Something Old Will Soon Be New Once Again

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John Casler

Re: Something Old Will Soon Be New Once Again
« Reply #20 on: 20 Apr 2014, 02:21 am »
Dave,

Looks like an exciting project, and knowing you I bet it will sound even more magnificent.

Have you ever put a pair of Headphones on your "man on/in the wall"?

Would certainly look interesting, although it (of course) already does.


Housteau

Re: Something Old Will Soon Be New Once Again
« Reply #21 on: 21 Apr 2014, 05:10 am »
Have you ever put a pair of Headphones on your "man on/in the wall"?

Would certainly look interesting, although it (of course) already does.

If I did that then he wouldn't be able to enjoy Brian's speakers :).

The carpet has been installed and I have just started to move some things back in to see how I am going to want them set up.  This is the fun part, getting to start all over again.  For right now the speakers and listening position are just roughed in and only my best guess.  It will be a while yet before the music will be playing.  The tuning process will be pretty extensive.  It's fairly easy to get this system to sound quite good, but it has a lot more potential then to just sound very good and I want to max things out the best I can.  I have been looking at this very interesting info on sub bass integration:

https://jlaudio.zendesk.com/entries/22530915-Adding-a-Subwoofer

 








Housteau

Re: Something Old Will Soon Be New Once Again
« Reply #22 on: 27 Apr 2014, 10:44 am »
THe room is pretty muched finished with everything moved back into it, but I have not started to tune the system to the new room yet, or have even finished connecting it up.  I have to go out of town for a while and will be working on that when I get back.  Here is a link to some finished photos that I put up on the Acoustics forum.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=125534.new;topicseen#new

Housteau

Re: Something Old Will Soon Be New Once Again
« Reply #23 on: 21 May 2014, 06:09 am »
Well, I was finally able to start tuning the system to the new room and I believe I am at a good stopping point for now, and all I can say is WOW.  The new room is everything I had dared hoped it would be.  Everything has improved and to such a large degree.  I was hoping to improve some over an already tweaked out system and room, but wasn't expecting all of this.

Housteau

Re: Something Old Will Soon Be New Once Again
« Reply #24 on: 28 May 2014, 03:24 pm »
Housteau,

Sounds like a fun and exiting project. Those V60s must need lots of breathing room.



When I had first answered this I was going on what I thought was true at the time, believing that my previous space was adequate for this system and that Brian's larger systems can work fine in less space.  Well, now I know different although I can't speak for all designs, just my own.  Without a doubt I had way too much speaker for my previously sized room.  I would have thought (and did think) that a dedicated room 15 x 21 x 11.5 was good enough and that the sound I was achieving was pretty darn good.  If I didn't now have my new room to compare things with I am sure I would still feel that way.  I had no idea that my sound was actually very compromised compared to what I have now.  My previous room in fact did not allow my system to 'breathe', not with full breaths anyway.  There was a restriction in in both the top and bottom end.  Before I needed to strike that balance between the quantity and quality of sound being careful not to overload the room.  This needed balance restricted my entire integration into that room with crossover choices and balances between amplifiers, everything.

With the larger space of 21 x 25 x 11 all of that has now changed.  I have now been rewarded with an effortless and unrestricted feel to the sound in both extremes and at all volume levels.  I don't consider myself a loud listener, but I do like to give the music it's proper scale when required.  I feel I can do that now.  But, what is most impressive to me is what changed at what I consider my average listening levels with huge improvements over the lower level dynamics, the layering of those lower frequencies and the open airy spaciousness on top. 

What was compromised the most in my previous room?  I would say the bass.  Those bass towers were just not able to be their best due mostly I believe to the normal room mode boundary issues (peaks and dips) all smaller spaces have.  My new room has them as well, but they are not as severe and they are located at frequencies much easier to deal with.  Some dedicated rooms may actually have more bass issues than those systems set up in a normal living space.  I have friends that have their systems in that shared living space and because of the huge often odd shaped dimensions the bass tends to be quite good.  I believe this is due to it being able to spread out more to the many leak paths throughout the house. 





