If standing waves are not broken up you get a few big peaks and a few nulls.
If broken up you get many small peaks and nulls all over the room, too close for the ear to notice.
Is High End Audio Gear Worth the Money?
- Thread starter Ron Resnick
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If broken up you get many small peaks and nulls all over the room, too close for the ear to notice.
Elliot G.
Industry Expert
T
Walk every where to understand what is going on where which helps you fix and treat the issues and see where not too.
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Elliot G.
Industry Expert
Elliot G.
Industry Expert
You and me too. Only ever had one audiophile want to listen to my system and I've known him 45 years. Maybe 90 minutes. Two other people spent maybe 15 minutes, one has an audiophile system, the other Sonos. We use the room as a sitting room if we have a lot of people over, but the hifi's not for show. If my wife wants music, we have a separate ceiling system.
In my room because I have a Distributed Bass Array the bass is consistent anywhere in the room- the walls and listening position alike.
My hifi is is based solely on one listening position, established relative to the speakers. There is only one seat in the listening position. There are two other seats in the room, one If I listen to music with my wife I use the ceiling speakers. They fill the room with sound. They sound excellent and are Roon Ready. My speakers are 32Hz -3dB which suits me fine. Happy not to be a bass junkie and it saves a lot of problems.
I'm gonna call my room the California Crib. I got waves with a nice rip curl. You could surf them all day.
I recognize I don't know anything about setup. Hence I am having a semi pro come to my place. I have seen and heard his space many times. Its done very well.
I need to find time to make boxes. Bob uses 3/4 high density partical board. Then he uses a bottle of glue and claps 5/8" bamboo plywood over the top. Then he braces the inside and caulks the joints. He's talking about using fiberglass to round the inside corers. Rapping on the enclosure of his home made boxes, then other speaker boxes lets you know how basic most $20,000 and under speakers are made. I will mimic the same when I make my swarm boxes.
My sense is my room done right, with the speakers placed properly and a swarm of subs will perform at an extremely high level. I don't think a $120,000 digital setup would do anything to improve it, as is.
I recognize I don't know anything about setup. Hence I am having a semi pro come to my place. I have seen and heard his space many times. Its done very well.
I need to find time to make boxes. Bob uses 3/4 high density partical board. Then he uses a bottle of glue and claps 5/8" bamboo plywood over the top. Then he braces the inside and caulks the joints. He's talking about using fiberglass to round the inside corers. Rapping on the enclosure of his home made boxes, then other speaker boxes lets you know how basic most $20,000 and under speakers are made. I will mimic the same when I make my swarm boxes.
My sense is my room done right, with the speakers placed properly and a swarm of subs will perform at an extremely high level. I don't think a $120,000 digital setup would do anything to improve it, as is.
Thats the ook of a cat that just hid a dead mouse somewhere.
Elliot G.
Industry Expert
The cat likes jazz. I put on some Eric Clapton and he leaves. Uppity cat.
I think my personal system is one most people would say is more extreme than most. That said, while setting up one of our smaller systems in our new showroom I told my business partner that I could honestly live long term with Junior and do so happily. Sure it can't do some or a lot of things Daddy can do but Junior can bring the bacon home too and the family will not be starving.
In the end it boils down to what the individual expects a particular system to provide WITHIN non-negotiable parameters of his or her particular situation, financial, architectural, family, neighbors with rabbit ears, all of the above and more.
My core belief is that the speaker must be a match for the room and by that I mean be able to perform very well in placement that the regular flow of life allows. Bachelors and people with dedicated rooms clearly have an optimization advantage LOL So even if I am a speaker guy, the need for better source equipment is a constant, at least to the point where the differences are no longer significant to the individual.
On the economics of things, I do believe it is first and foremost a matter of economies of scale. Case in point is the Technics SL-1200 family mentioned. The 1200Mk2 to Mk7 served as a home and industry work horse for decades. I bought my pair of 1210 M5Gs for under $500 each about the time the record shops near Dam Square in Amsterdam started closing. The current iteration is selling for 10 times that with "minor changes" that required very little in terms of tooling. A perfect example of how the rise of the digital DJ had affected the 1200 family's market. Now the 1200 has gone full circle as it is now tweaked for the domestic market only.
Now replace digital DJs with Soundbars LOL
Mind you that even in the world of Soundbars, there are those that strive to be the best and these too can be very expensive at least relative to the mass market models. There will always be people that want better and try to build things that are better.
To me that is never a bad thing.
In the end it boils down to what the individual expects a particular system to provide WITHIN non-negotiable parameters of his or her particular situation, financial, architectural, family, neighbors with rabbit ears, all of the above and more.
My core belief is that the speaker must be a match for the room and by that I mean be able to perform very well in placement that the regular flow of life allows. Bachelors and people with dedicated rooms clearly have an optimization advantage LOL So even if I am a speaker guy, the need for better source equipment is a constant, at least to the point where the differences are no longer significant to the individual.
On the economics of things, I do believe it is first and foremost a matter of economies of scale. Case in point is the Technics SL-1200 family mentioned. The 1200Mk2 to Mk7 served as a home and industry work horse for decades. I bought my pair of 1210 M5Gs for under $500 each about the time the record shops near Dam Square in Amsterdam started closing. The current iteration is selling for 10 times that with "minor changes" that required very little in terms of tooling. A perfect example of how the rise of the digital DJ had affected the 1200 family's market. Now the 1200 has gone full circle as it is now tweaked for the domestic market only.
Now replace digital DJs with Soundbars LOL
Mind you that even in the world of Soundbars, there are those that strive to be the best and these too can be very expensive at least relative to the mass market models. There will always be people that want better and try to build things that are better.
To me that is never a bad thing.
As a dealer, I'm sure a hobbiest making speakers that seem to perform on a higher level than store bought is disruptive and threatening. For a hobbiest to bypass the dealer and make their own products is bad for business.
Don't worry. He makes way too much money in his day job. And subs are small change sales. Not like main speakers. Although his pyramids main speakers may end up a real keeper. Audiophile Junkie may end up with a final iteration. He's pretty honest on what he hears. If they play well, he has about $1200 invested and 20 hours.
Don't worry. He makes way too much money in his day job. And subs are small change sales. Not like main speakers. Although his pyramids main speakers may end up a real keeper. Audiophile Junkie may end up with a final iteration. He's pretty honest on what he hears. If they play well, he has about $1200 invested and 20 hours.
Or........ that hobbysist and his DIY speaker in turn becomes something a dealer network can sell. Gawd, are audio dealerships becoming more and more like art galleries?
You could also use high density fibre board.
And one could use a layer of green glue between that and the bamboo.
I could… But the best solutions are often a good passive approach, followed by active.
Mitigating any box resonances and doing the bracing, cannot be fixed with DSP.
I went from Harbeth to Wilson via Quad.
Harbeth are soft wall speakers, reducing the resonant frequency of the box below audible levels.
Quad don't have boxes, just a light membrane in free space.
Wilson go for the ultra-rigid non-resonant box approach.
So, upon the subject of cats, there are many ways to skin them.
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