Jim Smith
Member
I am in Fort Worth now.
No, these sessions are depleting for me - physically & mentally - as I am concentrating for hours on end on the job at hand. A second client would get a lesser performance, try as I might otherwise.
Jim Smith @ My House
- Thread starter MDP
- Start date
I am in Fort Worth now.
No, these sessions are depleting for me - physically & mentally - as I am concentrating for hours on end on the job at hand. A second client would get a lesser performance, try as I might otherwise.
Jim Smith
Member
RoomPlay sessions...
Before covering the session at Mark’s house, it might be useful to look at some rarely discussed info re voicing audio systems to rooms.
Caution, some of this might come across as unnecessarily harsh, but it comes up at nearly every session (brought up by the surprised client, not me). So you should probably read this intro/rant and then if you are still interested, you will understand a bit more when we go through the process at Mark’s.
My goal is to work with the client’s existing room and system, rather than against it. I do not rely on room treatments during the session. After all, until we know where things will go, how will putting up a treatment anywhere - before we have even started - help us at all? Near or at the end of the session I will recommend appropriate treatments if needed. The one exception would be corner-based tube traps, at least 16” in diameter. These could be placed before I arrive.
Step #1 – Evaluate the system as is. The client has been instructed to have it powered up for at least an hour prior to my arrival.
I use my known playlist, which relates back to my master tapes - some of which were for NPR, and some were paid gigs for various musicians.
I listen for Dynamics, Presence, and Tone. These are my three primary requirements for a musically engaging outcome. My goal is for the system to become orders of magnitude better at delivering musical involvement.
After evaluating the system, I share my observations with the client. Once we know what needs to be addressed, I can set about doing the necessary things to achieve our desired outcome.
And now, the rant -
Having carefully & thoroughly voiced over 800 systems in my career, I have never encountered a system - be it a famous reviewer’s, audio industry person’s, or an advanced audiophile’s system - that did not benefit dramatically from proper voicing to the room. I should mention that, apart from the typical RoomPlay client, there are three types of systems that are especially in need of voicing.
1 – The client has spent lots of money on components, but really has no reference for what is possible. Hint – they will not hear it at shows nor at most dealers. The money they have spent on cables is often much more that the price of an entire RoomPlay session, although the effect of the cables is perhaps 1-2% of voicing the system to the room (so that the system is working with the room, rather than against it). The effect of the latest & greatest amp or preamp – no matter what the cost - may be as much as 5-10% of the musical impact of a RoomPlay session, at best.
In my career, I have always greatly valued the performance benefits of certain cables, components and various tweaks. I am not advocating against them. I merely suggest that at this point in time, you may have no idea of their true capabilities.
I’ve said this in numerous seminars and in ads – The effect of a proper acoustic wave-launch into the room - and receiving it properly at the listening seat - swamps the effect of electrons scurrying about in equipment, cables, & accessories.
2 – If the client has a custom-designed room and he/she was told by the designer – who typically never voices the system in the completed room – where everything should be placed according to a spread-sheet or drawing provided to the client, we will definitely have a problem. I cannot begin to recount all the experiences I have had where we had to fundamentally abandon the designer’s instructions, as well as ignore the suggested room treatments. To date, 100% initially fell far short of what was possible. Note that I said initially, as the final results were decidedly different. :satisfying:
3 – The other set-ups that also dramatically underperform the time and expense invested are those that employ too much DSP, EQ, and/or room treatments. Without going into too much detail, the client arrives at a suitable technical decision but not a suitable musical decision. They base their decision on what they measure.
I should say that I am not against DSP and room treatments either. But before they are introduced, let’s try to get the system/room interface playing nicely together, rather than fighting against one another. I call this the organic setup. If needed or desired, we can still introduce the electronic DSP, EQ, etc. In other words - DSP, EQ, etc. should not be seen as a sonic band-aid. It is certainly NOT a shortcut to more musically engaging listening.
The good news –
Most – but not all – of my RoomPlay clients get off the equipment merry-go-round and look for more music, and often they discover musical genres that they hadn’t appreciated previously.
My next “longish” post will be about the session at Mark’s...
A couple more things –
1 – I never planned to travel around North America, voicing client’s systems. I got started when several Get Better Sound readers asked me to perform this service. I had no idea back then what would eventually happen.
2 – Until recently - AFAIK - I was the only person doing it. I was overjoyed when I saw that Stirling Trayle has started to perform this service as well. Our pricing appears to be similar, and although I might not agree with every priority he has, nor he with mine, it means that more audiophiles can get assistance in this vital area.
Mike or Mark – if this is too harsh, feel free to delete it.
Before covering the session at Mark’s house, it might be useful to look at some rarely discussed info re voicing audio systems to rooms.
