I run Foobar on Win7, but prefer WASAPI over ASIO so I can run it bit-perfect in exclusive mode. That way it mutes all other audio output except whats currently playing.
An external DAC is the only way to go if you're going to go data.
Foobar has a huge learning curve, but there are a lot of fun plugins. Especially for headphones.
WASAPI was the one I couldn't remember. I had difficulty with ASIO in Vista, so I moved to WASAPI and didn't look back after upgrading to 7.
For DIY, I really like AMB's y1 and y2 designs but you might want to try something like the SkeletonDAC or grubDAC as a cable DAC...super cheap and super tidy.
For DIY, I really like AMB's y1 and y2 designs but you might want to try something like the SkeletonDAC or grubDAC as a cable DAC...super cheap and super tidy.
You can say that again!!!
Thanks guys, I am running windows 7. It appears Windows Audio Session API, is built in - depending on software and Hardware. I can not find a straight answer yet, but I have a lot of research to do yet, thanks for lighting the path. I will check out them DACs too! I am to into listening and finishing this sound system in front of me!
Discovery #4
I had lost my specs sheets for these matched light resisters I ordered for this light speed volume control, so I took a break and decided to crank up the Avebury's. They were at about 90 hours of break in...
...I put on some trance music...
Wow, these can put out some bass! I know I have mentioned that, but they are on per with some three way systems with 12" woofers I have heard. Yet I still was not getting that spacy syth sound. I am getting to the point of axing this system! I mean maybe this is not for me...
With all the good attributes these have, they are not getting to my heart!
But I am watching these Alpair 12's move in and out about 5mm each way... I put my ear to them...
No distortion - at least what is perceivable with my ears.
Treble and mid-range unaffected, playing right over the bass!
I see the driver move but don't hear any bass from the front, it all comes out of the horn.
It is as if this driver has two voice coils, one to move the bass out of the horn, and another that drives the mids and highs.
I am sure these drivers have a certain degree of intermodulation distortion, but it is way less perceivable then other drivers I have put my ear to.
I also hear more mid-range! I go to sit back on my couch... mid-range gone. I knew it, I should have built that line array, I need that near field listening! Where is the mid-range going?
Is it getting drown out? I pull the cabinets out 1 foot. Better, but really thin sounding, and really occupying a lot of space in my 10X13 room! Just not practical. So I move them out more towards the side walls... Can hear the mid-range. I have less heard bass but more felt bass, kind of like that! Starting to notice some sound stage here too... Are we getting some early defraction issues from the side walls that we all have read about all over these forums? I pull the speakers out a little more, so the front of the cabinets clear the archway and the bay window area respectively. And wouldn't you know it- Sound stage! For the first time, I was able to sit down, relax, turn my anilytical brain off and enjoy the sound! I put "Lord of the Rings" on and enjoyed a very vast sound scape! The characters where not as movie theatre sounding, but scaled more down to reality. The music was large and wide. The scenes where very 3 diminsional. And the bass was low and deep, on par with a subwoofer! I have not heard a home theatre this well integrated. Once and while the Alpairs give their size away, but I can not pinpoint that yet, that is a discovery yet to discover! I am still not sure on the mid-range. The Alpair 12 presents itself so differently then what I am used to. For the heck of it, I played some rock. I kept it simple and played the Police, "Walking on the moon" Yes, I am starting to get it. Music sounds more "acuostical" thru these speakers, more like the Police playing un-miced on stage, the only speakers being their guitar amps. The detail I hear is exceptional. I am not sure how, but this single six inch driver out does my old 4-way system in overall detail and now Soundstage!
So, Discovery #4: Location, Location, Location. I am lucky my room has a bay window and an archway, otherwise this system would not have worked! Infact my open baffles were in these same locations on the other side of the room (remember I reversed the room for this system). So side walls are definately a big issue for any speaker. But these cabinets do need room. Doubting thomas is no too far off with his recommendations. Mine are two and half feet from the back corners and the closet side wall is four and half feet away from the driver. These are not speakers you just stick somewhere convenent, place them as you would a paino! Aparently designing a room is just as much a factor for designing a sound system as the speakers and amps themselves!
