[zlib]

I made 24 strand speaker cables with spades/tube connectors and connected it to my new NX-Studio speakers. I hear too much of high frequencies comparing to my usual speaker cables from Lampizator (my speakers have usual binding posts in addition to tube connectors) and I wonder if it could be because of not very well made solder joints. I used new cable for about 10 hours and the problem still exists.
Maybe someone has any other suggestions?

[Digi-G]

It's interesting that you have new speakers and cables in your system and your attributing the differences you're hearing to the cables.

The NX Studios are known to have a lot of detail.  If you only have 10 hours on them (and your cables), you really should wait until at least 100 hours for any meaningful break in and evaluation.

There's a lot we don't know.  How far away are you sitting from the speakers?  How far are the speakers from the back wall?  What are your upstream components?  Room treatments?  Etc.

I'm sure others will chime in with more wisdom.

[NoahH]

Too much volume or detail?

I would do a calibrated mic sweep first and confirm if it is actually volume.

[howard1818]

What determines which speaker cable to use the 16 or the 24. I try to make one change at a time to see what the result is.

[Danny Richie]

A cable can't add anything that isn't already there. It is likely you are finally hearing what has been there in the recording all along.

However, those cables need nearly 200 hours to settle in. So they will smooth out considerably as you put more time on them. So just keep pushing music through them and hear what happens.

[zlib]

It is likely you are finally hearing what has been there in the recording all along.

I don't think so. I hear too much of high frequencies on live recordings with acoustic instruments and those instruments sound unrealistically bright. So my only guess is bad soldering because my soldering iron was not very capable to heat thick wire properly.
But if you are positive that can't be the case then I'll just continue to break them in.

[Early B.]

I don't think so. I hear too much of high frequencies on live recordings with acoustic instruments and those instruments sound unrealistically bright. So my only guess is bad soldering because my soldering iron was not very capable to heat thick wire properly.

With bad soldering, you'd hear something totally different or nothing at all. If it's unrealistically bright, then that's not a break-in issue. The problem is elsewhere. Did you build your own speaker cables? Are you certain your crossover is wired correctly? Are all your connections in-phase? Double-check everything.

[mlundy57]

I don't think so. I hear too much of high frequencies on live recordings with acoustic instruments and those instruments sound unrealistically bright. So my only guess is bad soldering because my soldering iron was not very capable to heat thick wire properly.
But if you are positive that can't be the case then I'll just continue to break them in.

What may be happening is the woofers and woofer circuits haven't broken in yet. This will bake the sound bass shy which has the effect of making the highs sound bright. I've experienced this with every GR speaker I've built. By about 50 hours, the woofers have broken in enough that more of the bass is coming through which starts to balance out the highs and they don't sound near as bright. The crossover networks will continue to settle in and the sound improve through 100 - 400 hours depending on the type of components used. The biggest changes will occur during the first 100 hours. After that, the rate of improvement will slow down. After 200 hours, improvement will be subtle.

I wouldn't recommend troubleshooting the connections until after at least the first 100 hours. To speed this up, I let speakers play 24 hours a day for two days at a time, varying the volume (very quiet at nite) with 12 hour breaks every 48 hours of play. There's nothing magical about this schedule, just what works for me.

[Danny Richie]

There is nothing bright sounding about those speakers or those cables. Let them complete the burn in process then evaluate what you are hearing. If there is still brightness then it is coming from somewhere else.

[Vince in TX]

When I first built and installed my X-On Walls (A/V-1RS), they were so bright that certain sounds almost burst my ear drums (like gunshots).   That's when I fired up a burn-in WAV file and let it run for a few days straight.   The harshness started to fade the longer they were broken in.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Fastest way to break in the woofers is to play a "brown noise" tone for ~50hrs. About as loud as you can stand, one speaker facing the other, with one wired out of phase. Then cover them with heavy blankets to reduce volume.

https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/whiteNoiseGenerator.php

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