Caution, some of this might come across as unnecessarily harsh, but it comes up at nearly every session (brought up by the surprised client, not me). So you should probably read this intro/rant and then if you are still interested, you will understand a bit more when we go through the process at Mark’s.
My goal is to work with the client’s existing room and system, rather than against it. I do not rely on room treatments during the session. After all, until we know where things will go, how will putting up a treatment anywhere - before we have even started - help us at all? Near or at the end of the session I will recommend appropriate treatments if needed. The one exception would be corner-based tube traps, at least 16” in diameter. These could be placed before I arrive.
Step #1 – Evaluate the system as is. The client has been instructed to have it powered up for at least an hour prior to my arrival.
I use my known playlist, which relates back to my master tapes - some of which were for NPR, and some were paid gigs for various musicians.
I listen for Dynamics, Presence, and Tone. These are my three primary requirements for a musically engaging outcome. My goal is for the system to become orders of magnitude better at delivering musical involvement.
After evaluating the system, I share my observations with the client. Once we know what needs to be addressed, I can set about doing the necessary things to achieve our desired outcome.
And now, the rant -
Having carefully & thoroughly voiced over 800 systems in my career, I have never encountered a system - be it a famous reviewer’s, audio industry person’s, or an advanced audiophile’s system - that did not benefit dramatically from proper voicing to the room. I should mention that, apart from the typical RoomPlay client, there are three types of systems that are especially in need of voicing.
1 – The client has spent lots of money on components, but really has no reference for what is possible. Hint – they will not hear it at shows nor at most dealers. The money they have spent on cables is often much more that the price of an entire RoomPlay session, although the effect of the cables is perhaps 1-2% of voicing the system to the room (so that the system is working with the room, rather than against it). The effect of the latest & greatest amp or preamp – no matter what the cost - may be as much as 5-10% of the musical impact of a RoomPlay session, at best.
In my career, I have always greatly valued the performance benefits of certain cables, components and various tweaks. I am not advocating against them. I merely suggest that at this point in time, you may have no idea of their true capabilities.
I’ve said this in numerous seminars and in ads – The effect of a proper acoustic wave-launch into the room - and receiving it properly at the listening seat - swamps the effect of electrons scurrying about in equipment, cables, & accessories.
2 – If the client has a custom-designed room and he/she was told by the designer – who typically never voices the system in the completed room – where everything should be placed according to a spread-sheet or drawing provided to the client, we will definitely have a problem. I cannot begin to recount all the experiences I have had where we had to fundamentally abandon the designer’s instructions, as well as ignore the suggested room treatments. To date, 100% initially fell far short of what was possible. Note that I said initially, as the final results were decidedly different. :satisfying:
3 – The other set-ups that also dramatically underperform the time and expense invested are those that employ too much DSP, EQ, and/or room treatments. Without going into too much detail, the client arrives at a suitable technical decision but not a suitable musical decision. They base their decision on what they measure.
I should say that I am not against DSP and room treatments either. But before they are introduced, let’s try to get the system/room interface playing nicely together, rather than fighting against one another. I call this the organic setup. If needed or desired, we can still introduce the electronic DSP, EQ, etc. In other words - DSP, EQ, etc. should not be seen as a sonic band-aid. It is certainly NOT a shortcut to more musically engaging listening.
The good news –
Most – but not all – of my RoomPlay clients get off the equipment merry-go-round and look for more music, and often they discover musical genres that they hadn’t appreciated previously.
My next “longish” post will be about the session at Mark’s...
A couple more things –
1 – I never planned to travel around North America, voicing client’s systems. I got started when several Get Better Sound readers asked me to perform this service. I had no idea back then what would eventually happen.
2 – Until recently - AFAIK - I was the only person doing it. I was overjoyed when I saw that Stirling Trayle has started to perform this service as well. Our pricing appears to be similar, and although I might not agree with every priority he has, nor he with mine, it means that more audiophiles can get assistance in this vital area.
Mike or Mark – if this is too harsh, feel free to delete it.
bzr
Active member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2014
- Messages
- 2,033
Jim, some home truths are indeed the better part of realism for most in this hobby. The industry has become a rollercoaster ride of the next best thing & a lot of people just need to slow down & live with their gear to get some real return & enjoyment from it. I too am guilty of looking for the next best sound in the latest greatest component so to read your post fettered with integrity is indeed a hard find these days, maybe not for this site, but in this industry yes. Thanks for the refreshing honesty.
Rob181
Member
Delete 1 word at your own peril...its about time for a reality check...
This is a man I want to learn from...he has already helped me enormously...just by an honest assessment on this forum....I thankee sai (pilfered from Stephen King)...
The other comment that Jim has not yet made...& 1 I have only just realised...is invest within your skill set...a perfect example - if you are not confident & knowledgeable enough to turn an esoteric valve component on its side at adjust bias trim pots by guessing where to place the +&- probes while it has 240 volts (in my case) surging through its 'veins"...don't buy it...near enough is not good enough...
