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In Reply to: RE: Help! Emotiva XPA-2 vs. Adcom 5500 with MMG's? posted by figyur8@gmail.com on February 18, 2015 at 18:52:39
Hi Everyone - Again.. thank you for all the great advice / support on this.
I finally had time to sketch out my listening space - I made a quick, rough Sketch-up model... the short of it; it's one big finished basement "room" - drywall, drop act. ceiling, carpet, various furniture, sift goods around the room plus a bunch of instruments (doubles as my music studio).. as you can see there is a fire place (mine doesn't look like this but it's the closest thing Google had :) ) in the "middle" - the upper area is where my equipment is. I have two Ikea Kallax shelfs on wither side that hold the vinyl - MMG's next to those.
I have also (finally) gotten round to updating my profile with my equipment.
I am using a 12" Klipsch sub with the MMG's - have it at a fairly low level .. just enough to get some low end in the mix - you'll see it on the left of the left speaker.
Beyond the Adcom I have an Emotive USP-1 preamp, Pro-Ject turntable, lossless audio via Fiio DAC, Onkyo CD.
Several of you have asked for more information on my desires for the system and listening preferences.
I listen to a wide range but primarily vinyl and lossless FLAC sources - musical tastes would be indie rock / pop, classic rock, jazz, reggae (the classic stuff), small amount of country, classical.
My overall nagging feeling is that since I've gone from some basic $400 pair Polk "box" speakers (Monitor 70's) to the MMG's I've definitely gained some clarity and resolution. However, I feel like the MMG's sound "thin" and seem to have a really shrill, over pronounced high end - I heard someone use the term "sizzle" once in reference to this and I definitely experience this.
Overall I'm really missing any warmth and rounded-ness to the sound now. They do really come alive as the volume goes up (and I assume get that power they crave) however that brashness on the high end become too much at louder levels.
I purchased them last Fall and would estimate I probably have about ~125-150 (>) hours on them - I've tried to really crank them up when I've been using them to let them burn in... I';ve also tried to withhold judgement until I felt like I had at least crossed the approx. 100 hour threshold. What's odd is that I feel like they "sizzle" almost bothers me more now and seems more apparent.
I've also heard others say they have great low-mids, and I feel like I've experienced a "bit" of this on certain recordings (drum fills, some acoustic stuff) but I feel like the panel on these just wants to emit more than I'm hearing. Not sure why I have that feeling but I do :)
As far as reference tracks - A few standby's are;
- Beatles - Abbey Road - Apple label mid-70's pressing vinyl - side 2 - maybe one of the best album "sides' of all time BTW ;)
- Ray LaMontagne - Trouble - (vinyl) - first two tracks - Ethan Johns (son of Glyn) produced.. really great raw instrument sounds - drums, acoustic. Amazing vocals.
- Getz / Gilberto - original 60's stereo Verve pressing - mainly first side. The sax should leap from the speakers on this recording.
A few recent thoughts for your commentary;
- Should I consider using the resistors that came with MMG's - will that help the "sizzle"? Will I lose other features I do not want to ?
- Should I consider a tube PREAMP to pair with the Adcom? .. thought was this could add the warmth and round them out (?) - and then.. of course.. I suspect I'd have to spend several thousand to get a decent tube PREAMP of any type right? Any good budget tube pre's anyone might have had good experience pairing this with?
Thank you all - again - in advance !
Chris M
"You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note."
Follow Ups:
I think you are describing the sound of the Adcom 5500. I would match it with a tube preamp. There are plenty of old 80s-90s tube preamps you can get for well under $1K, Then you can have the parts upgraded as budget allows. Go to Salvatore's tube pre recommendations for ideas. About half the old preamp models he recommends are from Bruce Moore and Falkland (MFA) who still builds his basic Dual Mono design first made for Audible Illusions before 1980.
Designs have not changed much these 40 years, but parts have improved substantially.
This is interesting.
My first thought was a cathode follower preamp. I've built a few 6sn7 based ones from my parts bin and find them great.
Then I was thinking of updating the kenwood C1 pre with modern caps and ICs. I've even build / modd'd a few Hafler pres and find them very nice.
looking for some jazz and a little libations - joe strummer
If you can build on your own and mod extensively then do go ahead and do it. Moore and Falkland turned to the octal tubes over the 6922s and 12ax7 for output. You might want to build a 12sn7 based output for sufficiently cheap tubes so that you can double the tubes yet get all that a 6sn7 can do.
Chris, I just got home from a trip. I think that I have all the music that you mention as CD or already transferred to the PC. In fact, I now have Ray Lamontagne playing, to warm the gear up while I have dinner. I may be able to get back to you on some items late this evening (Eastern).
In the meantime, look at what Russ mentions. It is good advice on things that need to be tried.
You have to pull the MMGs 4 to 6 feet out into the room. I'd would try tweeters in, and some toe in. Put your ear height at the middle of the panel. Try that for a start, then I would think about another pre-amp.
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