I like to think with all my years of experience and "education???" in audio, I know most of what needs to be known to at least get 85% of the best sound out of my (and my clients) system(s).
Damn if I don't love it when I find something new (that I should have seen as obvious all along) that I have ignored for lack of awarness.
Actually, I have been thinking about this for a long time and a few of you might breeze through the VMPS forum where I slather a plethora of various tweaks that vary from the simple, to the "Chuckie" specials (just joking Chuck)
In the last several months much has been posted of "the ROOM" and how it affects the sounds.
Recently someone posted to the Van Alstine forum a question to Frank about his anechoic comments. I think many fail to realize just how "damaging"
any room affect has on the sound and how we perceive it.
And this is how even "I", who try to see all the possiblilities, missed this one.
For those who don't know, I have a very basic Rotel CD/Bryston Preamp/CineNova Amp/ into VMPS RM40 speakers.
Simple, clean, powerful, dynamic and accurate, ....if set up correctly and in a room that is taken out of the equation in the mids and highs as much as possible.
Now what I found will probably affect only a few of your directly, but has larger tweak type implications to all but the most acoustically sound proofed.
Ready?
How many of you have a coffee table, ottoman, or anything sitting in front of you (between you and your speakers? Sure it is too low to cause any problems right???
WRONG!
I have a 400# granite table that has all my remotes and also acts as a foot rest/ottoman.
It is just like a coffee table or whatever and for the last several months, in the back of my mind I have wondered if the sound reflects off the table on its way to me, in any deleterios way.
Have I been happy with my system? Damn straight. It has great everything and each time I hear an improvement I think it must be just about to its limit since it is hard to imagine things getting much better.
But...
In comes Norah Jones. I could never see why everyone like this CD so much. If played loud (say 85-90 db) it sounds like she is over miked and while it is a good CD, it is not magical in its presention (or should I say "was not")
Now I have (again see the VMPS forum) developed some significant tweaks to reduce things like cabinet defraction (lapels) and ceiling bounce (Hood and "Sonic Director") and really didn't think there was too much more I could do in what was considered the "major" Sound Control Tweaks. I have lots of Acoustic Panels hanging on the wall and covering many reflective surfaces, and crevices.
Well I was wrong
And now I'm happy
Cause the improvement is not just noticable but "very noticable"
What did I do? I simply covered my granite table with a beach towel
Yep that was it. And wow what a difference.
The biggest differences?
1) Norah Jones' voice now sounds sweet and silky, even on the leading edge of what I thought was the over miked peaks, but instead were just very strong, almost direct, reflections beamed at me at nearly the same time as the real original signal, blurring and fouling the sound.
2) Soundstage depth. OK, I wasn't expecting this to happen so it was a "VERY" pleasant surprise. As I sat listening to Nora, after this tweak, the "realness" of her drummer, playing behind her on stage became startlingly real!!!! I hope if you try this you hear a similar improvement, since my 3-D depth has always been one of my systems strong points, this was a sweet payoff for simply grabbing a beach towel out of the closet.
3) Blackness, imaging and texture. These just keep getting better. They got better when I switched to the Bryston PreAmp, when I added the lapels, and now as my living room looks like Frankie and Annette should be sitting on my table, they are even better.
So if you don't have a table between you and the speakers does this mean you don't need this info?
Not quite. Check this out. I don't know how bad your floor bounce is, but you might want to try a simple "floor bounce blocker" to see.
I thought about this after looking at my towel draped table. The towel hangs over the edges of the table and basically blocks "all" floor bounce. Of course it doesn't block bass which rolls right through and under it.
If you have a couple big fluffy towels and something as simple as two large cardboard boxes, try placing them at various distances directly between you and each speaker and listen for any differences.
While a carpeted floor will generally absorb some of the bounce, it won't do what a direct "Floor Bounce Barricade" (sounds like a good name) will do.
Just get the "fluffiest" two towels and at least 18" high cardboard boxes and set them between you and the point (closer to you) where the main floor bounce would be.
If you have a doubt where that is, just put a mirror on the floor and move it around until you can see the reflection of your speaker in the mirror when your sitting in the sweet spot. Set the box between you and the mirror so that it blocks your view of the "image bounced" by the mirror.
So, I think that even if you don't have the coffee table like I did, this tweak could offer an interesting sonic improvement should you have floor bounce that you don't know about or aren't aware of, that is affecting your sonic purity.
Once again, this is a tweak that is only for serious listening and can easily go in the closet (linen closet) when not in use. I doubt if the wife of GF will want towels and boxes all over the place.
Hope it works as well for you as it did for me.
I love it when I find things wrong
