3 1/2 Way with Sub...My Upgrades

Disabled Account
Joined 2019
I have a long list and try to have a concistency to shape my listening judgments, so I till listen the same recordings from 20 years where I begann to diy cd players (I remember having tweaked more than 30 or 40 units when it costed nothing second hands, had a lot ainly with philips and Analog device chips but noy only... and DACs till 10 years).
I try to include soe references more when I judge them interessant for that purpose, that includes very good and very poor recording or mixing for diferent reasons : cliping, distorsion, confort zone and so on... I tweak to death my dac sources to sounding good in my listening space, EQ old school if you prefer (but I should go active/DSP amp in the next months when learning step will be crossed...)



Let me some time and I will PM you a non exhaustive list and also some more personal asked about female voices...I will be happy to have your feedback tastes as well :)
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2019
I will now try to add some photos. Still unfinished with the entire project.
 

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Disabled Account
Joined 2019
... big foam pyramid cone are cool... never saw so big in a peaker before.


I'll see if I can post the info; I bought 4 inch and 2 inch pyramid foam both from Amazon. I didn't want stuffing/fill loose in the woofer chamber because everyone said you need to keep an open path between the woofer and the flow resistor Aperiodic vent. I added the 2 inch pyramids on the removable panel on top of the felt damping. I only used the 4 inch pyramids in the woofer chamber making sure again to keep a clear path. Anything to avoid reflecting sound waves and vibrations back to the woofer should help. In my past life; I had a wife and a nice house with a big workshop. I made many 5 sided boxes back then; ZERO parallel surfaces was the goal to avoid standing waves. I no longer have that luxury so I use pre-made or knock down boxes and modify them to my "exact" needs. Of course, these are all rectangle boxes so we have parallel sides (the reason for felt+stuffing+foam pyramids, etc.)...
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2019
I'll see if I can post the info; I bought 4 inch and 2 inch pyramid foam both from Amazon. I didn't want stuffing/fill loose in the woofer chamber because everyone said you need to keep an open path between the woofer and the flow resistor Aperiodic vent. I added the 2 inch pyramids on the removable panel on top of the felt damping. I only used the 4 inch pyramids in the woofer chamber making sure again to keep a clear path. Anything to avoid reflecting sound waves and vibrations back to the woofer should help. In my past life; I had a wife and a nice house with a big workshop. I made many 5 sided boxes back then; ZERO parallel surfaces was the goal to avoid standing waves. I no longer have that luxury so I use pre-made or knock down boxes and modify them to my "exact" needs. Of course, these are all rectangle boxes so we have parallel sides (the reason for felt+stuffing+foam pyramids, etc.)...


4 Inch Acoustic Foam Pyramid Style Panels - 13 Colors



– SoundAssured



2 Inch Acoustic Foam Pyramid Style Panels - 13 Colors



– SoundAssured
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2019
Brian Bromberg - Wood

One of my favorite bass players; this on the CD player is a Japanese re-master of the album "Wood". I keep tweaking and fooling around; next on the list is a decent calibrated microphone, stand and USB interface with phantom power and pre-amp, etc.

I seriously think this current combination of drivers is hard to beat in this price range. Again; The SB Satori MR16P (4 Ohm) in just over 0.5 ft^3 closed (about 15 liter) for a Q of around 0.5. The MA Pluvia 7PHD (P7PHD) in my "bread container" and the Fostex T90A up top. The SB29's are now fully broken in. They are really good at regular bass; scary good sometimes! The Satori 9 1/2 inch or ETON 11 inch probably have a better transient response and better upper bass but the SB29 just hammers away at the main bass frequencies probably better than anything else for the money. Hey; 37 Hz f3 in a smallish closed box, 3 inch VC, huge magnet and 22 mm of LINEAR X is very hard to beat in this price range...again; subs still out of the room...

More later; musicians coming this evening for more critical listening; fine tuning ALMOST over!??...(well, most likely anyway...)...
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2019
They're here! ha; finally; I have all of my measuring stuff.

ANY REW EXPERTS OUT THERE??? I'm looking for quick tips, short cuts, things to do, things to watch out for, etc.

Again, the mic and interface I decided on:

Dayton Audio - EMM-6 Electret Measurement Microphone


M-Audio


Based on what many people said; I decided to have a phantom powered mic. instead of just a USB mic. Several of you recommended the Dayton; it does have a calibration so that's a plus. 3rd party calibration houses that sold this with even better calibrations don't seem to still do this (at least not right now). Even if the Dayton calibration is not traceable to a NIST standard; I don't really care. The specs on the M-Audio interface are fairly impressive for a unit that can be had for $109 US; they are certainly popular as most suppliers were sold out. Good reviews what few I could find anyway...

I will start to play around here but don't expect any final results right away; it may be some time for me to get the hang of the REW tools. At first; I will concentrate only on the woofer box; the mids and tweeter can wait for later...
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2019
Hello,


Not knowing the laptop/pc you're using : if the soundcard is not automatcly seen by the OS, Windows 10 /8/7/XP being often seen if not Mac, you have to install the firmware you can download from the soundcard brand (32 & 64 bits firmware choice according the OS you have).


then, I'm an Arta guy, but I assume shortcut asked is to start fast, a casual link for REW: YouTube or YouTube because it is the week-end whoever retired or not :D


Also Simplified REW Setup and Use (USB Mic & HDMI Connection) Including Measurement Techniques and How To Interpret Graphs - AVS Forum | Home Theater Discussions And Reviews
... if YT not your cup of tea, coffee, burbon (chose the item you like most) and you prefer to read (my case than watching MOC)
 
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Disabled Account
Joined 2019
Hello,


Not knowing the laptop/pc you're using : if the soundcard is not automatcly seen by the OS, Windows 10 /8/7/XP being often seen, you have t install the firmware yu can download from the soundcard brand (32 & 64 bits firmware choice).


then, I'm an Arta guy, buy I assume shortcut is to start fast, a casual link for REW: YouTube or YouTube because it is the week end whatever retired or not :D


Also Simplified REW Setup and Use (USB Mic & HDMI Connection) Including Measurement Techniques and How To Interpret Graphs - AVS Forum | Home Theater Discussions And Reviews


I think this will take some time to get used to. I have fairly strong engineering and technician backgrounds but computers and software have always been one of my weakest points. I have found some very basic youtube and text based tutorials. My mic is NOT a USB type so that complicates things because I also must learn to use my M-Audio interface (2 inputs, 2 outputs plus mic pre-amp, phantom power and USB interface). I won't be using a HDMI connection either. I have a basic RealTek? soundcard (have to look that up later) with only headphones output, microphone input. My PC does have a HDMI connector; I have played DVD's through to my TV with it so I know it works. I only have 2 channel stereo amplifiers, etc. No Surround sound, 5 or 7.1 channels; I don't need it and don't want it. So, no receivers with HDMI; just bare bones 2 channel RCA jacks, etc...

Thanks for getting back to me; anyone else out there with helpful tips, quick start-up ideas please chime in and help "old-school" speaker guy come into the new century of measurement...ha ha ha...

The last time I did speaker and room measurements; I borrowed a calibrated microphone and had literally several hundred thousand dollars worth of frequency synthesizers, spectrum analyzers, o'scopes and everything else imaginable I could borrow from work. This was the late 1980's and early 1990's; LONG before I ever had a PC. I could work wonders with the technology of the time back then almost blind folded; these days; not so much!

Being retired is a good thing; I have all the time in the world; if my brain can still absorb enough to learn new tricks; this old dog will be happy yet for quite sometime...Happy Summer Solstice and Father's day!
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2019
Bloody Hell, you're right that's the summer solstice ! Ahaha, last year I promised to go to Gobleki Tepe to see it (however they put a roof on the area, and you can not see it at the light of the sun...fatal error !


Nothing complicate with phantom PS: plug the mic on the dedicated power input on the soundcard, rtfm. Sometimes there is a switch to switch on/off the phantom supply on the dedicated port of the sound card, at least here is one on my EMU external soundcard I use with Phantom and a ISEM calibrated mic.


Sometimes there are choice to do to send the Sin Wave towards the speakers (with your amp or not) and delay... delay setup of the mic IS important. As the way you use the mic : on the soil for bass measurment for instance : you already know that I"m sure. As tips I don't know to sum bass with the rest of the mid/tweet measurment. The guy of Stereophilemade a paper about measurment that worths a read imho. But I'm a newbie (hence my inputs), experienced guys here should help you a more reliable way.

As for the mic : a long rod is mandatory with not reflective surface behind the mic.
 
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Disabled Account
Joined 2019
Well, thanks! The good news REW knows what sound card I have. How do I do a SPL calibration without a SPL meter? I have a good DMM; can I just say put 2.83 VRMS at say 1KHz to my Pluvia or Satori? I mention these because there are many 3 rd party tests and measurements of these drivers so I have pretty good confidence of what the expected output should be on either driver. Just to be sure; I would by-pass all of my X/O components. 3:30 AM, up early, my brain said wake up and go learn some new tricks old guy!
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2019
It's no tragedy if you don't calibrate. I don't. It simply isn't relevant to what I do.

Well, I'd like to be in the ballpark if possible. The M-Audio pre-amp has adjustable gain. I can take probably both Satoris one at a time and do a free air at 1.0 meter with 2.83 VRMS. I have enough 2 inch foam pyramid sound absorbers to probably do a decent job of avoiding all but the direct arrival signal. I did get a mic. stand with tri-pod legs and a long, skinny boom so that's a plus! I don't know what to expect but I will crank up the gain until the M-Audio detects a peak (over-drive?) then back off to a known dial setting. It would be nice to say have the middle of the dial represent 90 dB or some other known SPL referenced to 1 meter. Of course; I don't think the dial markings are in say 3 dB steps (that's why I like my old school equipment ... 0.1 Hz or better frequency resolution; 0.1 dB amplitude resolution that was traceable back to a NIST standard reference!)
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2019
Well, I keep getting notices on doing a sweep that my levels are too low. The upstairs neighbors are sleeping in so I'll have to wait before I keep going.

QUESTIONS:
1) Could it be the microphone calibration file didn't load properly?
2) I kept trying to do the SPL calibration but haven't gotten good results from that either; does this matter??? Would this cause REW to complain about low signal levels???

I'm sure I am over looking something simple here. On pink noise (or is it white noise?) the M-Audio interface is getting enough signal from the mic because I can turn the gain up high enough where it shows peak/clipping.

REW keeps telling my levels are way lower than expected no matter what I have tried so far. The good news at least it is doing SOMETHING! Part of my problem is the M-Audio registration and software downloads were not recognized at first; I had to start all over with that. I used to write technical manuals, instructions, etc. These days; people assume too much. Our rule of thumb was to write at the 7th grade level; even for technicians because we were told to never assume something should be obvious; well; things are NOT always obvious!!! (I hate software; that's why I did hardware my entire life...sorry software guys...tough job to make things idiot proof huh???)...ha ha ha...