Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] SB3 vs SB3/Elpac vs SB3/Lavry
Ben Diss;191022 Wrote: To test this, I had played my favorite test track, Hotel California, through the SB3/Elpac/Lavry and asked my wife to randomly unplug and then plug in the power supply from the wall. We did this ten times and I could not tell the difference in any test. Yes, thats the kind of test I was thinking of. I think you've just confirmed your finding! To go one step further, knowing that I have very clean power and a dead black background I played a test track of all zeros representing silence. I turned the volume up all the way and as usual I heard nothing, absolutely nothing. I plugged in the stock SB power supply and I heard no change. I'm not so sure about this test - I think it demonstrates that, in your system, there's no noise from the PSU getting in after the DAC stage. There is at least a possibility, however, that the (remember they were subtle) changes reported by some people are in the digital domain, inducing jitter for example, which might have the affect of altering the quality of audio without changing the blackness of the background. Thinking about this some more I wondered if the RF interference might be a problem for some systems and not for others. Personally I think we've seen enough reports to have a decent working hypothesis here - there are plenty of systems, including yours, where a linear PSU makes no difference at all, and there are others where the PSU noise is having some sort of effect. Ceejay. -- ceejay ceejay's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=148 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33986 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Anybody Hacked SB3 External Clock?
Here's a schematic I drew up for someone else doing exactly the same thing. Note I have not actually implemented exactly this schematic, in my DAC I'm using an FPGA to do the converting etc, but this SHOULD work, I've simulated this and it does the right thing. Note the circuit for shfting the data from left justified to I2S is a little complicated, this is to make sure that you don't have a race condition at the input to the DAC. The basic concept is the data gets clocked by the bclk which shifts it over by one so its I2S spec. What this does is clock data by the reclocked bclk, then clock it again by a reclocked inverted bclk, then the output is reclocked again. The net result is that the delayed data has exactly the same timing in relation to the other signals as the original data has, thus almost guranteeing you won't have a timing problem. The voltage conversion is done with HC logic run off 3.3V, since its 5V tolerent it works fine with this. In this cicuit I've specified the Tent 5V shunt regulator to run everything except the inverters driving the SB3. You certainly can use another regulator, but using the Tent makes this really easy, its hard to design your own regulator that will work as well as this and cost significantly less. Note I'm using a 174 to do the actual reclocking, this flies in the face all the conventional wisdom, there IS a reason for that. It depends on how you are building this. If you are using a PC board with SMD parts the best way is the pico gate single gate chips, these work wonderfully well for this. If you are using through hole parts and hand soldering things up I personally think the 174 is a better compromise. Because the DIP chips are so much larger they have much more capacitance and inductance on their package pins, using 4 or five of these will degrade the clock driving all of them worse than the jitter inside the one chip. Using 74s with both flops used is also not bad, thats kind of a wash with the 174. I definately would not use DIP 74s and only one flop per package, that sounds worse than a 174. I hope this helps. I definately think its worth the effort to get this up and running. John S. +---+ |Filename: SB12S.jpg| |Download: http://forums.slimdevices.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2612| +---+ -- JohnSwenson JohnSwenson's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5974 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=32761 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] SB3 vs SB3/Elpac vs SB3/Lavry
andy_c;191035 Wrote: Here's a couple of links to posts describing some experiments that Dan Banquer did with a Squeezebox and an AM radio to check for EMI. http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/index.php?topic=30075.0 http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/index.php?topic=30207.0 In Dan's case, he was using an external DAC, and by replacing the RCA cable between Squeezebox and DAC with a TosLink cable, he was able to fix the problem. Interesting, thanks for those. My limited experiments suggested to me that the noise in my case was being radiated by the output power lead from the PSU (adding a ferrite core at the PSU end significantly reduced the noise). I think the moral of the tale is that noise, once it exists, can get from A to B via several routes! Ceejay -- ceejay ceejay's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=148 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33986 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Transporter review at Positive Feedback
CardinalFang;189297 Wrote: I'll open an account and put it up on sourceforge.net - thanks. If anyone wants to grab the source code and/or the jar file, it's all up at http://sourceforge.net/projects/slim-interface/ I'm not sure how much time I can put into it, but please feel free to modify it any way you like. I'm also new to setting up SourceForge projects, so if you want to join as a developer, I will have to do some research on how to achieve that! I've also modified the look slightly, but it's easily tweaked to how you want it. No documentation as of yet, it was a home brew hack to start with. -- CardinalFang CardinalFang's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=962 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33777 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] sub for Quad ESL 988
Thanks for all you ideas and help - I tried a Rel Strata once but that really didnt work - hadn't thought of Rel Britannia, and I thought Gradient had ceased to exist - was wrong there! Prob a v good idea but they are very big! Has anyone tried the Velodyne DD-12 with the Quads or other planar speaker? Regarding fast - you are I think correct that if the cone accelerated more quickly then it would be playing a different frequency. I think when people say fast they refer more to two things. 1) the fact that the Quads effectively have no box to store energy which comes out later, and 2) the fact that cones suffer from considerable distortion due to the fact that they are pushed/pulled from a central point. Why small cones are faster than large cones I don't know but it is said often enough. More to the point if you listen to the Quads you will definitely know what they mean! -- rbl rbl's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4517 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33981 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Apple Lossless vs Flac - on a Mac
i'm thinking of switching to a mac mini and reripping all my music to an NAS. Is it possible to run two libraries with iTunes and how easy is it to convert? Ideally i'd like a lossless set for slim playback and archive along with a maybe 128kb set for the portable. At the moment i have everything ripped at 256 (or higher) mp3 and it kills both storage and battery life on my portables. -- b33k34 b33k34's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10919 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33955 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
jonheal;190876 Wrote: In which case, I highly recommend anal candling I think that might belong under a somewhat different thread... -- Khuli http://www.last.fm/user/khuli Khuli's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=851 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] sub for Quad ESL 988
rbl wrote: Why small cones are faster than large cones I don't know but it is said often enough. It's simple inertia. Assuming they're made out of the same material, a small cone takes less force to move than a big cone as it's lighter, and has less air resistance to push against than a large cone. R. BEng(Hons) Electroacoustics ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
From AudioCircle: ' Cheap/Free Tweaks ($10.00 or less)' (http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/index.php?topic=35936.0) 'Cheap Tweaks ($100.00 or less)' (http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/index.php?topic=37980.0) . :-D -- TCM 'Squeezebox 3' (http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_squeezebox.html) - 'Trends Audio TA-10.1' (http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/trends/ta10.html) - 'QLN QuBiC 121' (http://www.minhembio.com/produkt/163409) http://www.last.fm/user/ThisCharmingMan http://www.savethestreams.org TCM's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=702 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
TCM;191066 Wrote: From AudioCircle: ' Cheap/Free Tweaks ($10.00 or less)' (http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/index.php?topic=35936.0) 'Cheap Tweaks ($100.00 or less)' (http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/index.php?topic=37980.0) . :-D Thanks for posting those links. Following my nose, as one does when surfing, I came upon http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue1/beltpen.htm which has to be the funniest thing I've come across in a long time... Ceejay -- ceejay ceejay's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=148 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] sub for Quad ESL 988
surely though a small cone has to move further and therefore faster (and therefore require greater acceleration) for a given volume level at a given frequency? Don't these drawbacks of a small cone negate the benefits? -- rbl rbl's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4517 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33981 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] What's better?
FLAC for quality better _ http://kudapoyti.com.ua -- Artem85 Artem85's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10922 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33836 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] sub for Quad ESL 988
Robin Bowes;191065 Wrote: It's simple inertia. Assuming they're made out of the same material, a small cone takes less force to move than a big cone as it's lighter, and has less air resistance to push against than a large cone. R. BEng(Hons) Electroacoustics Not that I'm disagreeing, just trying to get an accurate mental picture; Disregarding the force required to move the cone, a small cone is going to have to move further than a big cone, in order to give equal frequency response. The 8 extended to its x-max would produce the same amount of bass as a 15 at 1/2 its x-max. I would think it depends more on the individual driver's impulse response and the amount of bass needed in the room, moreso than the size of the driver, as to which is 'faster'. The return resistance being greater and making the larger driver slower to return makes sense as well though, which is why I thought most audiophiles preferred sealed boxes- the cone don't move as much. For quads maybe a DIY dipole sub (like the bottom half of linkwitz orions) would be a good option. Some assembly required. -- Skunk Skunk's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2685 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33981 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
ceejay;191069 Wrote: Thanks for posting those links. Following my nose, as one does when surfing, I came upon http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue1/beltpen.htm which has to be the funniest thing I've come across in a long time... Edit: well, it was the funniest thing until I got to the explanation of how it works, at http://www.belt.demon.co.uk/product/redxpen/rxp.html Ceejay Well, from a quantum mechanics standpoint it is possible that this could work. Of course, it is also possible that an elephant will quantum tunnel to a position above my head and strike me dead before I finish typing thi -- jeffmeh jeffmeh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3986 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Transporter Review in Hi-Fi News (UK)
Another classic thread. Someone posts a review of a product owned by a person on here, and the magazine is clearly a rag, their testing is bad, the review sample was off and the reviewer is clearly tone deaf. What is it with some people on forums that they can't stand to have their kit criticised in anyway, shape or form. Frankly, who cares? If you like what you've bought, smile, be happy and stop making the rest of us wonder whether you're still suffering from cognitive dissonance. -- Mr_Sukebe SB+, Behringer 2496DEQ, Bel Canto DAC2, Bel Canto Evo2i, Impulse Ta'us, Coherent cables, Stillpoints Mr_Sukebe's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10609 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33276 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Apple Lossless vs Flac - on a Mac
b33k34;191061 Wrote: i'm thinking of switching to a mac mini and reripping all my music to an NAS. Is it possible to run two libraries with iTunes and how easy is it to convert? Ideally i'd like a lossless set for slim playback and archive along with a maybe 128kb set for the portable. At the moment i have everything ripped at 256 (or higher) mp3 and it kills both storage and battery life on my portables. I use this application to manage two separate iTunes libraries on my Mac Mini http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/ituneslibrarymanager.php One is a lossless library that is used by Slimserver and the other is a lossy library used by my iPod. My workflow is: - load lossless iTunes lirary - rip CD to ALAC using iTunes and get tags the way I want - load lossy iTunes library - convert ALAC tracks to AAC using iTunes I don't actually use the iTunes import feature on Slimserver but instead point Slimserver at a top-level folder that contains symbolic links to the folders containing tracks. Maintaining two different libraries certainly means more work - I'm sure the workflow could be automated more but I really couldn't be bothered as I don't find it that much of a hassle. -- mikerob mikerob's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=835 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33955 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] sub for Quad ESL 988
By fast we're talking transient response to a signal. Planars are fast because they are accelerating a thin ribbon of mylar and the magnet for this ribbon is evenly dispersed along the length of the ribbon. The ribbon is only moving very slightly. So, it can respond very quickly to a signal. Cone speakers are so much larger in comparison and respond from the center to the outside of cone. We're only talking about small fractions of milliseconds here. But since the Quads are such a different technology than a cone speaker it is better to pair them with a sub that won't smear the sound by being ever so slightly behind the rest of the frequencies being radiated. -- creativepart - Great Guitar Websites: www.telecaster.com | www.strat-talk.com | www.gibson-talk.com creativepart's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10822 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33981 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] sub for Quad ESL 988
Skunk wrote: Disregarding the force required to move the cone, a small cone is going to have to move further than a big cone, in order to give equal frequency response. Not frequency response. A small cone and a large one can make the same frequency with the same motion. The smaller cone will have to move farther at the same frequency to get the same level of sound. I'm not sure that this matters. When I was working as an engineer, we would spend hours arguing which kept you dryer: waling in the rain or running thru the rain. Walking clearly exposes you to longer time, but rain only hits a small area. Running cuts the time exposure, but sweeps a larger area (your whole body). -- Pat http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/slimsoftware.html ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
jeffmeh;191077 Wrote: Well, from a quantum mechanics standpoint it is possible that this could work. Of course, it is also possible that an elephant will quantum tunnel to a position above my head and strike me dead before I finish typing thi The double slit experiment is fundamental to quantum physics, but the wave/particle duality could only apply to electrons, not sound waves, which are obviously sound pressure waves and never particles. The really weird part for me is that the Copenhagan Interpretation, which is probably the most widely accepted explanation for the experiment, is that electrons and other quantum objects exist as probability waves until they are detected, when they become particles. In other words, nothing really exists as a particle unless someone is looking at it. If you try to watch the individual electrons passing through the slits, they appear as particles, if don't, you see an interference pattern. It's called collapsing the wave function. Taken to its extreme, that also implies that if there wasn't someone or something observing the universe, then it would still exist as probability waves, and therefore it proves the existence of God, because something has to be observing the universe to collapse the wave function. Either God, or the flying spaghetti monster. Or in Peter Belts' world, if you avoid measuring or looking at the electrons in your HiFi system, they won't exist as particles any more, and your HiFi won't work properly. Or is it the other way round. In any case, you should ask for a refund if your HiFi becomes a probability wave. It also means that your TV has no picture on it unless you are looking at it, and you really can't be sure if the light really does come on in your fridge if you are not watching. Hello nurse, time for my shot already? -- CardinalFang CardinalFang's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=962 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Apple Lossless vs Flac - on a Mac
I haven't checked it out yet, but I was told that the Max application (http://sbooth.org/Max/) can do all this on the fly for Macs -- make two versions at the same time. I could have understood it wrong but it seems to claim to do something like this. -- creativepart - Great Guitar Websites: www.telecaster.com | www.strat-talk.com | www.gibson-talk.com creativepart's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10822 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33955 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
CardinalFang;191091 Wrote: The double slit experiment is fundamental to quantum physics, but the wave/particle duality could only apply to electrons, not sound waves, which are obviously sound pressure waves and never particles. The really weird part for me is that the Copenhagan Interpretation, which is probably the most widely accepted explanation for the experiment, is that electrons and other quantum objects exist as probability waves until they are detected, when they become particles. In other words, nothing really exists as a particle unless someone is looking at it. If you try to watch the individual electrons passing through the slits, they appear as particles, if don't, you see an interference pattern. It's called collapsing the wave function. Taken to its extreme, that also implies that if there wasn't someone or something observing the universe, then it would still exist as probability waves, and therefore it proves the existence of God, because something has to be observing the universe to collapse the wave function. Either God, or the flying spaghetti monster. Or in Peter Belts' world, if you avoid measuring or looking at the electrons in your HiFi system, they won't exist as particles any more, and your HiFi won't work properly. Or is it the other way round. In any case, you should ask for a refund if your HiFi becomes a probability wave. It also means that your TV has no picture on it unless you are looking at it, and you really can't be sure if the light really does come on in your fridge if you are not watching. Hello nurse, time for my shot already? Would my audio sound better if I had a cat that was neither alive nor dead? Maybe if I drew a picture of the cat with a pen treated by the Belts? -- jeffmeh jeffmeh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3986 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] sub for Quad ESL 988
Pat Farrell;191092 Wrote: I'm not sure that this matters. When I was working as an engineer, we would spend hours arguing which kept you dryer: waling in the rain or running thru the rain. Walking clearly exposes you to longer time, but rain only hits a small area. Running cuts the time exposure, but sweeps a larger area (your whole body). Someone actually went to the trouble of working that out - evidently given some reasonable assumptions about the distribution of rain drops, the answer is you should lie on your back (maybe on a skateboard) and go around 15 mph. Very practical... As for speakers, maybe fast is the wrong word. If it's a question of a delay it's the phase response you're talking about, which is a standard thing measured for speakers. I have heard Quads, but I think the better imaging may have more to do with the pattern of sound radiation than it does with phase. -- opaqueice opaqueice's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4234 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33981 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
