[Quiet Earth]

Bingo.....all it took was 13 posts till someone suggested the obvious ! it always cracks me up when people want to make cable changes and all sorts of stuff before assuring the room / accoustic capatability. The room should always come first !!!!!

Well, we are in the Tube forum, not the starting block......  so some of "us" may have assumed that he already had the basics covered. Like speaker placement and basic room acoustics.

[medium jim]

As QE noted, this is a Tube Circle and not the Starting Block....I also assumed that the OP was aware of speaker placement as its effect on the soundscape.  Cables/IC's can and often are the culprit to harsh, fatiguing listening.  Same can be said for the DAC or CDP. 

Jim

[Quiet Earth]

Thanks Jim.

I think the whole point of all this is to hang out with audio friends and be excellent to each other. We're all here to talk about audio, help each other,  and maybe learn something while we're at it.

I hope everyone is having as much fun as I am. 

[jules]

Hi Aron,

I agree with Rollo, medium jim and Quiet earth 

Try [borrow?] a high quality DAC or CDP as a source. If you want to stay with your current source, a tube buffer or maybe a Burson Buffer

http://bursonaudio.com/Burson_AB160.html

could improve things for you. The Burson unit used to be about $150 new when it first came out so a second hand one could be the way to go if you can find same.

Jules

[twitch54]

As QE noted, this is a Tube Circle and not the Starting Block....I also assumed that the OP was aware of speaker placement as its effect on the soundscape.  Cables/IC's can and often are the culprit to harsh, fatiguing listening.  Same can be said for the DAC or CDP. 

Jim

Jim, it's ALOT more than speaker placement, for unless the room was accousticaly designed from the get-go it probably needs treatment. As far as 'assuming' ......man, in this hobby...NEVER !

[Quiet Earth]

Well,,,, the original question sat here unanswered for a whole week. I was just trying to be helpful when I replied :

Hi Tausius and welcome aboard  ,
I'm not familiar with your gear but I'll make a couple of comments just to get the ball rolling....

What's wrong with that?

 

[medium jim]

Well,,,, the original question sat here unanswered for a whole week. I was just trying to be helpful when I replied :

What's wrong with that?

 

QE, there was nothing wrong with it....I didn't see the naysayers offering any advice, rather criticism of those who did!  It was good that the OP did benefit from moving the speakers a bit, but there still appears to be room for improvement via better cables and possibly the source.

Jim

[cries55]

I found the Vincent to be an excellent choice if you weren't looking for a full tube sound. It had power to spare, was built like a tank, and sounded as good as Mcintosh gear I have had. But it's not really a tube amp, and barely a hybrid. If the goal is to reduce the brightness or adjust anything I have found a Rane me60 eq combined with a dayton omnimic will tame all systems, rooms, and equipment. For $500 or so you will have , for the rest of your life, the power to adjust the sound according to yourequipment,  room, and ears. For the money there is nothing more useful, imho.

[Tausius]

I apologize if this was posted to the wrong location. One of the dangers of being new is that one doesn't necessarily know the right questions to ask. I figured that, since I was considered tube based gear, this would be a good location to get some advice.  It turns out that I got great advice, even if it wasn't tube specific.

I had actually messed with speaker placement, but all that I'd read indicated that ribbon speakers tended to work best facing with slightly in front of, or slightly behind the listening position. I'd tried those, and between, to no avail.  I'm very pleased to learn that I was wrong to stop at that point. There's no question that Jim is correct, the system has lots of room to grow.  Thanks to you all, it is one step improved. I'm looking forward to learning and improving lots more in the future.

Be well.
Aron

[jules]

Aron,

a few follow up thoughts here ...

It could be that the problems you've got aren't so much related to too much tweeter as too little mid. It's hard to evaluate what something should sound like if there's nothing to compare it to but if the sound you're getting is flat, in the sense that it lacks richness and doesn't envelop you, a buffer might be the answer.

The output impedance of your source should be around 1/100th of the input impedance of your amp. If the ratio is less than the mids can sound "starved". It's quite probable, with the source and amp you're using, that this is the case. A buffer between the source and the amp will alleviate this problem. If you can find a kit tube buffer with a good reputation it could be an interesting bit of DIY.

Here's an ebay one of unknown quality at little cost:

http://compare.ebay.com.au/like/221156057397?ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes

or maybe this?

http://oatleyelectronics.com//product_info.php?cPath=81&products_id=922

Jules