Hello All:

After a long Saturday afternoon's work of rearranging and rewiring my listening room - with all intentions centering around my stereo system - I have found that I have ruined a very good thing. I kinda feel like crying! After a hefty investment in equipment during the 2009 year, I have seen what COULD be. Of course I could always go back to the old, but, before I do, I decided to reach out for any insight.

Attached is the before and after layouts of my small, awkward den (before=2009, after=2010). The room is part old plaster, and part painted wallboard. The floor is hardwood with a 5 by 8 area rug (shown).

Before: balance! Well rounded lower mids, smooth, tight bass reaching as low as a system like this can go (in my opinion, of course), and floating highs that fit right in.

After: Well, I feel like selling everything and getting a iPod sound dock!!! In a nut shell, EXTREMELY harsh, irritating highs. And, what da hell happened to the lower end!!! I mean, I actually checked whether my power amp was operating correctly!!!!!!!! It's a mess!!!!

My system:
Source: Apple lossless thru a Cayin USB DAC (valve-based analog stage).
Roksan Caspian M-Series Integrated and Power Amps (current models).
VDH Hybrid Interconnects.
B&W 685s.
QED SIlver Anniversary XT Bi-wire.
(Oh, the other concurrent change was moving the 685s from the old B&W stands to my new Pardington stands).

The big, obvious change is that both speakers are now aligned with their backs against a wall at a distance of one foot.

Also, in preparation for the effect of some room awkwardness, I have purchased and received two 24" by 48" off-the-shelf acoustic panels. I have yet to mount these panels. My intentions was to place them on the two sides of the jutting corner of the closet in order to mitigate whatever effect this hard corner may produce. I really didn't/don't know what I was doing.

Thank you for reading this and thanks for all suggestions!

Alex

Attach file:

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  The New Den 2009.jpg (238.96 KB)


  The New Den 2010.jpg (236.09 KB)

You havn't connected your speakers out of phase have you...?
DF

Good call re: out-of-phase, but no, I checked, al wiring is correct.

Snowed in today, so I cannot get the hardware to mount my acoustic panels.