CardinalFang;191091 Wrote: The really weird part for me is that the Copenhagan Interpretation, which is probably the most widely accepted explanation for the experiment, is that electrons and other quantum objects exist as probability waves until they are detected, when they become particles. In other words, nothing really exists as a particle unless someone is looking at it. If you try to watch the individual electrons passing through the slits, they appear as particles, if don't, you see an interference pattern. It's called collapsing the wave function. Taken to its extreme, that also implies that if there wasn't someone or something observing the universe, then it would still exist as probability waves, and therefore it proves the existence of God, because something has to be observing the universe to collapse the wave function. Either God, or the flying spaghetti monster. This is actually a very interesting question. The Copenhagen interpretation is clearly incomplete, as it doesn't specify what is necessary to make the wave-function collapse - what exactly constitutes a measurement? The (partial) modern answer comes from something called decoherence - essentially when systems containing large numbers of degrees of freedom (like people and measuring devices) interact, it can be shown that the wave function of both the large system and any small system it might have interacted with become very sharply peaked very quickly; that is, it collapses. The only trouble is, it collapses to all possible configurations at the same time - electron is localized at slit 1 and measuring devices reads 1 PLUS electron is localized at slit 2 and measuring device reads 2. This leads to the many worlds interpretation, where both possibilities exist, but for reasons not well understood we only experience one, while at least in the mathematical structure of the theory the other copy of us moves off along another branch. This happens all the time - every time there's an interaction. The implications for the wavefunction of the universe are a bit hard to comprehend :-). EDIT - but the implication for magic markers is very easy - ZERO! -- opaqueice opaqueice's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4234 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Transporter Review in Hi-Fi News (UK)
Mr_Sukebe wrote: Another classic thread. Someone posts a review of a product owned by a person on here, and the magazine is clearly a rag, their testing is bad, the review sample was off and the reviewer is clearly tone deaf. What is it with some people on forums that they can't stand to have their kit criticised in anyway, shape or form. There's criticism, and there's criticism. In this case, there were clearly errors made by the reviewer. Folk on here are just pointing that out. Frankly, who cares? If you like what you've bought, smile, be happy and stop making the rest of us wonder whether you're still suffering from cognitive dissonance. OK, so we care about accuracy of reviews; you care about our mental well-being. That's very touching. :p R. ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] sub for Quad ESL 988
Pat Farrell wrote: Skunk wrote: Disregarding the force required to move the cone, a small cone is going to have to move further than a big cone, in order to give equal frequency response. Not frequency response. A small cone and a large one can make the same frequency with the same motion. The smaller cone will have to move farther at the same frequency to get the same level of sound. Pat has saved me the trouble of responding! R. ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
opaqueice;191105 Wrote: This leads to the many worlds interpretation, where both possibilities exist, but for reasons not well understood we only experience one, while at least in the mathematical structure of the theory the other copy of us moves off along another branch. This happens all the time - every time there's an interaction. The implications for the wavefunction of the universe are a bit hard to comprehend :-). EDIT - but the implication for magic markers and audio is very easy - ZERO! I was about to ask how one uses DBT to prove this until you kindly pointed out that DBT isn't relevant here 8-}. ---Gary -- GaryB GaryB's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3169 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] sub for Quad ESL 988
rbl wrote: Can anyone recommend a subwoofer to match the Quad electrostatic 988 speakers, for use with both HT and music? My room is 15' x 18' so I don't need anything particulalry loud, but something that blends in well. Am thinking of the TBI Magellan VIII or the Velodyne DD-12, but open to suggestions. Has anyone tried these combinations? I don't have Quads, I'd love to, but they need more room than I have. I have a Rel Stadium sub, and it is very musical. I recommend checking the archives at Stereophile, TAS, etc. I remember reading many articles about how hard it is to match a sub with Quads and other panel speakers. -- Pat http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/slimsoftware.html ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
Pat Farrell;190565 Wrote: My favorite tweak, which is free, is to move your speakers. Specifically, move them away from the walls and into the room. At least it is free to try. Is proper speaker setup/placement really something to be considered a tweak? -- PhilNYC Sonic Spirits Inc. http://www.sonicspirits.com PhilNYC's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=837 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
PhilNYC wrote: Is proper speaker setup/placement really something to be considered a tweak? I am not sure if there is an well defined definition of what is a tweak. I generally think about replacing $2 radio shack interconnects with Kimber PBJs as an inexpensive tweak. But Far too many people don't realize that bookshelf speakers can sound vastly better if you don't put them on a bookshelf. It probably depends as much on the definition of proper placement as anything else. To me, proper placement is 5 feet from all walls, but even in fairly hi end audio shops, far too many speakers are pushed up against the wall. So clearly some people have not gotten the memo -- Pat http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/slimsoftware.html ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
Pat Farrell;191123 Wrote: To me, proper placement is 5 feet from all walls, but even in fairly hi end audio shops, far too many speakers are pushed up against the wall. So clearly some people have not gotten the memo I use some fairly old Rega Ela speakers that supposedly were designed to be placed much closer to the wall to reinforce the bass, but I find that this collapses the imaging. Five feet into the room wouldn't work for me either - here in dear old England, rooms, especially in older houses, tend to be compact and bijou, to use a well-worn phrase. My compromise is toed-in, a foot or so off the rear wall. My other favourite cheap tweak is to pull out and re-insert cables now and then to clean the connectors, although I have never tried contact cleaner - does that work for anyone? -- CardinalFang CardinalFang's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=962 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] sub for Quad ESL 988
I don't own Quads. I do own a pair of single driver speakers, the Omega Aperiodic 8 which uses Visaton B200 8 drivers. So aside from being a point source very resolving driver, it has nothing in common with the Quads.;) I've paired these with a Rocket UFW-12 sub avaliable from AV123. This sub includes an external unit called R-DES. Its a line level 5 band parametric equalizer that can be programed by hooking up a USB cable to your computer and running the software included. Its very effective in not only integrating the sub to your stereo pair, but taming any peaks and nulls in your room. Its an IB design so its subjectively fast, to my ears anyway. Very musical. I love mine. http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=subwoofersproduct=8.1 -- konut konut's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=1596 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33981 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
ask for a refund. Dump it try the a href= http://www.dualactioncleansenow.com;ultimate colon cleanser/a today. -- Angiel Angiel's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10931 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
Pat Farrell;191123 Wrote: It probably depends as much on the definition of proper placement as anything else. To me, proper placement is 5 feet from all walls, but even in fairly hi end audio shops, far too many speakers are pushed up against the wall. So clearly some people have not gotten the memo I think that's far too simple of a definition for proper placement, particularly when there are many different types of speakers (some of which are designed to be placed tightly in corners to achieve bass performance through room reinforcement), different size rooms (if the room is 10ft wide, 5 feet from all walls doesn't work), different room boundary interactions depending on the volume at which you play music, etc. Every speaker is different, and every room is different...and barring aesthetic and practical concerns, how speakers get placed in a room starts with some methodology and can be optimized for that situation. I don't see this as a tweak...I see it as proper setup... -- PhilNYC Sonic Spirits Inc. http://www.sonicspirits.com PhilNYC's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=837 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Some advice - two different pairs of speakers
Yeah, I think that's the way I'm leaning right now. I do really like BW, especially their 600 series in terms of quality/price. But I think for the tastes of my buddy, and at that price point the paradigms will be a better fit. Anyway, thanks for the help guys! -- LikeButtah *2-Channel:* SB3 Quad 33 Quad 303 Dynaudio Audience 52 *Home Theatre:* Yamaha DVD-S657 Yamaha RXV-557 Tannoy Fusion F3s/F1s/FC Not bad for a student, eh? LikeButtah's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=7258 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33902 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
PhilNYC wrote: I think that's far too simple of a definition for proper placement, particularly when there are many different types of speakers (some of which are designed to be placed tightly in corners to achieve bass performance through room reinforcement), I don't understand what you are arguing about. I have wanted to have a house with a room to have real Klipshorns since I heard them in the 60s. But I have never had such a house. Nor do I have a room to hold Quads. Every speaker is different, and every room is different...and barring aesthetic and practical concerns, how speakers get placed in a room starts with some methodology and can be optimized for that situation. I don't see this as a tweak...I see it as proper setup... Proper setup is a fine name, but a huge number of people have no clue what that means. Even ancient bookshelf speakers such as AR3a and Large Advents, which defined the term bookshelf speakers, sound better away from the wall. Sure you trade off bass boost, but the rest of the sound improves. I just don't understand what you are arguing about. Proper placement, tweak, whatever, its all the same. And its cheap. -- Pat http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/slimsoftware.html ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] sub for Quad ESL 988
opaqueice;191100 Wrote: That's exactly what Skunk said. Frequency reponse, meaning the level of sound produced given an input with some frequency at fixed level. After posting I realized I actually meant to say 'both drivers producing the same SPL at a given frequency', which Pat was quick to correct. In this case the smaller driver would require more motion, and would have to have a better impulse response, in order to match the speed of a driver producing the same SPL at 1/2 its x-max. Given similar impulse responses, the larger driver would be at rest sooner than the small driver. Imagine how little a woofer the size of a kiddie pool would have to move to produce a 100dB 30Hz tone, compared to a normal woofer. It would be like a planar woofer, i.e. fast :-) Again, not trying to insist I'm right on this, but even creative part says: The ribbon is only moving very slightly. So, it can respond very quickly to a signal. So what is this effect that causes opposite results in large ribbons versus large woofers? -- Skunk Skunk's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2685 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33981 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
A very good place to begin : http://www.cardas.com/pdf/roomsetup.pdf http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=insightscontent_id=26pagestring=Room+Setup http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/speakerplacement.html Try it, at least to get the feeling of what it CAN do -- Anne Anne's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10071 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
Pat Farrell;191179 Wrote: I don't understand what you are arguing about. I'm saying that I don't consider proper speaker placement a tweak. And I don't think that 5ft from every wall constitutes proper speaker placement. Proper setup is a fine name, but a huge number of people have no clue what that means. Agreed. Even ancient bookshelf speakers such as AR3a and Large Advents, which defined the term bookshelf speakers, sound better away from the wall. Sure you trade off bass boost, but the rest of the sound improves. I don't understand what your point is here. You stick a speaker on a bookshelf, and it's not properly placed. I just don't understand what you are arguing about. Proper placement, tweak, whatever, its all the same. And its cheap. IMHO, Tweak implies a minor adjustment. IMHO, Proper speaker placement implies a major factor in setting up a stereo system. That's all I'm saying. -- PhilNYC Sonic Spirits Inc. http://www.sonicspirits.com PhilNYC's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=837 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
PhilNYC wrote: Even ancient bookshelf speakers such as AR3a and Large Advents, which defined the term bookshelf speakers, sound better away from the wall. Sure you trade off bass boost, but the rest of the sound improves. I don't understand what your point is here. You stick a speaker on a bookshelf, and it's not properly placed. But its a bookshelf speaker. It says so right on the box. It has to be properly placed if its on a shelf. That you and I agree it is not proper placement is the point of publicizing the tweak. The point is that bookshelf speakers do not belong on the shelf. IMHO, Tweak implies a minor adjustment. IMHO, Proper speaker placement implies a major factor in setting up a stereo system. That's all I'm saying. So sometimes its not so minor. But is can often be temporary. Putting speakers into the room usually has lousey WAF, so you have to put them back when the spouse wants to have the room look right. Some of us can't afford to have a dedicated music room. And I agree that many rooms don't allow you to be five feet from all walls, but it is a good goal, since five feet out gives you 10 milliseconds delay between direct and reflected sound. Using the spikes that came with your speakers is cheap (they were in the box), and works great, but I just spent $3000 refinishing the hardwood floors, and so I'm not going to use them. -- Pat Farrell http://www.pfarrell.com/ ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] A photo of your Squeezebox setup (please)
