Detailed Speaker Setup and Optimization

[andromedaaudio]

Point with set up is you want to start with a well designed narrow bandwith speaker.
If the speaker is not optimal to begin with even a person like Sterling will struggle.

Choosing the right speaker is crucial

 

[Lagonda]

Point with set up is you want to start with a well designed narrow bandwith speaker.
If the speaker is not optimal to begin with even a person like Sterling will struggle.

Choosing the right speaker is crucial

And for gods sake stay away from Dutch speakers with side firing woofers !

 

[andromedaaudio]

And for gods sake stay away from Dutch speakers with side firing woofers !

BBITB.

 

[andromedaaudio]

And for gods sake stay away from Dutch speakers with side firing woofers !

Ok i ll help you .

Best Bass In The Business.

Although Todds active AV bass is also very good


FYI Remember what Andy payor said in rons interview.
He prefers side firing woofers.
Only these (dumb) consumers want to look at a woofer, iow commercial decision.

 

[Elliot G.]

+1

Just to be clear, I'm not skeptical at all about the absolutely critical importance of precise and careful set-up. I'm skeptical about the audibility of sub-1mm changes in loudspeaker positioning.

I get it and I can understand your feelings. I have worked with Stirling, I have worked with Brandon Lauer ( a great set up person) and I have done many myself. When the system is really close to being right very small increments are audible, not sure thow one would measure them if at all possible but they are audible. I would happily invite you to our set day up at CAPFEST and you can sit and listen for yourself. It might open your eyes and your ears. It won't cost you a penny either LOL

 

[Mike Lavigne]

+1

Just to be clear, I'm not skeptical at all about the absolutely critical importance of precise and careful set-up. I'm skeptical about the audibility of sub-1mm changes in loudspeaker positioning.

back in 2015 i did my very involved room tuning which has been very effective since then. but a year later my friend Andrey Kosobutsky brought over his laser devices and we aligned and leveled the speakers and the effect was more than subtle in terms of image focus and the musical coherence.

the changes were in the mm range.

I get it and I can understand your feelings. I have worked with Stirling, I have worked with Brandon Lauer ( a great set up person) and I have done many myself. When the system is really close to being right very small increments are audible, not sure thow one would measure them if at all possible but they are audible. I would happily invite you to our set day up at CAPFEST and you can sit and listen for yourself. It might open your eyes and your ears. It won't cost you a penny either LOL

yup.

i would add that not every system get's to the point where minute changes are audible. lots of work precedes that point where those type changes matter.

 

[dcc]

Just a few comments...

The room is acoustically treated following two acoustic analysis performed by professionals in the field. The acoustic measures were shared with Dario Biner, the designer of the Ultime 2 loudspeakers who concluded that I had reached a plateau which it would be difficult to get behind. This is a living room and not a man's cave (more details in my system's thread).

The Alumine 5 SE were supposed to be home auditioned before the Ultime 2 but the carrier decided otherwise as the Ultime 2 arrived before and I got hooked by them. Having listened to the Alumine 5 in a room about the same size as mine, I could tell that the Ultime 2 were way better as my ultimate speakers.

The loudspeakers were actually installed by Jean-Pascal Panchard, the CEO of Stenheim himself, with the support of Hervé Delétraz from darTZeel (just check my system's thread). It was a full day job. Right from the start, I had indicated to Jean-Pascal that I wanted to get the support from a professional who could fine-tune the positioning once I had got to learn the loudspeakers after several months of listening so I could clearly identify what could be improved. For Sterling, it was paramount that I could clearly articulate what I wanted to achieve.

Sterling has set up several pairs of Ultime 2 whereas my dealer only sold one pair so far (mine). The service I got from Stenheim and my dealer is second to none.

The changes of positioning were not that small. See below.

Before:



After:



I am not going to repeat what I told Sterling and Roy in terms of the outcome. You can read it in Roy's article. I stand by my words. And to Ron who is showing some skepticism but who is struggling getting the best out of his large loudspeakers, I would suggest to reach out to Sterling who lives in California. Sonoma County is not that close to LA but I am confident that Sterling could do the job quite well.

There are several WBF members who have listened to my system before Sterling's visit. One of them actually hinted me that he would like to come back. So I will leave to him to report whether he is perceiving substantial differences.

 

[Carlos269]

Just a few comments...

The room is acoustically treated following two acoustic analysis performed by professionals in the field. The acoustic measures were shared with Dario Biner, the designer of the Ultime 2 loudspeakers who concluded that I had reached a plateau which it would be difficult to get behind. This is a living room and not a man's cave (more details in my system's thread).

The Alumine 5 SE were supposed to be home auditioned before the Ultime 2 but the carrier decided otherwise as the Ultime 2 arrived before and I got hooked by them. Having listened to the Alumine 5 in a room about the same size as mine, I could tell that the Ultime 2 were way better as my ultimate speakers.

