What hi fi system you got ?

[juice]

The Dual 731Q was made from 1978 to 1981.

 

[greenstiles]

I had a systemdek with Linn Akito arm for a while which i really enjoyed...i used to prefer Audio technica cartridges...

....i was never impressed with Rega Planner....i tried a 2 and a 3...perhaps it was because they were in their basic plinth.

I modded a cheap Ariston Q deck once to see what i could get out of it, wow just changing the arm leads made a massive difference on the decks. Some things are so limited just by tiny money stingy cost cutting.

 

[ferrus]

ferrus i've made all kinds of contraptions over the years to isolate and improve sound with equipment.........sometimes all the effort does nothing at all other times it really really helps and is most rewarding...on occation it makes things worse to say over dampen a CD player.

I've noticed that with CD players particularly. I think the thing is, when you try to dampen casework by placing say books or weights on top, you're not actually absorbing or stopping resonance as much as changing (raising) the frequency it resonates at. With CD players it often seems to quieten the noise floor a bit and bring out detail, but also makes them sound more flat and lifeless with less sparkle - more clinical. After all, manufacturers design/voice their components with these resonances contributing to the sound. Distortions of various kinds can impart a warmth and body to the sound, and removing them can result in disapointing results, esp. on lower end kit - It's one of the reasons vinyl sounds so warm and appealing.

As you say though, you can often make big improvements with isolation etc. It's the one place where I've really experimented over the years- fasinating I reckon, as the effects can be so strange and unpredictable, and unlike elsewhere in hi-fi land the improvements can be had for free! I must have spent hundreds of hours schematically trying different approaches and materials.
What intrigues me most is resonance dissipation. I find it odd that people are only bothered about isolating their kit; when you isolate a component from external vibration, you're also locking resonance in! The trick is to give the componant a quiet environment but also 'sink' its emittent resonances. I've found sitting my CD player on a thin oak board -on a bag of buckwheat the most effective!
But as with damping, the diffusion/dissipation approach doesn't work for everything and can make some kit sound worse.

With my speakers, there's so much energy going on. The important thing with speakers is to keep them absolutely still and stable, at a 'microscopic' level - that's if you want them to reproduce the most subtle sounds, acoustic ambience etc. You also wanna isolate their floor-born resonance from the rest of the system. No problem, both are easy to do. But I also wanted to dissipate away some of the massive resonance they produce, which is now stopped from being diffused through the floor. Achieving all this is really hard as the principles are working against each other. The best compromise I've found is to sit them on massive sand bag pillows which they sink into, the pillows are sitting on thick slabs held off the floor by 3 simple wood cones. About 4'' up the sides and back of the speakers I've got sand filled tubes (socks!) which are weighted down with bricks onto the sand bag below. This holds the speakers rock steady, and the sand does a good job of absorbing a lot of the resonance. Not much makes it through the sand bag, slab and cones down to the floor either. And it doesn't look as bad as it sounds, honest!

Fascinating stuff, like I said ... z z zz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[zotty]

YUM!!! hifi

heres my playroom set up

speakers bought by my dad in 1974.. hifi again bought by dad in 1990 all inherited by me in 2011 .. thanks dad!!.. not that he's gone... he emigrated to Spain and didn't want to torture it all on long haul journeys lol

Kef Ref Series, model 104ab, been modded and tweeked over the years by dad, very vocal and a beautifully put together soundstage my fave speakers EVER and have known them all my life can remember them being as tall as me lol

note the pebbles each side of the tweeter.. also has them internally glued on to all terminals. crossovers have been rebuilt, silver wiring through out and spikes added, all drivers (aside from the radiators) changed out for higher spec recomended by Kef units. cabs fully braced inc to back of the drivers..

all top line technics from 1990 aside from the fairly modern musical fidelity cd player.....

and heres a quick pic of the livingroom set up.. more geared towards visual than audio tbf to it..

denon amp/pioneer plasma/monitor audio gold ref speakers (front/rear/center) B&W sub

sounds fantastic but in no way can it sing like my kef/technics retro goodness

 

[JohnH]

JohnH if your amp has tone controls, does the ssss go away enough if you turn the treble down a bit ?

