need advice from you audiophiles

Hey! I just got my system put toghether consisting of a pair of Paradigm studio reference 100's floorstanders, Acurus A200 stereo amp, Acurus LS11 line stage preamp and a Nad c541i CDP. My wires are audio research gold rca's ($20) going from amp to preamp and ixos rca's ($40) to the cdp. Speakers are biwired. This is my first system I have put toghether as in the past all I have owned was either mini-systems and/or receivers with crappy speakers.

Now my question is with the sound, of course. At quarter listining levels I love the sound, nice and clean but bass is lacking. When you turn it upto halfway bass is kicking but the sound becomes harsh and not as easy on the ears. I figure the problem lies either in my wires or my preamp. I dont think its the amp since it puts out 200 rms at 8 ohms and the cd player is just a cd player.

Does anyone know which rca cables make the sound a little warmer while at the same time adding more bass maybe? I would go out and try a whole bunch but there are few to none professional audio shops around my area so I would have to by offline, unless Monster cable is an option. I'm looking somewhere in the sub $500 range. Any suggestions would be appreciated by those who also experienced little bass and harsh sound at high volume. Thanks guys :)

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Originally Posted by pomko

Hey! I just got my system put toghether consisting of a pair of Paradigm studio reference 100's floorstanders, Acurus A200 stereo amp, Acurus LS11 line stage preamp and a Nad c541i CDP. My wires are audio research gold rca's ($20) going from amp to preamp and ixos rca's ($40) to the cdp. Speakers are biwired. This is my first system I have put toghether as in the past all I have owned was either mini-systems and/or receivers with crappy speakers.

Now my question is with the sound, of course. At quarter listining levels I love the sound, nice and clean but bass is lacking. When you turn it upto halfway bass is kicking but the sound becomes harsh and not as easy on the ears. I figure the problem lies either in my wires or my preamp. I dont think its the amp since it puts out 200 rms at 8 ohms and the cd player is just a cd player.

Does anyone know which rca cables make the sound a little warmer while at the same time adding more bass maybe? I would go out and try a whole bunch but there are few to none professional audio shops around my area so I would have to by offline, unless Monster cable is an option. I'm looking somewhere in the sub $500 range. Any suggestions would be appreciated by those who also experienced little bass and harsh sound at high volume. Thanks guys :)

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Cables are not the problem and new expensive ones will not help anything except the store's profits.

Let your speakers break in, they will probably get better with time. Also, it might be a issue of positioning. Where are they now? Against a wall? Out away from the wall? In a corner? Proper positioning will probably make the biggest difference in sound and can have dramatic effects on bass. Move them around and see if that makes a difference. Pull them out from the wall a little, put them closer or farther from a corner or even push them closer to the wall. Try and see. Might solve your problem.

Also, what kind of room acoutics are you dealing with?Do you have hardwood floors and lots of bare walls or do you have carpet with lots of plush furniture and rugs? And, how big is your listening room? These things can also effect your speakers.

JSE

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pomko

Hey! I just got my system put toghether consisting of a pair of Paradigm studio reference 100's floorstanders, Acurus A200 stereo amp, Acurus LS11 line stage preamp and a Nad c541i CDP. My wires are audio research gold rca's ($20) going from amp to preamp and ixos rca's ($40) to the cdp. Speakers are biwired. This is my first system I have put toghether as in the past all I have owned was either mini-systems and/or receivers with crappy speakers.

Now my question is with the sound, of course. At quarter listining levels I love the sound, nice and clean but bass is lacking. When you turn it upto halfway bass is kicking but the sound becomes harsh and not as easy on the ears. I figure the problem lies either in my wires or my preamp. I dont think its the amp since it puts out 200 rms at 8 ohms and the cd player is just a cd player.

Does anyone know which rca cables make the sound a little warmer while at the same time adding more bass maybe? I would go out and try a whole bunch but there are few to none professional audio shops around my area so I would have to by offline, unless Monster cable is an option. I'm looking somewhere in the sub $500 range. Any suggestions would be appreciated by those who also experienced little bass and harsh sound at high volume. Thanks guys :)

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I agree 100% with JSE.

Here are some of the same points in my own words. First, the sounds accumulated by your ear drum are not linear over frequency or loudness. This is an effect called Fletcher-Munson Curves. See: http://www.sfu.ca/sca/Manuals/ZAAPf/...loud_cont.html. Most amplifiers have a button called LOUDNESS which essentially boosts up certain frequencies when listening at low levels to counter those curves.

A harsh sound at medium volumes is most likely due to your room acoustics. You may need some deadening materials like carpets, drapes or even acoustical tiles. A parametric equalizer may also help.

Some people say that the right cables can "tame" the sound. I say that this type of unnecessary expense only tames the brain. But then again, that seems to work for some people.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JSE

Cables are not the problem and new expensive ones will not help anything except the store's profits.