A poll associated with this post was created, to vote and see the results, please visit http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=19817 Question: Should there be a new forum for photos? - yes - no - maybe goodmusic;190981 Wrote: Transporter - Krell - BW - Music! Nice audio rack. :) -- -Stef- Yamaha - Chario - MJ Acoustics - Squeezebox 3 -Stef-'s Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10282 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=19817 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
PhilNYC wrote: Again, my only issue is calling proper speaker placement a tweak. You seem to be trying to pick a fight. I have no fight with you. So this is my last response. But that has nothing to do with tweaking. It's simply setting the speakers up properly when you are using them, and putting them aside when you're not. whatever Using the spikes that came with your speakers is cheap (they were in the Why not get those spike cups to put under the spikes to protect your floor? Because it defeats the purpose of the spikes. They are designed to solidly couple the speakers in one place. In theory, the speaker cabinet can move with music causing the imaging to smear. Since you don't like my tweak, where are yours? ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] What is connected to your Transporter?
Just unpacked and hooked up my beautiful black Transporter. can't stop listening!!! I discover all new things in my music. have I been using crap all that time I wonder? :-) Anyway: the Transporter is linked (Analog!) via Oehlback interlink to a Harman Kardon AVR 8500, which feeds into (with extra HM PA 2200 SE amp) six Mission 780 SE's, one 78C and a REL Strata III sub. For the transporter only the 2 front ones are used of course - stereo only. All my music is Apple Lossless on a Mac G5 DP on a (now full) 300 GB HD only for this... Network is GBit till the Transporter. If I compare the Transporter with my HK DVD47 SuperAudio / DVD Audio player, the Transporter wins... -- evert evert's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5912 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33868 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Transporter review at Positive Feedback
crooner;189160 Wrote: Nice review but I can't help but wonder why he prefers Apple Lossless and iTunes to manage his music. FLAC is a much better format and iTunes simply sucks IMHO. It's so bad I prefer Rockbox to run my iPod. Full FLAC support as well! Said many times here - whatever lossless format you choose - it's all the same! No difference, zero, nada, niente... If someone prefers a certain content management system, e.g. iTunes, let them! -- evert evert's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5912 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33777 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] What is connected to your Transporter?
evert;191199 Wrote: In the beginning of this evening I unpacked and hooked up my beautiful black Transporter. It's about midnight and I just can't stop listening!!! I discover all kinds new things in my music. Makes me wonder - have I been using crap stuff all that time? :-) Anyway: the Transporter is linked (Analog!) via Oehlbach interlink to a Harman Kardon AVR 8500, which feeds into (with extra HM PA 2200 SE amp) six Mission 780 SE's (biwired), one 78C and a REL Strata III sub (dual connect). For the transporter only the 2 front ones and the sub are used of course - stereo only. All my music is in Apple Lossless, stored on a Mac G5 DP on a (now full) 300 GB HD only for this... Network is GBit till the Transporter. No special tuning to cables, power supply etc is done. Interesting observation: if I compare the Transporter with my HK DVD47 SuperAudio / DVD Audio player, the Transporter wins... Are you using direct mode? (Something to bypass the DSP, see http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.cgi?AVReceivers) If not, it could be even better! Plus, although I don't believe in electronics break-in, I and many others did notice it. I'm more apt to believe our brains get used to the new sound and start noticing the nuances. -- Mark Lanctot Mark Lanctot's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2071 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33868 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Transporter - 1st Impressions Break-In
ImagineTT;190018 Wrote: For other transporter owners - how long did it take, if at all, for the transporter to break-in. Any similar findings? Does the sound get warmer and more palpable? I am running the transporter through a Qinpu integrated to Dali Helicon 400's using JPS wire. Thanks in advance and thank you all for your prior posts that helped make my decision to purchase the transporter easier. Let's keep one another updated: just got mine today. Hooked up andI am amazed by the quality. Compared to what came from my Denon player using the DAC in my HK AVR 8500 (and that's a good DAC), the Transporter is impressively better. It even outperforms my SuperAudio player (HK DVD 47) as far as I can tell now. I just can't stop listening, I keep hearing new things all the time. I am taken by storm. I will leave it running continouosly, see how the sound is tomorrow, day after next etc. Will keep you posted! -- evert Black Transporter analog to HK AVR 8500 HK PA2200SE / 6 x Mission 780SE 78C (biwired) REL Strata III / Mac G5DP / 250+ GB GB of Apple Lossless encoded music evert's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5912 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33887 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
jeffmeh wrote: Would my audio sound better if I had a cat that was neither alive nor dead? The hifi always sounds better with the house cat in a box. No bothersome mewling at the door, or using the speaker cloth as a scratching post. --rt ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] AIFF vs Apple lossless
mmg_fan;188364 Wrote: In latest UHF magazine in the article about modding the power supply to the SB, the author mentions that there 'is a slight but noticeable' difference in audio quality between Apple lossless and AIFF. Please tell me this isn't so! I don't want to re-rip my entire cd collection! Agree - this isn't so. Rubbish! Same as that a sticker will make your gear sound better... (yes that is tried ad tested ... and nonsense) -- evert Black Transporter analog to HK AVR 8500 HK PA2200SE / 6 x Mission 780SE 78C (biwired) REL Strata III / Mac G5DP / 250+ GB GB of Apple Lossless encoded music evert's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5912 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33671 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Which connector for Harman/Kardon 970?