With all that said, I am really enjoying these speakers now, finally! They are worth the hard work to build. They are not for the faint of heart. You have to be willing to commit to using your room as part of this system. It is worth it. In my mind, wjy would you bother with anything less?
Now I will throw in the mind trip! All of the sonic bliss mentioned above was done thru my mother board DAC as it was the quietest, the noise got to me at the louder levels thru the TV pre-amp. So you DAC owners out there know what discoveries I have yet to experience.
There is more to come in the next couple of days
You all have a great night!
Allen
PS I did find my light resister spec sheets, so got light speed started today
I had lost my specs sheets for these matched light resisters I ordered for this light speed volume control, so I took a break and decided to crank up the Avebury's. They were at about 90 hours of break in...
...I put on some trance music...
Wow, these can put out some bass! I know I have mentioned that, but they are on per with some three way systems with 12" woofers I have heard. Yet I still was not getting that spacy syth sound. I am getting to the point of axing this system! I mean maybe this is not for me...
With all the good attributes these have, they are not getting to my heart!
But I am watching these Alpair 12's move in and out about 5mm each way... I put my ear to them...
No distortion - at least what is perceivable with my ears.
Treble and mid-range unaffected, playing right over the bass!
I see the driver move but don't hear any bass from the front, it all comes out of the horn.
It is as if this driver has two voice coils, one to move the bass out of the horn, and another that drives the mids and highs.
I am sure these drivers have a certain degree of intermodulation distortion, but it is way less perceivable then other drivers I have put my ear to.
I also hear more mid-range! I go to sit back on my couch... mid-range gone. I knew it, I should have built that line array, I need that near field listening! Where is the mid-range going?
Is it getting drown out? I pull the cabinets out 1 foot. Better, but really thin sounding, and really occupying a lot of space in my 10X13 room! Just not practical. So I move them out more towards the side walls... Can hear the mid-range. I have less heard bass but more felt bass, kind of like that! Starting to notice some sound stage here too... Are we getting some early defraction issues from the side walls that we all have read about all over these forums? I pull the speakers out a little more, so the front of the cabinets clear the archway and the bay window area respectively. And wouldn't you know it- Sound stage! For the first time, I was able to sit down, relax, turn my anilytical brain off and enjoy the sound! I put "Lord of the Rings" on and enjoyed a very vast sound scape! The characters where not as movie theatre sounding, but scaled more down to reality. The music was large and wide. The scenes where very 3 diminsional. And the bass was low and deep, on par with a subwoofer! I have not heard a home theatre this well integrated. Once and while the Alpairs give their size away, but I can not pinpoint that yet, that is a discovery yet to discover! I am still not sure on the mid-range. The Alpair 12 presents itself so differently then what I am used to. For the heck of it, I played some rock. I kept it simple and played the Police, "Walking on the moon" Yes, I am starting to get it. Music sounds more "acuostical" thru these speakers, more like the Police playing un-miced on stage, the only speakers being their guitar amps. The detail I hear is exceptional. I am not sure how, but this single six inch driver out does my old 4-way system in overall detail and now Soundstage!
So, Discovery #4: Location, Location, Location. I am lucky my room has a bay window and an archway, otherwise this system would not have worked! Infact my open baffles were in these same locations on the other side of the room (remember I reversed the room for this system). So side walls are definately a big issue for any speaker. But these cabinets do need room. Doubting thomas is no too far off with his recommendations. Mine are two and half feet from the back corners and the closet side wall is four and half feet away from the driver. These are not speakers you just stick somewhere convenent, place them as you would a paino! Aparently designing a room is just as much a factor for designing a sound system as the speakers and amps themselves!
With all that said, I am really enjoying these speakers now, finally! They are worth the hard work to build. They are not for the faint of heart. You have to be willing to commit to using your room as part of this system. It is worth it. In my mind, wjy would you bother with anything less?
Now I will throw in the mind trip! All of the sonic bliss mentioned above was done thru my mother board DAC as it was the quietest, the noise got to me at the louder levels thru the TV pre-amp. So you DAC owners out there know what discoveries I have yet to experience.
There is more to come in the next couple of days
You all have a great night!
