How to improve system?

[minglewoodblue]

I have a limited budget for improvements. What would you change first to improve system? Klipsch KLF10's can sound a little harsh sometimes/fatiguing and I have read about the Crites titanium upgrades, which I am considering, but wondering if putting money towards receiver/amp/dac upgrade would be more beneficial. Would a DAC improve system for music? Or just a newer receiver?

This is my current system:

Klipsch KLF10
Klipsch C-7
Klipsch SS1
SVS SB12-NSD Sub

Denon AVR 3801

Iphone or laptop via rca cables
Tv via optical

 

[LenWhite]

Your system setup, room acoustics, and power supply all have major impacts on the sound reproduction.
You could start with some fairly inexpensive absorbers/diffusors, and decent power cords and power distributor. I use Ansuz who have a fairly wide expense range as does Nordost and others.

Do some Google research on audio power and acoustics and hopefully you can find something affordable that will help.

Reasonable power conditioning and acoustics are a starting point for audio products at any price range to produce their optimum.

 

[tmallin]

The absorber/diffuser idea is a good one. Such harshness problems are usually best handled with acoustical treatment or electronic equalization, not changing cords/DACs, power filters, etc.

If you are using a computer as a source and have Roon, you could try using some electronic equalization via Roon's DSP function to knock down the high frequency level a bit to see if that helps.

If you don't have Roon, if your receiver allows you to insert an electronic equalizer box into the signal path (are tape out/tape in or preamp out/preamp in jacks available?) you could add a cheap analog 31-band graphic equalizer and experiment with whether that works to reduce the annoying harshess. Such problems are usually associated with the lower high frequencies, such as 2 kHz to 5 kHz.

 

[minglewoodblue]

Your system setup, room acoustics, and power supply all have major impacts on the sound reproduction.
You could start with some fairly inexpensive absorbers/diffusors, and decent power cords and power distributor. I use Ansuz who have a fairly wide expense range as does Nordost and others.

Do some Google research on audio power and acoustics and hopefully you can find something affordable that will help.

Reasonable power conditioning and acoustics are a starting point for audio products at any price range to produce their optimum.

Thanks, never even consider that. I'll look into it.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Welcome to WBF, minglewoodblue!

 

[treitz3]

Hello and welcome to the forum, minglewoodblue. Have you considered getting a tube or 12 in the mix to tone down the harshness?

Tom

 

[howiebrou]

Your system setup, room acoustics, and power supply all have major impacts on the sound reproduction.
You could start with some fairly inexpensive absorbers/diffusors, and decent power cords and power distributor. I use Ansuz who have a fairly wide expense range as does Nordost and others.

Do some Google research on audio power and acoustics and hopefully you can find something affordable that will help.

Reasonable power conditioning and acoustics are a starting point for audio products at any price range to produce their optimum.

I would certainly try looking at room acoustics first. It's much cheaper and probably more likely to be successful than just swapping gear (unless of course you are looking for an excuse to do so )

 

[justubes]

You need to give some info on your room size, listening distance and material of floor and wall.

If it is a non wood flooring, please borrow or get a nice wool or cotton rug and place it in between the speaker and your chair.

Room acoustics can certainly play a big part but I would not go will the foam absorbersor damping to deal with your problem.

It it is common that the speakers tend to exhibit this from other users. I would get the tweeter caps upgraded which will target the harshness etc you are experiencing.

Look out maybe for the Audyn caps which are not to expensive.

 

[Duke LeJeune]

Minglewoodblue, my instinct is to suspect the horn. I make horn speakers which theoretically makes me a competitor so you are invited to view my suspicion with even more suspicion.

Look inside the horn. Do you see any abrupt discontinuities? Perhaps where the compression driver's exit joins to the horn's throat? There are many locations where a horn can have an issue, and the transition between the round exit of the compression driver and the flat sides of a square or rectangular horn is one of them.

Another place where square or rectangular horns can have an issue is at the inside corners within the horn itself. If those inside corners are sharp instead of rounded or filleted, they can be a source of internal reflections and therefore harshness.

Eyeballing a photo it looks to me like the mouth has a real round-over instead of a sharp edge, and that's a very good thing. So I don't think the mouth is part of the problem.

I hope I'm wrong and that the harshness originates elsewhere because if the horn's basic geometry is the problem, it's usually not the sort of problem that can be fixed upstream. I'm not saying such problems are unfixable, just not easily fixable.

 

[Mikem53]

The room, as mentioned above from others.. probably the biggest offender when it comes to exhibiting harshness, especially if there is a TV in between the speakers.
Then I would move away from an AVR if you really want better sound for music.. IME, AVR receivers are about functionality and options over SQ, quantity over quality... electronics will help.. but some speakers are just bright or too hot on top to tame with some electronics..

 

[LenWhite]

minglewoodblue;

I recommended Ansuz P2 power cords and a Mainz8 X·TC Power distributor to a good friend last year. He had addressed room acoustics previously and his system already sounded really good.

He recently emailed me saying "the sound improvement from the cables and distributor was easily detectable and hard to believe. I've had a similar experience with paying careful attention to the audio system power supply and distribution. I wish I had this knowledge many years ago, it would have saved money trying to get good sound. Electricity ultimately is what we're listening to from our speakers.

Having said that: if you're just a casual listener, spending money on higher end gear is likely not cost effective. I certainly wouldn't start spending more money on speakers, amps, and source components until the power is addressed. Otherwise (whatever) equipment you buy will never reveal its true potential.

I have a lot of detailed information on my Audiogon web page about my audio system journey in your interested. Just follow my signature link.

Good luck.