PaulG;185493 Wrote: I've been using Softsqueeze to try out slimserver, and have decided to buy the Squeezebox 3. Now I am wondering whether I should buy an optical digital cable, or whether RCA cables are better. (...) Any input is appreciated! Use RCA - less problems with jitter (?) it seems, also cheaper. You can get an audiophile grade RCA connection for 30 euro (like Oehlbach NF113). -- evert Black Transporter analog to HK AVR 8500 HK PA2200SE / 6 x Mission 780SE 78C (biwired) REL Strata III / Mac G5DP / 250+ GB GB of Apple Lossless encoded music evert's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5912 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33306 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
ron thigpen;191210 Wrote: jeffmeh wrote: Would my audio sound better if I had a cat that was neither alive nor dead? The hifi always sounds better with the house cat in a box. No bothersome mewling at the door, or using the speaker cloth as a scratching post. --rt I cannot tell whether the cat is mewing or scratching in the box, as I have to isolate it from the external environment to prevent quantum decoherence affects. Hey, I wonder if this isolation could be beneficial to the switching PSU? -- jeffmeh jeffmeh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3986 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Blown away by Transporter
gregeas;182283 Wrote: This time I was blown away by the difference. The sound from the Transporter was much more involving than it had been with the Arcam, and I had a feeling that the music was easier to enjoy, and more fun. (...) More significantly, I was able to listen to older music and completely get into it. (...) On a more objective level, the soundstage became wider, deeper and more precise with the Transporter. Soundstage had always been lacking in this system, and I was beginning to think that the room made poor performance inevitable. While before I had to concentrate to see the images, now they were obviously arrayed before me, in a variety of music. For the first time, I'm actually impressed with my system. I'm even wondering if there was something wrong with the setup before. (..) As a final note, I will say that surfing music and building playlists on the fly is a huge improvement over swapping CDs. After the Slimdevices experience, it is nearly impossible to go back to shiny disks. (from another note from me on this Forum) Just got mine today. Hooked up and I am amazed by the quality. Compared to what came from my Denon player using the DAC in my HK AVR 8500 (and that's a good DAC), the Transporter is impressively better. It even outperforms my SuperAudio player (HK DVD 47) as far as I can tell now. I just can't stop listening, I keep hearing new things all the time. I am taken by storm! Since 8 this night (now past midnight) I keep listening to old albums, and keep finding new things. I am so impressed can hardly describe the feeling. Just wanted to share. -- evert Black Transporter analog to HK AVR 8500 HK PA2200SE / 6 x Mission 780SE 78C (biwired) REL Strata III / Mac G5DP / 250+ GB GB of Apple Lossless encoded music evert's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5912 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=32969 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
Pat Farrell;191200 Wrote: You seem to be trying to pick a fight. I have no fight with you. So this is my last response. Nope, not trying to pick a fight. Simply asserting my opinion that speaker placement is more important than tweak implies. Because it defeats the purpose of the spikes. They are designed to solidly couple the speakers in one place. In theory, the speaker cabinet can move with music causing the imaging to smear. Many floors are not perfectly level, and using spikes (even with cups underneath them) allow for the speaker cabinet to be solidly placed on an uneven surface. Without them, you have an inconsistent surface-to-surface contact, which can cause resonances in the cabinet and the floor that are detrimental to the performance of the speaker. There is also benefit to raising the speaker off the floor. Since you don't like my tweak, where are yours? I love your suggestion...I just don't think it's as minor as a tweak. I'm not big on tweaks. I do believe in vibration control devices and power conditioning, and of course room acoustic treatments, so I guess I could talk about those...but I don't believe you can tweak room acoustic treatments or power conditioning, and I've already seen the carnage caused in another thread when discussing vibration control, so I chose not to jump there. If I had to mention one, I'd say make sure your seat doesn't have a headrest on it to cause reflections right behind your head. Probably would say the same thing about cupping your hands around your ears... -- PhilNYC Sonic Spirits Inc. http://www.sonicspirits.com PhilNYC's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=837 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] What is connected to your Transporter?
