|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
108.41.115.250
All,
I've been here on this message board for many years. I had found through the magic of the internet "others" who shared an interest in music like me, and liked to reproduce it pretty well. I think it was around 2000 or 2001 when I first found this place. Anyways here's my setup. I welcome constructive criticism (the TV is getting out of there pretty soon, I cancelled my TV service). In terms of equipment I think I am done for a few years, in fact I am certain I am done.
That is the "matrix" system which can be found on my profile for an explanation of the equipment.
Follow Ups:
Why do you put "expert" in quotes? That's a slap in the face to people whose comments you're eliciting. ;)
Anyway... I agree - too much yellow.
Don't pay any attention to the null at about 180-195 Hz (assuming the speaks are about 3 feet out from the wall).
Why isn't there a chair at the computer? Do you stand while computing?
TV service? I thought TV was free - it is in my town. I put up an antenna and, boom, I got TV. But I'll send a private message with my address, so you'll know where to send the TV.
Ok, that's all I've got for now.
:)
Yeah, I was thinking of painting the ceiling and walls matte black, we will see :-)
Since the switch to digital I get 0 channels over the air, and I can't stand broadcast, although I did enjoy watching the dancing girls on one of those Spanish broadcast stations on the weekends, I don't understand a word but I didn't care :-)
I am giving the TV to my bro for his man cave, he still pays for TV service.
In terms of "experts" I don't know, why do they call it an asylum? I see no leaders among us :-)
I go only over the air and get about 40 channels over the air.
Maybe you are rural???
Hey Bullethead, get one of those "converter" boxes. They're only about $40, and you'll get all the TV stations you used to get before the FCC mandated digital-only broadcasting, and then some. I used to get 4,5,8,11,13,27. Now I get 4,5-1, 5-2,8-1, 8-2, 8-3,11-1, 13-1, 13-2, 27-1, 27-2 (the Black channel), 33-1, 33-3, 39-1 (the Spanish channel), 52, 68-1, 68-3. Oddly, no Asian channels or Caucasian channels, although 13-2 has the Japanese NHK news (in English).
You could have gotten the converter box for FREE (meaning someone else paid for it) a couple years ago. Now, you have to pay for it yourself. That sucks. ;)
:)
I'd rather spend the $40 on amazon.com kindle ebooks. If something happens that I need to know about I am sure I'll hear about it from human parrots. If it is really important to know about I could just see it for myself by looking out my window, and if it is critical to my survival I can get my sidearm and sword and go outside to see what the fuss is all about :-)
Thanks though :-)
...who would like to think they have expertise but aren't confident enough to list their systems in their profiles. :-)
Good that the TV is being moved. Remove the cushions in front too. Place a small Persian Rug close to the speakers, preferably with a red pattern. Change the yellow paint to Light Mushroom. Feel as if the distance between the speakers should be increased by 6 inches.
Happy listening
Bill
I would not use Class D amps because I find them totally unmusical but the DAC should be nice. The Harbeths might sound better with different amps, IMO.
Very nice speakers and stands. I bet the details are exceptional with the Bel Canto set-up.
What's the distance between the speakers, and how far away do you sit from them?
Yeah I sit 8 feet away and the speaker are about 6 feet apart, I will experiment with extending their distance, imaging could be improved the thing is I got a love seat towards the right, although I could extend the left speaker a little bit, I sit off axis right now. To the other comments I bought that get better sound book, maybe I will read it. I'll fiddle with the distance between speakers, I have it so its WAF friendly visually, but there is no W here, haha.
.
may the bridges I burn light the way...
Too much yellow.
Your speaker stands.
Your system looks great. Enjoy.
It is almost impossible to get an idea how a system would sound. Unless I owned most of the gear in the system in question... But I haven't owned your components.
Hey Bullet,
Is that a sub you forgot to mention on the left?
If not, add a couple of subs.
If so add a 2nd sub.
Also did you do Soundchecks toolbox tweaks to your Squeezebox?
And how do those things image? They seem awfully close together but that could just be my magnepan experiences creeping in.
And yes anyone with a computer is an "expert" these days.
But for a real one try Jim Smiths "get good sound" book.
Afterwards we discovered faith; it's all you need
Well, if you decide you are not "done," the current Bel Canto DAC 3.5VB mkII is certainly something to look into.
If you have no complaints and are not looking to change anything, feedback is not needed. If you are looking for an atta-boy, consider yourself patted on the back. It is indeed a good system if you like it. Enjoy.
Edits: 06/26/12
Yeah, it took many years to get happy with the setup. Staying with the same manufacturer for all audio components helped a lot. Matching that to the speakers was a chore (changing in and out speakers like socks), not to mention the different cables until I standardized them as well.
.
It is good to see you pulled the loudspeakers out front of that reflective
screen. A simple thing to do is simply hang a soft blanket over the screen when listening.
Obviously you wont have to do this when you remove or if you remove the TV
but this method above works well if there is a reflective surface such
as a screen between the loudspeakers.
Imagine a tweak that is so effective and costs nothing
More cost effective tweaks that really work is fixing your room acoustics
with room treatments.
Who is the loudspeakers manufacturer may I ask?
Thanks for your thoughts. Due to rising food prices I had to take Cable out of my budget and focus on just basic internet. So the TV is going out of my small apartment, good riddance, I found myself wasting so much time with that thing. You know you put on the TV and next thing you know an hour went by and you've gained nothing :-)
The speakers are from a small British company called Harbeth. I would like to have the whole system made in the USA but I can't afford Wilson's right now due to my financial situation, I may graduate to Magnepan 1.7's but the sound stage would be too big for me, so as I said I am done for now. Yes the TV is going out of the room soon.
