Welcome! Need support, you got it. Or share your ideas and experiences.
Return to Planar Speaker Asylum
74.89.244.144
In dealing with our equipment do you ever feel that the power of suggestion rules over common sense and 'science'. I know that I definitely do that. For example using Maggie's shiny stainless steel (?) 'U' shaped jumpers in the jacks provided for resistors which can offer tweeter 'padding' has been said to brighten up the sound and produce 'harshness'. I know it just can't be true, but because of their very looks I've been led to believe in its actual possibility. I've prepared short lengths of insulated speaker cable to use in their place. However, I think it's 'nutso'.
Follow Ups:
Want my home-made #6 SOLID copper jumpers?
Send me a USPS 'padded' envelop and your address, and I'll ship 'em right back.
I made a set of 4, to be used in my MG 1.6s which I did until I went BiAmp.
Too much is never enough
"Pictureguy", thanks for your offer (if it was made to me!). I may indeed have occasion to try them. Right now I'm bi-amping using Magnepan's passive XO-1 and the sound is too bright, so have their 1.5 ohm resistors in the tweeter padding 'jacks'. I don't understand what's happening in my situation because when using a Marchand XM-44-2 to bi-amp, the tweeter level is just about right even in the latter's '0' setting.
I've performed extensive listening sessions, both short and long term, and I always end-up enjoying the system more when I use the XO-1.
(I listen to a 'stock' Tympani IV-A, [even down to it's feet]) :-))
(If your offer for the solid copper jumpers was made to me, and you email me your mailing address by PM, I'll mail a self-addressed padded envelope to you. If you want to guess at the required postage, I'll also apply the stamps. IAE, thank you very much!
You are hearing the mediocre quality high pass capacitor in the external XO box.
What slopes did you have Marchand build into your XM44? If he used the stock slopes you should be doing fine. If he talked you into LR4 slopes then you are likely to have an issue with phasey sound.
I asked for module to be provided as per Magnepan's suggestions which appear in the Tympani IV-A Instruction Manual.
Not in the least being a techie, that information is like a foreign language to me. The manual states to set your electronic crossover in the following way, "Low Pass: -3dB at 250 Hz at 18db per octave (Butterworth) High Pass: -3dB at 400 Hz at 12dB per octave". Mr. Marchand appeared to be familiar with my needs and speaker, so I was happy being able to leave it all up to him.
If you might be so kind as to add to that, and/or improve upon it in any way or in greater specificity, I'd be very much appreciative. I'd certainly ask Mr. Marchand to put together another module for me, and I'd be most happy to listen to it (even if that module comes out being exactly like the one I already have and am using).
The XO-1 capacitors were kindly selected and installed by Magnepan's service department, after I provided them with the impedance values of the amps I would be using. Once again, I'm too dumb in that area to appreciate anything about the "quality" of the capacitors they have selected to use. Even if I were to purchase better capacitors, I'd have to go back to Magnepan to ask them to solder them in for me. So, I guess I'm kinda stuck.
It's like the car I drive, I wouldn't be found dead appearing at my dealer asking for higher quality parts. Yet I manage to still both listen to music and drive a car. :-)
Magnepan's recommendation in the manual is not a faithful reproduction of its stock crossover but a compromise to allow the use of commercial crossovers which were available in the day at 18 db Butterworth or 12 db Butterworth. Butterworth is the inventor of this particular crossover alignment.
Magnepan use a much shallower crossover in their design and that is what you should have had Marchand reproduce. Neolith had spreadsheets on the forum for a while that allowed you to reproduce the original crossover. If you are interested then PM Neoith or ping him on the forum and ask him to calculate the component values to use in Marchand's cards. Davey can do this for you as well. They are normally very generous with their time on these matters.
If you want me to, I can put in the appropriate capacitor for the XO 1 in my own unit and send it to you and you can send yours to me. I would just need to know the value of the capacitor inside your XO 1 so I can order a higher grade replacement for it.
While you would not likely come to your dealer to get higher grade parts for your car, you might take your car to have an aftermarket audio system installed so you can produce those subsonic booms that make your car sound like it is an aircraft carrier, or have your fun roadster turbocharged with an aftermarket kit.
Thanks for your kind assistance, offers and suggestions to improve my system and its passive XO-1. It's a lot to chew on and I fear getting in over my head.
"you might take your car to have an aftermarket audio system installed so you can produce those subsonic booms that make your car sound like it is an aircraft carrier, or have your fun roadster turbocharged with an aftermarket kit."
I wouldn't be doing that mainly because I don't spend a lot of time driving. After all these many years, I suppose I'm still sort of a 'plug in and play' type individual being content with that, (however, not to imply that I'm adverse to improving upon it).
We can be fooled in short-term listening, but I find, not in the long-term.
How do you feel after an hour or several hours of listening?
When the result of a change has a clear negative, I completely agree with your assertion. However, if the result is truly 'neutral' (let's call it 'no measurable change' ;-), there is nothing to correct an initial positive impression which is borne of expectation. It can become a persistent impression. Although the sound itself may not really change, one's enjoyment of it very well can...in a self reinforcing manner.
So much of our perception is the product of 'zombie' neural processes (and chemistry) that it's really impossible to tease the (surprisingly malleable) phenomenon fully into the light of consciousness.
I find myself in agreement with you. If anything turns out not to my liking the sound will eventually grate on me, during long term listening even though it goes unnoticed in short-term listening.
Thanks Wazoo, highly relevant to many of our issues.
Golden star to You wazoo!!!!!This is what extremely few people know about how they actually work.
Buy this amazing moon rock that You are told will bring down ALL dissonances and distortion from Your rig, put a hefty price tag on it too and place it on Your amp or speaker... WOW, a sonic revelation!!!!Does this make "stuff" feel familiar!?
Good again, wazoo!
Thanks!
The one who succeeded was the one who didn't know it was impossible.
Edits: 09/04/14
LOL!
.
LOL! Andy, I suddenly recalled what movie it was that I saw them in. Worn by the kids whose father is played by a famous Aussie. I guess the patent is already taken by one of your neighbors. Go borrow a helmet and perhaps we can talk long distance without a phone!
Have fun!
Thanks for the kind thought, but I am not the one who needs it as I do not fall for snake oil "stuff" in general.
Cheers!
The one who succeeded was the one who didn't know it was impossible.
JL, I did not mean you, at all. I'm just sayin' in jest.
Hmmm, BTW where can I buy the miraculous Chesky (or whatever) stones? : - ))
Here they are!!!!
http://www.shakti-innovations.com/audiovideo.htm
The one who succeeded was the one who didn't know it was impossible.
Norman, are you suggesting that the placebo effect works outside the medical realm? I wonder if audiophiles make better or worse patients than average. In other words does our willingness to believe in the benefits of "audio tweaks" carry over to other areas in our lives such as medicine?
Trust the elder statesman on the Planar Asylum to kick off another polarizing topic. Good work Norman. LOL!
Hi Norman. I think that most of us go through some of this at times. Hey, while this darn aluminum foil covering my head is not comfy, I know I am preventing the aliens from invading my brain cell.
On the serious side of it, it is not being gullible. It seems to be part of our instinct for innovation and experimentation. Believing in the possibility of the improbable can lead to explore new paths. At the end of the day we often discover something...usually totally different from what we pursued at first.
It does not matter if the original jumper was good or not. Questioning it's role and challenging it is what is key, regardless of common sense and science. The former is merely "common" and the latter is still not fully understood.
Thus, the act of inserting that good jumper of yours could turn out to be the butterfly in another reality.
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: