With the mismatch with my Infinity’s, the harshness made music unlistenable. Luckily i was able to demo the pre/power amps at home over that weekend. Your next step depends on how harsh the sound is. Is it simply fatiguing after a long listening session, or do you notice everything being harsh? You might need to go just a little bit softer with something like a new Classe preamp? Or do you need to change things much further with a full tube pre? Or something in between like a BHK pre? (Questions for you to ask of you, lol)
Tried connecting a Cambridge Audio integrated amp up to my 802d’s, Rated at 100wpc, wow what a difference. Not saying good/bad, but what a contrast. my Bryston BP-26 is bright and light on bass, where the Cambridge Audio is not bright at all, with a huge amount of bass.
Question: what is causing such a difference?
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I cannot answer your question directly, but power amps and preamps do sound different. Am glad the brightness is gone with the Cambridge. Whether this is your final solution or just the start of a new quest, I hope you’re enjoying music on your 802D speakers.
My Sopra 3’s never struck me as bright, The tweeters are non fatiguing when listening for long periods of time at high volume levels.
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One person’s bright is another person’s airy. One person’s musical is another person’s unresolving. It’s so difficult to use bright/dark etc because our understanding of them is based entirely on experience.
This was brought home to me when I bought a pair of Audeze LCDi4 (I love them by the way). My other headphones are Focal Utopias and they are absolutely further towards the “warm” end of the spectrum when compared to the Utopias. But, I’ve read on forums that some find the i4 far too “bright”.
Stereo 2ch - Sopra 3 + BHK 300, BHK Preamp, Lumin X1 and 2 SVS SB16 Ultra’s
HT 4.2.2 - Sopra 3 + BHK 300, 2 SVS SB16 Ultra’s, Lyngdorf MP40 with a pair of Focal 300 series ICW-8 (Atmos) and 1000 series ICLCR5 rear surrounds.
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My guess is that in addition to personal taste, those that think Focal’s are bright didn’t drive them with a BHK Pre to BHK 300
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Or a BHK Pre and 250 like I do. The tubes in both provide endless tuning possibilities.
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I suppose we should extend that to power regen, power cords, cables, and speaker isolation. There’s a lot of ways to tune the sound to your preference of pretty much any speaker. Sure some may be more challenging depending on where you are starting from and where you want to go. But there are lots of possibilities.
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I suspect you guys running your Focal speakers with tubes might feel somewhat different if you were running the OP’s gear in front of them and a lot of his issues with his current speakers might be alleviated if he swapped that forward Bryston preamp for a tube based one. Especially one running 6SN7 tubes.
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This is all true, but I’m running a Chord TT2 in M700’s and again, not bright. Heaps have people have complained that the TT2 is too bright.
But, I wonder if the sheer amount of finely resolved detail that the TT2 and Kanta 2 can throw out is such a shock for some people that they react by saying “bright”?
It’s easy to build a system that gives you a very enjoyable big blob of powerful, hits you hard in the chest sound that is low on detail but high on dynamics and fatness. The systems like that I’ve heard at any length are enjoyable for some music, but I awaits miss the detail.
You pay your money and you make your choice.
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We all like music presented the way we like it and if that weren’t true there wouldn’t be hundreds of active and profitable speaker companies. But in the end if the OP is going to stick with the front end gear he has B&W to Focal is a sideways move. So to get what he said he wanted 70 posts ago he has to change on one end or the other or just repeat a different version of what he has.
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I 100% agree. I am every bit as much a fan of the DS as I am of the TT2. They both are distinctly different, but are fairly detailed.
Two days away from my system. An entire morning with a friend’s system and great music with terrific people. Home to my setup fir a few hours now and I’ve got to say, I bloody well love the Kanta No2. I also deeply appreciate what Akiko Audio products do. I’ll be saving for more of them immediately.
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I have Focal Aria 936, MC2205, BHK Pre, DS DAC, EAR 834 Phono Pre, LINN 12 Turntable , LYRA Scala MC Cartridge, Interconnects WW Silver Starlight 5.2 Ref, Speaker wire: Crystal Clear Audio Magnum Opus. This is a great marriage between them and the Focal Aria 936. Great symbiotic relationship.
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I really like my Focal Aria 948s a lot as well !!
Best wishes
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You had a great choice too w the Focal Aria 948…cheers!!
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What did you end up doing? Sticking with B&W and the different amp? Changing speakers and keeping electronics? Throwing it all n the bin and starting again? Huddled in a corner in tears?
Personally, I’d go with something like the EgglestonWorks Rosa Signature SE to replace the B&W’s with. A far better performing speaker, and fatigue is nonexistent with EgglestonWorks speakers.
The Focal sound drives me away better than anything else. I have tried. We are not compatible. But ruining perfectly good music with awful speakers is the right everyone has.
Wait, did I type that out loud? Sigh.
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