Thank you Limono. It's humble but we try to keep it as good as we can. I refinished the floors maybe 20 years ago and weeks after it was done someone threw a rock through the window behind the stereo rack. A few big dings that kinda ticked me off, but I've relaxed since then! Thankfully we actually live in a really tight neighborhood and nothing else like that has happened again.
Now as to the rest, I actually agree and understand (mostly) the concerns you all have raised. But I made a discovery that explained some of my observations. The main thing is after putting the JBLs in to replace the stock tweeter the first discs I played were essentially poorly recorded and that was the biggest problem. Music on better recorded material is quite nice and has the air that I was looking for (I use the term air loosely, what I was looking for is the easy light presentation of higher frequencies - the low end was never a problem). I've been DIYing since around 2006 but I don't get a lot of time to do it and I struggle with the physics and electronics.
If I have time this weekend I'll probably pull one of the JBLs and go back to the stock tweeter in the stock crossover and do some comparing. I'm going to have to re-read these posts to make sense of them, but I do know that just throwing a tweeter in isn't a very good approach. It's what I have on hand and have time to do. I likely can't do more until I get some measurement gear and/or start to learn how to assess what is going on. But I definitely appreciate all the input.
Now, I am currently trying out a Topping MX3 amp I've had for a while. It puts out over 50wpc and I haven't liked it in the past (it is my summer living room amp but otherwise normally gets put away for most of the year). It is doing nicely with the B&Ws, and is noticeably better than the 6BM8, but truly not by much. First time I've liked it (the Topping). I don't pretend to know how the little SET interacts, nor much about how my tweeter replacement interacts, but the entire thing is pretty good with either. I don't have expensive gear to compare it to, and while I have nearby friends (also on DIYAudio) who DO have quite fine DIY gear, their setups are very different and the time between listening to their system and mine is long enough that a fair comparison is hard to make, and that makes it hard to learn from.
If I have time this weekend I'll probably pull one of the JBLs and go back to the stock tweeter in the stock crossover and do some comparing. I'm going to have to re-read these posts to make sense of them, but I do know that just throwing a tweeter in isn't a very good approach. It's what I have on hand and have time to do. I likely can't do more until I get some measurement gear and/or start to learn how to assess what is going on. But I definitely appreciate all the input.
Now, I am currently trying out a Topping MX3 amp I've had for a while. It puts out over 50wpc and I haven't liked it in the past (it is my summer living room amp but otherwise normally gets put away for most of the year). It is doing nicely with the B&Ws, and is noticeably better than the 6BM8, but truly not by much. First time I've liked it (the Topping). I don't pretend to know how the little SET interacts, nor much about how my tweeter replacement interacts, but the entire thing is pretty good with either. I don't have expensive gear to compare it to, and while I have nearby friends (also on DIYAudio) who DO have quite fine DIY gear, their setups are very different and the time between listening to their system and mine is long enough that a fair comparison is hard to make, and that makes it hard to learn from.
Building a transistor amplifier is cheap... a good amplifier should not cost more than 5k, I don't believe in headphones, but I do believe that a near field with low power amp and treated room sounds way better than a huge room with so so sound treatment with mega amplifiers. .
I used to believe that bad recordings sound bad and a great hifi system would make such records unplayable. Now I believe that these hifi systems are just better at certain things and certain records fits them more. However poor recording still contain a lot of fun, information and details and plenty of fun harmonics,
A hifi system which does make records sound bad is actually not equilibrated, because it either boosts bass, or treble or high, or has a flaw in the phase or timing, or many resonances which becomes exacerbated with the ones present in the recording.
A hifi system should not add or substract information, second harmonics adds up a lot of information and if the record has already a good deal of second harmonics it becomes a mess.
I used to believe that bad recordings sound bad and a great hifi system would make such records unplayable. Now I believe that these hifi systems are just better at certain things and certain records fits them more. However poor recording still contain a lot of fun, information and details and plenty of fun harmonics,
A hifi system which does make records sound bad is actually not equilibrated, because it either boosts bass, or treble or high, or has a flaw in the phase or timing, or many resonances which becomes exacerbated with the ones present in the recording.
A hifi system should not add or substract information, second harmonics adds up a lot of information and if the record has already a good deal of second harmonics it becomes a mess.
That's for sure > I believe you can get a good amplifier for $1500. You just have to sort 'the wheat from the chaff'.
Although I rarely use headphones > I have always found that with 'common ground' headphones, a simple resistor of appropriate value across
L hot & R hot works amazingly to 'pull-in' the width a bit to stop my ears being pulled sideways out of my head > improving sound-stage 🙂
Yes Audio, the brain needs some cross talk to create the space, it is more complex than it seems.