Camcroft
Established Member
And the OP was on at 11.55 this morning.Sadly many don’t report back.
And the OP was on at 11.55 this morning.Sadly many don’t report back.
You might be right there.This thread is possibly one of those Oh I will start a thread and just sit back and watch them get on with it. Without anymore input from the OP this thread is just going round in circles.
The speakers are better than the OP’s amp, which is not very good frankly. The OP would like to upgrade, this is where he should start, IMO of course.I don't know how you came to this surely the speakers should be the 1st thing to look at. Those Dali's are very limited.
The amp is powerful enough to drive most speakers though I'd agree it is limited.
My hunch is that the system overall is very neutral and lacks bottom end.
OP I don't know the best way to go about upgrading yours system, it's very unbalanced.
If you know someone with a phono pre amp it might be worth asking if you could give it a go, I'm not sure of the quality of the one on the Topaz.
Long term I'd be tempted to get better speakers, again if you can connect some borrowed ones that might help. Something a bit more musical and with a bigger bass driver.
Eventually I feel you'll want to upgrade your speakers and your amp I would start with speakers as they really are the weak point.
Surely new cartridge, phono stage can solve matter. Later on I mean or perhaps at the moment.I’d dismiss any changes to cartridge or phono stage, this will solve nothing and be a waste of time, IMO of course.
Fine can mean fine. I guess how you define sound. He clearly states lack of warmth.But he's said it sounds fine with a other source so that means amp and speakers are fine (plus not a reflective room etc)
I'm no expert, but with a turntable one of if not the biggest influence on a TT sound is the stylus. You did mention MC cartridges, I would not go down that road as it can be very expensive and in most case you can't replace the needle or re-tipping as they say or if you can it's a specialists job, it's better to stay with MM.Surely new cartridge, phono stage can solve matter. Later on I mean or perhaps at the moment.
OP clearly states lack of warmth. This can mean bright fatiguing sound. New speakers would solve this.
But perhaps new cartridge, phono stage can also. Sadly I’m no TT expert, perhaps my comments don’t matter.
However I have read lot about vinyl, and changing the cartridge, stylus does wonders sometime.
After all you can get super expensive MC cartridges.
To be honest not a great deal, was hoping not to go to far over the £200 markHi Harrison,
Your CA amp is the weak link here, the rest of your system is worth a better, dedicated stereo amplifier IMO.
The CA Topaz series were the most basic of components and can easily be bettered by a large margin. There is no mention of budget, so let’s start with that ?
Your speakers are respectable, they will sound MUCH better with a better amplifier. Then, when you realise the improvement an amp upgrade has unleashed, they can then be upgraded. Budget is the key here, wotcha got ?
Was very close to doing this and purchasing some Q Acoustic concept 20 in the sale. Unfortunately am sans camera at the moment due to a phone drop, but have experimented with moving the speakers round and having them on my monitor stands with isolation pads. I’ve achieved different sounds but never got the really clear sound I’ve heard from other setups.I’m not saying that your individual components wouldn’t benefit from an upgrade, but before you spend any money and dive down that rabbit hole, I’d spend a bit of time looking at the relationship between your speakers and the room. Because it’s free and it’s something people should typically give more thought to anyway.
As mentioned by others, pictures of your room and speakers, along with the size of your room will really help identify any obvious problems.
If you’re saying the system lacks warmth, this could be because your system isn’t delivering enough bass so you’re hearing too much of the upper registers within the whole frequency range. If so, moving your speakers closer to the front wall for a bit of boundary reinforcement could make a significant difference.
But there are so many factors at work with rooms and speaker positioning, that some pictures would really help prevent us all barking up the wrong tree.
My other guess is simply system matching. The relationship between your components is often as important as the ability of each component in its own right.
Get system matching right and you can achieve surprisingly great things with even modest budgets. Get it wrong and each component can end up either exacerbating the other’s weaknesses or nullifying its strengths.
And that’s why going to demo equipment before you buy is so important.
I have DALI speakers and have owned a Cambridge amp in the past. Whether they mirror a similar sonic signature to yours I’m not sure but in my experience they’re both on the forward side of neutral and emphasise the treble. So if amp AND speakers have this trait, the combined effect could be too much of a good thing. To counteract that you may need a warmer fuller amp (Arcam or Denon perhaps) or warmer speakers (Q Acoustics maybe).