The loudspeakers were actually installed by Jean-Pascal Panchard, the CEO of Stenheim himself, with the support of Hervé Delétraz from darTZeel (just check my system's thread). It was a full day job. Right from the start, I had indicated to Jean-Pascal that I wanted to get the support from a professional who could fine-tune the positioning once I had got to learn the loudspeakers after several months of listening so I could clearly identify what could be improved. For Sterling, it was paramount that I could clearly articulate what I wanted to achieve.

Sterling has set up several pairs of Ultime 2 whereas my dealer only sold one pair so far (mine). The service I got from Stenheim and my dealer is second to none.

The changes of positioning were not that small. See below.

Before:

View attachment 132141

After:

View attachment 132142

I am not going to repeat what I told Sterling and Roy in terms of the outcome. You can read it in Roy's article. I stand by my words. And to Ron who is showing some skepticism but who is struggling getting the best out of his large loudspeakers, I would suggest to reach out to Sterling who lives in California. Sonoma County is not that close to LA but I am confident that Sterling could do the job quite well.

There are several WBF members who have listened to my system before Sterling's visit. One of them actually hinted me that he would like to come back. So I will leave to him to report whether he is perceiving substantial differences.

Any chance we can get some audio recordings of this great system so we can hear what has been accomplished with all of the precision adjustments? If it is as fabulous as the write ups make it out to be then this should be easy to showcase through audio recordings of the system playing in the room, from the listening position.

 

[dcc]

Any chance we can get some audio recordings of this great system so we can hear what has been accomplished with all of this precision adjustments? If it is as fabulous as the write ups make it out to be then this should be easy to showcase through audio recordings of the system playing in the room, from the listening position.

No. I don't believe in video and I don't even have the tools for. Case closed.

 

[Carlos269]

No. I don't believe in video and I don't even have the tools for. Case closed.

Understood. If you ever want an audio recording for comparison just ask .

 

[andromedaaudio]

Understood. If you ever want an audio recording for comparison just ask .

Ok I ll bite , Olivier messiaen/ Organ in the video thread .
I dont wanna ruin this one

 

[PYP]

Just a few comments...

The room is acoustically treated following two acoustic analysis performed by professionals in the field. The acoustic measures were shared with Dario Biner, the designer of the Ultime 2 loudspeakers who concluded that I had reached a plateau which it would be difficult to get behind. This is a living room and not a man's cave (more details in my system's thread).

The Alumine 5 SE were supposed to be home auditioned before the Ultime 2 but the carrier decided otherwise as the Ultime 2 arrived before and I got hooked by them. Having listened to the Alumine 5 in a room about the same size as mine, I could tell that the Ultime 2 were way better as my ultimate speakers.

The loudspeakers were actually installed by Jean-Pascal Panchard, the CEO of Stenheim himself, with the support of Hervé Delétraz from darTZeel (just check my system's thread). It was a full day job. Right from the start, I had indicated to Jean-Pascal that I wanted to get the support from a professional who could fine-tune the positioning once I had got to learn the loudspeakers after several months of listening so I could clearly identify what could be improved. For Sterling, it was paramount that I could clearly articulate what I wanted to achieve.

Sterling has set up several pairs of Ultime 2 whereas my dealer only sold one pair so far (mine). The service I got from Stenheim and my dealer is second to none.

The changes of positioning were not that small. See below.

Before:

View attachment 132141

After:

View attachment 132142

I am not going to repeat what I told Sterling and Roy in terms of the outcome. You can read it in Roy's article. I stand by my words. And to Ron who is showing some skepticism but who is struggling getting the best out of his large loudspeakers, I would suggest to reach out to Sterling who lives in California. Sonoma County is not that close to LA but I am confident that Sterling could do the job quite well.

There are several WBF members who have listened to my system before Sterling's visit. One of them actually hinted me that he would like to come back. So I will leave to him to report whether he is perceiving substantial differences.

it seems the right speaker moved very slightly (just using visual cues) but the left quite a bit. Is that correct? Good to know that the manufacturer gave full support. You clearly knew what you wanted and that would seem the most important factor (not discounting the efforts of the professionals).

 

[sbo6]

I think most in this thread recognize that small speaker / sweet spot placement changes can affect sonics.

However, when we're talking thousandths of degrees or fractions of a mm I can't agree. And there's a simple answer as I already said - do an A B test, publish results. Without it, it's purely conjecture IMO.

Also, FWIW, IME over many years in audio, I've ran my own simple A - B - A tests and found it incredibly informative in guiding me in purchases and direction.

 

[dcc]

it seems the right speaker moved very slightly (just using visual cues) but the left quite a bit. Is that correct?

