Warning: long, and possibly boring, article!
I live in the U.K. in a two bedroom flat (apartment). My musical tastes are mostly mellow, folk/soft rock (e.g. the Roches, Ian Matthews, Joni Mitchell) with occasional sorties into heavier rock (e.g. Barclay James Harvest, Free) and classical (e.g. string quartets, not full blown orchestral works).
My first real Hi-Fi purchase was in 1996: a Marantz CD63 KI Signature CD player, Audiolab 8000A integrated amp and B&W P4 speakers. This was set up in my living room but I knew nothing of proper speaker positioning, room interference and so on. I didn’t listen like an audiophile; I just listened!
In 2003 I decided that I wanted a better listening experience, and that this should come from headphones as I didn’t want to upset my neighbours (I’m a considerate fellow, as you can see!). So I bought a Headroom Blockhead headphone amp and balanced Sennheisser HD650 headphones. And a very nice sound I got. My ears were opened to the possibility that sound improvements were possible.
A visit to someone who had a dedicated listening room and was using a TEAC P/70 and D/70 CD transport and DAC plus Shunyata Hydra 8 power conditioning and cables got me well and truly hooked on getting a better sound. On trying these with my headphones I was particularly impressed with the quiet background (black, I believe is the term used). It is something I really noticed when going back to the Marantz instead of the TEACs (the Marantz being comparatively noisy). As I’d come into some money, I bought the TEACs, Hydra and cables.
It also occurred to me that perhaps I could use my second bedroom as a listening room. The size is a bit small, 13 feet x 8 feet x 8 feet, but I put all my gear in there to give it a go. By now I knew something of speaker positioning from internet sites, but even so I was struggling to get a decent sound. At first I tried the short wall and thirds rule, but eventually the best results were by using the long wall and a nearfield arrangement. I was pleased and thought I was getting a nice sound from my speakers.
Upgradeitis is a disease a bit like malaria: it comes and goes but once you have it it‘s there for life. This last year I have been afflicted by another bout and felt I needed to move my amp and speakers up a few sonic levels to do justice to the TEACs. I contacted my dealer, Angelsound Audio, and went round to listen in his house. I selected a couple of speakers and amps that seemed best for me and we went to my flat for more listening. My dealer was (diplomatically?) polite about the sound of my system (saying it was ’better than expected’!) but when we put his speakers and amps in the sound was dreadful! One of them was so bassy that it destroyed any musicality and the other pair seemed very over powering in the treble, even when turning the speakers to face away from the listener. Conclusion: the room needed some sort of correction in the form of base traps etc..
Room acoustics, another area to study if you are to get a good sound from your system. Some research on the internet and I ended up buying and installing some Auralex foam products. This made some difference, particulary to bass boom and a tighter sound.
Whilst on my internet travels I discovered digital equalizers; Tact, DEQX and the Behringer DEQ2496. The first two are high end equalizers, the Behringer more designed for live performance and mass production. It is also about fifteen times cheaper. I decided to buy a Behringer, learn about equalizers then perhaps move on to a Tact. The Behringer has been a revelation and is the single most important piece of kit I’ve bought. It takes some mastering but once achieved, a wonderful sound is possible. I cannot believe that its more expensive rivals can do much better.
Now I was getting somewhere. With the TEACs, Hydra, Audiolab and B&W speakers plus Behringer and room treatment I was getting a really enjoyable sound. I still wanted a better amp and speakers. My dealer had heard the VMPS RM30’s at a show and suggested these might suit me. More nifty finger work on my keyboard led me to the VMPS site and this one (the VMPS Audio Circle). I was impressed with the detailed notes on both sites, the reviews were good but how do I listen to them? I decided to take a big gamble, although I felt strangely confident. I would order a pair unheard. My dealer agreed and ordered a set for himself too! I also ordered a Son of Ampzilla amp as this too seemed an almost sure fire winner.
The Son of Ampzilla arrived first. My dealer came round with it and took the opportunity to hear some of his test CDs through my existing system. The improvements were good enough for him to immediately buy a Behringer! After he’d gone I installed the new amp; the proverbial veil or three were lifted off the sound. Brilliant!
And finally (finally???!) the RM30M’s arrived, my dealer bringing them round. There was no way I was going to let him set up my speakers. Anyway, he’s got his own to do!
Pulled them out of the boxes; no instructions so followed the set up advice on these pages. I removed a pea size piece of putty from each of the four passive radiators, then attached the base pieces and set them up in position. Had a good look and noticed a hairline scratch on one side; no other damage. (I probably shouldn’t have removed the putty, according to John Casler’s post of 5th August, but how was I to know? The L pads were set to 12.00 and 12.30 already and there were some instructions on the back of the speakers that mentioned this.
It took a while to get the right positions but eventually it seems that the best location is against the back wall (right up against the Auralex foam) as far apart as possible, 10" drivers pointing inwards, and toed in pointing to my ears. I also found they sounded better with the wave guides off. There was a hard edge to the sound, particularly noticeable on vocals, in the early days but as expected this disappeared after a few months so that now I have a really enjoyable sound.
It was, of course, a gamble to buy the RM30's and Son of Ampzilla without any listening tests, but then again, it wasn't! I've no regrets at all.
