Welcome! Need support, you got it. Or share your ideas and experiences.
Return to Planar Speaker Asylum
71.63.144.215
In Reply to: RE: Help! Emotiva XPA-2 vs. Adcom 5500 with MMG's? posted by FIGURE 8 on February 18, 2015 at 18:52:39
F'8
If you are technically inclined, JBen is your man...
He is one of the many mad tweakers on this forum...he knows MMG's
Thanks
Mark
Follow Ups:
Mark, many thanks for the vote of confidence! The rest of the story is that there are quite a few tweaks that have been offered and/or refined by many folks here. I am merely a beneficiary of these efforts.
The challenge is to help each person find the combination of tweaks that is best suited to his/her audio goals and in the respective room environment. Those with technical inclinations may have a wider choice of tweaks at times. The other challenge is to find easier ways, for those not as inclined.
Mad_tweaker999 (LOL!)
JBen / Mark , et all - thanks for the great intel and assistance. I really appreciate your time and experience as I am a budget audiophile trying to constantly get champagne on a beer budget.
i wish I could get into the 2-3k amp range - sadly that's going to be a few years. I had another inmate email me and mention he thought the Emotiva might be a lateral move from the Adcom - he said they had similar circuitry / components. He also suggested - for the cost - that I look at Mysestands and might get more of an upgrade in sound quality over going with better stands... based on some other comment soon forums it seems this could be a better way to spend 5-600 dollars maybe (?).. can't remember how much Myestands are.
Also - One of you asked about my desires overall with the system... I am a musician with a fairly critical ear.. The way I listen to music is emotional, yet "scientific" - I derive enjoyment from hearing individual detail of each instrument, separation, yet also need the "power" to some from the speakers..., I like "oomph" coupled with sonic clarity. My tastes are greatly varied but I can say alternative / indie rock, jazz, reggae and classic rock are all daily occurrences. I crave great recordings and amazing production.
"You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note."
F8
First, I am a big used guy...So, MSRP verse what I actually paid is quite a big difference...
Many guys like the Emotive offerings...
I own Mye Audio Stands as many of us do...Grant, is a great guy with a very high quality product...He will tell the bigger the Maggie the greater the improvement...I would never want to take any of his business away...but starting out, IMHO I do not think buying those stands would be your best bang for your buck...a little better amp might be the way to go...Wyred for Sound and Bel Canto are two very nice class D amps, that can be had used at that sub $1500-$600 range...
I started in this hobby after running live sound part-time for 15 years...My brother is a singer song writer and just cut his first full album this last week...lesserhasbeensmusic.com...so I get the critical ear thing, completely...hence why I own Maggies...they deliver goose-bumps...
If OOMPH is what you are looking for...in my head that means bass...then add a sub...
As you know Maggies like watts...good luck on your journey...
Thanks
Mark
Very well, F8! I think that keeping the Adcom for now while looking into other areas may be just the ticket.
A couple of Qs.
1. Do you have 3 or more albums that you like a lot and can share with us? If so, some of us may be lucky enough to have the same. It can serve as a reference point for discussion.
2. Can you sketch the listening room, size and furnishings. The room is key with Maggies.
3. At this point, what do you feel are the overall system weaknesses that need priority attention? I mean this from the standpoint of "perceived sound". For example, you mentioned clarity coupled with "oomph". Are you getting it already or is there still work to be done? (And, relative to #1, what music/passage would be an example?)
I hope this makes sense to you.
Hi JBen,
See my post below on the thread for some answers to a few or your questions.
Thanks,
Chris
"You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note."
Sorry, Chris, LOL! On Tuesday evening I got too confident. Even after a long trip I thought that some pleasing music would still keep me going for a few hours. I reheated dinner while I warmed up the amps with Ray playing. Ate my chow fast and then sat to listen to the rest of Ray's enjoyable CD, then on to the Brazil gang. Their whole Verve-origin disc, I have in 2 digital versions; not LP anymore but hi-rez enough. I went through both of them, out of sheer pleasure.
OTOH, the British combo ramained untouched, cloistered in their abbey until Friday evening because their time was postponed. I was listening to the spacious Girl from Ipanema for a 3rd time, when Morpheus began his song and dance. The last thing I remember was "watching" the girl as she sang to me from my neighbor's aparment, on the other side of the right side wall.
Which is to say, Maggies do that if allowed. They project image and give it 3D substance. In many cases it can be "looked at", you can turn your head to something and it stays in place, "erasing" walls on all sides, if need be.
Darn, yes, that saxophone comes up clear and substantially textured, usually solid in the middle. No wall needs to be erased for it. So, your Stan/Getz LP may serve us well as a reference for this kind of thing. It may also show good bass by some MMGs alone in some rooms but this is a little harder to tune for. I left the woofers off all the time but my MMGs have uncommon tweaks that use the room to their "bass advantage". [Not all rooms are so helpful but I suspect that yours could be, later on perhaps.]
We probably have opportunities for improvement in key areas like room placement, playback electronics, cabling, electromagnetic interactions and power conditioning. It may sound like a lot. Luckily, low-hanging fruit is usually plentiful and low cost.
For example, Russ rightly mentioned the proximity to the wall behind them, which ain't good for Maggies. See what you can afford to do. A few inches? A foot or two? Four feet+ works great but you may not have them in the current layout. Another room config, with the MMGs on a short wall? The point is, let's try some thinking outside the proverbial box. That said, MMGs "could" be made to work better even if forced to be close to the wall. Yet, every inch away from it that you can afford will make things easier and sweeter.
Those two questions that you ask at the end may come into play later. Unless we find that some of your current gear is well out of their typical specs, you should be fine with it for now. Even using the resistors that came with the MMGs will not fix what you now dislike.
Here are a couple more things that you may want to look into soon, aside from positionings in the room. The full list is much longer but these may smooth out sound, improve imaging and/or make it more dynamic/peppy.
-- Signal cables on clean paths? ...not close to power cords, transformers, walwarts, etc.
-- Power cords 14ga or thicker? Even 16ga may not allow some components to do their best dynamics. You certainly want the power amps AND the CD player to be "well fed". No need for expensive cables. If you need new ones, go for shielded power cords. I think <$20 for each can still be found.
-- At least a half-decent power conditioning setup. So-called "level 1" and equivalents are barely adequate but usually better than nothing.
-- Importantly, watch what things share the audio system's power circuit. Dedicate a circuit (breaker) or two solely for it, if you can. Those walwarts for our iThings, computers, Androids, etc. can be murderous. The fridge, A/C and any induction motor (except turntable) can be outright criminal also.
-- A PC or laptop for music is great IF things are done right. The topic is long, very long, by itself. I can't cover it here right now. For now, my concern is the interference they can cause. Experimentally, listen to music from the turntable WHILE the computer & DAC are OFF/ON to compare. (Of course, it other crappy noisy things, like a fridge, are still in the circuit...)
On all these above, the worst thing is that we often fail to see what is usually right in front of our noses.
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: