The best sound I have heard was found at Jacob Heilbrunn's house.

[Kippyy]

and of course what's most interesting is that I have the XVX and darTZeel in a room that appears to be far too small for the speakers to work well but they do. The speakers are shoved directly into the corners, rear firing ports and I'm getting 20Hz tight response and they completely disappear as anyone who's been here could tell you. It's nearfield Cinerama 5th row. Still thrilling me every evening.

Mike,
What is the size of your listening room?

 

[TrackingAngle]

Mike,
What is the size of your listening room?

15x20x8 with the20 dimension extended by a "port" to the hallway (if that makes any sense). Moving stuff around right now so excuse floor mess

 

[chuck]

15x20x8 with the20 dimension extended by a "port" to the hallway (if that makes any sense). Moving stuff around right now so excuse floor mess

I once asked Dave Wilson how could the Alexandria X2 Series 2 sound like the Vienna Philharmonic in the Musicverein, as he talked about in a video, when he has no idea what room they would be in. He loved the question and took 30 minutes to answer, essentially, how the speakers make the room they are in disappear and create the illusion of the Musicverein. Great speakers don't need a bigger room.

 

[LL21]

I once asked Dave Wilson how could the Alexandria X2 Series 2 sound like the Vienna Philharmonic in the Musicverein, as he talked about in a video, when he has no idea what room they would be in. He loved the question and took 30 minutes to answer, essentially, how the speakers make the room they are in disappear and create the illusion of the Musicverein. Great speakers don't need a bigger room.

I could well believe he enjoyed that question.

From what I read somewhere about DW, his main focus from the very beginning was designing a speaker which was adjustable to the room so that he could create/recreate the presentation he believed to be the most faithful to the original.

He was acknowledging exactly what you observe...that each room (and system) ARE different...so he decided that adjustability was going to be a mainstay feature of his designs so that the speaker could be adjusted for listening distance, ceiling height, location to corners, arguably even materials in the room (ie, bass front or rear firing presumably is both distance but also what is it firing against?...not sure)...as well as your own listening distance, height (cone movement adjustments, resistor changes to increase/decrease db of certain frequencies).

And now with the latest flagship Wilsons, that even includes the electronic equipment it is being paired with for latency or whatever other microdetails they are aware of within the electronics.

I think the quotation was something to the effect of 'reliable repeatability'...as in you could repeat the speaker's ability to be set up for a targeted level of performance in any given room reliably and consistently. In my own experience, in the right hands, DW's designs do that well.

 

[Alrainbow]

I’m not mad but can some one change the best of audio name lol

 

[microstrip]

(...) And now with the latest flagship Wilsons, that even includes the electronic equipment it is being paired with for latency or whatever other microdetails they are aware of within the electronics. (...)

Just correcting the module units position for different amplifier phase delay, no Voodoo here!

 

[Karen Sumner]

I once asked Dave Wilson how could the Alexandria X2 Series 2 sound like the Vienna Philharmonic in the Musicverein, as he talked about in a video, when he has no idea what room they would be in. He loved the question and took 30 minutes to answer, essentially, how the speakers make the room they are in disappear and create the illusion of the Musicverein. Great speakers don't need a bigger room.

If one wants to reproduce low frequencies, size is essential. A 30 Hz waveform is 30 feet long, and a 20 Hz waveform is 60 feet long.

 

[microstrip]

If one wants to reproduce low frequencies, size is essential. A 30 Hz waveform is 30 feet long, and a 20 Hz waveform is 60 feet long.

A bit more complex that it can look just from the waveform length - resonances occur at a length of half the wave length. In my 31 feet long room I manage to have a decent 20 Hz.

Although we can have frequencies in the pressure zone bellow the frequency of the lowest room mode they are extremely difficult to control properly and most of the time just spoil the sound. But it can be done!

 

[Karen Sumner]

A bit more complex that it can look just from the waveform length - resonances occur at a length of half the wave length. In my 31 feet long room I manage to have a decent 20 Hz.

