new home for my Magico Q1

[stereo]

Just finished the building of the room. 67 diffusers from SMT, 31 Helmholtz resonators of different sizes for bass treatment. Room is built as a box in the box, so that I can listen very loud or play saxophone middle of the night without any noise being heard by my neighbors. Air conditioning is completely silent at listening position. Power supply is dedicated, and balanced (Equi=tech). Will use the room both for stereo and HT. All speakers will be Magico. Q7 for Stereo. Q7 + SCC + S1+ 2 fathom subs for HT.

Right now, I have only my pair of Q1 in the room. Will enjoy the Q1 for a few months, and then will move it to living room when the Q7 arrive. I didn't have time yet to fine tune the system or to spike the speakers. Still hesitating which amp I will use for the Q1. I have a Dartzeel 108, an APL and a Devialet. Not sure which one I will keep. The Q7 will probably not use any of these amps.
PS: I don't use the 2 Fathom subs when listening to the Q1, they are only for HT.

 

[stereo]

Room has been designed by a Swedish company, SMT. Here a few room measurements (done before I moved in the Q1, when I was working with SMT to tune the basstraps):
- flat bass across the room after tuning of 31 Helmholtz resonators (the 2 large white corners behind speakers are also Helmholtz resonators, measure was done with Fathom sub)


- Nice, regular decay in the bass (measurement done with my Fathom sub):


- constant reverbation time across frequency range (at my design target of 0.35-0.4sec). Ignore the frequencies below 200Hz in chart below, I used 3 small logitech speakers pointing towards the ceiling to excite the room:


how does it sound? even before fine tuning of Q1 position and upstream components, fantastic.
? Bass is extremely clean and detailed. What you hear is bass as it was recorded: flat, clean.
? Excellent imaging: very enveloping and precise in positioning. The large amount of reflected sound from the sides contributes to the illusion of image broadening. The fact that SMT diffusers are similarly effective over the entire spectrum above the transition frequency ensures that the sounds arrive spectrally intact at listener ears. And as we know, precedence effect for localization works best when the spectra of the direct and reflected sound are similar.
? Richness of tone is the best I have heard. Music sounds tonally richer because I can hear more of the timbral nuances (the delay introduced by diffusers gives time to the brain to process overtones which normally are masked by strong transients)
? Neutral room: The room completely disappears to let hear the acoustic of the recording room. The room response to loudspeaker sound is even across frequencies. The room is also neither dead, nor “live”: it stores the energy and redirects it over time, with a very regular energy decay curve across frequencies.
? Very even sound response when I walk around the room playing saxophone.

 

[dafos]

Great set up stereo. Seems like a fairly large room and I'm surprised that the q1 can adequately pressurize the room. Are those subs at the center corner of the room?

 

[FrantzM]

Stereo

You were getting that kind of response in the bass at 110dB!!?? Splendid!! .. A what distance? Do you plan to keep the subs with the Q7? Love the room!

 

[stereo]

Frantz,
measurements were done with the 2 Fathom subs positioned where the Q1 are right now (we did 3 days of measurements to fine tune the different Helmholtz resonators). I just moved in the Q1 today, for sure they will not go down to 20Hz! ;-) But it is still unlikely I will use the subs to reinforce the last octave. I like the purity of the Q1, and they will be in this room only for a few months anyway, so I rather listen to music than keeping playing around!
For the fun, here the first room measurement before tuning of the traps:

 

[Steve williams]

I too like the idea of using Helmholtz resonators. My soon to be completed room employs 11 Helmholtz resonators.

 

[stereo]

Great set up stereo. Seems like a fairly large room and I'm surprised that the q1 can adequately pressurize the room. Are those subs at the center corner of the room?

I am also surprised that it works quite well, because there is no room resonance to "help" the speakers. Of course I don't get the bass that a Q7 or some other very large speakers can provide, but you would never believe that the speakers are so small if you listen blinded

 

[stereo]

Problem with Helmholtz resonators is that they need to be very big if you want to treat very low frequencies resonances. I have a corridor behind the listening position which is a 4sqm bass trap, and have also 2 large one in ceiling.

 

[stereo]

Stereo

You were getting that kind of response in the bass at 110dB!!?? Splendid!! .. A what distance? Do you plan to keep the subs with the Q7? Love the room!

was measured at 4meters from the Fathom as a source. For sure, the Q7 don't need a sub, so the sub will keep its job in HT configuration....

 

[JackD201]

@Steve - Me too, I have 10

 

[Steve williams]

Problem with Helmholtz resonators is that they need to be very big if you want to treat very low frequencies resonances. I have a corridor behind the listening position which is a 4sqm bass trap, and have also 2 large one in ceiling.

I agree. All of mine are in the ceiling as well as a type of infinite baffle in the attic

 

[rockitman]

Gorgeous room. I particularly like the side diffusers on top that resemble roses. Before you mentioned the q7's, I thought bigger speakers would be in order. Guess you have that squared away.

 

[MasterChief]

Spectacular!

 

[flez007]

Impressive stereo room stereo!, I am very curious on the Q1s, I have a rather small listening room (4.5 x 6 mts) that sounded great when I had the Sonus Faber GH with a DD18. I think I have no additional room for those nice resonators!

 

[DaveyF]

Great looking room stereo. I see you have what appears to be glass doors behind the speakers, along with what seems to be some kind of diffusor. Is that what they are?

 

[caesar]

Stereo, that's one amazing looking room! How did you select the company/ designer? What were your design goals?

 

[jap]

Stereo, congrats on the completion of your listening room.

Did you take any measurements of the Q1s?

It would be interesting to see how they compare to Colloms' measurements of the Q1s:

http://www.absolutesounds.com/pdf/main/press/HIFiCriticJul-SepQ1forweb.pdf

 

[Orb]

I think you guys will be starting a new high end craze...
Designed rooms just for the Helmotz resonators surrounding the designed listening room

Kudos and love the look, room reminds me of Ken Ishiwata's listening room, which highlights that even lower priced gear can sound amazing in such rooms.

Cheers
Orb

 

[Elberoth]

Amaizing looking room ! My dedicated room looks really pedestrian next to yours

A quick Q - how did you get rid of that big suckout on FR ? Correct me if I'm wrong, but Helmholz resonators can only help you getting rid of peaks, not suckouts.

 

[microstrip]

Problem with Helmholtz resonators is that they need to be very big if you want to treat very low frequencies resonances. I have a corridor behind the listening position which is a 4sqm bass trap, and have also 2 large one in ceiling.

Great room Stereo.
The 4 sqm is the one that deals with the 43 Hz null?