a huge Godsmack fan but that concert is (sounds) awesome. []

[Tom_E]

Waiting for my cornwall cushions and my wallplates. Think they will change my sound quite a bit. Yeah, there are many crappy recordings... Thats just a fact we all got to live with. But there are some exeptions, like some Buckethead, Dream Theater, Megadeth, Symphony X, Porcupine Tree recordings. I hooked a iTube iPod dock onto my pre. And i got to say.... It's a long time since i have had so much fun listening to music. It's not that high-end sound, but some songs are really nice throught the iTube docking!

Ahh... I wish i smoked cigares and drank wine....

I am considering of buying the Rega P3 24v. Think this is a nice piece?

[skonopa]

But there are some exeptions, like some Buckethead, Dream Theater, Megadeth, Symphony X, Porcupine Tree recordings. I hooked a iTube iPod dock onto my pre. And i got to say.... It's a long time since i have had so much fun listening to music. It's not that high-end sound, but some songs are really nice throught the iTube docking!

Coming from probably the biggest metalhead on this forum, I've listened to ALOT of metal! The thing, most of the mainstream commercial junk is exactly that, friggan junk!

I have some truly amazing recordings in the genre, but they all came from small, independent labels. For example, just about anything by Dreamscape is going to sound good as they selfproduce thier own albums and take quality into consideration. Same thing with a number of recordings gotten through Nightmare Records (which, admittedly, I personally know the owner of this label and very good friends), and he also very particular in recording quality. One other self-produced album that I found truly amazing from a recording stand point (as well as the music itself) is Vox Tempus, In the Eye of Time.

In fact, this new Mindflow album that I am listening to right now is just friggan amazing as well.

I am listening to this material on a RF-7 setup with a Denon pre/pro and B&K amplifier.

But as to system "issues" that you are having, I think it has already been well covered.

[Tom_E]

Yeah, many hidden "pearls" around. And talking about sucky records... The new Metallica album is a disgrase. Not only to the band and genre, but to music! It's horrible!

Right now i'm listening to John Mayer "Gravity". Not a trace of metal, but that album sounds like a million dollars through the cornwalls! Everyone should spin this album in their players.

[edwinr]

????? Why are you bothering using the Parasound preamp, Tom? Hook straight into the MC275 and use its gain controls...

[Bryan1342]

Are the CD's you're playing burned CDs or Mastered CDs?

If they are burned, are the songs that you burned in a lossless quality or MP3? If they are MP3's, then there's your problem---MP3 kills about 60% of the music quality every time you compress it, hence it just will not sound 'correct'.

Personally, for me, I'm super @n@l about sound quality which is why I always buy my music on a CD. (never from iTunes, or other subscription services) just simply because I don't like compressed music. When I rip the music to my computer, I always use either a WAV, FLAC, or some other lossless encoding to prevent the music from being compressed---But then again, that's just me.

What I'd suggest is, if the music that is being effected is MP3, find the CD that it came from and play back the original source (Mastered Material) as that's probably where your problem is coming from.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

[Tom_E]

@ edwinr: My mac is the 2008 versjon without the pot-meters. If it was the older one, i could have done that, but i bought this 3 months ago.

@ Bryan1342: I mainly listen to original CDs. When i complain on this forum, it's never of an mp3 song.

And if i burn a nice cd, i try to get the FLAC version. But as i wrote before, i have hooked up an iTube dock, and good mp3's sound ok! But only some, not all... Alot of crappy mp3s out there! But thanks for the tip.

[edwinr]

@ edwinr: My mac is the 2008 versjon without the pot-meters. If it was the older one, i could have done that, but i bought this 3 months ago.

... oh [:S]