What did I do wrong on my first Hi-Fi?

[zilli]

Hi guys,


I'm new here. I really hope someone can give me some light here. I'm very depressed now.

After decades, I finally bought my first Hi-Fi system. I was very proud of that. My set up is:

- Roksan Kandy 2
- Mission MX-5
- Rega RP-6
- QED Silver Anniversary XT


I know there are a lot better choices out, but those were what I could afford.

So, I finally had all the pieces yesterday and I spent the night mounting them. I was quite excited to hear the MX-5. All the reviews I read stated that they can kick very well. And after hours of work, I finally turned on my Rega and brought the volume up. However, what I heard wasn't what I was expecting. The speakers didn't perform at all. The speakers sound likes if there are pillows in front of them. Stuffy??? Sorry, I cannot find the adjective here. You cannot have an idea how disappointed I'm.

I'm trying to find reasons for my setup low performance:

- It's all new. They need time to break-in
- My room is rather small.
- I screwed up with the cabling.
- Roksan and Mission don't pair well.


The Mission manual is quite weak and confuses in explaining how to connect the speaker cable. I 'hope' I did something wrong. I'll post some pic later. Once I get home.

Any comments about my set and/or previous similar experience are welcome.

Thanks,
Daniel

 

[rojo]

Do you have your Rega turntable plugged into the phono input of the Roksan? Does the stuffy pillow sound extend to other sources (FM radio, for example)?

Break-in time for speakers is a myth, by the way.

 

[markw]

It sounds like you made all your purchasing decisions based on what you've been reading in magazines.

Buying a speaker based on what you've read rather than what you've heard is always a risky proposition. Tastes vary.

Please note that all reviews of speakers are fairly subjective things. One reviewers "kick" might be someone else's "tap".

Here's a review of your speakers from a Brit magazine.

Likewise, your expectations of "kick" might be different than his. Likewise, it sounds like you might have issues with other areas of the range as well.

[edit] Aside from spending more than you needed to, you didn't "screw up" with the cabling and that amp/speaker pairing thing is more myth than reality.

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum!

You mentioned the speaker wiring, and it's possible that you connected something wrong. From the manual and pictures, your speakers have four speaker posts to allow for bi-amping/bi-wiring. If you ran one wire from the amp to each speaker, do your speakers still have the two metal "brackets" that connect two terminals together (like shown below)?

 

[zilli]

Welcome to the forum!

You mentioned the speaker wiring, and it's possible that you connected something wrong. From the manual and pictures, your speakers have four speaker posts to allow for bi-amping/bi-wiring. If you ran one wire from the amp to each speaker, do your speakers still have the two metal "brackets" that connect two terminals together (like shown below)?

Thanks Adam and all for the comments.

The quality improved a bit today. The louder the volume the better the speakers work.

I know that my room is not suitable for those speakers, so I plan to move them to a bigger room later.

Anyway, here you can see how I connected both speakers. Is that correct?

Mission MX-5 Pictures, Mission MX-5 Images, Mission MX-5 Photos, Mission MX-5 Videos - Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting

Thanks,

 

[Adam]

Anyway, here you can see how I connected both speakers. Is that correct?

Yep, that's correct (assuming that you hooked up the "+" and "-" ends correctly to your amp). The stuffy (or muffled is how I interpret that) description made me wonder if you had the wires hooked up just to the low frequency terminals, but that's not the case.

I'm glad that it's sounding better to you today. Some of that can also be you getting used to the sound of them.

 

[zilli]

Thank Adam.

I'll give them a bit of time.

Cheers

 

[slipperybidness]

Thank Adam.

I'll give them a bit of time.

Cheers

You have ignored other, more important questions.

Is the problem present on another source like FM or CD?

Is the Rega plugged into a true phono input?