Looking forward to the next enlightening instalment Jim...bring it on...
Have to get you to AUS...hmmm a thought has come to mind...
As I said in my response to the "Best Money You Ever Spent In Audio" thread, my answer? My Jim Smith voicing.
Rob181 - no mention or discussion of politics please.
Rob181 - no mention or discussion of politics please.
KeithR
Active member
Great post, Jim. Please continue!
Rob181
Member
Apologies...& is now edited...
Jim Smith
Member
Just finished an intense RoomPlay session here in Fort Worth (actually they are all intense :audiophile: ) ...
Honestly speaking, I am way too far gone to be able to write about Mark's system tonight.
I fly back to Atlanta tomorrow - hope to post it by Sunday evening latest.
Thanks for your patience!
Best,
Jim
Honestly speaking, I am way too far gone to be able to write about Mark's system tonight.
I fly back to Atlanta tomorrow - hope to post it by Sunday evening latest.
Thanks for your patience!
Best,
Jim
the professor
Well-known member
Thanks Jim
I think we have enough Aussies to share Jim's airfare downunder :celebrate008_2:
Jim Smith
Member
Mark Powers RoomPlay description -
After arriving at Mark’s on Saturday morning, Nov. 5, I brought in my equipment while leaving my car running, finally unloading my DAC, which had been powered up in the car (12-120V adaptor) during the drive to his place from mine. Took it into the house quickly & powered it up in less than a minute. Prior to the 2-hour drive, it had been on for 24 hours or so at my demo room. As requested, his system was warmed up.
FWIW – IMO, a DAC, CD player, or other digital signal-processing device should be left on 24/7. Not sure why, but I’ve assumed that the digital circuitry needs to reach some kind of thermal equilibrium. I have also found that they will sound better if they have also been processing a signal for at least an hour or so.
However, for initial evaluation, I am listening to obvious room/system anomalies. Musical refinement is not yet an issue.
About the system I was working on - Mark has a Classe’ CP800 preamp, Hegel H30 amp, Revel Ultima Salon 2 speakers, REL S2 subs, Kimber ICs & Speaker Cables. He has a bunch of other cool stuff (that I didn’t address) in his system as well.
Mark and his lovely wife Susan have a fairly large/open living/listening area, one end of which backs up into their kitchen. That area is behind his listening seat/sofa.
After pleasantries (hey, it’s gotta happen, as Mark is one of those especially nice people), first thing up was to evaluate his system using my tried-and-true playlist.
When I had completed listening to a number of the cuts (all of which I know intimately), I was able to give him an evaluation of his system. I have found that when the client has Salon 2’s, if they are set up well (sadly, not at all common), it’s hard to fault their sheer musicality. In that respect they beat out some more costly speakers that deliver greater detail and other sought after ‘audiophile sound effects’.
Mark’s system was above the average sound quality that I encounter when initially hearing my RoomPlay clients’ systems. But we still had significant issues.
His system sounded a bit smeared for my taste, lacking focus and definitely lacking the proper sense of presence. We had some boomy mid-bass and the bottom octave was weak. The sound was slightly soft on the top end as well.
Please understand that my description above is actually pretty mild compared to many systems I encounter initially.
Additionally, there were audible room reflections, rendering ultimate clarity less than desirable. The effect on solo voices was especially disturbing. I have taken the stance for a long time that “the silence between the notes” is critical to our musical enjoyment. It is not my original thought however, as many famous composers and performers said the same thing well before I ever thought of it…
After I discussed what I was hearing, and my proposed solutions, Mark was all in.
Since I am still a bit depleted physically & mentally from my recent voicing session, I think it is best to describe our next steps tomorrow, by which time I expect to recovered and refreshed.
Thanks again for your patience!
After arriving at Mark’s on Saturday morning, Nov. 5, I brought in my equipment while leaving my car running, finally unloading my DAC, which had been powered up in the car (12-120V adaptor) during the drive to his place from mine. Took it into the house quickly & powered it up in less than a minute. Prior to the 2-hour drive, it had been on for 24 hours or so at my demo room. As requested, his system was warmed up.
FWIW – IMO, a DAC, CD player, or other digital signal-processing device should be left on 24/7. Not sure why, but I’ve assumed that the digital circuitry needs to reach some kind of thermal equilibrium. I have also found that they will sound better if they have also been processing a signal for at least an hour or so.
However, for initial evaluation, I am listening to obvious room/system anomalies. Musical refinement is not yet an issue.
About the system I was working on - Mark has a Classe’ CP800 preamp, Hegel H30 amp, Revel Ultima Salon 2 speakers, REL S2 subs, Kimber ICs & Speaker Cables. He has a bunch of other cool stuff (that I didn’t address) in his system as well.
