I just moved my system into my new listening room and I love the new set up…but…the rig sounds way too bright compared to before. Now I know a lot has changed…new room, new acoustics and a new rack.
I have a double rack now and I’m wondering if the cable arrangement may be causing some of the new brightness. The room is big with plenty of help with thick carpet, long curtains and a big couch.
So any advice here? Certain cables need to avoid each other or run parallel or orthogonal?
Set up is 252/250/SC (all DR) with Rega P8 and Superline (powered by 252). And a meridian 508 CD player. Harbeth SHL5 XD with NacA5
The biggest effect of a room on acoustics tends to be it’s dimensions. You can’t change that significantly be making minor tweaks to cables and soft furnishings, although minor improvements aren’t impossible.
I would start by experimenting with room layout in general, and especially loudspeaker positioning. If that doesn’t improve things sufficiently or you can’t do it in a way that’s practical or aesthetically acceptable, you could try room treatments. These tend to require quite large and bulky absorbers etc. which you may or may not find visually acceptable.
If you have the patience to measure the room acoustics, possibly with some professional help, it will give you an idea of how to design the room rather than just throwing money at it.
Crucially, consider whether the speakers are a good match for your room. I would say that speaker/room interaction is the single most important thing to get right in HiFi, and however much you like what you’ve got, if they don’t integrate well into your room they are not the right choice.
I agree with Chris, a new room will sound different.
I had a similar experience some years ago, maybe nothing to do with the OP problem but maybe worth thinking about.
A mate moved house and was very disappointed how his all Linn system sounded. He asked me to help with other stuff like moving TV/FM outlets and power sockets and I also took my SPL (sound) meter.
I ran a series of sound test tracks and it showed the room was not far off OK. After a few tweaks and some later added curtains, which really didn’t do that much, he is now happy.
The later SPL readings were much the same as the first, I suspect he’s just got used to the new room.
As above. The room is likely to be affecting the sound far more than cable dressing.
One other thought. Was the system powered down for a while when you were shifting things around? If so it might be a little bright until warmed up again. Should settle fairly quickly though
From experience with these speakers, I believe it’s the SHL5 super tweeters in the new room - they tend to be too much of a good thing and may be showing more in your new room. I would try positioning, distance to speakers, listening spot to start with.
May be try some alternative to the NAC A5, would suggest Atlas or Audience and if these are not within budget, may be TQ as they also sound smoother.
Using new mains sockets/circuit could be a culprit. I just rewired a dedicated hifi mains spur with 10mm cabling to 4 unswitched sockets. This enabled me to ditch a hydra and a 2 way adapter and use PL Lites to each naim component.
Much much better in terms of textures, depth, width…’naturalness’, etc…
