Some good points were raised last week by Macrojack and Darren, and I'd like to further address them.
Macrojack is correct in mentioning that new tweaks and things constantly come out, all praised to glory be. It's quite easy to get cynical about most everything, especially after trying a few of these "instant guides to audio nirvana", only to find they seem to make no difference. After a few times of that, one usually just ignores these things, and certainly one does not post the praiser/poster.
When I first heard speakers set with Master Set at RMAF 2007, it was the second time in the room before I paid much attention, and really it was the third time to listen that I really began paying attention, and wanted to learn more. And when I commenced praising and raving about this, I got a lot of deaf ears. I did get Hugh down to the room for a short listen. He was pretty stunned by what he had heard. I'm glad he remembers this short listen.
Darren's post reflects what I might call advanced conventional speaker set up. This involves room treatments, software programs that do various things to help tweak something, and spending a lot of money in an attempt to "find it". Conventional thought has the speakers measured out evenly into the room, preferably away from sidewalls as much as possible, and moved together or apart slightly to get a good centered mono image. Then one attempts to correct all the imbalances, reflections, and abnormalities that result from this. Generally one tries to get something good and a sweet spot of listening nirvana.
Master Set does not consider any of that. It is only concerned with equalizing the sound pressure between the two speakers. The first speaker is somewhat arbitrarily placed in the room, with the caveat that this is where the bass can be "tuned". The other speaker is then adjusted to this first speaker until the sound pressure is equal. This then creates an evenly balanced stereo image, and pretty much makes the two speakers into a single sound source. And like any stationary sound source, the sound stays in the same place when you, the listener, move. In any conventional setup, the sound will not only move around with you as you move, but it will change in character.
While diy Master Set may sound like the closest thing to a free lunch, and everyone knows about those, you do have to have the cd. Maybe when the dvd comes out, people will feel better spending more money on this.
