Near Or Far Field Listening For This Room?
- Thread starter Gryphon8
- Start date
Republicoftexas69
Well-Known Member
Sorry for not keeping up here folks. I've had a several attention needing matters, one of which was my trusty 'ol Krell KAV-300cd's transport went for the 2nd time in 8-9 years. That put a temporary halt to everything, while researching the subject of players, transports w/DAC's, etc. Ended up with a Marantz SA-KI Ruby & have begun experimenting with room placement. Having listened in far-field, I feel that the bulkhead is detrimental to soundstaging & is in effect, dead space & a reflection point. Now it's going to take some time for me to rearrange to a near field, as I had in the old house, with a bit more room here. The near field will allow a wider soundstage with unimpeded space. The old setup actually had a wonderful soundstage and depending on on how the source was mic'd, you could imagine sitting in the control room of a studio or a concert hall if it was recorded that way. The imaging went way beyond the walls in the room. I'll give a report once all is said & done.
I'm currently working on it (while busy juggling other) & have been working on setting up streaming. I'm confident my best sound will come from setting up along the longer wall for near-field & am waiting on material to treat the room.
In case you've not already tried, you should be able to plug an iphone or ipad your into the usb on the Ruby and stream to your dac. Works on the front panel usb of the SA8005 I use as a transport. Sound is surprisingly good, the popular Eversolo ME as a pure streamer was no better. Easy way to get up and running while researching other options.
I'm using a Mytek DAC+ with a SOtM streamer w/pwr.supply, MeLE Roon w/2TB & Tidal, but will be interesting to try that, thanks!
I'm curious if you are going to consider (both) Long walls during your placement evaluation?
Might as well.
If possible, taking some kind of room acoustics related measurements will be beneficial in confirming which placement actually is better than the other.
I'm actually working on setting up what I want on the walls (such as a Sgt. Pepper's blanket) before I run the EQ Wizard. Finally have streaming setup. Now it'll take some time to work on the room acoustics & moving things around the room. Just by listening I can hear that the room is too bright & needs taming. As far as both walls, after the Room EQ Wizard is run & treatment applied I'll take the 2 different setups & determine which I prefer. My understanding now is, that the setup against the long wall could cause some bass issues. Other than listening, this IS the fun stuff!
I have a 240 cm (8 ft) ceiling too. I killed* the first reflection from it with 10 cm thick 180*120 cm absorber.
*at least above say 400 Hz.
*at least above say 400 Hz.
Thanks Markus,
I started with room modes for this particular room & began adding bass traps axially & then utilized absorbers & diffusers at certain reflection points. I admit that it may not be pretty or decorative, but as I told my wife, " it's purely about the sound & not looks".
So, after having the room finally finished with double solid doors entrance, insulation & double drywall (and glue & screw) on the ceiling and the 2 walls that don't have concrete walls behind them, it was time for figuring the best room mode and begin the acoustical treatment. There was much listening, measuring & the old mirror reflection points trick. I also tried utilizing the REW software, but that was like teaching French to a class of individuals who either knew English, German, Russian or Swahili!? That's because the instructions try to cover Windows, Mac, Android & Linux etc., all at once instead of specific directions for 1 OS!? No loss at the moment, as I'll return in time (too much fun listening now) to try learning REW for Windows. With REW I got as far as mic calibration & taking quite a few measurements with it, but didn't get as far as decyphering each measurement. However, after much repositioning & listening, I can attest to the science of acoustical treatment & am enjoying tight accurate bass & hearing transient decays as natural as possible. Things I've not enjoyed in the past. I'm hearing new things on recordings I was familiar with. The soundstage is as wide as before, but also has more depth. Before the acoustical treatment, you could walk around talking & hear the amount of reflections going on. Playing the system w/o any treatment was like listening to a transistor radio! Now, the size of the room pretty much takes on the recording venue size (if live) or the walls disappear with a studio mix. It's also quite difficult to tell the difference between streaming, CD/SACD or LP as there's absolute background silence. This room is below ground level & there are 2 HVAC units outside beginning about where the right curtain ends. If they are runnng, you need to listen very carefully when nothing else is on and you may hear a very distant hum. Not at all the factor I thought they'd be, thank goodness!
Congrats Gryphon8. It looks fantastic. Good to hear the sound is that good early on. I'm sure your will do some more tweaks as time goes by.
For now just sit and enjoy all of your work.
Keep us updated as time passes.
Brad
For now just sit and enjoy all of your work.
Keep us updated as time passes.
Brad
Thank you Brad! I'm always listening for better sound & making those slight adjustments. I don't have the same funds that some have, but I'm grateful for what I do have & try to improve the sound with scientific principles. I wish more audiophiles knew about the benefits of removing their listening room's fingerprint.
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