Hi Lads,
I'll start by telling you what I have ...and then for my tale of woe.

Musical Fidlelity x150 Amp
Nad 521BEE Player
Monitor Audio S8's (Bi-wired)
Silver Anniversary Cable.

Had originally a Cyrus 8 but the thing went belly up after 6 months. Gave Cyrus some leeway and allowed them chance a repair..got the amp back after 3 months...you heard right..3 months...and it lasted 2 days before it went belly up again.

Cyrus shrugged their collective shoulders and offered to fix it again. I took my money back and went looking. Bought a Musical Fidelity x150 amp..probably in too much of a hurry.

Compared to the C8 the bottom end is mushy..the mid range is laid back to the point of falling over...and there is very little detail at the top end.

The shop told me it was the interconnect I was using at the time..which made sense..it was a Qed qunect 2..(cheap and cheerful I know). He sent me out a couple of new interconnects to try. Qed's silver spiral and TCI viper.

The silver spiral is just a slightly better Q2..nothing more..and the Viper..well..the mid range improved..but the top end was absolute mush...no detail at all...and where the amp itself is concerned, overall the delivery is slower then a very slow person.

Long and short is...I cant afford to change the amp again...its not a bad amp..its just VERY different to the Cyrus 8. Can an interconnect give me what I want. Tight fast bass, Good detailed midrange and detailed top end.Can anyone help me !!!

(and yes I have tried blocking up the bottom ports on my speakers which did tighten things up and moved them away from the back wall ect.)

thanks in advance lads.

Hi Jason,

I have a similar problem with an biamped Arcam A85/P85 but I'm getting there.

Maybe worth auditioning a used Merlin Chopin IC or a VDH 102 MK3 (if not already).

I'm currently running in a VDH the Ultimate Mk2 & the bass is slowly but surely tightning up.

Let us know how you get on?

Matt

Hi Matthew,
thanks for the reply. In fairnes to the QED it has opened up a great deal since i posted and its not bad..but you know urself..always chasin the dream..went to e-bay and paid a £100 for the Nordost red dawn...cant wait..attitude was that the dealer wanted a £90 for the silver spirial so why not go out and maximise what I get for the cash...anyhew..That should be arriving next week sometime and I cant wait to hear how it sounds after its run in. Hoping it wont be too bright considering the speakers I have..but shur we'll give it a go. I'll let you know.
The Chopin was top of my list before I started all this but you CANT get them in Ireland...crazy..and they werent available through ebay so..
Once again..thanks for the reply.

Fast, tight, neat, airy, spacious sound is a speciality of Audioquest. I'd recommend the Python (or up). I know, it is expensive, but give it a chance to play a few minutes in your system.

i cannot hear much difference between cables

Try NVA Sound Pipes for sale on eBay - search for NVA or look at seller Spoddledink. Absolutely superb, and this in comparison to Siltech, top Audioquest, Kimber KCAG etc etc ... all of which sell for many 100s of £££. The NVAs cost about £50 per metre pair (lots of lengths available) with a full refund if you don't think they are amazing. I'm just a (very) happy user of these beasts - no connection to the seller. Try 'em !! - you will, I think, be amazed.

Interesting Jerry! What sort of sound will you get from the NVA's? My tastes are quite heavy (all out rock! mainly), but occasionally i dabble in a bit of dirty blues. Do u think these interconnects will really make a difference to my music? (FYI I'm using Van Damme/Neutrik Performance's at the mo')

I suspect you would be most pleased. The NVAs are easily the best i/cs I've tried, including several at £1000/ metre pair or so (Siltech silver/gold hybrids, AQ Anaconda, Cardas Golden Reference - I'm a bit of a cable nut!). The NVA sound is exceptionally transparent and detailed, but not harsh. Tremendous bass depth and power too. Great 3D soundstage. Extremely fast & dynamic. I love it - who knows? ... you may not. Certainly worth a try though, for the cost of postage.

£1000 per metre? Wow, that must be some cable!! Think you've sold me on the NVAs, I'm sure they'll be an improvement on what I've got now...

Well, the NVA Sound Pipes have gotta be worth a try! ... I didn't mention Nordost, 'cos I hate the things - they gain their undoubted transparency by thinning out the midrange and losing the music. Mind you, I haven't tried the Valhallas, but then £1000 doesn't get near their price! I'd be interested in how you get on with the NVAs - do let me know.

I'll give the NVAs a go and let you know how i get on!

