Charles' Little 2-ch Hi-Fi System...

[Chops]

A spicy pair of custom Odyssey Audio Stratos monoblocks for the Maggies!

Even Sir Bentley already approves of them!

And yes, I'm running them through a heavy duty extension cable my father made many many years ago. Stupid ground issues in this room/house (not 60Hz hum, but an annoying buzz). This is just going to put the dedicated 20amp runs to this room to the top of the priority list for this coming fall.

 

[Chops]

Not that anyone is remotely interest, per usual... But these amps are doing great things in the system. The Maggies sound larger and stronger as do the subs. Amazing stuff!

 

[Chops]

Make-shift amp stands utilizing a couple shelves from my old audio rack and those white quartz slabs I had made some years ago. Just something to get them off the floor. I was going to buy a couple of Pangea amp stands to match the two audio racks I already have, but I think I want to go with something better, so these will work for now.

And my little music/audio buddy still approves!

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

Have enjoyed watching this system evolve.

 

[Chops]

Have enjoyed watching this system evolve.

Thank you, sir!

It's definitely evolved rather substantially in the past few months for sure!

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

Thank you, sir!

It's definitely evolved rather substantially in the past few months for sure!

spent awhile on the Odyssey site, looks ike good equipment at a reasonable price.

 

[Chops]

spent awhile on the Odyssey site, looks ike good equipment at a reasonable price.

Extremely "good" equipment some would say.

 

[tomsch63]

I'm still amazed at the progress of your system! I'm venturing into the world of open back single drivers so it may be a similar path.

 

[Chops]

 

[tomsch63]

Fun to watch your progression. I'm jumping into the deep end with OB speakers so what happens behind them in terms of room treatment is going to be completely new territory. I like what you have done with minimal and tasteful room treatment.

 

[treitz3]

From this....



To this....



In 7 years. With many renditions in between. It looks like your audio journey has been fun. Enjoy the ride...

Tom

 

[Chops]

Fun to watch your progression. I'm jumping into the deep end with OB speakers so what happens behind them in terms of room treatment is going to be completely new territory. I like what you have done with minimal and tasteful room treatment.

Thank you for the kind words.

As for OB's and room treatments, generally you want the front wall to be somewhat live with mild to no absorption and diffusion. Quite honestly, a bare wall would be better than any pure absorption. And if you can, have a good amount of distance between the back of the OB's and the front wall. I'd say at a minimum of 3ft, but preferably more.

For reference, I have my Maggies pulled out roughly 6ft from the front wall.

Another thing about OB's is that you can usually get away with placing them a little closer to the side walls than with traditional "closed box" loudspeakers, but you still want at least 12" or so from the side walls.

Be sure to start a thread of your own (if you haven't already) to post your thoughts and pics of your system!

 

[Chops]

From this....

View attachment 116563

In 7 years. With many renditions in between. It looks like your audio journey has been fun. Enjoy the ride...

Tom

Thank you Tom. It certainly has been fun, and goes back a LOT further than just the 7 years I've posted here.

I literally started in this "hobby" as they call it back when I was about 8 years old. That currently makes it a solid 40 years I've been doing this! Growing up, it sure did make it a great deal for me having a father and three older brothers who all messed around with stereo equipment. Lucky for me, that means a lot of good hand-me-downs! But that was just the gear.

Speakers I had to come up with something on my own, which is where I discovered my appreciation for OB speakers. I used to take some of my brothers old car speakers, mount them in flat, flimsy thin sheets of cheap plywood and lean them up against the wall. There's no telling what insane impedance I had them wired at. Back in those days, I didn't have any speaker building books yet from RadioShack, so I was just wiring things up with zero guidance. I'm sure I had those factory 4 ohm car drivers wired down to a half ohm or something! LOL

Probably the exact reason why I would keep blowing the speaker output fuses on the little Technics SA-5170 receiver I got from my oldest brother. The bulbs behind the tuner dial would dim down real bad at not much volume, and not much louder, the fuses would pop. Haha!

I tell you what though... That little Technics receiver never died. In fact, it still works to this day!

 

[tomsch63]

Thanks for the OB treatment advice. I have them about 6ft from each wall with no treatment and the sounds is very open and pretty much floats around the room even when they are pointed directly to the primary seating position.

I'll start a thread of my own on my OB adventure

 

[Chops]

Thanks for the OB treatment advice. I have them about 6ft from each wall with no treatment and the sounds is very open and pretty much floats around the room even when they are pointed directly to the primary seating position.

I'll start a thread of my own on my OB adventure

Glad I could help in some way.

Of all the types of loudspeakers out there that I've owned, demoed or heard at shows, it's always the OB/dipole loudspeakers that sound best to me. I don't ever see myself going back to traditional "box" loudspeakers again.

I look forward to your audio adventure in your thread!

 

[tomsch63]

You did help since my listening room seems to really respond to OBs. My system is not a mature as yours, but all I can say is my KEF LS50 Metas + sub are now retired. Now on to room treatment as the next step as I don't think I'll go back to closed back speakers unless we sell this house and move to a different listening room. BTW you listening room still is a reference for relaxing and listening to music.

 

[Chops]

You did help since my listening room seems to really respond to OBs. My system is not a mature as yours, but all I can say is my KEF LS50 Metas + sub are now retired. Now on to room treatment as the next step as I don't think I'll go back to closed back speakers unless we sell this house and move to a different listening room. BTW you listening room still is a reference for relaxing and listening to music.

Thanks for the kind words. And for my system being "mature"... Trust me when I tell you it took me a very long time to get it to this point. It's definitely been one heck of a journey, especially in the past six months or so, when the system REALLY matured.

You said you don't think you'll go back to closed speakers unless you sell your house or use a different listening room.

Why would you possibly change back to traditional closed speakers if you did that?

 

[tomsch63]

Likely not I'm a OB addict now. The way they energize the entire room is intoxicating. I likely missed this but what room treatments are you using?

 

[Chops]

Likely not I'm a OB addict now. The way they energize the entire room is intoxicating. I likely missed this but what room treatments are you using?

GIK 4" Alpha panels on the front wall, and 2" Impressions panels at the first reflection point and directly behind me on the back wall, about 6ft back.

Honestly, I don't think the first reflection panels are doing anything since the Maggies (OB's/dipoles) hardly put out any energy to the sides.

 

[Chops]

Haven't used this old gem in a while. 44 years old and still works and looks like new when my father purchased it back in 1979.