Worried: Cheap receiver to flat amp

[mrclay]

I've monitored on what I could afford at the time, which has been an early '90s Kenwood 70W/channel receiver and a cheap pair of Sony bookshelf speakers. I've gotten pretty used to the sound to created halfway decently transferrable mixes, but I've always kept the treble boost up all the way on the receiever..

Now that I'm ready to ditch the receiver for a dedicated amp (Samson servo 170) I'm worried I'll have to completely start over getting used to the sound again.. How long does it take? Years? I turned off the loudness a long time ago, but..

There has to be someone here that's had to go through this shift moving toward flat monitoring.

 

[Emeric]

Are you replacing the Sony's as well or just the amp? Switching monitors is a more dramatic change than switching amplification. Unless there is something really wacked about your kenwood amp. Are you cranking the treble because of something wrong with the amp, or for the Sony's benefit?

If it's to compensate for the Sony's, one problem I foresee is that you won't have any EQ control with the Samson (I assume it doesn't have EQ, most poweramps don't) in which case you will either need to get a rack EQ to go with it, or upgrade your speakers.

 

[TeyshaBlue]

Man, does this bring back memories! I went thru the same thing bout 15 years ago...monitoring on a Kenwood (silver face) amp and a pair of old ratty Sony 2-way bookshelf speaks. Even had the same high end boost to compensate. I went straight from the that rig to a Crown DC150, huge boat anchor of an amp with a power supply the size of a human head. Anyway, the amp had a much faster slew rate and transient response than the Kenwood...the result being the highs stood out pretty well. Then I trashed the Sony's and went to Tannoy PBM6.5, which curiously was pretty similiar overall to the sony's, just smoother in the mids. I then went and remixed a couple of favorite tunes and compared and turns out that the mixes compared very favorably with the mix on the new equip being warmer and a bit fuller. You'll notice more highs with the Samson amp, but see if you can pick up a pair of used monitors somewhere...stay away from used NS10's (although I do own a pair).

 

[mrclay]

>You'll notice more highs with the Samson amp, but see if you can pick up a pair of used monitors somewhere.

update: I turned the Kenwood flat and am adjusting wearing headphones - my left sony tweeter is blown anyway so just listening to the pair off balance is probably terrible to get used to. It's certainly different but my ears already reject turning the treble up so I probably shouldn't worry about not being able to adjust. There's definitely sense less ear fatigue.. I've decided to take the Kenwood in for a cleanup and possible service and am ordering a pair of the supposed bbs-favorites-for-low-end Yorkville (I think?) Y-SM1's. With my income that's prob a good compromise as I definitely know my speakers are crap..

Thanks for the advice..