Let's see pics of your stereo setup! - Page 9

Very nice! Congrats!

Here's something a little different... Sold off most of the audiophile gear and went DIY with mostly high-end pro audio gear. Speakers are tri-amped using a digital crossover with room correction.

The LR speakers play down to 80hz where a tapped horn sub takes over.

Hi dhoff01 - thanks for your comment and compliments. As technical as small room physics can get and the criteria used to build my various diffusers and consideration for where in the room to best place them, I still can't figure out how to post a picture into the text body on my AVS replies! Ugh, do I feel stupid. I've attached .pdf files ok and the link to the slide show of picutres . . . Would someone PM me on how to insert the pics into this reply please? Sorry for taking this off topic.

dhoff01 - you might wish to consider reading Dr Floyd Toole's book which will provide a very solid learning in acoustic treatement and sound reproduction.

Never mind the equipment - look at that VIEW!!! It looks like you live in a really large tree house! Nice geat by the way.

Thanks, we were very happy to find such a view and a great home theater space in a house we could afford. Upstairs is very much like living in a tree house. You can see Pikes Peak in the distance, about 80 miles away.

Not sure what a geat is, but at least I know I have a nice one lol.

EDIT: Just realized geat = gear doh!

I'm trying again to embed pics of my room within this reply . . . hope it works this time.

You are doing great

wicked - how many different block heights do you have in your PRD?

Thanks.

Only eight.

After the pics of my main setup in the living room, here are pics of my system in the bedroom.


ASRock Core 100HT barebone (Core i3 350M 2.26GHz) -> M2Tech hiFace USB->SPDIF (BNC) -> Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC 24/192 (tube output stage) -> custom Western Electric RCA interconnect -> Musical Fidelity A1 -> custom Western Electric speaker cables -> DALI Royal Menuet II

Got the A1 from a friend of mine. I think I can probably fry eggs on it. This little system is great for some casual listening before going to bed.

even eight is still a lot of work lol

Looks like you've gone all out with the diffusion/absorption, nice! That's a project I have to tackle at some point, but for now using horns that have good directivity helps a lot, especially with first reflections.

Are those big boxes on the floor subs? Did you DIY those speakers?

It's no wonder you're not familiar with my gear

The amplifiers are -as I said- prototypes designed by two of my engineering friends. It all started out as a DIY project five years ago that over time evolved into a study of how far you can take a power amplifier design when it comes to accuracy and power. It turned out they could push it far -so far, in fact that we're not sure if there is a more capable amp out there today. The measurements we've made on them proove them to rival pretty much any amp out there when it comes to distortion. In fact, they turned out so spectacularly good they've decided to start producing them. For now they barely got a site up and running and are working on finalizing the final product (that will deliver close to 2.5kW at redicilously low distortion levels). You can find the *very* conservative specs at http://www.og-engineering.se/Amplifier.aspx .

Regarding the speakers they're only available in sweden. The designer has made a couple of his smaller designs commercially available through the brand Guru Pro Audio ( http://guruproaudio.com/ ). Mine, finished off in jakaranda veneer are from his signature-series with matched drivers and capable of truly astounding sound -both when it comes to sound pressure and when it comes to low distortion.

In my room and with this setup I have measured sound pressure levels in excess of 120 dB with distortion levels so low it is redicillous. It just never sound bad, no matter how loud you play, and with no distortion you just want to crank it up loud. Way loud! Good thing that my neigburs are all o'l retired miners (true!) so them gentlemen all, have been clinically deaf for at least 20 years or so and they just love getting the feeling of the floors rattle one last time

H

120db with low distortion? That's a very bold claim and something usually associated with high efficiency designs with large radiating areas (horns or line arrays).

How were you measuring distortion? Just about all drivers start to suffer from power compression (non linear distortion) within 1/10th their rated power.

Yes it is a bald claim , but I stand to it.. I have easily 4kW power at my disposal swinging allmost 200V P-P into fairly easy speaker loads. They're not super high efficiency, but they are pretty efficient and can take power like nothing else I have ever encountered. Keep in mind the "main" speakers are specifically designed to be cut of at 80 Hz and they still are equipped with two 8" long stroke proprietary drivers. Under 80Hz four pretty massive vented 12" ultra long stroke bass modules take over. Add some room gain and you're looking at *easilly* 120 dB!

In a normal room, the speakers togehter with the bass modules can easlilly produce over 120dB without a strain. The front speakers alone (without bass modules) are cabable of 125dB over 100 Hz without the support of the bss modules and without any significant distortion.

I know it sounds almost impossible, but these speakers really deliver insane sound preassures with insanely low distortion. They don't do the impossible, they are just on the bleeding edge of what is possible.

H

Hi Steve71,
Thanks for you compliment on the room - it is a labour of love that is taking quite a while to "finish." My wife just rolls her eyes . . .

With your horn speakers that have good directivity (or not so good lateral dispersion) then I would suggest you focus on the floor+ceiling+back wall and front wall as areas needing acoustical treatment even if that's a rug, drapes or DIY diffusers.

The big light coloured boxes on the side walls of my room are not subs - they are bass traps. Inside are several garbage bags filled with OC701 fiberglass and the black "windows" easily let the low frequencies in to be absorbed. I tried to dress it up a little; it nicely doubles as a place to put your beverage!

By the way, I meant to say that you have good looking gear, not geat! Geat is either a typo or French-Canadian spelling of 'gear'

Panasonic Viera TX-P50V20E Plasma TV
Magnat RV1 Tube Amp
Dynaudio X32 Speakers
Dune Base 3.0 Media Player

1 pic

Actually, I'd like to rephrase that from *easilly* to barely . I did the actual math today from my measurements and at my listening distance 120 dB is just about what I can squeeze out of this system in my room. However, at that level it's so loud I would not dream of going in the room without my musicians earplugs, and it's still pretty darn loud. Under normal listening conditions, however, I rarely utilize a 100th or even a thousands of the power capabilities at hand. Guess I'm a sucker for headroom

H

That sounds more like it. A speaker's max SPL will always be limited by the weakest link in the chain, which in this case will be the tweeter. They are just not designed for low distortion and high SPL. To do 120db with low distortion takes a speaker capable of 130db.

It's kind of a mute point though as 120db is not something any sane person would want to listen to for extended amount of time. Some recordings will have 120db peaks when listening at realistic levels, but it certainly is not the norm.

The dispersion of the mid horn (300hz to 5Khz) is 90x40 which minimizes first reflections when toed in like they are. That is ideal lateral dispersion no? [Edit - never mind, rereading your post I think I missed the humor in the "or not so good lateral dispersion"] Everything going to the listener, no [edit: to say minimal, not "no"] first reflections splashing onto the walls, floor and ceiling. I'd say the back wall would be the biggest problem. All that glass on the front wall doesn't help, but at some point I will have to get heavy drapes for 100% light control.

My biggest issue is the room is fairly close to square at 22x25ft. The garage is below this room, so I was thinking about three or four IB's (2x18") placed on the floor, around the room.

I have lots of big ideas, just no time to execute .


Ah, got it. You did a nice job, they look great. I'm still curious, are your speakers DIY?


Ah yes, I eventually figured that out.

how are you arriving to this conclusion?
an ETC graph (tested one speaker at a time) will detail you for sure ... i would test before making such claims to be certain

The mid horn is a tar filled Altec 1003 and the published specs (from Altec) show a 90x40 dispersion pattern with an f3 of 300hz. I don't think the mouth is big enough to control dispersion down that low though. 500-600hz would be my guess.

Mind you this dispersion is for the mid horn only. How well the polars match at the crossover (300hz and 5Khz), I have not measured, but they are well out of the most sensitive part of our hearing range.

right - but how are you drawing a conclusion from this that there are no side wall, ceiling, floor, first order reflections?

and ETC is the only way to know for sure.
cheers,

I said that it minimizes first reflections, obviously it does not eliminate them completely. It was in response to kevinzoe's statement "With your horn speakers that have good directivity (or not so good lateral dispersion) ".

Re-reading it though I think he was just being humorous, since he didn't mention the side walls as an area that needs attention.

Hi Steve71,
Firstly, no my speakers are not DIY, although they do look a bit like robots, eh? They are from a company called FAB Audio here in Toronto which used to make high efficiency horn-like speakers but have since closed their doors.

Regarding the 1st reflection bounce issue, I believe there are two schools of thought on this: (i) if your speakers have wide latteral and vertical dispersion capabilities, then the 1st reflections are a good "copy" of the direct sound you hear, meaning the reflections contain most (all?) of the frequency info that the direct sound contains, albiet time delayed. Dr Floyd Toole's research found that people preferred these reflections as the early ones helped wided the apparent sound source while the latter reflections helped create a sense of listener envelopment - all positive stuff, and (ii)if your speakers have limited off-axis freq dispersion then it's better to toe them in to limit the lateral reflections because they aren't a good "copy" of the direct sound and would skew the timbral balance of what you hear otherwise. Same thinking applies in the vertical dimension (e.g. floor+ceiling).

In your case I agree with you that thick drapes with an air space behind them would help absorb highs and mids to a lesser degree and the window is for all intents and purposes a bass trap letting long bass waves escape through it into the trees beyond- - great view, again!


Do you have a rug on the floor between you and the speakers as that would absorb the 1st bounce and prevent flutter echos between two parallel surfaces?

Are you at risk of forrest fires by chance?

Yeah, the bullet tweeter and accordion surround on the 10?" driver had my interest piqued. Bet they sound great, especially since you've put so much effort into treating the room.


I thought that was the idea behind constant direcivity horns - that the (limited) off axis response mimics the on axis response. That way you can use EQ effectively. If the speakers off axis response is not the same as the on axis response, then EQ won't fix the problem. The multi cells are an early attempt at constant directivity. I also have a few Altec Manta ray horns that are constant directivity, but prefer the sound of the multicells. The mantaray horns do have amazing imaging, though.


No rug, but the flooring is carpet. Overall the room is pretty dead sounding given how empty it is. However the proper balance of absorption and diffusion would make all the difference no doubt.


Yes! We overlook the Pike National Forest which is over a million acres.
You can see the Hayman Fire burn area in this pic (brown area with no trees). It's the largest wild fire in Colorado's history

um...

More Pictures and Less Talk!

(Check the Title of the Thread)

Oh, and to keep myself honest...

Blah, blah, blah how very rude of us to yammer on so much!

Nice speakers! I can't make out the components Rutgar - care to list them? I know the speaker cable elevators look cool but do they make a sonic impression, real or imaginary? I have no experience with them.

What acoustic treatments have you? It looks like 2"-4" thick absorption on the side wall for both 1st reflection points.

Lastly, and forgive the off topic question, but how did you embed a large picture within your thread reply instead of the smal thumbnail ones? I'd love to know. Thanks.

Components:
Parasound A-21 in the shelves, and Left Channel JC-1 by the speaker.
Classe' SSP-30 MKII Surround Processor
Oppo BDP-83SE Blu-ray
Luxman D-05 CD/SACD player (this is soon going away, as I have a Playback Designs MPS-5 on order)
I use the cable elevators for organization purposes only (I can't tell that they make any sonic difference).

You are correct on the treatment.

To place a picture, I use Photobucket.com. It's free. First upload the photo into your album on Photobucket. Then right click on the full size photo (not the thumbnail photo), select properties, and highlight the entire url listed. Example, for the picture below: http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...g?t=1302746103. Then right click on the highlighted url, and select 'copy'.

Then click on the 'insert image' button in the AVS toolbar at the top of the reply window. Paste the url you copied from photobucket. Click 'OK'

For you BSG fans, here is a pic I took of Tricia Helfer and Katie Sackhoff a few weeks ago (yeah I know they're not audio gear... unless you count the microphones):