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Hey Jonesy, you do Oompa Radar or Are You Human?

Posted by JBen (A) on February 4, 2017 at 21:02:44

In Reply to: Good deal! posted by Jonesy on February 1, 2017 at 14:00:23:

Found the ordered Felt Mountain CD by the door when we arrived home close to midnight on Friday. LOL, this qualified for "late at night" but the audio system was in "TV mode". As such, the woofers were hooked on and the playback would have to be via the HTPC. (The more proper Music-PC would take too much time to boot and warm up the DAC.)

Then, there's the small matter of living in apartment. High volume was out at this hour. Low db's would have to do. Ok, then. quick transfer to the HTPC and then on to a few pieces for the few minutes conceded by my wife as she laughed "boys and toys!"

LOL! Darn this stuff sounds like the bastard child of mutant New Age music and what?, perhaps a lady singer whose name I can't recall right now. Not my usual cup of tea but still, I liked it in its own context. In fact, even within the initial playback contraints, I got some good impressions.

With (boxed) woofers on, the impressive bass was really the first big impression. Most pieces reach below the natural reach of my MMG's and for a sec, I feared I would not be able to enjoy much of anything without the woofers. Then, I remembered that the woofers' power amp was boosted in "TV mode" and figured that all would be fine next day, with no woofers. (My mutant MMG's are modded to, among other things, do better on bass than usual without such aid).

After a few minutes, I promptly settled for "Oompah Radar" and for "Human" as keepers . The former will become a demo feature. The latter, an additional test recording for my Maggies.

That night, the "Oompah Radar" piece seemed to include all of the best imaging, soundfield & soundstage available on the full album. Unfairly aided by the woofers being on, it still already said: "tomorrow you'll SEE me even further out these walls!" I have a few recording that already do it, major surround outside the room, I mean. Yet, this one is among the few that can do a very special trick. It can place not just the surround sound field but also some strong localized bass "inside" my neighbor's apartment, straight out BEHIND my right shoulder in this case. Would my highly modded MMG's -- alone -- do this next day? "Nah", I remember thinking, "they are good but not THAT good."

Then, just past midnight, came "Human". Oh brother, what a scare! I recently reglued some wire segments on my MMG's in preparation for an upcoming session with the 2 Telarc 1812 SACD's I have. At the moderate levels I began listening to "Human", its main synthesized sound effect made it seem like the wires were off again. Knowing my system, logic told me, it is NOT mild slapping or loose wire, it is just the damn soundtrack! I then wondered where the hell had I misplaces my headphones, to confirm it. I only found them today...which left me wondering all night long.

Then came today; I only had 2 hours to continue listening on this Saturday morning. I had left the power amps on overnight. I "rewired" for fully passive>direct, just the MMG's from the 2 power amps fed via USB DAC from the dedicated music PC. This is my usual setup if listening from the PC. (a "flat" bass woofer configuration can be switched on with another stereo power amp, but I left this off like I normally do...too little time to test with them on anyway.) After checking via the headphones, the noise in "Human" was just the same in character. Very well, let's crank the Maggies up.

Alright! The Maggies stayed together through all of "Human" even at max (0db, passive). Sure "Human" is a torture test of sorts, more so at high volume. It is also demostrates what mechanical intermodulation can do in planar speakers. At max volume, some elements get audibly distorted during the worst of the main sound effect. One can actually hear some of them "warble" slightly, including the singer. The top highs get partially hidden and/or lose some sparkle. Amazingly, the whole thing still stays "musical" enough. (Max average volume hit at least 88db, bass peaks passed 105db in the 55hz range. At higher frequencies I saw graphic peaks flash beyond 110db.) I do plan to revisit this piece to measure and record the behaviors.

However, the more musical "Oompa Radar" did not get much measured -- except to verify bass db's. I simply sat back an enjoyed the wholesome, giant soundfield. Even at max volume, the strong bass, now only from the MMG's this time, returned...and remained composed...and invaded my neighbor's apartment. (yay, the woofers were not needed!) The piece projects grandly to all areas outside the room, and still retains more than enough of a credible cohesive soundstage behind the Maggies. This soundfield is also wide beyond all the walls, even behind me. The largely synthesized nature of the mix won't create much of individal 3D imaging but, at the very least, it does layer some of it behind the plane of the Maggies. The singer does keep her composure.

Thanks for this suggestion. I still have to explore more of it in the next few weeks once I have time. However, any joking aside, it has both enjoyable moments and impressively useful mixes. It will be played here, for both reasons.

I'd expect it to be useful to other planar owners, as well (and few CD remain, only used, via Amazon) since none of my test playback levels are really needed to get results.

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