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Recording quality of most of my CDs.
Nothing in audio is ever perfect—or is it? If you have a weak link in your audio system, what is it and why?
Probably the worst B&W speakers ever made: the DM580's (top of what was essentially the 600 series in the early '90s). Its metal dome tweeter is shrill and obnoxious, completely negating the smooth mids and better than decent bass. (It'll have to pass until I get a real job after high school and college) I'm running a warm-sounding Pop Pulse t-amp with it helps quite a bit. rest of the system is Adcom GFA-535 (other amp driving B&W DM620i's which IMO sound better than most of the new 680 series), Acurus L10 (pre), AQ interconnects and AR master series digital coaxial, Denon CDP, Sunfire subs.
The weakest link in my system is the source material I feed it. Not all CDs (or LPs) are created equally. When they are recorded and produced well, they sound very, very, good. When they are average, they sound it. My components always do their job very well.
Speakers, even though they are Stereophile Class A. They aren't active and the crossover happens after amplification. I notice Stereophile/the hi-fi industry pays very little attention to such speakers, despite their considerable advantages over passive speakers.
The room is the weakest link in most listeners' systemscertainly mine. While I have located the speakers and listening chair well away from room boundaries, the untreated room is still impacting bsss response and to a lesser degree sidewall and ceiling reflections. Ethan Winer's Real Traps will be my next upgrade, along with a subwoofer.
Power. I live in a suburb and share a transformer with all my neighbors. By the time the power gets to me, it is a grungy mess. I have been working to improve it through AC regeneration & good power cables that shield out all the bad stuff that happens to power in crowded neighborhoods.