NuPrime DAC-10 & ST-10 on Totem Rainmaker speakers. First impressions.

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JackD

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Rafa

Any luck with the Iso-Acoustics distributor listed for your country or are they not up to the WAF. 

RafaPolit

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Jack, no, those are the type of 'fake' distributors.  They have the local representation but are based in Panamá, so no, absolutely no luck with them :( .

Also, as great as they look, I believe all the ISO acoustics products where out of my budget.  Perhaps in a couple of years. :)

Thanks for the suggestion.  I like learning of the different products in the industry,
Rafa.

JackD

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Rafa

Try MasMusika.com in Guayaquil.  Look in Accessories under Acoustic Treatment.

https://masmusika.com/accesorios/10205-presonusispd-4-1000000156607.html

Any of the larger Musical Instrument dealers should have something along those lines and these guys are an Auralex dealer.

Devices like these and the Auralex versions will also fit in a suitcase between clothes.

RafaPolit

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Great find! I actually bought my Digital Piano from them about 7 years ago.  The only pads they have available are those Presonus. Have you had any experience with them? Cannot find a good review anywhere.

Thanks again,
Rafa.

JackD

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Rafa

I have never had any experience with them.  They seem to be an example of one of many companies that have reverse engineered the Auralex version.  There are many almost identical versions on Amazon. As they list some Auralex products they may have access to other parts of the catalogue too and other products they just don't list on the website. 

mresseguie

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Rafa (and Jack),

Hi, guys.

I've been following this thread since the beginning. I'm delighted you've settled on the ST-10 over what you had been considering - I suspect you are as well, Rafa.  :D

About three years ago I bought a pair of Auralex speaker pads/supports. They are slightly angled up from back to front, so they face up a few degrees. I've found them to be most useful in a near-field desktop setting and less help in other settings. What surprised me most (at the time) was that the material is just a closed cell foam. [Well, duh, Michael!] I can buy the exact same closed cell foam at a local foam seller for about $5 for a pair! The seller will cut them at any angle I desire. The only thing lacking is that pretty Auralex logo on the front.

I've got to hand it to the Auralex founders for finding a product to sell at a 1000% markup.  :thumb:

The moral of this story is there's always a similar product out there that offers the same benefits, but is reasonably priced. Search out foam sellers in Ecuador.

Michael

rustydoglim

This is an incredible discussion where the system was tuned and evolved. Newbie could learn a lot.

RafaPolit

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Thanks JackD once more for pointing out the MasMusika site.  I'm ashamed I didn't go and check there first, as I said, I bought a $3K digital piano from them a few years ago.

Michael, you are right about markup overpricing regarding cut foam! Alas, beside wanting to do all by myself, I have to actually work! LOL! So at some point chasing out all the foam sellers to see who carries the denser products and are willing to cut it will cost in work hours more than what I would be saving, specially for a $30 item.

So, I have bought the Presonus foams.

Initial impressions are positive: when I 'listen' to the residual sound that carries on onto the drawer, it is even cleaner than with my DIY ensamble.  I'm surprised that the difference is not even grater though.  My DIY product got me perhaps 80% of the absorption these pads provide.  Anyway, it's an improvement nonetheless and I'm happy with that.

As an additional info / anecdote, the previous setup sounded one way when inside the room, and once you left the room the sound was less boomy and perhaps a little more pleasant.  With these, the sound inside the room and the one carried outside the room is much more similar. So it appears that now it's mostly the speakers providing the feedback for the sound and less room 'interference'.

I am honored that Jason has made this into a sticky, mostly because that means that my own search for a coherent system may end up helping others in similar situations. But it's also a testament to the great help one can find in these forums, which would be really difficult otherwise.

Thanks again friends!
Best regards,
Rafa.

RafaPolit

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Oh, here's a look at what it looks like installed.

As far as looks go, my 'custom cut' pads looked much more 'part' of the speakers.  This is not as clean looking.



Also, my pads allow for a more forward position on the speakers.  This requires them to be a couple of inches deeper.  But since they are a bit higher, perhaps the sound waves can 'clear' the hard surface still?


John Casler


Also, my pads allow for a more forward position on the speakers.  This requires them to be a couple of inches deeper.  But since they are a bit higher, perhaps the sound waves can 'clear' the hard surface still?
:thumb: :thumb:

in1unison

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Hello Rafa,

Keep in mind that Totem doesn't recommend toe-in, and you can also experiment with placing the speakers so that tweeter is at the bottom especially if your sitting position is a bit lower than the cabinet, speakers are placed on.

Regards,

Jan A.

RafaPolit

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Glad to hear that John! :) Or at least I will read the smiles and thumbs up to reflect good news! :)

Thanks in1unison, I read the Totem user guide... but I keep on going from toe-in to no-toe and can't decide which I prefer best.

The thing is, the placement is ideal (without toe in) from my point of view, but my wife's slightly off-center spot feels like the sound is coming mostly from the left channel.  When using the speakers in toe-in configuration, this seems to correct a little that perception.  Does that make sense or not at all?

About orientation... I am going to try, but I think that visually, having the 'weight' of the woofer over the tweeter could be too much for my aesthetic tastes!  I'll let you know.  But the most important question is: I take it that that blue dot reflects the tweeter orientation.  It HAS to be pointing upwards.  Its there in case you want to mount the speaker on its side so you remember to rotate the tweeter.  Does that mean that I have to do a 180° with the tweeters?  Or is that just OK being upside down?

Thanks again,
Rafa.

in1unison

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Hello Rafa,

I was suggesting rotating speaker box only by 180°. Leave tweeter as is e.g. blue dot will be at the bottom. This should make LF better as well as MF/HF but only IF speaker's tweeter is now better aligned to your eye/ear level.

As always trust your ears first (and your aesthetic sensibilities)  :)

Regards,

Jan A.

Mystic Dragon

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I would look into Isoacoustics for beneath your speakers.  They provide great isolation and are height adjustable.  A staple in recording studios.  This is the distributor for you country.

I highly recommend ISOAcoustics for your speakers. After installing the ISOLBR-155 for my Dynaudio bookshelf speakers the GAIA II for a pair for Focal floor standing speakers, I found out that the physical contacts between my speakers and the floor/shelf were actually major performance bottlenecks of my audio systems. The base was substantially tightened and the mid/high became more focused after installing the ISOAcoustics. I researched these products for a while before I decided to purchase them as I was quite sceptical about what a set of "expensive rubber feet" could do to improve sonic quality of what were essentially very good systems. I also use the NuPrime ST-10 and am very happy that it is delivering an even more lifelike base that is tighter and more focused through the use of speaker isolators.     

Mystic Dragon

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Also, my pads allow for a more forward position on the speakers.  This requires them to be a couple of inches deeper.  But since they are a bit higher, perhaps the sound waves can 'clear' the hard surface still?

You have a very good system which should sound excellent. I have experience this kind of "desktop audio" situation before and see a number of obvious issues related to speaker placement in a constrained room. I suggest some potential solutions for your consideration.
(1) Sound reflecting off the glass of the right hand side window and off the left hand side wall (potential solution is close the curtain and hang something soft on the left wall)
(2) Speakers too close to the back wall causing a booming base (potential solution is to hang studio foam panels on your back wall behind your speakers)
(3) Speakers are vibrating and not effectively isolated (potential solution is to use IsoAcoustics stands - I have placed foam pads underneath speakers before and have abandoned such solutions a long time ago)

If possible, you might want to move your system to different rooms and test whether the sound changes significantly. I have done this before and I ended up using a room that I had not considered for Hi-Fi listening.

Cheers.