Although we can have frequencies in the pressure zone bellow the frequency of the lowest room mode they are extremely difficult to control properly and most of the time just spoil the sound. But it can be done!

It can be done, but it is difficult, as you have pointed out. In typical construction, frequencies that are below the normal room mode just go through the walls and make them resonate. To pull off the 20Hz trick in a 30-foot room, the walls, ceiling, and floor need to have enough mass so that they do not resonate and do not allow the frequencies that are below the normal room mode escape.

 

[ALF]

It can be done, but it is difficult, as you have pointed out. In typical construction, frequencies that are below the normal room mode just go through the walls and make them resonate. To pull off the 20Hz trick in a 30-foot room, the walls need to have enough mass so that they do not resonate and do not allow the frequencies that are below the normal room mode escape.

Yep…

vbw,
-a

 

[microstrip]

It can be done, but it is difficult, as you have pointed out. In typical construction, frequencies that are below the normal room mode just go through the walls and make them resonate. To pull off the 20Hz trick in a 30-foot room, the walls need to have enough mass so that they do not resonate and do not allow the frequencies that are below the normal room mode escape.

The front and back 2.3 feet wide walls of my room are built with solid stone, my problem was excess of low bass - I had to build four large bass traps tuned to 36 Hz to clean the bass. Probably building 18Hz ones would also improve the sound, but they would be monstrous!

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/diaphragmatic-versus-membrane-bass-traps.7710/post-133862

 

[earlinarizona]

As of today is Jacob still using the Dartzeels or has he changed? The same question on Mike Fremer's system.

 

[jtinn]

As of today is Jacob still using the Dartzeels or has he changed? The same question on Mike Fremer's system.

Yes, of course. Jacob should be receiving a second pair soon. Michael is also very happy with his NHB-468 Monoblocks.

 

[ashandger]

I think Jacob's review of the NHB-468 will be in this month's TAS.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I think Jacob's review of the NHB-468 will be in this month's TAS.

i think you are correct. i keep looking for it in my mail box.

 

[Lee]

i think you are correct. i keep looking for it in my mail box.

I received an early copy. It is indeed in the new issue.

 

[LL21]

I received an early copy. It is indeed in the new issue.

Look forward to reading it.

 

[alfa100]

I was finally able to go to Jacob Heilbrunn's house and hear his sound system. It was breathtaking and even surpassed the WAMM installation at Dave Wilson's house.

As the photo will show, he had some exquisite gear, most notably an Air Force Zero with Graham and SAT tonearms and DS audio optical cartridge. Preamp and amp were Dartzeel which really impressed me. There was clearly something magical in the pairing of Wilson Audio WAMMs and the Dartzeel mono blocks. They are also the prettiest amplifiers I have seen. Digital which did not sound digital was the full Vivaldi stack.

Describing this fully in words is difficult but I think of two words, lifelike and effortless. Music just flowed so smoothly and naturally. Soundstage was deep and wide. You just could not locate where the speakers were if you closed your eyes.

A truly religious experience for me. It's valuable to hear how realistic the latest reference gear can be. Spooky good in many areas!

Perhaps even better was having a few hours to talk to Jacob. He is a very interesting and intelligent person. I am very glad we have him writing for The Absolute Sound.

Please post picture of the first reflections on side walls. Love to see what acoustic treatment you have

 

[Lee]

Please post picture of the first reflections on side walls. Love to see what acoustic treatment you have

It's Jacob's house. Not sure if I got a photo of his sidewalls but the acoustics are superb. RTA is very flat.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Please post picture of the first reflections on side walls. Love to see what acoustic treatment you have

here is a video from last year from the Techdas Zero install at Jacob's. i have not watched it (in a while) so can't say whether side wall treatments show. but it will show his room. Jacob is a member on WBF but not likely he is paying attention. but you could contact him through Absolute Sound and ask him directly.

New Video: Air Force Zero Installation at the home of Jacob Heilbrunn - TechDAS High End Turntables

New Video: Air Force Zero Installation at the home of Jacob Heilbrunn.

techdas.jp