Are you satisfied with your system ?

[aevus]

Are you fully satisfied with your audio system, or you are the "never satisfied" kind of maniac ?

If you are satisfied:

What is giving you the reason to stop searching improving, testing, tuning your system and his components ? Did you compare with others ?



If you are NOT satisfied:

When do you think you will reach the point where enough is enough ? Is it only the money that stops you ? If you could get "better", maybe it will not be enough again...and again ?

[SY]

You've biased the question a bit because of the venue where it's posted. If anyone is going to take the time and make the effort to follow the discussions on diyAudio and (hopefully) participate, that's a pretty good indication that they haven't "stop[ped] searching improving, testing, tuning your system and his components."

Anyway, I like my current main system except for one major flaw: it doesn't rock.

[thoriated]

Hi, Aevus -

IMC, I'm DIYing or looking at doing so for three different types of systems:

1) 'basement blaster'
2) HT
3) Serious Listening

Right now, I'm finishing up the basement blaster system (essentially the speakers). The criteria here are, in decreasing order of importance: high spl capability, high efficiency, low distortion, wide frequency response, high SQ, reasonable transportability. Perhaps not too surprisingly, I've spent the greatest amount of time tweaking the SQ but feel it's worth it, considering the results: a speaker using 3 JBL 2226J's & a 2445J into an aluminum CD horn per side with useable response from 20 hz - 23 Khz & 101db/w/m efficiency into quarter space good for 1000Wrms/side with a 20"w x 24"d footprint.

I plan next to go to the HT system which consists of speakers, 6 channel power amp and possibly, line level audio controller with remote control. I haven't got that far here. I just have obtained almost all the parts and have a working prototype of an amplifier channel.

Finally, my serious listening system, where the amp (dc coupled OTL) and preamp are already built but the speakers aren't yet. I have TAD 4001's that I plan to cast concrete horns for and special bass drivers which are JBL K145 baskets with E145 cones, making a rather unique alnico magnet underhung vc ultralightweight moving mass bass driver - I plan to use two woofers a side whenever I find time to build them.


I have trouble keeping myself from tweaking my designs until I convince myself that I've really reached the point of diminishing returns. If not satisfied with the performance at this point, I've actually abandoned projects in the past.

[aevus]

SY: yes you might be right but it's also a good place to simply discuss with other people sharing the same passion.

by exemple: i'm actually very satisfied with my system and doesn't plan any change on it.
However, I'M STILL looking ( shame on me ) for improvements as i'm "quite" sure i can get better.

It is very difficult to know how to improve something without enough comparisons. On the other hand: why would we like to change something that is satisfying ?

this is only a "everything else : psychological" sort of topic, haha

[Cal Weldon]

aevus,
Welcome to DIY.

Between my indoor and outdoor stuff, I have a total of six working systems. None of them are "the best" They could all use improvement.

Money, space, time, ability and need all get in the way of us all having the best systems.

But in a way, that's good because if you reached the pinnacle then you'll have to take up doing something else.

And who wants that?

Cal

[Sch3mat1c]

Originally posted by aevus
Are you fully satisfied with your audio system, or you are the "never satisfied" kind of maniac ?

If you are satisfied:

What is giving you the reason to stop searching improving, testing, tuning your system and his components ? Did you compare with others ?

If I'm satisfied........I have no reason to improve. Bias, anyone?

If you are NOT satisfied:

When do you think you will reach the point where enough is enough ? Is it only the money that stops you ? If you could get "better", maybe it will not be enough again...and again ? [/B]

I suspect the true maniac will never be stopped, as that is his mindset after all. It may sound good one day, then crap the next. When it sounds bad, he searches for parts to swap, topologies to configure, circuits to build until that one good hour is found again. The problem is (IANApsychologist) doubt that nirvana will ever be found, and probably suggests a self-doubt or self-esteem problem..

Personally, my system drifts in and out of good virtue. Right now it's sounding pretty good, although it could use a flatter response in the <50Hz region (so I have bad OPT iron, so what). Probably because I'm too tired to analyze every note... which reminds me, I'm going to bed soon.

Oh, and a good example that I think I saw posted here once:

One guy was listening to a tape recorder. An audio enthusiast walks by and proclaims "by God, what on earth are you listening to!?" He replies: "..Uh, Beethoven..."

FYI, I often wake up in the morning to the droning of the radio, swept away in sweet chord progression, blisfully oblivious to the general crappiness of the radio itself.

Tim

[cowanrg]

great thread.

im NOT satisfied.

i think the main reason is that i have access to the best and coolest stuff out there, and its within my grasp. as some of you know, im a salesman for a higher end audio/video boutique. so, i get crazy discounts and incentives. its SO easy (and most of the time free) to upgrade, that i always want to.

in addition, i get to see stuff thats a lot better than what i have, so its a constant drive to get there.

for right now, the plans are:

finish the aleph2's. ill have two monos running in addition to my two mono aleph3's. these will both work in conjunction with my mox active xover for my front speakers. then, ill just use my current amplification on my rear speakers, and ill be in business.

beyond that, its just going to get silly. anything else i do will be purely because i can. im upgrading my subs next year, and only because i can. currently i have dual velodyne HGS15x's, and already its more headroom than my house can handle. but, if i can upgrade to the DD series subs for free, i will.

i doubt ill ever be satisfied as long as im working in the business. if i had another job outside of the industry, i would probably stop upgrading, or just simply tinker with different stuff in my basement, and not really worry about making the system "complete".

[aevus]

One guy was listening to a tape recorder. An audio enthusiast walks by and proclaims "by God, what on earth are you listening to!?" He replies: "..Uh, Beethoven..."

Hahaha

and it is so true...

Thats why i started this thread. I suspecting myself to listen "potential flaw" in my audio system rather than enjoying music.

A little bit like the cameraman who is working all week long in movies studios and just unable to watch a movie with his family without thinking of the camera framing job.

It might sound stupid but i was just wondering if other people here feels the same, sometimes.

[rcavictim]

Let me calibrate this comment by telling you all that I am a knob twiddler by nature and am extremely fussy. Having said this, I finally hit the magic combo with my own unique developmental open baffle array/transmission line speakers I built last year (24 drivers in each) and my highly modified MingDa 300B driven 805 SET stereo amp in a large acoustically treated room. I don't touch ANY controls now EVER except the source selection switch and the volume control.

I am in the club, whenever I want to be with the band in front of me with no cigarette smoke to **** me off with this awesome home system.

The only thing I would change is I am hoping to buy a better new reclining chair (when I can afford it), and I am eager to also get an SACD player (when I can afford it) because as good as my CD's sound, I know SACD will sound better. So that is not a change, just an addition. This system blows me away on the FM reception from my tower mounted rural antenna from Jazz FM 91 Toronto, about 60 miles away. When I say 'blown away' I speak of the realistic sonic illusion and clarity, not the SPL which it can do with ease.

I followed a pretty long DIY path to get here starting in my late teens and I am now 50. I feel that I got lucky that I actually did it once! As we all here know, it is a tough and highly elusive thing to nail down. I am trying to do it again now upstairs. I changed the speaker design quite drastically in the hopes of bettering perfection but despite using the same drivers I'm not nearly there yet.

[thoriated]

Hi, RCAVictim -

If you want to enjoy SACD or DVDA sound, why wait? They'll make CD sound pretty sick on even an inexpensive good quality player like the Toshiba SD4960. Plus, you can move it to the TV room when you decide to step up to the next level.