Let your speakers break in, they will probably get better with time. Also, it might be a issue of positioning. Where are they now? Against a wall? Out away from the wall? In a corner? Proper positioning will probably make the biggest difference in sound and can have dramatic effects on bass. Move them around and see if that makes a difference. Pull them out from the wall a little, put them closer or farther from a corner or even push them closer to the wall. Try and see. Might solve your problem.

Also, what kind of room acoutics are you dealing with?Do you have hardwood floors and lots of bare walls or do you have carpet with lots of plush furniture and rugs? And, how big is your listening room? These things can also effect your speakers.

JSE

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Ahh, ok I see what you are saying. The speakers are in the away from the corners and are about 3 feet apart from each other and I sit about 6 feet away from them, they are maybe 2" away from the rear wall. My room has thick carpet and 2 sofas. It is about 14' by 10'. I will rearange the room tommarow so that I sit farther away from the speakers because I feel as if they are too close anyways and move them around to see what kind of difference that makes. Thanks for the advice and I'll keep you posted.

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Originally Posted by pomko

Ahh, ok I see what you are saying. The speakers are in the away from the corners and are about 3 feet apart from each other and I sit about 6 feet away from them, they are maybe 2" away from the rear wall. My room has thick carpet and 2 sofas. It is about 14' by 10'. I will rearange the room tommarow so that I sit farther away from the speakers because I feel as if they are too close anyways and move them around to see what kind of difference that makes. Thanks for the advice and I'll keep you posted.

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Mike makes some good points. Before you start moving a lot of furniture around, try moving the speakers. Small movements can sometimes make big differences. You mentioned that your speakers are about 3 feet apart. You might try moving them a little farther apart. Maybe 6 feet apart or so. I am pretty sure those 100s are front ported and if so your bass might be overlapping and cancelling each other out. Not really sure about this, but it might be an issue. Easy to test though.

Good luck and let us know the results.

JSE

You need to get your speakers away from the walls. I had the same problem. Keep the distance to the side walls about 1.5 times that to the rear. I realize speakers need time to break in, but you might give this a try.

Hope this helps.

As noted, that's a common complaint when the accoustics are bad. If that's the case, no amount of upgrading will make much difference. I know because I've 'been there and done that'. Two things ended up working for me. One was Sonex room treatment. Not cheap but not exhorbitant either. I glued 2'x4' panels to 3/8 boards (about $3.50 ea at Home Depot) and stood two between the speakers and one on each side wall (small room). That took the hard mids right out of the system. The other thing was a powerful amp (400w/ch at 4 ohms). My speakers, it turned out, are hard to drive and would not put out much bass with a lesser amp.

What is your age?....


Now let me 'splain...my kids (and most people under...say 28ish) are used to "slamming" bass. I'm a bass freak also (at times) but from ohhh say 1990 or so most systems in cars and in chain stores focus on bass "slam"....so my point is this....without a bass management system (ie sub) my 100's don't at all impress the kids from my churchs youth group (ages 15 to 22ish) I mean heck they take me out to their kia's and have 4 12's in the trunk and think thats weak! (rolls his eyes :rolleyes: ) but besides making the adjustments as stated in the other posts just keep this in mind. Now I'll tell you what I did w/my 100's....although I didn't have the same exact issues as you I did want more bass "impact" if you will at lower volumes....I picked up a sub (Monitor Audio 210) and it worked wonders...what it now allows me to do it to adject that "slam" factor at any volume I please...I know most 100's owners in the past told me I'd not need a sab...and the fact is i didnt NEED one...but when I decided to make that move I've never looked back. Keep in mind my system is two channel only and if yours is the same the no need to go get the "killer" sub...just pick up a musical sub (SVS, HSU, etc.) and you'll be pleased. Good luck and let up know what's what's....

If your not at all in the age group that is used to your music "slamming" then the 100's when set up properly will (should) kick without question. One other point...Paradigm (amoug others) tends to be forward sounding and very exacting in the mid and high region. Also let me add those who don't like that presentation call it harsh/etchy/fatiguing on the flip side the other camp would call some the "laid back" sounding speakers as boring/unexciting. Please let you ears be your judge and don't be swayed by the town crier! Just because a personal prefrence is repeated over and over...and over...and over...it's still just that a personal prefrence and not at all fact. BEWARE of anyone that seems to have ALL the answers and most of the time the answer involves buying or owning the same equipment (speakers) that they happen to own. If it were only all that easy! (sorry...rant over)

good luck and let us know how ya make out....Peace

I don't think the problem is the speakers. Paradigm in general will reveal flaws in your system and in your case I suspect the problem is your amp is not driving your speakers adaquately. I however don't have an electronics background to explain why a 200 watt amp isn't doing the job.
I have a Studio 100's. Initially I tried bi-amping the bass woofers with either my Sony or JVC receiver. The speakers sounded like ass, and I was wondering what all the hype was about. Then I took a suggestion from one of the members here and just hooked them up to my Yamaha only, without bi-amping. That was it, the other receivers couldn't power these speakers!
Borrow a high current amp/receiver from someone and see if this solves your problem.Let us know.
Thanx