Will the real mans's studio monitor please stand up ...

[fas42]

Frank, ever thought about writing a a book on 'Technical Audio Sound Improvement' (TASI)?

----- :b

Too right, Bob! I thought you'd worked it, I'm composing my first draught of the fellow right here on the forum, you lucky people are getting a special preview of the goodies ...!! :b:b

But seriously, the exercise with the HT the day before demonstrated the absolute necessity of fussiness, the rot began because a soldered joint, by me, started to destabilise, caused by the heavy cable it was securing being moved one too many times by me while fiddling with things. When you're experimenting there is a tendency to not tie things down 100%, which can cause problems later on if not properly dealt with.

One thing the studio monitor does right, is that knowing that the unit can have a hard life being manhandled by musicians :b, all the connections and short lengths of cables are very solidly locked into place -- you could probably drop onto a concrete floor a few times without causing it any fuss ...

Frank

 

[fas42]

It just occurred to me to again emphasise what the primary fault of the studio monitors I purchased is -- they change tonal quality as you increase the volume from conventionial hifi level to realistic, turning flat and somewhat unpleasant. This is probably the number one "disease" of audio systems, that which is, wrongly, usually ascribed to driver compression. But it has nothing to do with such, it's totally an electronic problem. When I was looking at the monitors in the pro shops that week or so ago nearly all of them sounded dull, lifeless and tiny, the sound quality was largely killed by the crappy quality of the electronics feeding them, so they tended to sound the same irrespective of the sound level.

But here at home, this audio affliction is dead obvious, so really will be the first item to be addressed: the first objective will be to get them to be able to run at maximum volume, which just at the point of overload, conveniently indicated by a red LED, with no loss in tonality, no change in character compared to that of background music level.

Frank

 

[NorthStar]

Frank, sorry for this small aside, but where's Roger?

 

[fas42]

Frank, sorry for this small aside, but where's Roger?

As in RogerD? He's about, popped his head up a day or so ago to post a couple of items about reel to reel. Otherwise, I guess he's just listening to music ... :b

Frank

 

[NorthStar]

Yeah, RogerD. ...He's been very quiet in a long while. ...So is Syntax. ...And Kal (Rubinson).

* That's what I figured too;
they are much more enjoying listening to music then to talk about it and all that Jazz ... :b

See Frank, I keep up with most members. ...Not only from here, but from all the Audio forums I participate. ...And in particular the members I can relate to, which is pretty much the majority.
Hard to go wrong with music lovers and oodiooophiles, in general ... :b

 

[fas42]

Yeah, RogerD. ...He's been very quiet in a long while. ...So is Syntax. ...And Kal (Rubinson).

* That's what I figured too;
they are much more enjoying listening to music then to talk about it and all that Jazz ... :b

See Frank, I keep up with most members. ...Not only from here, but from all the Audio forums I participate. ...And in particular the members I can relate to, which is pretty much the majority.
Hard to go wrong with music lovers and oodiooophiles, in general ... :b

Good to have oodles of interests, Bob ... :b:b

Frank

 

[NorthStar]

Exactly, you got that one right Frank! :b ...Noodles.

 

[fas42]

Ah, yes, I believe in using one's noodle, as much as possible! And for those who don't know the expression, and thinking I might be being rude, that refers to the grey matter atop your shoulders ...

With regard to the monitors, I will have to use my noodle a far bit right now, deciphering the circuit. There are a few tricks that can be used, in working it out, but overall it shouldn't be too hard: there's a generic way of doing monitor electronics, which is to use the cheapest parts possible to get the job done, and string one bit of functionality after another. Using $0.20 opamps over and over again, one after the other, eventually the sound gets to the driver, hopefully not too mangled in the process ...

Frank