Mark Lanctot;191204 Wrote: Are you using direct mode? (Something to bypass the DSP, see http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.cgi?AVReceivers) If not, it could be even better! Plus, although I don't believe in electronics break-in, I and many others did notice it. I'm more apt to believe our brains get used to the new sound and start noticing the nuances. No, sorry, the direct connection is in use - by the SACD / DVD-A player... The AVR is however using the signal as is, nothing done by the DSP, no settings, tweaks. As you can see - almost 2 Am, still listening. I'm blown away by the TP, really! I believe you that my brain is getting the new sound. -- evert Mac G5DP w. 250+ GB GB of ALAC music - Black Transporter (analog) - HK AVR 8500 HK PA2200SE - 6 x Mission 780SE 78C (biwired) REL Strata III evert's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5912 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33868 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
This fuss over the definition of tweak strikes me as a distinction without a difference so far. If we're at this point it becomes useful to see what the dictionary says. Webster has the following as one definition for tweak: to make small adjustments (as in tweak the controls); especially fine tune. Other definitions have little to with audio (to pinch or pull, annoy/bother or injure slightly.) It strikes me that incrementally moving the speakers is far closer to the applicable definition than the process of adding equipment et al. I think the original spirit of the opening question was what can we do with our systems - at little or no cost - that will improve them. I don't think the intent was to eliminate certain possibilities because they should have already been done. -- mlsstl mlsstl's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=9598 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
Pat Farrell;191200 Wrote: Because it defeats the purpose of the spikes. They are designed to solidly couple the speakers in one place. In theory, the speaker cabinet can move with music causing the imaging to smear. I have my own hypothesis about how spikes work. I think they lift the cabinet off the floor and allow the bottom surface of the speaker to vibrate, thus contributing to the sound along with the other five sides of the cabinet. The fact that the newly spiked speaker sounds a little different and the listener's expectation that spikes will make it sound better ensures that that is the result that is reported. TD -- tyler_durden tyler_durden's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2701 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
In my experience there are virtually no tweaks that universally work in all systems. The same vibration damping used on one CD player will suck the life out of another. The same speakers on spikes in one room will boom in another with a different confuration or type of floor. In general, the tweak I'd say benefits just about any source component has been vibration damping of some type. But finding the _ideal_ damping for a given component isn't always easy, and very often isn't cheap. -- JJZolx Jim JJZolx's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Cheap tweaks that really work
mlsstl;191253 Wrote: If we're at this point it becomes useful to see what the dictionary says. Webster has the following as one definition for tweak: to make small adjustments (as in tweak the controls); especially fine tune. Other definitions have little to with audio (to pinch or pull, annoy/bother or injure slightly.) Obviously, I'm irritating some people here, so I won't say much more on the subject. But I guess what I'm getting at is that the perception that speaker placement is a tweak of the controls and a fine tune is what is bothering me. It's like saying that laying the foundation for a new house is a fine tune. It's far more than that...it is arguably the most important part of setting up your system. Anyways, that's all from me on this topic... -- PhilNYC Sonic Spirits Inc. http://www.sonicspirits.com PhilNYC's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=837 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33956 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] sub for Quad ESL 988
Hello all, I own a set of 63's, which the 988's are simply a newer version, read: now made in China :( version of the 63's. The 989 have two extra panels (6 instead of 4) which deliver more bass. I believe these electrostatics are usually considered fast due to the light weight of the material that is being driven, there are no wires, coils or magnets attached to the mylar, nothing other than a thin layer of graphite type coating to help reduce charge migration, thats it. Conventional speakers consist of all kinds of materials, from poly plastic, carbon fibre, titanium and now kevlar. All this is MUCH heavier than a sheet of unhindered 2u mylar. (The Quad mylar makes plastic food wrap look like a persion carpet in thickness for comparison) This all equates to no / low speaker intertia, therefore in theory, faster, more accurate response. FYI: I repair ESL's. These speakers are very flat on the EQ, and are very natural and hair raisingly revealing. However, for the rock music fan who loves bass, they simply cannot deliver the SPL. They are also not overly efficient (~86 dB IIRC). Also, amplifiers that don't like strange impedence loads, i.e. drug store brand amps, need not apply, the amp will likely get smoked. (the impedence drops to below 2 ohms at ~ 18K Hz mark and the protection mechanism in the speaker does its job by shorting the speaker inputs, delivering a 0 ohm load to the amp) Simply put, to get more bass out of the 63 / 988, your options are: 1 - Upgrade to 989's (or the newer 6 panel ones w/ the pretty brace on back, cannot remember model off top of head, sorry) 2 - Gradient. If you are looking for a sub, this is it, period. If you find one, make sure you get the gradient crossover also. Now for other considerations which I've tried with no / limited / odd success: 1 - the 63's / 988's are not very rigid, and flex a little with high SPL / bass. You can either use pony up for some Arcici stands or put a stack of magazines on the speaker tops to increase mass, or make your own stands. 2 - Speaker placement. Gradients are dipoles because the Quads are dipoles. Try placing them somewhere in the room / in respect to the wall to attempt bass reinforcement. Play your favourite music and move about the room also helps find the best spot. 3 - With strange success, you can try a crossover like the Bryston 10B and combine w/ a mirage bi-polar speaker, like an OM-200 or 400. With the phase adjustment on my 200, I was able to better match the speed of the Quads and make it a little more natural, but I don't have a 10B at the moment and therefore I have overlap of the lower freq, not quite right, OM-200 back to HT room. Thats my 0.02$ worth. Cheers! -- darkglobe darkglobe's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10938 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33981 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Anybody Hacked SB3 External Clock?
Fantastic! You are very generous John. Having a little difficulty reading the small font for component ID on the schematic. Would it be possible to post a file attachment or send pm? Thanks, Mike -- RioTubes RioTubes's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10172 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=32761 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
