Hi Everyone. . .

Thank you for all your responses. I have read, evaluated and tried all of them, and discussed a couple of them further with other people (like a customer service person at Oppo) and have implemented some of them. I’ll address everyone’s responses and follow-up questions posed to me in the responses. (Again, thanks!)

1. The speaker cable and interconnect questions posed by T. Cobe: The dealer in Madison, where I bought the Tritons - who was a heckuva nice guy, extremely knowledgeable, patient and professional – suggested speaker cables for me that are AudioQuest FLX db-14/2. He said that these cables would work fine for me with the Triton 5s, given that the price was only slightly more than a dollar per foot. I later learned that the “db” stands for “direct burial” and that these cables are sold based on price and safety. My cables only lay on my living room floor, so frankly I don’t know why he suggested “deep burial” cables, but I trusted him (and still do) and bought them. He connected banana plugs to all eight 14 awg ends of the cables. I got a feeling some of you may tell me to change or upgrade immediately. . and I’m open-minded to this. . .but I’d hate to forgo the $50 I spent on 20 total feet of speaker cable plus banana plugs attached. But I will. . .

My interconnects between the Oppo 105 and the Rotel RA-1570 are AudioQuest Golden Gate RCA cables. I may switch to XLR balanced input cables, if you guys suggest that. . .or I may switch to optical, if you guys think either of these will give me better sound. (See point 3.)

2. I switched out the Denon DL-110 MC cartridge (1.6 mV) and replaced it with my Shure m97xe MM cartridge (4.0 mV) and am getting quality sound through the Triton 5s at the 50 volume level now for my phono input on the Rotel RA-1570.

3. Okay, now the Oppo BDP-105D and issues I’ve brought up and you’ve all so kindly responded to:

a. I tried turning the volume on the Oppo to 100 so that I wouldn’t have to turn the volume on the Rotel to 60 to get a decent sound level. When doing this, way too much distortion, even at, say, 40 volume level on the Rotel. I discussed this with an Oppo rep (who buy the way said most people do, in fact, keep their Oppo volume level at 100) and he suggested the reason I may be getting such muddling and distortion through the Rotel and thus the Tritons (when the Oppo output is set to 100) is that the 2.2 volts produced by the Oppo when it is at 100 volume may exceed what the Rotel can accept. I don’t know how to verify this and still play the Rotel at 60 volume level with the Oppo at 80 volume level. But I’m kinda stuck there in the sense if I try to go louder by increasing the volume on either the Rotel or Oppo, it’s not pleasant, and listening fatigue sets in in about 10 seconds. . .distortion and muddling. So I kind of still have one small listening range with the Oppo: Set it at 80. . .any higher on the Oppo and it causes distortion at any volume of the Rotel. . .and variate between 50 and 60 on the Rotel. I’d like to have a wider listening range with respect to volume, but can’t find a way to get there.

b. One person suggested that they only way I’m going to get wider volume listening range on the Rotel with the Oppo (and as well with the Pioneer turntable with the Shure cartridge to a similar degree) is to upgrade from the 120-watt Rotel to something like a 200- to 300-watt amplifier. Kinda don’t want to hear that being that I just purchased the Rotel RA-1570 and Triton 5s this past Friday.

I think that answers and responds to everyone’s questions and suggestions.

Remaining open-minded and grateful in Rockford,

Markinrockford

Mark,

University Audio is great. Steve and Ben are both top notch. I trust them completely. The AudioQuest speaker wire and connectors are all solid and should not be the source of your problems. I just wanted to make sure you weren't using some antique cables. I wouldn't worry about the direct burial issue. A good speaker wire is a good speaker wire. I purchased the same cable from them and had no problems with it.

I'm glad your turntable is up and running at 100%. Sorry to hear about the Oppo. Something sounds amiss there. Have you tried another input? My next step would be to purchase a few balanced audio cables to see if that makes a difference. The voltage capabilities are different for balanced. Monoprice cables carries some very low cost XLR cables with good build quality and neutral sound. For 10 to 20 dollars, you can try the balanced connections and see if it makes a difference.

I will say that the Oppo has a ton of different settings. I would also read carefully through the manual and go over your setup options. It really is strange that you're having issues. My 103 was great and that is far below the 105... Stick with it! You'll get it sorted out.

Cheers,

T Cobe