I'll give that a try, but I'm worried that I lose the treble sounds that aren't harsh... :?

Creating a synergy amongst your kit is important, you can live with some pretty wild components if one is taming the another etc

I bought Kef Q1 for this reason...

Yes indeed. I've heard my Denon amp described as having a 'bright' sound, so the last thing that I want to do is partner it with speakers with the same characteristics.

One of the most important factors for sound quality which can have a very surprising effect on 'harshness' and confusion/congestion when the music gets busy, is room acoustics. I've heard my system sound thin, messy and piercingly shrill and have wondered what the hell's wrong. But in a different room with plenty of damping and space behind the speakers, the relaxed, full-bodied sound has returned. It's the 'singing in the bathroom' principle; all that resonance causes a right distorted mess. The confused sound is understandable, but whats surprising is how harsh and thin it can get. ..Perhaps adding some soft furnishings to dampen things down might help?
It's also well worth trying some simple isolation of the equipment and maybe speakers. I've had my kit sat on cushions, innertubes, sandbags etc. Don't laugh! - all this helps to calm things down and relax the sound, and might also pacify that aggressive treble a bit.

Ideally you want a fairly "dead" room. The trend for minimalist furniture and open plan rooms with lots of hard surfaces, uncarpeted floors and bare walls is bad for sound. You can spend a lot on acoustic tiles, bass traps etc. to rectify this, or, if you're like me, just have plenty of clutter in the room.

I think you guys might have hit the nail on the head here. My lounge has painted walls (rather than papered) and laminate flooring. The only soft furnishings are a couple of sofas and a small rug -- which means that buying different speakers may not make a jot of difference. Hmmm. I could quickly and easily work out if changing the acoustics will solve the problem, by covering some surfaces with bedding and blankets.

Thanks for all of your suggestions, guys -- I'm going try some experiments this weekend...

 

[ferrus]

Get those egg boxes on the walls John!
(don't!)

 

[JohnH]

Ferrus, the wheels in my mind have begun to turn....

 

[Woz]

Ferrus, the wheels in my mind have begun to turn....

Agree with most posters. I like the clinical spartan look, no curtains, wooden floor board and I tweaked things with just very minor "bass and treble" controls and then acoustically:
- don't point the speakers towards glass windows
- played with different speaker placements, especially distances from
the wall and angle for the sweet spot
- point to the sofa, I've got a big fat futon which does the job nicely!
- add a bunch of those big cushions around the place
- go for wood furniture
- finally, I then played with interconnects which can make some differences and got lucky that low price ones did the job

I could have gone as far as bookshelf loaded with books but it all seemed good enough. The bass is lovely, solid and transparent with no "rumbling lingering boom" which I hate, female vocalists powerful, moving and fully intact even with complex heavy electronic overlays.

Only problem is the neighbors are complaining from time to time.....I actually don't realise how loud it is sometimes because nothing is strained and the room can take a fair bit of volume.

My last advice would be to try things with the simplest well recorded program music you can find: piano solo (especially on the low keys) and female vocal solo should sound so and you should be moved with the timing of the artist. Chances are if this is fine, the rest of your collection will be too - hope that makes sense?

I'll take the opportunity to have a little rant that most HiFi shops either don't know how to properly set a room up for a listening test (they should be single speaker only) or are very clever in trying to get you in the groove with some horrid gash which you are supposed to like by public opinion. I've walked out of audition rooms the moment the seller put Micheal Jackson on and state from the offset not to bother with that
mega complex Jazz thing which you have which is supposed to blow my mind. Go with your own music, no matter how weird it is. Make sure you have a 30 day return offer. Rant over.

 

[Bullpup]

Have any of you heard some of the newer amp technologies?

I've heard Class D, Class T and Gainclone amps and been very impressed with them.

I was very dismissive of them until I bought a Winsome Mouse

 

[xerxes]

I was very dismissive of them until I bought a Winsome Mouse

Blimey, that's a expensive for a T-amp, I think mine cost £50.00. :shock:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Topping-TP20-MK2-MKII-Class-T-Digital-Amplifier-TA2020-/280703920832

http://playitclear.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/topping-tp20-mark-2-audiophile.html