Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems My system sounds digital.. Help!

All,

since I moved house, my system just hasn't sounded right. Granted its been in boxes for the best part of 6 months and I cannot reliably remember what it sounded like in my old house, but, to my ears, my system sounds gritty and digital, not silky smooth as I (think I) remember it.

I have:
Sony Freeview (optical digital)
Squeezebox2 (coax digital)
Pioneer DV656A DVD (coax digital)

into

561

out to

505s for LCR to B&W 705s/LCR600
some temporary power amp for rears
BFD to SVS PB12+

The power amps and subs are powered separately from the sources. The sources are powered via an RFI and surge filtering 6 way outlet. The interconnects are homemade using OFC cable silver soldered to gold plated phono plugs. The speaker wire is new but essentially the same as my old wire. I've changed it back and no difference was observed. Other than that, the system is exactly the same as at my old house. I even loaded up the confg from my old house, but it still sounded gritty.

It seems to be the treble that is affected, it sounds, well, gritty, digital, like its having a hard time decoding it. I don't have drop outs or anything like that, and it affects all sources. i've tried reloading the firmware and everything. vocals have an unpleasant edge, cymbals sound harsher and edgy. i'm sure its not right, but i can't put my finger on what the problem is.

nothing in my system has changed, apart from the house. what might be the source of this 'grittiness' in the high frequencies?

thanks

Chris

Let me help you It's a different room

It sounds like you haven't done any room treatments and you've got some reflection/room decay issues.

Cheers,

Yep, that thought occured to me. That I might be hearing a problem that doesn't exist - or something that I couldn't hear at my last house. I am sat 2.6m from my speakers compared to 3.6m in my old house. I have yet to have curtains put up, although we have carpet and (leather) sofas. Room treatment? ah, what I would give to be allowed to do that

I suspect your new listening room is acoustically more lively than your old one. So the high frequency energy is more prominent than it used to be.

Do you have more bare surfaces in your new room than you had before? If so, try covering them up, e.g. rugs to cover bare floorboards.

Mark S

The curtains will also make a big difference in my experience. I moved house around 18 months ago and my system sounded quite different.

You will also get used to the sound in your new room before long.

One other observation is that you're sitting _very_ close to those speakers. Could be another contributing factor.

Mark: yes, we haven't started furnishing the place yet, although we do have carpet down.

Mark, Daniel: Yes, curtains will help, but I suspect that due to me being that much closer, and the room being wider than it is long, that perhaps I'm hearing less reflected sound and more direct sound compared to my old living room which was longer than wide. Not sure. What I'm getting at is as I'm closer to the tweeters, perhaps I'm hearing more detail that was previously muddied slightly with room reflections?

I guess there isn't much I can do about it. What about the treble control? I understand that it isnt the same as treble controls on other manufacturers equipment - would it be any use to me? I guess I'm finding the new room's sound and my proximity to the speakers a bit too direct

I have tweaked the sound on my DSPs using the tone controls to suit my preferred sound. No problems with that I'd say. Why not just bring the treble down a bit and see what you think?

Bit of advice on room treatment and SWMBO:

Girlies like cushions - so buy lots of them - especially the heavy type. Leave them all over the room - not in an untidy way, just balanced on sofas - especially at reflection points.

Start admiring the one / two colour prints they seem to put up as art in pizza restaurants.

Buy some more cushions.

Start propping some on top of each other behind you front speakerss when she's out.

Then tell her it would be much simpler and more fashionable if you put some nice, tasteful, cloth covered foam panels around the room - she can choose the colour scheme.

It worked for me.........mine are just being clothed at the factory as I type this.

Hi, Have you angled your speakers a bit.
Mine Toe in and Tilt back a bit.
Also re adjust any user define presets.
Basicaly, Play with it and Buy more cusions.
Persian Carpets can make great wall hangings.
Chuck "IN" the chince.

Chris

If your system hasn't been used for a while, then these steps may help:

Clean all accessible electrical contacts (on sepaker cables, interconnects, connectors, binding posts, etc.)

The mounting screws of the speaker drivers MAY need tightening (but be very careful not to over tighten or damage the screw heads)

Some good suggestions above, but I suggest you investigate another tack - modify your player.

As I've posted many times (apologies to those who are sick of reading it yet again) IMO the playing equipment, not the format, has been the cause of all the justified criticism of digital. The harshness, grittiness etc is a result of the mangling of those 0's & 1's long before they reach a DAC stage or an amplifier. Most of it is timing errors resulting in jitter etc but poor power regulation and other factors are involved. The old addage "Garbage In -> Garbage Out" applies with a vengeance. If the signal fed in is not as good as possible, all you can do is to filter and/or mask it thereafter - a rather futile and expensive exercise.

I've had all 7 players (two of them laserdisc and one a Meridian 800) modified here to great effect. I used to despise and dislike the sound from digital recording and clung faithfully to vinyl for nearly 2 decades but sold nearly all of it last year and am enjoying far superior sounding music from CDs & SACDs than I ever heard from vinyl.

This year I've gone a stage further and had a Benchmark DAC 1 extensively modified by Steve Nugent at Empitical Audio with even more spectacular results. No, it has not displaced the 861 as this remains the heart of the audio-video system here and is unsurpassed for surround sound. No, the modded Benchmark has supplemented the system and is the 2CH processor for CDs & LDs with the analog output fed back into the v861 for surround sound.

I've got a bit carried away here riding my hobby horse but modification might be something else worth considering. I have an essay on this topic somewhere on this board but lost after it was reorganised. However you can also find it at
http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/digital/messages/106559.html

This audio-video mania manifests itself in the never ending search for the holy audio-video grail. What we are content with today we can be disatisfied with tomorrow.

All the best in your quest.

John

Great post and link John

Is your 800 an older version? Presumably you could not get it upgraded with software now?