Nordfors
Member
I thought I understood imaging and setting things up for a good sound stage - good speakers, speaker placement, minimize reflections, good source material with some recordings being better than others. But recently I’ve run into a situation where I’m at a loss. My problem seems to be not the speakers at all.
Last fall I picked up a Hitachi SR703. Was a one owner unit inherited by their children who put it in a box and forgot about it for a few years. Needed a serious clean up, smokers, but under the grime and nicotine was a beauty. Had a bad power button which I couldn’t find a replacement for so took it to one of my two local techs, the one closest who, unlike the other, believes you should only replace capacitors if something stops working. Great tech with a great reputation otherwise. The shops been there since the mid 70’s. He did his usual run through bench test, which he always does before working on anything, replaced the power button with one he had at the shop, and it was back with his clean bill of health. Sounded excellent. Rich and full. I decided to put it in one of my systems to run it a few months.
After a while, despite the generally high quality sound, I began thinking there was basically no imaging, no soundstage, so I set up an A/B with another receiver in the stable, my trusty Kenwood KR5200.
Speakers are Dynaco A25’s, same position, same room, same source, same tracks, 6 that I like, great recordings with lots of known depth and separation both left and right, up down etc.
These are good speakers to me, in good shape, well cared for.
Well, the Kenwood, as usual, was holographic. With eyes closed you couldn’t point to where the speakers were, rather musicians placed all throughout the room in specific locations, but not at the speakers.
The Hitachi. The opposite. Seemingly good channel separation, singer is in the left speaker, guitar player is in the right speaker, etc, but that was it. Everything was “in” the speaker, clearly this one or that one. No sound stage to speak of. Not immersive at all.
I went back and forth like this over two weekends trying to rule myself out as the weak link. No change. Hitachi doesn’t image.
How can this be? I believe this to be a well built, well laid out piece of gear. Certainly on par with the modest Kenwood and 10wpc more power. Is this something a recap would help, are there certain parts of the chain that are more responsible for this aspect of two channel stereo than others? I’m at a loss here.
I’d like to see this Hitachi perform up to its potential. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
Last fall I picked up a Hitachi SR703. Was a one owner unit inherited by their children who put it in a box and forgot about it for a few years. Needed a serious clean up, smokers, but under the grime and nicotine was a beauty. Had a bad power button which I couldn’t find a replacement for so took it to one of my two local techs, the one closest who, unlike the other, believes you should only replace capacitors if something stops working. Great tech with a great reputation otherwise. The shops been there since the mid 70’s. He did his usual run through bench test, which he always does before working on anything, replaced the power button with one he had at the shop, and it was back with his clean bill of health. Sounded excellent. Rich and full. I decided to put it in one of my systems to run it a few months.
After a while, despite the generally high quality sound, I began thinking there was basically no imaging, no soundstage, so I set up an A/B with another receiver in the stable, my trusty Kenwood KR5200.
Speakers are Dynaco A25’s, same position, same room, same source, same tracks, 6 that I like, great recordings with lots of known depth and separation both left and right, up down etc.
These are good speakers to me, in good shape, well cared for.
Well, the Kenwood, as usual, was holographic. With eyes closed you couldn’t point to where the speakers were, rather musicians placed all throughout the room in specific locations, but not at the speakers.
The Hitachi. The opposite. Seemingly good channel separation, singer is in the left speaker, guitar player is in the right speaker, etc, but that was it. Everything was “in” the speaker, clearly this one or that one. No sound stage to speak of. Not immersive at all.
I went back and forth like this over two weekends trying to rule myself out as the weak link. No change. Hitachi doesn’t image.
How can this be? I believe this to be a well built, well laid out piece of gear. Certainly on par with the modest Kenwood and 10wpc more power. Is this something a recap would help, are there certain parts of the chain that are more responsible for this aspect of two channel stereo than others? I’m at a loss here.
I’d like to see this Hitachi perform up to its potential. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
