Charles' Little 2-ch Hi-Fi System...
- Thread starter Chops
- Start date
Still don't know why I'm still posting here... New Magnepan 1.7i
Charles,
You could describe in some detail what the sonic change sounds like with every speaker or component change. That would make it really interesting.
For example, what is the difference in sonic presentation between the three speakers that you posted here within the last month?
Beautiful room.
Al
Well, after making several posts AND a couple new threads with ZERO responses for days, weeks, months, why would I put forth the effort to do anything more?
This is the only forum that's like this, and I'm about one step away from closing my account here.
People only look at and post on what interests them! On WBF that is usually on the latest bit of expensive kit, or on some piece of hi end philosophical debate.
I don't post much, because I have better things to do with my time. Don't be disheartened, you have a nice system and a good looking room.
Spent the past five plus hours playing around with REW and my new Dayton Audio UMM-6 mic, attempting to dial in my system. I'll be the first to admit this room is in need of some major help.
The GR-Research X-Statik's create a huge peak at 74Hz. Keep in mind, these are sealed loudspeakers, and positioned 6' in front of the front wall and just over 3' from the side walls. Even when just by themselves, there's a huge hole that shows up between 35Hz to 50Hz! In any of the other rooms I've had these speakers in over the past 13 years, I've never seem huge peaks and dips like this before.
With the subs active, there's still a huge hole at 43Hz. Also, to help reduce that hole, I had to move the subs back towards the front wall. They are only about 1.5' away from the wall now, instead of the near 6' they were previously when positioned along side the mains. To get a smoother, cleaner transition from the subs to the mains, I had to cross the subs over at 72Hz with a 24dB slope, then dial them in with phase adjustments.
Whenever I get more time, I'll set everything up again and do some more measurements and tuning. It certainly doesn't look good on paper, but there is a vast improvement in overall sound quality over just the "throw them in and tune by ear" method I did when I got these subs. Which is also how I've been listening to them for the past couple months that I've owned them now.
Anyway, a few graphs to chat over...
Mains by themselves...
With subs...
The two above combined, and limited to 200Hz...
Interesting!
6' out and 3' from side walls, how long is the room, was the 6' to the back of the speakers?
Did you experiment with moving the speakers around while taking measurements to see if you could get a more even bass response (without the subs) ?
You would probably get more responses if you post about your new speakers in the Maggie forum.Still don't know why I'm still posting here... New Magnepan 1.7i
With a little back history, growing up and my first hifi purchases, I had only ever heard or owned traditional "box" speakers, either sealed or ported. After a few years, I came across Definitive Technology and the then new BP10. Those were my first taste of speakers that fired forwards and backwards (bi-polar). Since those speakers seemed to be designed more for home theater, they sounded really good but I think were voiced a bit more for movies, and not so much for critical music listening.
Really enjoying this large and open sound coming from all around the speakers, I wanted to try something else with that same sort of sound projection, but a design geared more for music reproduction. A year or so later, I ended up purchasing a pair of Magnepan MGLR-1's. They were the next step up from the MMG at $800 a pair, and they were actually part of a new home theater lineup at the time... But they were still Maggies nonetheless. At this same time at the same audio shop (that I actually applied at and got hired the same day I purchased the Maggies no less!) was the first time I had ever seen in person or heard electrostatic speakers. In this case, a pair of Quad ESL 63's.
Anyway, the Maggie MGLR-1's is what really got me into the whole di-pole sound. This was in the late 1990's, which was around the time that the internet really started booming. So I then soon discovered the world of open baffle speakers. This lead me to build several different open baffle speakers and subwoofers, as well as purchase a pair of just released AV123 (GR-Research) X-Statik hybrid open baffle speakers, and later on a pair of Martin Logan SL3's, all of which I still have.
Of course, over that period of time, I've also purchased a number of standard tower and book shelf speakers, but as you might tell, they never last all that long in my systems. Sure, they sound good and all, but for me, nothing compares to a good di-pole speaker, hence why I finally went full circle and purchased these Magnepan 1.7i's.
And the reason I went with the Maggies again?... Well, even though it's been well over 20 years since I had those original Maggie MGLR-1's, there was something about their sound that always stuck with me, something that I could never get with any other type of speaker, even the Martin Logan's. This is precisely why I got these 1.7i's. I seriously doubt I'm going to be getting rid of these anytime soon. I don't think you guys will be seeing my speakers changing again for a very long time.
The room is 13.5' W x 21.75' L x 8' H.
Yes, 6' from the rear of the speaker baffle to the wall, with plenty of speaker positions throughout the space measured. I'm still doing that now with the Maggies.
Been playing with positioning all day yesterday and today. These massive Maggies (massive for this room anyway) are doing the incredible disappearing act, and I've got the subs integrated perfectly. Solid center image, all of the bass benefits from the Maggies, and getting that low end foundation from 45Hz on down from the subs. Man, I'm really digging this!
It sounds like your speakers were too far out into the room. Usual speaker placement is to have the acoustic center (voice coils) between 1/5 and 1/3 of the way into the room. I personally prefer about 1/5.
Picked up this super mint, fully restored Pioneer RT-1020L from my father over the weekend. This is one of the many reasons why I decided to purchase the Quad Artera preamp as it has what they call an RCA "AUX" preamp output, which completely bypass the volume, so it gets full signal from all of the inputs, including the balanced input. Pretty much like a "tape loop" on old preamps and receivers from back in the day. I have a couple of Ampex 456 tapes, though I have no idea what's on them if anything. Guess I'll find out in the next couple of days or coming weekend.
Soon will come another Pangea rack for a couple cassette decks, dbx goodies and turntable, as well as the hunt beginning for some RTR tapes. Also have to get some new interconnects as the Wireworld Oasis ones I have, the machined ends on them are too thick to fit comfortably in the jacks on the Pioneer. Those jacks are just placed slightly too close together.
Anywho, on with some pics...
Soon will come another Pangea rack for a couple cassette decks, dbx goodies and turntable, as well as the hunt beginning for some RTR tapes. Also have to get some new interconnects as the Wireworld Oasis ones I have, the machined ends on them are too thick to fit comfortably in the jacks on the Pioneer. Those jacks are just placed slightly too close together.
Anywho, on with some pics...
Expanded on the system today...
Another five shelf Pangea rack
Technics SL-1700 MKII Turntable
Azden GX-50 Equalizer
Nakamichi DR-1 Cassette Deck
dbx 400x Active Program Route Selector
dbx 224x Noise Reduction
Another five shelf Pangea rack
Technics SL-1700 MKII Turntable
Azden GX-50 Equalizer
Nakamichi DR-1 Cassette Deck
dbx 400x Active Program Route Selector
dbx 224x Noise Reduction
Similar threads
