MCL said “I have decided to go DIY with my speakers and have lots to learn. Would love to chat also some time Tom.
I picked up a Berringer 2496,and is all I have in the digital domain.”
Cool!, That is a comparatively inexpensive yet very powerful speaker controller and can do just about anything you will ever need to do crossover wise etc. I think you will enjoy the adventure although like a fractal, the deeper you get into it, the more you realize there is still more to it all and that doesn’t stop.
What you hear is ultimately what counts most BUT the problem is when speakers are sorta close, any change you make causes it to sound different, the problem is usually one recording or type of music sounds better this way and some other recording may sound worse. On the other hand, there is usually only one or a few crossover solutions which are correct from a signal point of view and being able to measure “is this closer than this” will allow one to find settings empirically MUCH faster than by ear.
I mentioned a program called ARTA, I have no connection to the company but would urge anyone interested in measuring and if they don’t have a modern measurement system, look at this program and it’s only $128.
It is VERY powerful even if it were 5X the price (to give an idea, in the early 80’s, the first TEF machine that did a few of the measurement ARTA does cost the company I worked for $11,000.00).
http://www.fesb.hr/~mateljan/arta/index.htm
And a measurement microphone like this at $55 (get two if you can so you can record and do generation loss tests on speakers.) If you can spend more on microphones, they will make better recordings and be more rugged, have less internal noise etc but these would get you going.
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=248-625
And a decent usb interface with mic pre-amp and phantom power for mics like this one I use that works at 24/96khz;
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackPro.html
Anyway it will take some fiddling and reading to feel comfortable etc but there is no pressure so it’s fun.
Hi Tony, I might do this for a living but I am a DIY’r, I built tube amps and electrostatic speakers and to be sure, there was a time I didn’t think I could figure any of this stuff out, especially the math which was my worst subject in school.
Even now, one of my favorite things is assembling something new, it’s like a Heathkit except you aren’t sure how will work even if it’s built correctly.
The more I think about it, the more I think that pursuing things as your curiosity drives you may be slower than formal education but you are more likely to find new ways of doing things. I think more people should get involved, build things and there are few things that are as weird and interesting as sound and it’s capture and reproduction of the image.
C1 ferrari, I am not sure what bats you have but my bet would be that if you can get them high enough into the air, they still might be harder to hit on account of the black face plate, but blindfolded all bets are off haha.
Hi Gary
I have not tried that (windows / sound card) solution , I am a little leery given in my system I have “some power” on tap for a computer hiccup. I love Sourceforge though, I use a program called Stellarium, a planetarium software from there that is very nice and drives a telescope.
Best,
Tom Danley