Recording anomalies

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Looks like you have some compression @ 105db in the lower treble or upper midrange or possibly some distortion artifacts in that area but it’s clearly visible on your phone. Could also be a room reflection that’s being excited from increased volume.

Thanks 30oz,

When you say compression are you talking about where the upper region rises up more level with the mid?

when measuring I did notice it was almost like you become one with music.....not just listening to a ‘soundstage’ , so reflections being excited to a ‘just right’ position might be it.

Man I’ll tell ya, it’s something to behold! I’ve been involved in audio since childhood and never experienced anything like it.
 
Really cool whatever it is.....I’m going back trying to identify the other tracks that do it.
(I know there’s 3 or 4 others that did it also) I first noticed it 2 or 3 months ago but didn’t really put a whole lotta thought into it.....but it’s definately repeatable because this one song does it every time.

If I could put a label on it might be beneficial in future tuning....narrowing down the playlist is a good start.

Might go deaf in the process though!:eek:
 
I'm guessing that you are approaching the mechanical limits of one or more of your speaker drivers. At this point applying more power does not result in an equal resulting increase in SPL. The driver has become nonlinear.

This transition is gradual on most drivers and results in a change in characteristics. At some point between Xmax and Xmech (the mechanical limit) more power results in more distortion, but no more SPL.

The distortion produced may vary from subtle compression to pure nasty depending on the driver, the frequency region containing maximum energy in the music, and it's relationship to the drivers resonance. Hit the driver hard at resonance and Xmax comes up early. Hit it hard below resonance in a sealed cabinet and you see the cone moving, but hear almost nothing, but it's dynamic range is used up. Hit it hard well above resonance and it might just sound sweet, since some of those sharp edges and peaks get compressed or rounded off, unlike amp clipping.

I have noticed a similar effect with my Yamaha NS-10M Studio speakers. Some music tends to sound best when I'm just touching clipping on a 50 WPC tube amp (already past the point of maximum SPL) while bass heavy music uses up all of the woofer at 8 WPC or so if using a SE tube amp with poor damping.
 
I'm guessing that you are approaching the mechanical limits of one or more of your speaker drivers. At this point applying more power does not result in an equal resulting increase in SPL. The driver has become nonlinear

Thanks Tubelab,
While that is certainly plausible I’m thinking (after reading your response) the amp might be more likely the source.....I did the math and at 110db the amp is at its upper limits (with a 105db avg the peaks are getting well above 110db) the 10”ers are pro woofers capable of handling 300w rms and the tweeters.....well I know what an overdriven tweeter sounds like and sweet isn’t the word I’d use!

It may just be the perfect storm of source material, reflection saturation,upper limits of drivers, and upper limits of the amp.

Thinking amp heat might have something to do with it also.....my older H/K ss
Used to get this cool mellow sound (almost tubelike) when it got good and heated up.

Compression keeps coming up.....is this something that could be reproduced controllably by design to get that same effect?
Like say with dsp or pro style compressor?

Thanks again,
Bob
 
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There are several tracks in my collection that do something a bit odd....

The Chainsmokers ‘Hope’ is one of them several others which include the artist Beck and the band Gorillaz (more also just can’t remember at the moment)

What happens is you crank it up to what I consider ‘casually loud’ (95db or so at lp) and it’s all good, crisp and clean......then you wanna get a little crazy with it and turn it up a little more and you start to get a little grating glare on top so you think that’s the limit of the recording....everyone’s been there right?

Well if you keep on turning that same track up past what I consider my systems ‘reference point’ (around 100db at lp) into what should be certain distortion levels (based on what was just heard at 95db) But it’s not, it blends into a whole different entity of focus and smoothness at what I measure to be 105db at lp!

Now I know this isn’t good for your hearing but to tell you the truth at age 54 my hearing is still fine and this after a lifetime of front row concerts so although I might just suddenly go deaf someday it’s not today!

I’m not crazy (or high) because it’s been verified on different occasions with the same tracks.
Anyone else ever come across this phenomenon? If so what exactly is going on?
Is it just a certain thing where the stars align for my system and room where it transcends all or is there something else going on?

Also I’m well aware of a recordings limitations as my system is quite revealing and can take other well recorded tracks to the same 105db @ lp clean all the way......It’s the ‘over the plateau’ effect I’m referencing.....like how can it go from ‘good’ to ‘too loud’ and then turned up past that it’s ‘better than good’?

Not complaining.....just curious!
if you are playing indoors and you have a strong sound system it might be that the room is too small or not sufficiently covered by acustic material and you get echoes from the walls. I know that as my 300w speakears are playing just for a small room. i can never play at full power as the room does not digest that kind of noise.
 
if you are playing indoors and you have a strong sound system it might be that the room is too small or not sufficiently covered by acustic material and you get echoes from the walls. I know that as my 300w speakears are playing just for a small room. i can never play at full power as the room does not digest that kind of noise.

That makes sense.....it is a small room with highly reflective surfaces and odd shapes and angles on top of that.

It does seem like a cohesion of reflections....probably those certain songs have something going on that just jives with the conditions at a certain spl and just have to ‘ break on through to the other side’ past the lower room distortion levels to get to that ‘sweet zone’ where the reverb comes full circle.

Maybe...it’s just speculation.....it’s certainly cool whatever it is.

I was gonna try and repeat it for my buddy but we ended up foolin with my new Hint instead.
 
there are acustics absorbing material you can put on your walls and in space. but the quick fix is not to turn up the music so loud.
by the way a page i have with a friend but we did not do the international version yet supersonico.eu.

The room it’s in is temporary till I get some cabinet work done.....which I should b working on now instead of messin on here! This place is addictive :D
 
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