Nothing to be ashamed of with Harbeth! Those are truly great speakers - able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best !
Good choice with the Bel Canto setup, too - I can imagine hours of enjoyment.
I do think at some point vinyl would be spectacular - a turntable like a VPI classic would round it out nicely! (Or a used Oracle or SOTA?)
I have always been impressed with Magnepan, but the rounded off highs and lows always has kept me from pulling the trigger. I understand they are much better these days.
"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad"
If the system sounds great to the O/P who are we to argue? If he thinks it sounds great, then it is the great. To him of course.
My own preferences matter little.
As I used to say to students in a breifly extant wine tasting course. Who constantly badgered me as to what was the best wine in the world.My answer was simplr "the best wine in the world is the wine you like the best. If he thinks its a great system, then it is , but perhaps only to him.
Steve
You are right in that the only person that needs to be satisfied is the owner.
However ...
That is a really good system even without caveats like that!! I think most everyone here would be happy with something long those lines! I know I would. The only thing at this point to experiment with *may* be sources. I mentioned a turntable in a previous post, and that system would be positively magical - and when digital reinvents itself down the road in a few years, a new DAC as digital is a treadmill.
In fact, I suspect once he lives with this system for awhile, he may find the Magnepans too limited in what his system does well to make what they do well "worth it."
One big benefit of Harbeths is that, unlike Magnepans, it is not too fussy about the amplifier that drives it. And the Harbeths do really well at a variety of volume levels - not so the Magnepans which really sound their best at a narrow range of volumes!
"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad"
In regard to speaker selection, I do have a pair of Magnepan MMGs but they are limited and I get tired of them really quick. It is always a breath of fresh air plugging in the Harbeths, when I do from time to time use the MMGs I feel like I am crazy for even hooking them up. I will stick with the Harbeths and forget about anything else. You are right, they are easy to drive and fit well at least in my setup, I had done a lot of research over the years to finally settle on them.
In terms of sources, you will be surprised how good 24/96 FLAC can sound in this setup. In regards to your comments about DACs, when there is significant need to upgrade I will, however it can do 24/96 which is Max I see downloads in currently that interest me. I know there is 24/192 but that seems not worth if to upgrade for such a small improvement.
It suits me fine.
The objective of installing a DAC in your system is not (solely) to up the bit rate/khz, but to process the digital information in a much more musical way. A good way to think about it is: the DAC chip in a sound card costs ~$1. The DAC chip in an decent external DAC will be worth at least 100x that. You can run the SAME 24/96 signal through a good DAC and you may just be blown away by the increase in SQ.I was.
Edits: 07/03/12
Welcome, I'm fully aware of that, my main system DAC cost me an arm and a leg... The DAC I use (Bel Canto DAC3) is only a few years old, as I said once it's worth it I will upgrade, I consider the DAC the most important piece to the puzzle in my systems.
I also have the Audioengine D1 like you in my office system, sounds good...
cheers!
Nothing wrong with Harbeth not being made in the USA. At least they're one of our UKUSA "five-eyes" allies. Nice setup!
Calling an illegal alien an 'undocumented immigrant' is like calling a
drug dealer an 'unlicensed pharmacist'
re: your signature....Yes, of course... Someone (who had as little to do with where they were born as you or I) fleeing a bleak and dangerous live in search of opportunity is ethically comparable to someone who profits from selling poison to people. Yes. ..A great comparison
Edits: 06/26/12
...or just when you read something you don't understand?
Calling an illegal alien an 'undocumented immigrant' is like calling a
drug dealer an 'unlicensed pharmacist'
my comment may have come quickly, but it was hardly knee-jerk in the sense that I missed the mark.
It seems to me that you're saying "undocumented immigrant" and "unlicensed pharmacist" are equal euphemisms for illegal alien and drug-dealer. Am I wrong?
Although why you call street drugs "poison" is a question, when you have mainstream pharma companies killing 50,000 people annually with their patented potions (followed by the inevitable class-action suits).
So the few bad-acting Pharma companies notwithstanding, are you saying that the drugs dispensed by licensed pharmacists are no better than the crack cocaine, heroin, crystal meth, etc.. being sold by drug dealers?Keep that in mind the next time you, or a loved one, needs to pick up insulin, blood pressure meds, antibiotics, blood thinners, birth control, anti seizure meds.... etc...
Edits: 06/26/12 06/26/12
I'm not sure the pharma guys are 'bad' in the sense of 'evil'. The FDA and they are partners in this drug scheme. People love drugs to 'fix' things. Look how many diet pills are out there when all you need do is control food intake in the right way. (metabolic exceptions exist, of course)
Everytime I see a drug add on TV, they list 'Side Effects', which sometimes are 10 items long. They are low probability, to be sure, but it all adds up. For someone 50lb+ overweight with high BP and going on Diabetes, what can you expect?
I've recently lost 35lb with another 30 to go...and maybe more, later, and right now my BP has straightened out considerably and my blood chemistry is 'normal'. Other things are better, too, from feet to hats.
Too much is never enough
Why even bother? As if a figure like 50,000 means a thing without being placed in the proper context.
I tried it all, turntables, tubes, etc...
I prefer digital.
bullethead,,, right on, me too. I still have some tubes and a great turntable in my second system, but I'm not blown away like many here seem to be. The latest wave of digital and solid state gear is so good there is just no need for other, anymore.
I remember thinking it sounded either like a vacuum cleaner on steroids or an anaemic jet engine!
But at least the system is great!
:)
Smile
Sox
Yeah, there's a new album out from a guy I think in Scotland who got his buddy in the British military to record the cockpit of a Stealth bomber, of course similar music. :)
...wonder why your friends don't want to listen with you? ;-)
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: