Macca's System Blog

[_D_S_J_R_]

The basic design of the HK930 was really good, but it's probably gone off a bit now with age (I'm sure there's more than one thread out there regarding restoring one of these...). The very wide bandwidth (to get a perfect squarewave ) may actually work against it these days though...

[Macca]

Someone has had a go at it, replacing the spring clips with binding posts (and swapping sides too, so you have to wire right speaker to left output ) whether any serious internal work has gone on I don't know. I got it off Istari Knight, swapped him for a Sony 55ES, so maybe he might know more.

[Macca]

Okay I was going to give things a couple of days to bed in but having had a long (5 hr) listen last night with the LS5 cables on place the result is a mixed bag.

Sound with the nondescript 42 strand in place was not bad, a little untidy and a little occluded in the mids - example: cymbal crash/decay not quite right although not the worst I have heard by any means. I can't live with it, though

With the LS5 in place, sound tidier with a little more solidity to the bass (although no 'extra octaves' became apparant but was not expecting this. But overall sound also thicker and a little 'syrupy', there is an overall 'lack of rez' as Jerry would put it. Same
issue with the cymbal crash/decay being slightly smeared/muted.

On balance the sound was slightly more listenable with the 42 strand in place

I know none of these issues is related to the interconencts, pre, the cdp or the speakers since I have had this same combo (with the XTZ power amp) approaching perfection. Which seems to only leaves the speaker cables or the power amp as the culprit.

Should I give more burn in time. I'm doubting this will help but any advice gratefully received.

[_D_S_J_R_]

You found the same with the BMU didn't you? Sorry to butt in from this distance, but would lifting the speakers a few inches off the floor help with mid bass? I have no issues with lack of resolution/syrup at all, in fact, it's better than a good 2.5mm cable I was using before. I get a slight feeling that just maybe, an improvement further back in the chain may be emphasising issues in the speakers or positioning. Just a respectful thought, so please don't flame me here...

[Daniel Quinn]

So to paraphrase , you now have NVA pre and power amps and LS5 . You prefer 42 strand speaker cable to the ls5 but you cannot actually live with the 42, so you do not currently have a speaker cable you can live with ? Your dissatisfaction stems from a slightly syrupy sound lack of rez and smeared symbol decay .

Macca , I confess to having no idea what you are going on about , did you enjoy listening to the music you played , did it sound better than you have previously heard ?

[Macca]

Okay:

The best I have had the sytem was with everything the same as it is now but with the XTZ power amp in place or with Alan's OTL valve power amp in place. Speaker cables were Chord Odyssey 2.

the sound I have now is not as good/not as enjoyable

The only differences are the power amp and speaker cable therefore it cannot be down to speaker positioning, speakers, CD player, interconnects, pe amp since none of this has changed at all.

the BMU I auditioned when the XTZ was playing up so my comments as regards to that should be disregarded.

[Classicrock]

Macca your dissatisfaction could be down to a number of reasons since this is a different combination and may highlight different problems. I only have LS3 but the NVA signature sound is not syrupy.Try some decent speaker supports and/or positioning. Also it could be just revealing a deficiency in your source that didn't show up with the 42 strand or XTZ amp. Could try spikes or foculpods under the CD player and see if better or worse.

[Macca]

I've had the same issue with the midband before and the solution was the SSC interconnects. Until the XTZ amp went bad I never had this issue again.

The same issue is present when using the HK930 power amp and the Linn LK100. It is also present with the 42 strand in place. it is a smearing/lack of resolution in the mid band, most noticeable as an absence of natural decay on cymbals and a muted aspect to cymbal crashes/snare hits, particularly when part of a busy mix.

of all the power amps the linn is the least worst with this, the HK is the worst.

Which leads me to suspect that it is the power amp.

Consequently I am pretty certain it cannot be fixed by tweaking supports or any of that tinkering round the edges stuff.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Let me send you something to try which will tell me what is going on when you tell me the difference it makes.

[jammy395]

Let me send you something to try which will tell me what is going on when you tell me the difference it makes.

"Walkie-Talkies"

Sorry resistance is futile.......