Allen
PS I did find my light resister spec sheets, so got light speed started today
Attachments
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Allen,
I've had the A12s in Super Pensils and Studio Reference Monitors, and can relate to your experience. LF is not a concern with there speakers, and yes, the "bigness" of the the sound is up there with 10-12" woofs, and plenty deep too. And excursion for me was surprisingly less in most cases (<5 mm). First time I could see the cones moving was when playing "African Rundown" from Casino Royale. Music from the Inception OST plenty of LF and tuba sounds, the A12s did very well.
I also am a bit bothered by the thinish mids... it is somewhat alleviated by a warmer amp. A more robust source really helps too - motherboard interated sound is pretty thin in my expereince. Forum member Banglacx played them with his EMU 0404 USB DAC and it becomes meatier.
The Alp 12s do very well with trance and progressive house music which has lot of synth bass and complexity. You'll catch a lot of sounds and sound effects - makes listenin fun 🙂. The drivers do very well with acoustic music too. With Rock there is oomph, but given the mid-range presence, I prefer a bit of EQ when it comes to rock or metal. I haven't watch a full movie yet, but have played some trailers... good! Check out the "Snow White and the Huntsman" and "Battelship" trailers. BTW, we did start watching a movie, but it felt very boring... the opening 15-20 mins (I lost track of time) had lot of dialogue and whispers - the A12 was doing it's job... we dozed off. 🙂
Have fun and once you've got the DAC part figured out tell us about the mids.
I've had the A12s in Super Pensils and Studio Reference Monitors, and can relate to your experience. LF is not a concern with there speakers, and yes, the "bigness" of the the sound is up there with 10-12" woofs, and plenty deep too. And excursion for me was surprisingly less in most cases (<5 mm). First time I could see the cones moving was when playing "African Rundown" from Casino Royale. Music from the Inception OST plenty of LF and tuba sounds, the A12s did very well.
I also am a bit bothered by the thinish mids... it is somewhat alleviated by a warmer amp. A more robust source really helps too - motherboard interated sound is pretty thin in my expereince. Forum member Banglacx played them with his EMU 0404 USB DAC and it becomes meatier.
The Alp 12s do very well with trance and progressive house music which has lot of synth bass and complexity. You'll catch a lot of sounds and sound effects - makes listenin fun 🙂. The drivers do very well with acoustic music too. With Rock there is oomph, but given the mid-range presence, I prefer a bit of EQ when it comes to rock or metal. I haven't watch a full movie yet, but have played some trailers... good! Check out the "Snow White and the Huntsman" and "Battelship" trailers. BTW, we did start watching a movie, but it felt very boring... the opening 15-20 mins (I lost track of time) had lot of dialogue and whispers - the A12 was doing it's job... we dozed off. 🙂
Have fun and once you've got the DAC part figured out tell us about the mids.
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Allen. Have fun in your search for a DAC. 😎
The two I have settled on, for sound quality and cost, are the the Valab with the external power supply that I use on my main system. There are a lot of documented mods for this DAC. The DAC I use on my computer is the FSA Fubar II MKII. Great little plug-and-play USB DAC. The opamps are easily swappable so you can have fun rolling opamps.
Just some food for thought.
Some learning curve here!
Yes, I really do understand this!!! Windows Media player and Foobar do have significantly superior sound on a Windows based PC system. But I would have to say, when it comes down to finding and playing a file or CD to hear sound, I-tunes is the most straight forward. God Bless Steve Jobs!
Yes, I really do understand this!!! Windows Media player and Foobar do have significantly superior sound on a Windows based PC system. But I would have to say, when it comes down to finding and playing a file or CD to hear sound, I-tunes is the most straight forward. God Bless Steve Jobs!
Discovery #5
Software does matter!
I could not believe the difference between the playback quality playing a straight CD between I-tunes and Windows Media player. Infact, the sound quality thru the motherboard is at the same level as my Pioneer CLD-3070. The Pioneer throws out a slightly bigger sound stage, but it sounds "grainy" and old sounding. So what started as the least favored DAC in the beginning, came out on top in the end. I must be in for a real treat when I figure out what DAC I want. That AMB y2 DAC seems quite promising, but have not figured out the price on it. I am not sure I can build it becuase the components are quite small. I like the Valab also, its a straight forward approach.