Incidently, I'm looking to get a new mains cable. Having not really bothered with this area of my set-up before, I'm interested in the potential increase sound quality. Any ideas on what I should go for? (Can't really go crazy money-wise!)

Yup, that's an easy one, I think. Try Krystal Kables Titan (£65 for 1m, P&P inclusive, I think). Another eBay wonder! Also money back if you don't want them. Absolutely superb - clarity & definition in spades, real bass control & agility. I've tried Kimber Reference, TCI Superconductor, Synergistic Research Master Coupler, Siltech MO18 .... all sound muddled and opaque compared to the Krystal Titan. I may have a Krystal Mercury mains cable for sale (if current buyer/demo-er doesn't want it, I will know this weekend) -, which is "one up" and the top in KK's lineup, but gives a brighter sound - too bright for me.

Cheers for that Jerry, I'll have a look into the Titan. I've heard some good things about the Kimber cable too (hi-fi choice i think it was), but I'll take your word for that the Titan is better!

BTW this money back thing seems quite common in the hi-fi world - makes buying this kind of stuff far less of a risk :-)

Hi Jason, Ton & Jerry seem to be off on one. Anyroadup I shall put in my 2 pennuth.
I bought an interconnect on ebay about 6 weeks ago from a fledgling company called microphonic audio, they only do 1 interconnect which is the 500 which I bought just looking for something different to try and at £20 I thought why not. Anyway I found this cable to be slightly bright and analitical at first but after the burn in it is very neutral and does not put its own signiature on music and its midreange is superb. Its a well built cable and ceryainly worth a try at that price. Hope this helps. Paul.

Hi Jerry,

Millions thanks for your sincere review posted here. I ordered a pair of NVA Sound Pipes a last month, after tried many cables. Sound Pipes sound unbelievable !!! My system runs on old Hitachi 6N LC-OFC cable, which used to be one of the "best" interconnect cables, with top-of-the-line WBT RCAs. Hitachi now only manufactures OEM cables for top brands.

A few month ago, I met an audiophile who thrown away many multi-thousand interconnect cables but keep Siltech 5-60s, $1000+. I auditioned the Siltech and decided to find onel it sounds the best, IMHO, in order to replace my Hitachi cables. Bad news is the cables were out-of-production several years ago, and new Siltech cables aren't as good as 5-60s.

I was stunning when I tried the first pair of Sound Pipes on my system, Marantz SA-11S1 SACD and Scanspeak Revelator speakers. They system sounded never before !!! I took the cables to let a friend of mine to try on his Mark Levinson No. 383 and B&W 805. You know what ? He didn't let me take my cables back !! He gave me bank notes instead :-)) So, I had to order another 2-pair of Sound Pipes cables. Just arrived today.

Hooray! My search for "supreme" cables ended.

Now, I'm waiting for my tube pre-amp to finish from a hi-fi shop. Last month, by chance, I did A/B testing between my solid-state preamp with a DIY one, using 12B4 tubes. I was so stunning with the results. The 12B4 preamp produces the best sonics I've ever heard from a hi-fi system! Tons for details, musical separation, tonal balances, extreme high, authoritative bass, airy, and much more. Highs are a lot better than my solid-state preamp. I would say even better than my friend's Mark Levinson No. 383.

Classical records sound so clean with flavor of pleasant tube sonics. Bass is real bass, strings are strings, wind instruments are wind instruments, vocals are vocals.

These two things (Sound Pipes and 12B4 tubes) are great discovery in my audiophile journey, after receiving my Marantz SA-11S1 several months ago. I think no more hardware is needed for me.

Thanks to all you who made me found valuable opinions. Jerry, I found your post here through Google search.

try interconnects by atlas, i believe they are the best out there by far for the money, i use atlas voyager and got them for £45 for a new pair on ebay and to be honest id would of happily paid 3x this.
I also use some atlas questors which are i think £50 for a half metre they are great too.

just an after thought i use atlas to connect m/f xray v3 xdac v3 x10v3 and my rotel pre/power. they work well.

Having had the 150's smaller bro'and currently an A3.2i can recommend the Chord Chameleon 2 ic, retails for £120, as im always swopping my stuff, i may sell mine, interested?

Meant to add this....(btw, where is the edit button for messages on here?) get rid of your speaker cable, its killing your bass!!!!asl anyone in the know, i had it, and until i bought the vdh teatrack, didnt realise how much bass it kept from the system!