[bigshot]

Moo! I'm keeping my horns down! I already got culled once!

 

[doublea71]

I doubt it - I didn't get that from the builder, just stuff I read from other people. It's not such a big deal, but I'm still hoping for some placebo action.

 

[firev1]

Quote:

I doubt it - I didn't get that from the builder, just stuff I read from other people. It's not such a big deal, but I'm still hoping for some placebo action.

sometimes you just need to pay for decent build quality, of course there is diy....

 

[bigshot]

People on the internet are more than happy to help other people spend their money like water.

By the way, we really aren't yukking it up at anyone's expense. I'd wager that every one of us objectivists was burned by stuff like this in the past too. I can show you my obscenely expensive Monster optical cable that shorted out at the connectors in less than six months.

 

[firev1]

Quote:

People on the internet are more than happy to help other people spend their money like water.

multi level marketing lol

 

[bigshot]

deleted

 

[Citan]

Really cool that the mods stickied the "Testing Audiophile Claims and Myths" thread!

 

[bigshot]

That will be very handy! Thanks, Mods.

 

[Rebel975]

Quote:

 
 
I'm adding a subwoofer to my game room in less than a week.

 
 
 
GF walks in to the room and says "It sounds like a dinosaur is walking around in here!"

I was playing a Jurassic Park bass test track.

 
 

 

[bigshot]

I had a very difficult time balancing my Sunfire sub. Movies didn't help at all. It was so loud and so low that even Mozart was like dinosaurs marching around. I tried my normal sound tweaking CD, Donald Fagan's The Nightfly, and failed dismally. Reiner's recording of Marche Slav by Tchaikovsky was what finally got it in the ballpark. It has basses and cellos by themselves, so I could balance the crossover from my mains (cellos) to the sub (basses).

 

[Rebel975]

I'm using a NU3000DSP amp to send anything < 80 Hz to the sub, and running the speakers full range. They drop off sharply around 80 Hz anyway. With the amp I can tune the EQ, crossover, and also put a power limiter on the sub so that I don't drive it to Xmax. But, to be honest, that would never happen anyway. I'm keeping it pretty low while in this current living situation. I don't want the neighbors to complain too much.
 
The only thing that I have an issue with right now is the fact that my speaker amp's pre-outs aren't volume controllable, so I have to adjust the subwoofer's gain if I turn the speakers up or down. It's not that big of a deal, though. Turn the speakers down > turn the sub's gain down one click.

 

[bigshot]

I've got my mains and sub set up the same way, but the mains go quite a ways below 80Hz, so there is a bump at the crossover point where there is overlap. I had to tune the phase first, then the level, then the EQ to get it to transition smoothly. Of course once I EQed, it knocked the level wrong so I had to go back and forth a few times.

Your volume situation would bother me, but I play my stereo at a wide range of volumes from quiet background music to wall rattlingly loud. When you get around to replacing your amp, you can get a 5:1 amp and that problem will be solved.

I made a mistake with my last receiver. It was right at the beginning of 5:1 sound and I spent way too much on it. It turned out that it quickly became obsolete in a dozen little irritating ways, but I had so much money invested in it, I couldn't replace it. It finally died and I replaced it with a brand new state of the art receiver that cost half as much. I'm much happier with it now.

 

[palmfish]

I had a very difficult time balancing my Sunfire sub. Movies didn't help at all. It was so loud and so low that even Mozart was like dinosaurs marching around. I tried my normal sound tweaking CD, Donald Fagan's The Nightfly, and failed dismally. Reiner's recording of Marche Slav by Tchaikovsky was what finally got it in the ballpark. It has basses and cellos by themselves, so I could balance the crossover from my mains (cellos) to the sub (basses).

I assume you're talking about "The Nightfly" on vinyl? I used to think my CD sounded amazing when I first bought it (after reading a glowing review in Stereo Review Magazine). Today, I can't listen to it because it sounds terrible. Maybe it's been remixed to correct that horrible 80's digital transfer?

Your Marche Slav recording - is it the RCA Living Stereo recording from 1957/59?

 

[palmfish]

Quote:

There are all sorts of audiophile reviews of various cables, comparisons, and testimonials about how much better one cable sounded over another. Then I found this page:
http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm
It's written by the former head audio engineer of McIntosh Labs. It's very long, but a fascinating and entertaining read. Apparently all this "High End" speaker cable market is complete nonsense - a real case of the emperor has no clothes. I'm amazed that Monster Cable and the other high-end cable manufacturers can get away with this and aren't prosecuted or sued. It's snake oil.
I was almost convinced I needed to spend $100 to get anything even half-way decent - and even then I wouldn't be buying speaker cables that were commensurate with the quality of the speakers I have my eye on. Now I'll be going out and buying a spool of lamp cord.
 

 
BTW, I wanted to thank you for providing this link. Very well written and articulate. You didn't mention it, but there are two gems contained in this article - links to papers about "Damping Factor" - one written by Floyd Toole and the other by George Augspurger. I wasn't familiar with Augspurger before, but I have read a number of Mr. Toole's papers (and I have his book, "Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms").

 

[bigshot]

Glad the article was useful to you. I'm not sure which version my AAC is ripped from on Nightfly. Maybe it's a90s remaster. TheMarche Slav is from the Living Stereo box set. I use Dorati CDs from the Mercury and Decca boxes too.