Yes. The left speakers moved 12 inch closer to the side wall whereas the adjustments for the right speakers were marginal in terms of placement.

 

[sbo6]

Understood. If you ever want an audio recording for comparison just ask .

Can you help me understand how an audio recording unless accomplished with high - quiality professional recording equipment in strict conditions and played back via a very high - quality system / headphones would yield a viable comparison?

 

[sbo6]

Just a few comments...

The room is acoustically treated following two acoustic analysis performed by professionals in the field. The acoustic measures were shared with Dario Biner, the designer of the Ultime 2 loudspeakers who concluded that I had reached a plateau which it would be difficult to get behind. This is a living room and not a man's cave (more details in my system's thread).

The Alumine 5 SE were supposed to be home auditioned before the Ultime 2 but the carrier decided otherwise as the Ultime 2 arrived before and I got hooked by them. Having listened to the Alumine 5 in a room about the same size as mine, I could tell that the Ultime 2 were way better as my ultimate speakers.

The loudspeakers were actually installed by Jean-Pascal Panchard, the CEO of Stenheim himself, with the support of Hervé Delétraz from darTZeel (just check my system's thread). It was a full day job. Right from the start, I had indicated to Jean-Pascal that I wanted to get the support from a professional who could fine-tune the positioning once I had got to learn the loudspeakers after several months of listening so I could clearly identify what could be improved. For Sterling, it was paramount that I could clearly articulate what I wanted to achieve.

Sterling has set up several pairs of Ultime 2 whereas my dealer only sold one pair so far (mine). The service I got from Stenheim and my dealer is second to none.

The changes of positioning were not that small. See below.

Before:

View attachment 132141

After:

View attachment 132142

I am not going to repeat what I told Sterling and Roy in terms of the outcome. You can read it in Roy's article. I stand by my words. And to Ron who is showing some skepticism but who is struggling getting the best out of his large loudspeakers, I would suggest to reach out to Sterling who lives in California. Sonoma County is not that close to LA but I am confident that Sterling could do the job quite well.

There are several WBF members who have listened to my system before Sterling's visit. One of them actually hinted me that he would like to come back. So I will leave to him to report whether he is perceiving substantial differences.

I don't think anyone is questioning the benefit from the consultant's efforts, especially when you stated that one speaker was moved a full foot closer. It's the thousands of a degree that's purportedly audible that seems a bit of a stretch.

 

[bonzo75]

I don't think anyone is questioning the benefit from the consultant's efforts, especially when you stated that one speaker was moved a full foot closer. It's the thousands of a degree that's purportedly audible that seems a bit of a stretch.

Ok some speakers it does. On Avalon for sure. And planars and stats you have to position from front wall and straighten or toe in quite precisely

I don’t know how sensitive Stenheim are to such small movements, but I have heard a Sterling set up CH Stenheim ultime 2 room in London in a very small room that is excellent. A Sterling set up CH Rockport Lyra room was ok. It could be the difference between Stenheim and Rockport, not sure. Will be interesting to see how Denis’ different electronics now compare on the Stenheim

 

[Carlos269]

Can you help me understand how an audio recording unless accomplished with high - quiality professional recording equipment in strict conditions and played back via a very high - quality system / headphones would yield a viable comparison?

If he wanted to provide audio recordings of his system, he is free to use whatever microphones and recording device he wants. All that I would ask is that the recording microphone (s) be located at the listening position.

It would personally help me to hear one of these exceptional (?) systems to do comparative analysis, but it seems that none of the owners of these stellar (?) systems want to participate.

I think that Audio recordings of these wonderful (?) systems would provide perspective and a relative reference to systems that others consider achievements.

 

[steve williams]

I get it and I can understand your feelings. I have worked with Stirling, I have worked with Brandon Lauer ( a great set up person) and I have done many myself. When the system is really close to being right very small increments are audible, not sure thow one would measure them if at all possible but they are audible. I would happily invite you to our set day up at CAPFEST and you can sit and listen for yourself. It might open your eyes and your ears. It won't cost you a penny either LOL

I totally agree. I remember years ago Jeff Fritz presented this same argument as to minuscule adjustments in speaker placement can produce audible changes. I was a complete skeptic until I tried it myself. it is clearly audible

 

[sbo6]

If he wanted to provide audio recordings of his system, he is free to use whatever microphones and recording device he wants. All that I wound ask is that the recording microphone (s) be located at the listening position.

It would personally help me to hear one of these exceptional (?) systems to do comparative analysis, but it seems that none of the owners of these stellar (?) systems want to participate.

I think that Audio recordings of these wonderful (?) systems would provide perspective and a relative reference to systems that others consider achievements.

But the variability of microphone and recorder types and delta in quality would make any comparison null and void.