The CD or the System? (cluttered sound)
Hi,
I have recently bought the following:
Marantz MP6004
Marantz CD6004
Monitor Audio BX2 Speakers
VanDamme 2.5mm LC-OFC speaker cable
Atlas Equator 3 Inter connect
Mark Grant power cables
All were bought after literally months of research in the internet. I also didn’t want artificially skewed sound with things like silver plated speaker cables etc.
Anyway to the point…
30% of CDs sound spectacular
50% of CDs sound very good.
But 20% sound muddled. It’s like the vocals an instruments clash a bit, the sounds are not defined and seperated. Usually its when there is a lot going on in the track, anything thats just vocals or guitar for example always sounds spectacular.
Is this due to a part of my system, or are quite a lot of CDs not actually that well produced/recorded?
I feel I maybe cheeped out on the speakers, as was originally going to but KEF Q300s. I did listen to them beforehand (admittedly for only a few minutes) and there seemed very little in it between the two so I went for the £250 rather than £450 ones.
Thanks for any advice.
It could be the room acoustics too. How's your room arranged?
Which sound good and which sound muddled? Any examples
Thanks for the replies.
The room is quite big (for a 3 bed house), wooden floors and beams up top.
The speaker position is pretty much perfect. Symetrical and central in the room.
The stands are Nexus and filled with the 'speacial' synthetic sand stuff.
GSB - I'm in two minds, but if I had to guess I'd also say its the production at fault.
Pedro - I will try find some common examples (it might be tomorrow now)
One from earlier today was a Killers CD. As soon as the track got complex it clashed.
In contrast a CD that I thought would have sounded poor, but sounded superb was the Jackie Brown Soundtrack. Thats full of tracks that were recorded decades ago as well, just to complicate things.
Sounds like the recordings to me. The Killers CDs are pretty ropey sounding on the whole and there are plenty of other discs out there that just don't sound that good.
I have the 6003 combo with MA BX 2 speakers for more than a year now.
But I have to say after swapping my BX2 with my dad's old Mission M51 (bought new in 2004 for about £300) and I've noticed my Marantz has become quite a different animal.
A quick comparison with tracks like Katie Melua's "A moment of Madness" and "Red Ballons" in The House Album.
The sound coming out from my Mission is so much more alive compare with the BX2. The bass is a lot more dynamic and puchier and overall, a much better performer than the BX2.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/CZsfl/DSC00020.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/CZsfl/DSC00621.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/CZsfl/DSC00624.jpg
P.S. Having said that, after today's visit to Hughes in Norwich and bumped into a gentleman who was auditioning the BX2 hooked up to a Denon ( I gues it may be the DF107DAB), I was just blown away but its sound quality.
The only thing changing along with the sound quality is the CDs. CDs are the problem, by process of elimination.
Yep, the CDs.
One of the annoying things about good systems is that you start to realize how badly recorded some CDs are. It's even worse when it's music that you really like.
I have the same sut up as you cd6004 pm 6004 and bx2s have had the system for about two months now the only thing i have noticed when i play cds and push the source direct button its sounds awfull really tinny and no base, so idont use it sounds better when i adjust the base treble myself or use the loudness button do you have this problem
martin..
when i play cds and push the source direct button its sounds awfull really tinny and no base
...and therein lies the truth 
Thanks for all the replies so far.
After a bit more listening my percentages were wrong. Its a fair amount of CD that sound cluttered when busy.
Pulp, The Heavy, Stevie Wonder, King of Leon, Oasis, Radiohead and the list of big names goes on.
Some that sound really good..
Lana Del Ray, The Pixies, Guns and Roses, Paloma Faith, the majority Tiesto type music and a lot of rap musuc is bizzarly good like kanye west etc
Does it still sound like the CDs, or a weak point in my system?
At what volumes are you playing...
Why not buy a Test CD and find out if your system is good enough to reproduce the music being recorded.
Opus 3 produces quite a number of good Test CDs and there is a small booklet in the jewelly box explanining what you should look for during music playback.
http://www.opus3records.com/cd_samp.html
I got quite a number of them
To the original poster I have exactly the same problem......
I have a PM6004' CD6004' BX2 and chord silver carnival and crimson plus cables, some CDs sound terrible some sound fantastic! I guess it's down to the recordings.
Great sounding ones include
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
Massive attack. - mezzanine
However stuff like Kasabian, Linkin Park, oasis sound terrible, it's as though everything is muddled and it actually sounds painful to listen too!
You have expressed what i wanted/tried to say,and i'm positive it's the cd's...
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