I have a lot to learn with Foobar, it was definately a sound engineer who designed this one, which I will like for my sound experiementation. I can see techincally changed people struggling with this one! I am using Windows Media Player as I learn how to use Foobar, and re-burn my playlists in the "loseless" non-apple formats. I think that is WAV, but I noticed that was inferior to the straight CD. But it could be that I have not set up WASAPI. Like I say, lots to learn here.
Okay, back to sound.
Software does matter!
I could not believe the difference between the playback quality playing a straight CD between I-tunes and Windows Media player. Infact, the sound quality thru the motherboard is at the same level as my Pioneer CLD-3070. The Pioneer throws out a slightly bigger sound stage, but it sounds "grainy" and old sounding. So what started as the least favored DAC in the beginning, came out on top in the end. I must be in for a real treat when I figure out what DAC I want. That AMB y2 DAC seems quite promising, but have not figured out the price on it. I am not sure I can build it becuase the components are quite small. I like the Valab also, its a straight forward approach.
I have a lot to learn with Foobar, it was definately a sound engineer who designed this one, which I will like for my sound experiementation. I can see techincally changed people struggling with this one! I am using Windows Media Player as I learn how to use Foobar, and re-burn my playlists in the "loseless" non-apple formats. I think that is WAV, but I noticed that was inferior to the straight CD. But it could be that I have not set up WASAPI. Like I say, lots to learn here.
Okay, back to sound.
I should tell you that the character of my Fostex's took weeks of constant use to evolve into what they are now, at one stage I had this horrible resonant peak at bass level, you could really hear it on bass guitar, i was stuffing all kinds of crap into the horn mouths in an effort to control it but now it's gone completely and I love 'em. I think Mark Audio may be similar, some one will know.
I got another surprise when I ran a signal generator through my system, incredible, some frequencies where allmost inaudible from what I assume where room cancellation effects, try it. i'm know thinking of trying a digital equaliser, the type that figure things out through a mike.
Good luck, nothing worthwhile is easy, nothing easy is worthwhile. (Exceptions?)
I got another surprise when I ran a signal generator through my system, incredible, some frequencies where allmost inaudible from what I assume where room cancellation effects, try it. i'm know thinking of trying a digital equaliser, the type that figure things out through a mike.
Good luck, nothing worthwhile is easy, nothing easy is worthwhile. (Exceptions?)
The the beginning...
Okay, lets measure this project up so far:
Here was the list of my expections:
Huge sound stage, dynamics, space... basically a concert in my living room. Yes, I am very satified in this area, and I can only see it get better as I keep tweaking along here. This system outperforms my old 4-way system in this reguards, mainly due. I believe, to the single driver concept.
I listen to all kinds of music, classical, ambient, new age, trance, rock and roll, precussion, etc. I also especailly enjoy movies. Yes, this sytem is very versital. I have enjoyed everything on them.
My room is 10' X 14' with 9' ceilings. I have a 4' X 5' nook in the middle of the right wall and a 5 1/2' wide archway on the left wall. I place my speakers on these side walls slightly into the archway and nook to avoid those early reflections. (It created a great surround effect with the OBs). Yeap that worked for these also. Do not even get in the game unless you are willing to set-up your room for these speakers.
Astestically, I want something tall and slender. Yes siry
Will these smaller drivers be able to keep up with the complexity of big orchestra music and blu-ray movies, Yes, at just above reasonable volume levels. This system is just as full, dymanic, and big sounding as my 4-way system. My 4-way system had more felt bass and could play louder them the Avebury. But the Avebury is so much more coherent and three-dimisional. The limitation in max SLP is worth the gains. I will talk more about limitations later
How well do the drivers disperse - wider sweet spot? This is the one area that my old system stomps this one. That system sounded the same all over the room and through out house. The Alpair 12s do, and I do not mean this harshly, "beam" at higher frequenties. It is bound by acoustical laws of physics. But it does this smoothly, gracefully, frecency by frecency and it disperses better then fostex FF-225, Eminance Beta Lf, 1197, and an off brand 8"whizzer cone driver I had. Actually, the Avebury's do disperse better then my old system in the vertical plane, due to the long slender cabinet. My 4-ways where terrible vertically, esp the ribbon tweeter.
How smooth they play the 1-5K area - I think Dave's EnAble covers that with both drivers? Yes and Yes. This is the best I have heard in this reguards period. A hands down winner!
How well they play at both 8' (listening couch) and 4' (gaming area - not as critical)? Differently. The listening couch has a more focused sound, becuase all the high frequences are there, sometimes it sounds a little flat there. It is as if the high frequencies flatten the soundstage a little bit - more on this below. The gaming area has a more spacious sound which actually leads itself well to gaming! My old system has the Aveburys beat on this one.
Which has the most headroom? My old 4-way system. Okay, sets be real here, 250 watts/ channel -vs- 40watts/channel! Aveburys do pretty darn good! An overachiever by far. Infact, based on the distortion I heard when I finally heard distortion sounded more like the amp clipping then the Alpair. The chip amp ran out of juice, the Alpair did not pop. I am guessing the Alpair can handle 100 watts. The song I was playing was "Big Blue" by James Reynolds. It is a ambeint song with echoy snares, snyth,flutes, and a low 20 thru 50 Hz bass boom! In fact, it took a long time to get my old sub-woofer right to play this song well! So I am putting Avebury thru the hoops here. Limitions!?! I think Avebury can play louder with a bigger amp, maybe the brigded version of the chip-amp with the snubberized PSU. Yet I can not put down my current amps too, because in what really matters, soundstage and resolution, the are a clear winner. And in all honestly, once I got the midrange right with Avebury I do not "need" that loud of a level anyway...
Okay, lets measure this project up so far:
Here was the list of my expections:
Huge sound stage, dynamics, space... basically a concert in my living room. Yes, I am very satified in this area, and I can only see it get better as I keep tweaking along here. This system outperforms my old 4-way system in this reguards, mainly due. I believe, to the single driver concept.
I listen to all kinds of music, classical, ambient, new age, trance, rock and roll, precussion, etc. I also especailly enjoy movies. Yes, this sytem is very versital. I have enjoyed everything on them.
My room is 10' X 14' with 9' ceilings. I have a 4' X 5' nook in the middle of the right wall and a 5 1/2' wide archway on the left wall. I place my speakers on these side walls slightly into the archway and nook to avoid those early reflections. (It created a great surround effect with the OBs). Yeap that worked for these also. Do not even get in the game unless you are willing to set-up your room for these speakers.
Astestically, I want something tall and slender. Yes siry
Will these smaller drivers be able to keep up with the complexity of big orchestra music and blu-ray movies, Yes, at just above reasonable volume levels. This system is just as full, dymanic, and big sounding as my 4-way system. My 4-way system had more felt bass and could play louder them the Avebury. But the Avebury is so much more coherent and three-dimisional. The limitation in max SLP is worth the gains. I will talk more about limitations later
How well do the drivers disperse - wider sweet spot? This is the one area that my old system stomps this one. That system sounded the same all over the room and through out house. The Alpair 12s do, and I do not mean this harshly, "beam" at higher frequenties. It is bound by acoustical laws of physics. But it does this smoothly, gracefully, frecency by frecency and it disperses better then fostex FF-225, Eminance Beta Lf, 1197, and an off brand 8"whizzer cone driver I had. Actually, the Avebury's do disperse better then my old system in the vertical plane, due to the long slender cabinet. My 4-ways where terrible vertically, esp the ribbon tweeter.
How smooth they play the 1-5K area - I think Dave's EnAble covers that with both drivers? Yes and Yes. This is the best I have heard in this reguards period. A hands down winner!
How well they play at both 8' (listening couch) and 4' (gaming area - not as critical)? Differently. The listening couch has a more focused sound, becuase all the high frequences are there, sometimes it sounds a little flat there. It is as if the high frequencies flatten the soundstage a little bit - more on this below. The gaming area has a more spacious sound which actually leads itself well to gaming! My old system has the Aveburys beat on this one.
Which has the most headroom? My old 4-way system. Okay, sets be real here, 250 watts/ channel -vs- 40watts/channel! Aveburys do pretty darn good! An overachiever by far. Infact, based on the distortion I heard when I finally heard distortion sounded more like the amp clipping then the Alpair. The chip amp ran out of juice, the Alpair did not pop. I am guessing the Alpair can handle 100 watts. The song I was playing was "Big Blue" by James Reynolds. It is a ambeint song with echoy snares, snyth,flutes, and a low 20 thru 50 Hz bass boom! In fact, it took a long time to get my old sub-woofer right to play this song well! So I am putting Avebury thru the hoops here. Limitions!?! I think Avebury can play louder with a bigger amp, maybe the brigded version of the chip-amp with the snubberized PSU. Yet I can not put down my current amps too, because in what really matters, soundstage and resolution, the are a clear winner. And in all honestly, once I got the midrange right with Avebury I do not "need" that loud of a level anyway...
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I definately have a small sweet spot, but I don't care because that's how I listen to music. In my listening chair and it tends to be solo, the wife watches T.V upstairs.
Home theatre, my criteria are totally different.
Home theatre, my criteria are totally different.
Discovery #6 - a self discovery
So why do I need to play these so loud in a 10 X 13 foot room with openings? I mean I can feel the bass, and can get a violin, flute and cymbal to sound larger then life! Why this need for larger then life loudness? Becuase I am looking for something...
...Maybe not this exstreme, but I will consider this another area to explore! But as the Avebury's stand now, they are flat-out lean on mid-range. I verified this with my Sony MDR-V150 head phones. They are nothing special, as I go thru headphones at my jobs! They are resolved, with a wide, deep mid-range, surprising really, becuase most of these cheap head phones have tinny highs, distant mid-range and fat bass. No, I am not describing Avebury, eventhough it suffers a similiar problem.
...I am looking for the mid-range. With my ear right to the driver, the Alpair has more mid-range balance, and it leans more towards the highs as I got farther towards the couch. nearfeild -vs- farfeild? So you are right doubtingthomas, isn't farfeild listening more room dependent? The only way I see to have a nearfeild system is to build a line array. And the only way to do that is large planar or Electrostatic as I can not see the inference between cone drivers being too coherent. So Nearfeild is out, atleast for Avebury!..
..So to get the midrange I was seeking, I had to do something naughty. Very naughty. I used the Graphic Equalizer in media player. It worked! It is an unacceptable solution to the problem, especailly if I plug in a different source. But I did learn that a gradual 4 dB boost that peaks at 1K Hz over a 4 octave spread is indeed what I am looking for. Now I enjoy these speakers at all levels.
So my self discovery is that the volume control is not what makes the music "real' for me, it is indeed the mid-range. I do not need to go deaf in the process of seeking sonic bliss!
Okay, so there are two weaknesses on this system I would like to work on.
Mid-range leanness and HF disoersion, and I do realize that some of these weaknesses may self correct as the drivers "evolve"
with the HF beaming, I tryed some of the light bulb phaseplugs that Tony Gee experimented with his solo 206 system on Humble Homemade HiFi. They where a lot of fun to plau with and did help with the dispersion issues, but not sure if I liked what it did to the sound of the highs. Always comprimises...
Tonight I am going to put these cabinets on 16" bases to see what I think of a less direct high...
With the mid-range, I am thinking either a tube buffer stage, a tube pre-amp, or a simple fixed EQ circuit. I do not need anymore gain, unless I need more of the "tube" sound that a tube buffer stage would not provide. I am thinking simple here. thoughts anyone?
You all have an absolutely fabulous evening!
Allen
So why do I need to play these so loud in a 10 X 13 foot room with openings? I mean I can feel the bass, and can get a violin, flute and cymbal to sound larger then life! Why this need for larger then life loudness? Becuase I am looking for something...
...Maybe not this exstreme, but I will consider this another area to explore! But as the Avebury's stand now, they are flat-out lean on mid-range. I verified this with my Sony MDR-V150 head phones. They are nothing special, as I go thru headphones at my jobs! They are resolved, with a wide, deep mid-range, surprising really, becuase most of these cheap head phones have tinny highs, distant mid-range and fat bass. No, I am not describing Avebury, eventhough it suffers a similiar problem.
...I am looking for the mid-range. With my ear right to the driver, the Alpair has more mid-range balance, and it leans more towards the highs as I got farther towards the couch. nearfeild -vs- farfeild? So you are right doubtingthomas, isn't farfeild listening more room dependent? The only way I see to have a nearfeild system is to build a line array. And the only way to do that is large planar or Electrostatic as I can not see the inference between cone drivers being too coherent. So Nearfeild is out, atleast for Avebury!..
..So to get the midrange I was seeking, I had to do something naughty. Very naughty. I used the Graphic Equalizer in media player. It worked! It is an unacceptable solution to the problem, especailly if I plug in a different source. But I did learn that a gradual 4 dB boost that peaks at 1K Hz over a 4 octave spread is indeed what I am looking for. Now I enjoy these speakers at all levels.
So my self discovery is that the volume control is not what makes the music "real' for me, it is indeed the mid-range. I do not need to go deaf in the process of seeking sonic bliss!
Okay, so there are two weaknesses on this system I would like to work on.
Mid-range leanness and HF disoersion, and I do realize that some of these weaknesses may self correct as the drivers "evolve"
with the HF beaming, I tryed some of the light bulb phaseplugs that Tony Gee experimented with his solo 206 system on Humble Homemade HiFi. They where a lot of fun to plau with and did help with the dispersion issues, but not sure if I liked what it did to the sound of the highs. Always comprimises...
Tonight I am going to put these cabinets on 16" bases to see what I think of a less direct high...
With the mid-range, I am thinking either a tube buffer stage, a tube pre-amp, or a simple fixed EQ circuit. I do not need anymore gain, unless I need more of the "tube" sound that a tube buffer stage would not provide. I am thinking simple here. thoughts anyone?
No exceptions, not even simplity is easy!
You all have an absolutely fabulous evening!
Allen
Yes. It has a very steep learning curve.
Rip them into FLAC. Use DBPoweramp. It's a bit perfect transfer from CD.
Other thoughts
I have been thinking about this mid-range bit and this near field bit. This might be a really bad idea, but what would horn loading the front of Alpair do? At a Qts of .4 this may be a little high and I am not sure if it would reck the smoothness of this driver. Also there are the directivity issues. Just a passing idea in my head. Has anyone tried this?
I have been thinking about this mid-range bit and this near field bit. This might be a really bad idea, but what would horn loading the front of Alpair do? At a Qts of .4 this may be a little high and I am not sure if it would reck the smoothness of this driver. Also there are the directivity issues. Just a passing idea in my head. Has anyone tried this?
That worked
That worked, I can not percieve a diference! I used the uncompressed setting. It defualted to level 5, whi h I notice you can do in Foobar also. But I am assuming you re ommended dBPowerAmp becuase it has this "uncompressed" option. Thanks TonyMc04, we are getting there!
That worked, I can not percieve a diference! I used the uncompressed setting. It defualted to level 5, whi h I notice you can do in Foobar also. But I am assuming you re ommended dBPowerAmp becuase it has this "uncompressed" option. Thanks TonyMc04, we are getting there!
Good question
Thru the computer motherboard, a $20 radio shack phono mini plug to RCA - not many choices here. On the laser disc, I use MIT Terminator 2's. You might be on to something Zman, I did not plauerthink of that yet.
Thru the computer motherboard, a $20 radio shack phono mini plug to RCA - not many choices here. On the laser disc, I use MIT Terminator 2's. You might be on to something Zman, I did not plauerthink of that yet.
Allen,
Try 2 strands (twisted pair) of CAT 5 cable for interconnects. RCA jacks don't need to be anything special. See if you hear the difference. Soldering to the stereo mini plug might be tricky though.
-Zia
Try 2 strands (twisted pair) of CAT 5 cable for interconnects. RCA jacks don't need to be anything special. See if you hear the difference. Soldering to the stereo mini plug might be tricky though.
-Zia
I think you should put doubtingthomas' suggestion at the top of you list. The room is as important as the speaker. If you're having noticable differences in sound as you move away from the boxes, you're dealing with room nodes.
If you have been unsatisfied w/ several different speakers w/o exploring room nodes and simple treatments, you really should investigate before you throw more hardware at your issue.
If you have been unsatisfied w/ several different speakers w/o exploring room nodes and simple treatments, you really should investigate before you throw more hardware at your issue.
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