System Setup: Art? Science? A combination of both?
First on is, I enter the empty room and sit alone in silence for about 20 minutes. I soak up and internalize the roomtone and visualize and predict hf reflection patterns. When I think I have a feel for the space, the boys begin setting stuff up where I tell them. I do all electrical connections myself. After that it's mostly just fine tuning to hit aesthetic targets.
I have a similar process. Sitting in silence in the empty room is a very important part of the process.
Many years ago, to help myself visualize what room reflections will do, I got trays of various sizes, filled them with water, and dropped pebbles of various sizes from different heights into the water. The resulting wave patterns are interesting to say the least. Your brain learns after a while (lots of spilled water and pebbles) and now when I walk into a room, I can visualize where the speakers should be.
Then, for fine tuning, I have the "Genesis Loudspeaker Set-up Procedure" (1.5mb pdf). I've taught this to the executive committee of the local audio society and now they can set up the speakers pretty quickly for the monthly meeting.
Silence is so highly underrated eh Gary? LOL.
A recipe from Galen Carol Audio http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/roomacoustics.html
Optical Alignment Kit. A wide strip of reflective Mylar "tape" is temporarily attached to the wall surrounding the speakers, at ear level. Seated in your listening position, you will be surprised to see multiple reflections of each speaker, all around the room. These images represent the points along the walls at which harmful reflections will occur. Mark these points, remove the Mylar, pop a Tube Trap in each location and viola, instant gratification
We're prepping for another show next month. It definitely starts with Science. When our Philippine Show moved hotels last year, the first thing we asked for was the floor plan. Seeing the dimensions we opted to bring our smallest loudspeaker, 2 subwoofers and our smallest electronics as well. We also asked about the construction of the rooms and the electrical layout. These were provided for us by the organizer with the help of the hotel management. With this knowledge we were able to figure out initial placement for everything including treatments and were able to optimize the remaining space for the show goers comfort and listening pleasure.
Once wired up, set up is no different from doing things at home. One side wall was concrete and the other space frame. This led to some speaker placement adjustments of a few inches to even out the boundary effects. Having a handy portable measurement tool (we use a Phonic) is a great way to be consistent. It cut the sub integration time greatly.
I do have two rituals. First on is, I enter the empty room and sit alone in silence for about 20 minutes. I soak up and internalize the roomtone and visualize and predict hf reflection patterns. When I think I have a feel for the space, the boys begin setting stuff up where I tell them. I do all electrical connections myself. After that it's mostly just fine tuning to hit aesthetic targets. Our reputation is built on balance and continuity so that's what we always strive for. Always go for Goldilocks. LOL. I've been doing remote set ups in the strangest places for a couple of decades. The first look is no longer too far from where the equipment eventually ends up. Which last year ended up like this. Pretty modest and utilitarian but voted by many as best of show I guess because lots of guys were stuffing huge speakers in these small rooms. There's that science part again.
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The second one is, I go down to the Hotel garden. Park myself on a bench and have a smoke. I plan on quitting on my daughter's 13th birthday so this may be this rituals last exercise.
This year we got a corner suite so we'll have more room to play in. We've already picked the horse for that new course so to speak and it is bigger but just by a little bit.
The second one is, I go down to the Hotel garden. Park myself on a bench and have a smoke. I plan on quitting on my daughter's 13th birthday so this may be this rituals last exercise.
A recipe from Galen Carol Audio http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/roomacoustics.html
Optical Alignment Kit. A wide strip of reflective Mylar "tape" is temporarily attached to the wall surrounding the speakers, at ear level. Seated in your listening position, you will be surprised to see multiple reflections of each speaker, all around the room. These images represent the points along the walls at which harmful reflections will occur. Mark these points, remove the Mylar, pop a Tube Trap in each location and viola, instant gratification
Very interesting.
Jack, do you make provisions for the presence of multiple bodies in the room? Do you find that makes a difference?
I have a similar process. Sitting in silence in the empty room is a very important part of the process.
Many years ago, to help myself visualize what room reflections will do, I got trays of various sizes, filled them with water, and dropped pebbles of various sizes from different heights into the water. The resulting wave patterns are interesting to say the least. Your brain learns after a while (lots of spilled water and pebbles) and now when I walk into a room, I can visualize where the speakers should be.
Then, for fine tuning, I have the "Genesis Loudspeaker Set-up Procedure" (1.5mb pdf). I've taught this to the executive committee of the local audio society and now they can set up the speakers pretty quickly for the monthly meeting.
I could not open the file on your web page Gary.
What specifically would you do if you had to demo your system at a place like RMAF?
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