John Casler

Re: Something Old Will Soon Be New Once Again
« Reply #25 on: 28 May 2014, 07:25 pm »
Once again demonstrating just how much of a component the room and listening environment are.   :thumb:

Stimpy

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Re: Something Old Will Soon Be New Once Again
« Reply #26 on: 28 May 2014, 10:16 pm »
Even a 'modest' 40Hz note has a 28 foot peak to peak wavelength.  So, bass frequencies even lower, require a huge space to support proper wave propagation!  As such, your new room may not even be big enough...!!!   :o  But, you should be able to slam some awesome Rap notes in the new space!!!  Whump, Whump, Whump...!!!   :lol:

Seriously though, I'm glad that your new room is exceeding your expectations!  That's a nice feeling; to discover that your system is capable of even more then expected.  Plus, I do think the new room is gorgeous.  And I won't even discuss your system.  Other than it would be a dream come true to own that setup!  Epic.   :thumb:

Housteau

Re: Something Old Will Soon Be New Once Again
« Reply #27 on: 29 May 2014, 04:21 am »
I received an email from an audiophile friend about a recent discovery he just had.  He ended it by saying:  "The journey I thought was ending has just begun again".  That is exactly how I feel now.  Although back when I first started this thread with that similar theme, it was just positive thinking rather than a reality.

Once again demonstrating just how much of a component the room and listening environment are.   :thumb:

One other positive benefit of my new space is that this is the first time I have been able to set up my system to fire down the long dimension.  Previously I was set up against the long wall because I wanted that width.  Now I can still have the width and be against the short wall at the same time.  There is a good video on the GIK Acoustics site that demonstrates the differences in setting up on each wall and how the peaks and dips in bass response line up.  There is a clear advantage acoustically to being against the shorter dimension and I believe that has contributed to part of what I am experiencing now.

But, in truth having changed so much at once it is impossible to say what helped with what.  I did add in one heck of an isolation transformer feeding the new hospital grade audio outlets also.  What part, if any, did that play?  I don't know.  Maybe nothing and then just maybe enough to make a difference somewhere.

Even a 'modest' 40Hz note has a 28 foot peak to peak wavelength.  So, bass frequencies even lower, require a huge space to support proper wave propagation!  As such, your new room may not even be big enough...!!!   :o  But, you should be able to slam some awesome Rap notes in the new space!!!  Whump, Whump, Whump...!!!   :lol:

Such fine audio blasphemy with that Whump, Whump, Whump...!!! :lol:

The lowest room mode supported by my 25' length is 22.6 hz as a 1/2 wavelength http://www.bobgolds.com/Mode/RoomModes.htm   Small rooms will support deep bass.  Test tones tell the full story.  Brian had designed the bass towers more for the quality of low bass rather than to full extension.  He said he was left a choice and so he decided he would rather start a slight roll off around 25 hz in order to keep the quality he wanted.  He had recommended a slight EQ boost at 20 hz to even things out.  My True RTA software shows a chart that begins a roll off right around 18 hz.

Quote
Seriously though, I'm glad that your new room is exceeding your expectations!  That's a nice feeling; to discover that your system is capable of even more then expected.  Plus, I do think the new room is gorgeous.  And I won't even discuss your system.  Other than it would be a dream come true to own that setup!  Epic.   :thumb:

Thank you.  It is nice to have hard work and thoughtful planning rewarded in such ways.  This hasn't always been the case with me and I would guess it is often the same for many others as well.  It is just that we don't fully advertise our failures.
« Last Edit: 29 May 2014, 06:22 am by Housteau »

PMAT

Re: Something Old Will Soon Be New Once Again
« Reply #28 on: 29 May 2014, 05:06 am »
Nice, honest thoughts mr hastoo. The room looks great. When you get some more time behind the wheel describe the sound you are getting. Please add some more creative pics as well. We LOVE pics.
Peace,
PMAT