Ron's Speaker, Turntable, Power and Room Treatment Upgrades
- Thread starter Ron Resnick
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Thanks, Ron. We have sub 300 Hz issues in our listening environment. I'm looking into these: http://www.acousticsciences.com/products/isothermal-tubetrap
ASC is pretty helpful with individualized problem-solving. (Of course every solution is to buy more ASC products!) You might want to call them.
my last room was all ASC and as Ron says they are very accommodating. If you send them a photo of your room showing pictures from all sides as well as a graphic outline of your room with where you sit and where your gear is they will make recommendations.
Here is a thread that Art Noxon started here.....
http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...lligibility-Test&p=47298&viewfull=1#post47298
Has anyone considered the use of a data center class UPS for running the audio system? Just float the whole thing on battery and sidestep the grounding problem. This one is good for 16kVA @$15k
http://www.apc.com/shop/us/en/produ...o-16kVA-N-1-Rack-mount-208-240V/P-SYA16K16RMP
http://www.apc.com/shop/us/en/produ...o-16kVA-N-1-Rack-mount-208-240V/P-SYA16K16RMP
I highly recommend using some measurement tools (REW, OmniMic, XTZ) to determine the magnitude of the problem prior to seeking a solution. REW is "free" (you supply the USB measuring mic), and the other two are about $300 but you can up and running in 10 minutes. REW has more functionality but is far inferior in being easy to learn to use. Run some low end full frequency sweeps and measure not only the FR to accurately determine where the issues are but also evaluate bass decay (aka "ringing").
If you have, for example, a 10db to 15db bump at 65HZ, you can't fit enough tube traps in your room to fix that. [I can say that with some authority since I had that exact issue and had about 50 ASC traps in my room. This was all before I discovered the importance of measurement tools].You won't know how to deal with the problem until you know how big the problem is and the ONLY way to know for sure is to accurately measure it.
While a RS SPL Meter is better than nothing, it is incredibly time consuming and not particularly accurate. And it won't tell you anything about bass decay.
Just sayin'
After hearing the Avantgarde amplifier on AC vs. its internal battery I was shocked by the very easy to hear differences. I am very sympathetic to battery-powered high-end devices. A battery-powered phono preamplifier and a battery-powered line stage make a lot of sense to me.
But, no, I had not thought about running the whole system on DC. Between my original horizontal grounding plan (which I implemented) and the David Karmeli alternative suggestion (which I also implemented) I would up spending far too much time, effort and money on grounding.
Running the whole system on DC sounds like an appealing choice. I do not know if there are any practical or theoretical disadvantages to using an UPS, however.
Hey Ron,
Have you come across these before? Viva Audio Master Horn...where they dont use crossovers, they have purpose built each amp to drive a specific frequency response. The entire speaker system comes with i think 6 channels of amplification made by Viva. I have briefly heard the Credenza or Master Horn in NYC a long long time ago.
http://www.monoandstereo.com/2015/10/viva-audio-master-horn-system-review.html
Have you come across these before? Viva Audio Master Horn...where they dont use crossovers, they have purpose built each amp to drive a specific frequency response. The entire speaker system comes with i think 6 channels of amplification made by Viva. I have briefly heard the Credenza or Master Horn in NYC a long long time ago.
http://www.monoandstereo.com/2015/10/viva-audio-master-horn-system-review.html
I have come across them. I corresponded with the company a few months ago with an eye towards visiting them.
I cannot give you a very intelligible answer why, but I have the feeling that horns are not for me.
Fair enough. The only other ones that i am intrigued about are the Aries Cerat Contendo Reference...though it is a horn with tower sub of cones...
http://aries-cerat.eu/products/speakers/contendo
No doubt a ground is needed at the UPS but I was more referring to the gear floating on battery which should offer isolation from many of the issues normaly found without such a buffer. The unit is said to have less than 5% distortion at full load, I don't recall what the typical level of distortion is coming out of the wall receptacle but I'm guessing it's more than 5%.
Dear Mike L,
Are you still of the view that the front 2/5 of the floor of the listening room (where the speakers and amps are located) should be wood flooring with the remaining 3/5 being carpeted?
If you had it to do over again would you still have the speakers sitting on hardwood flooring? (And I am asking purely on sound quality grounds. Please put to one side the obvious wood floor advantage of being able to move speakers and amps much more easily on a wood floor.)
Are you still of the view that the front 2/5 of the floor of the listening room (where the speakers and amps are located) should be wood flooring with the remaining 3/5 being carpeted?
If you had it to do over again would you still have the speakers sitting on hardwood flooring? (And I am asking purely on sound quality grounds. Please put to one side the obvious wood floor advantage of being able to move speakers and amps much more easily on a wood floor.)
This power supply thing would have been great to avoid spending a lot on dual grounding systems and balanced power but until it is tested in very high-end, low noise audio systems, and there is actual experience regarding any low-level noise and RFI/EMI issues coming from the inverter, I would be scared to roll the dice on it.
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