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Old 04-11-2013, 06:51 PM
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prepress prepress is offline
Semi-audiophile
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Brooklyn, by way of Nashville
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Before finally installing the C2300 and completing the new setup, I had planned to put in some aftermarket tubes to replace the stock ones, but found it difficult to get the lid off. In fact, I was beginning to strip the front screws a bit so I stopped that and finished the connections as described. Having finally connected everything on Monday, the 2300 was ready. I started with CDs. I was greeted rudely by a rather bright sound (the store demo was bright as well) and weak dynamics (the demo had dynamics up the gazoo). But I also had a more open presentation, with detail I hadn't heard (or noticed at least) before. On America's Horse with no Name at one point, a guitar was coming from almost beside me, and I'm 9 feet away from the speakers!

But there was definitely a bright, hard sound to things which was puzzling. And distressing. "It sat unused for almost seven weeks" I reasoned, figuring maybe it needed to break in again. I have been giving it more time bit by bit, and yesterday I thought it sounded a bit better. It had a total of 4 hours on it as I started today, and I will say things have improved. The dynamics are better and things aren't quite as bright. Kettle drums in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's Fanfare for the Common Man had more of the appropriate thunder and impact. And as the salesman pointed out, the 2300 sat for over a month unused, so the capacitors lost their charge. But as John Lee Hooker's The Healer plays in the background, it's obvious things are not what they were Monday. That's a good thing. And to be fair, I was playing mostly 60s music, not the best-recorded stuff out there.

It's a different sound than I'm used to, so I'll give it some time and hope I'll adjust. The solid-state preamp I used before (Audio Research LS3) offered an overall tighter and frankly cleaner presentation, but with less of the dimensionality I sometimes hear with the tubes. Dare I say it, the 2300 offers more of a soundstage. Switching to blu-ray, The Avengers sounded good right away. Issues I heard with CDs were missing. I'll need to go to the other sources and try them too. I will try the interconnect I used with my MCD301 before, and maybe, if I feel my oats, I'll revisit the tube swap. I got a new #2 philips and a hex screwdriver set in the meantime. And I still need to dust between and behind the left and center racks. Maybe an air filter . . .
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Last edited by prepress; 04-11-2013 at 07:13 PM.
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