I have 2 Levinson amps. The 5000 series amplifier (5302) leans toward a brighter sound versus my 534 not having that bright sound. The 5101 must be contributing to the sound you dislike. But the 5302 most likely isn’t the only issue. It could be room/ setup. My 2nd system is located in what used to be a bad sounding room, and music did indeed sound horrendous and unlistenable in that room, but I treated the room and managed to get decent sound with the 2nd system, something I thought would not be possible. Having your dealer over is still a recommended starting point.
Given the few things mentioned in this post about the dealer I am not sure I would welcome him in to my home. Seems like he highly over priced the speakers and didn’t negotiate any kind of return, not even with a “restocking fee.”
I disagree. The dealer is reportedly able to get those speakers to sound good. Not getting the dealer’s input would be a mistake.
Your speaker cables aren’t very good. Old Cardas Quadlink ? Assuming you are in the USA you should contact The Cable Company and borrow some speaker cables. If I was to recommend cables. Audience Audio, Shunyata, Cardas Clear. It’s almost free to borrow cables. And Try putting the Cardas Quadlink on the woofer and the AudioQuest on the top
Some of you seem to have missed an important point. The OP doesn’t have anymore money to spend.
Have you tried the other filter settings on your Levinson? Seems that you did.
I have a kind of crazy idea if the dealer is coming to your house maybe you could convince him to bring his Demo’s maybe his will sound better or maybe they’ll be the same?
I was getting mixed messages on this from the OPster’s posts of four days ago.
Roon has a free trial. Also, maestro is coming with a full dsp suite, with equalization. Maybe you should try with your streamer or any other (as raspberry pi 4 does a terrific job for a hundred) . Focal are modern speakers. You will be able to tailor their sound to your liking.
I did not listen to the speakers at the dealer I purchased them. They did not have any in stock. But they gave me a much better deal than where I heard them
What mixed messages?
My streamer isn’t compatable with Roon
onehorse, maybe we misunderstood that you had heard these at a dealer from what you said in your first post…
So the question I think for clarity’s sake is - you heard these somewhere and liked them?
It sounded like you wanted to buy (if possible) your old B&Ws back, but your first post sounded like you were feeling like you didn’t desire to put more money in the hobby (frankly a struggle I think most of us face). I read that as a choice being possible. A couple of days later you were more clear saying you have no more funds. Apologies for the confusion.
I still think if you heard these and liked them, there’s a chance you could take a hit on selling the Levinson (which seems to be a contributor to what you don’t like hearing) and find something more suitable. No, it wouldn’t be the easiest thing to do.
I think that my room is just too small for these speakers. I’m STARTING to think that there is so much energy coming from them, even at low volumes, that I just can’t listen or tame them. My 802’s were a warm sounding speaker that had a larger soundstage and less flabby bass. I heard the Focal’s in a larger room.
The point of all this was to change things up, after 20 years treat myself to a new pair of speakers. It apparently is not working out.
No, I am retired, and cannot just spend more and more money at this point. However, I’m not broke, and I can afford to buy my 802’s back from the dealer for the same trade-in price he gave me. But that leaves me with a pair of $30,000 boat anchors that aren’t worth anything in the after market.
@dchang05 … what’s the “black snake oil” expected on Monday?
I feel for you, onehorse. Did you hear anything helpful from Focal directly?
They are very efficient speakers as well. You do not need much power at all to drive them.
I’m referring to the db level or volume level when I say low volumes. I’m not referring to the position of the volume knob, or on the BHK preamp the number displayed.
The Monday postman is slow so I usually get the mail in late afternoon. The plan is to apply it on fuses and power cords first so I do not need to shutdown the system twice. I will report if it is a snake oil or the next wonder of the audio world.
If I cannot hear a difference I will try it on IC and SC next. If it is still not working I will use it as touch paint on my woods and on my golf shoes.
One thing you might consider trying for little money and no risk. Order a Wiim Ultra from Amazon for $329 as this will let you try streaming again with an app that works and will also give you a chance to try out another DAC to see if that helps with the brightness. Might not help in the end but a cheap way to find out with the Wiim or if they have another streamer/DAC combo with an AKM chipset. You have 30 days to find out if it helps.
… but what is it called?
I assume it is supposed to improve connectivity?
There was a few of these on the market a few years ago but they seem to have died out.