I wonder how many people will buy components in the sales over the next few days simply because they saw an expensive component reduced to their price range and mistakenly thought, “if it’s a big reduction it must sound better” only to find it doesn’t suit their system, room or personal taste at all, then they put a thread on this forum asking others to fix it.
Online bargains must be among the biggest causes of user dissatisfaction and disappointment going in the hi-fi world.
It can be the room and the speakers. Mentioned before by others I believe.Was very close to doing this and purchasing some Q Acoustic concept 20 in the sale. Unfortunately am sans camera at the moment due to a phone drop, but have experimented with moving the speakers round and having them on my monitor stands with isolation pads. I’ve achieved different sounds but never got the really clear sound I’ve heard from other setups.
My friend has a setup with a planar 1, nad c316bee and psb alpha p5 speakers and everything has this clarity and warmth to it as if I’m in the room with the musicians. I can hear every part and it makes me want to listen to music. It even sounds great with the aux connected to an iPhone. I have never felt that excited to listen to music with my setup
Feeing very conflicted now! Unfortunately I’m located pretty remotely so borrowing things and bringing my setup to a shop is quite difficult, especially as I don’t drive. I’m hoping to go and test some parts but won’t be able to use my exact setup.I don't know how you came to this surely the speakers should be the 1st thing to look at. Those Dali's are very limited.
The amp is powerful enough to drive most speakers though I'd agree it is limited.
My hunch is that the system overall is very neutral and lacks bottom end.
OP I don't know the best way to go about upgrading yours system, it's very unbalanced.
If you know someone with a phono pre amp it might be worth asking if you could give it a go, I'm not sure of the quality of the one on the Topaz.
Long term I'd be tempted to get better speakers, again if you can connect some borrowed ones that might help. Something a bit more musical and with a bigger bass driver.
Eventually I feel you'll want to upgrade your speakers and your amp I would start with speakers as they really are the weak point.
I would say fatiguing is a good description of the sound I get. The mix always feels extremely clutteredSurely new cartridge, phono stage can solve matter. Later on I mean or perhaps at the moment.
OP clearly states lack of warmth. This can mean bright fatiguing sound. New speakers would solve this.
But perhaps new cartridge, phono stage can also. Sadly I’m no TT expert, perhaps my comments don’t matter.
However I have read lot about vinyl, and changing the cartridge, stylus does wonders sometime.
After all you can get super expensive MC cartridges.
By fine I meant extremely average, not an enjoyable and exciting sound that I’ve experienced on other setups. This was a setup I was gifted in 2014 for a 21st birthday and hasn’t been upgraded since. Unfortunately I don’t have a huge amount to spend at the moment.Fine can mean fine. I guess how you define sound. He clearly states lack of warmth.
Meaning it’s fine via iPod, not via vinyl. I assume he likes vinyl better. Hence likes to upgrade the TT setup.
Also the amplifier as mentioned should be in synch with speakers.
Alas it is impossible to say since OP doesn’t report back.
Unfortunately I don’t live close to this friend and as we don’t drive that’s not going to be realisticYou cannot borrow the speakers, rest of kit your friend have? At least try. This way you can see where the problem is.
I see your friend has NAD. This particularNAD- amplifier is on the warm side of neutral.
Sorry, I saw you mentioned this before my reply. Can you add pictures then.Unfortunately I don’t live close to this friend and as we don’t drive that’s not going to be realistic
Sorry I don’t have any more recent ones as my camera is screwed at the momentSorry, I saw you mentioned this before my reply. Can you add pictures then.
As I said earlier I’ve got them now on speaker stands further apart and 50cm from the wall! I’m usually sitting at the tablebuy some speaker stands for £50 and move those speakers further apart
Also, where are you sitting when listening? on the sofa adjacent?
Feeing very conflicted now! Unfortunately I’m located pretty remotely so borrowing things and bringing my setup to a shop is quite difficult, especially as I don’t drive. I’m hoping to go and test some parts but won’t be able to use my exact setup.
I’ve always found this setup lacking in the 6 houses I’ve had it in so not sure it’s just how the speakers are in the roomI agree with above, the room is larger than I envisioned, I’d wrongly assumed the room was smaller due to the speaker choice.
With that excuse out of the way, speakers first would probably make sense. Would you be able to accommodate small floorstanders ?
There are lots of used choices for good quality floorstanding speakers to be had although it would appear you’d be buying blind which is a bigger risk with speakers.