Had my other thread on this not have closed I’d have picked that up where it left off. Please read that at Help needed before kindly offering a myriad of solutions.
My bass has disappeared once again. Once again, nothing has changed system wise. TV sound is seemingly fine. Music is very detailed but lacks anything resembling deep bass.
My main suspect, once again, is the HI-Line. This one has already been repaired/replaced. First step is ro replace it with the mighty olive so, quick question. Do I need to power down the whole system to do this or is there a quicker but safe shorter route?
Indeed. If a switch back to the original cable produces the result I expect then I’ll happily take my Hi-Line back to my dealer for a further repair/exchange but realistically it’s time to consider a meaningful alternative.
I would simply mute the preamp and switch to a different input for good measure. You can then remove the hiline quite safely. I’m assuming that by the ‘mighty olive’ you are referring to a lavender interconnect, but I may be wrong. If this swap restores your bass, there is certainly something strange happening with the hiline. I had one once. Other than falling apart it made very little impact. You could maybe try a Witch Hat cable and compare.
Can’t remember now. Easily 8 years ago. Whole presentation became neutral in the “dull” sense and shrank as though into a tunnel. Shockingly so. Treble metallic and mids bland. Lack of detail too. Some would call that “coherent” but my current speakers do detail and coherence and this was not that.
Started with interconnects. Added speaker cable. Actually reinforced the above. One of the most bewilderingly unpleasant cables I have ever heard. Dealer pushed it a lot for a while. Right up to an event when I think maybe 8 to 10 of us were at the shop and found common ground in decrying that godawful thing our dealer had foisted on us to solve various ills. Weirdly it didn’t get pushed after that.
I’m always suspect of being absolute on such things as what fails abjectly in one context can work superbly in another. I have also idly wondered whether part of the issue was the fact the system did have other ills which subsequently reveal themselves albeit not through that specific dealer.
Thanks Mike, apreciate the trouble. its strange in that myself & others sing high praises of the Mogami Neglex range of cables. I use the 2549 2-pair+shield for my 2 channel DIN-DIN’s. Others use the Quad configuration also in the Neglex range.
The 2549 is (was) also used by Linn in their mid/high end RCA & TT cables.
Before I went to Mogami I first made a test cable out of curiosity after reading www forum reports, I then compared it to a HiLine (this was before SL times), a couple of Chords, AR Sounds & some others. As a result I was convinced & set about making my Mogami IC’s to fit (without excess length) between components, & not even considered changing since.
I would like to ‘try’ an SL just to listen if there is something worth considering.
No plans to try speaker or any other cable.
Oldest item is a HC DR, which I think is a mere 6 years old. 200 was repaired and fully serviced by Naim; XPS2 was recapped at broadly the same time. 202 has never been touched but just does what it does. CDX2 is lulling me into a false sense of security at 17 years of age.
All that said, tonight I’ve done some experimenting. Mrs. H. insists we have a table lamp next to the CDX2. I’ve lifted the power cable for that off the floor as it was winding its way betwixt speaker and other cables. It now rests on the back of the top shelf of Hutter in my left column begin my CDX2 but below the Hi-Line and Burndy and at a right angle to them. It also crosses my Powerigel mains lead at a right angle. Slight improvement immediately.
Then did a bit of fiddling so the Burndy no longer touched the floor. Also flexed the Hi-Line outwards as that was also touching the floor.
Both of us detected more warmth (so indication of a boost to the mids I’d suggest); a slight loss of detail but a slight increase in bass.
I’ve then noted that my spare Powerigel cables were too close to the speaker cable so I’ve moved the cables away and moved the unit itself away from the speaker cable and NAPSC, which sits on the floor behind my right speaker. It’s closer to the shelving with the 202 and CDX2 but again a slight improvement in bass albeit with a slight loss of grip.
I’m not sure any of this is the actual problem but it’s good practice and helps rule stuff out.
It occurred to me that my stacking order is fine but the reason both the Burndy and Hi-Line are potentially an issue is that the two Hutter columns are a little too close together. There’s not scope for a dramatic improvement but a shift of the left column towards the right speaker by a couple of inches is feasible.
I’d certainly stick with the Hi-Line over the lavender, it gives a deeper bass for starters as well as just sounding less artificial all round. Maybe you could have your Hi-Line looked at again? Mine has been consistent & rock solid since it’s one and only repair…