Mark and his lovely wife Susan have a fairly large/open living/listening area, one end of which backs up into their kitchen. That area is behind his listening seat/sofa.
After pleasantries (hey, it’s gotta happen, as Mark is one of those especially nice people), first thing up was to evaluate his system using my tried-and-true playlist.
When I had completed listening to a number of the cuts (all of which I know intimately), I was able to give him an evaluation of his system. I have found that when the client has Salon 2’s, if they are set up well (sadly, not at all common), it’s hard to fault their sheer musicality. In that respect they beat out some more costly speakers that deliver greater detail and other sought after ‘audiophile sound effects’.
Mark’s system was above the average sound quality that I encounter when initially hearing my RoomPlay clients’ systems. But we still had significant issues.
His system sounded a bit smeared for my taste, lacking focus and definitely lacking the proper sense of presence. We had some boomy mid-bass and the bottom octave was weak. The sound was slightly soft on the top end as well.
Please understand that my description above is actually pretty mild compared to many systems I encounter initially.
Additionally, there were audible room reflections, rendering ultimate clarity less than desirable. The effect on solo voices was especially disturbing. I have taken the stance for a long time that “the silence between the notes” is critical to our musical enjoyment. It is not my original thought however, as many famous composers and performers said the same thing well before I ever thought of it…
After I discussed what I was hearing, and my proposed solutions, Mark was all in.
Since I am still a bit depleted physically & mentally from my recent voicing session, I think it is best to describe our next steps tomorrow, by which time I expect to recovered and refreshed.
Thanks again for your patience!
Audiophilehi
Member
Thank Jim, looking forward to your next installment.
Odyssey
Member
Jim, love you descriptions. Very much looking forward to your next installment.
Nikhil
Member
This has been attributed to the internal clocks needing a little time to warm up to sound their best. John Swenson mentioned on CA that it could be about 20 hours in some DACs although I will need to look up that number. And as you said, just leaving it on doesn't count - some signal running is needed.
Regards.
My experience has been that solid state electronics take more time to warm up than tube based electronics. Don't know where this 20 hrs time is derived from but I also read somewhere that it could take as long as 48 hrs for crystal to settle in. I leave my DAC/Streamer/PC running 24x7.
Jim Smith
Member
Mark Powers RoomPlay description, continued –
Contrary to what I often see and hear, the critical issue to ALWAYS ADDRESS FIRST when voicing a system to the room is the one that most obviously affects the musical dynamics. Until it is as good as it can be, the music will never have as much impact as is possible. That area is the bass - in the boundary dependent region – from 25-250 Hz or so. We are not looking for the deepest bass – although it is nice when it all comes together – we are looking for the smoothest bass.
Note – this issue is hardly ever about the speakers. It’s about the room and how it plays with the speakers. When you encounter a loss of smoothness from various frequency response peaks and/or dips in the boundary dependent region (25-250 Hz), it’s nearly always related to room resonances, unless the loudspeaker is somehow defective.
In case you haven’t seen or heard me say this before – it is relatively unimportant to move your speakers about until you find out what listening position in the room has the smoothest bass. This is about the room and working with it rather than against it.
Unless you are very lucky (or you knew to do it), chances are that you are not sitting in the best position in the room. I wrote about this aspect at length in some recent Copper magazine articles. Here is the most relevant excerpt:
"The Anchor – establishing your listening position first
Last issue, I said “the negative effects resulting from not addressing this critical issue simply cannot be overstated.” Basically, our mission is to find the best location/listening position for the smoothest bass in our acceptable listening area (‘acceptable’ due to restraints in décor).
Of course, if you are fortunate enough to have a dedicated room, and thus you have even more placement (listening & system position) flexibility, it’s even better. Either way, we want to work with our room, not against it (you will hear this statement again & again as I believe that this is critical if we are to enjoy any significant success in getting our music systems to reach a higher, more musically involving level).
Two proven techniques to achieve the smoothest bass response from our main full-range speakers:
1- Play a recording that has bass notes that are rising or falling in frequency – or various bass notes in a complex tune – that have approximately the same volume. Last issue, Paul (McGowan) suggested music from Brian Bromberg’s Wood. That’s a good one – I also like his Wood II.
While the cut is playing, your mission is to listen through a chosen musical section, then move forward and backwards in the room – each time listening to the same selection of music – in what could be an acceptable listening area. Whenever possible, using a lightweight seat that you can easily move so that you can listen at a seated position – which will give a bit more accurate results.
Walking around can work, but it won’t be as accurate due to vertical standing wave issues. I would suggest not moving more than a foot forwards or backwards before listening to the selection again. The bass will change in its character. You are listening for the smoothest rendition – no notes booming away or almost missing. This is NOT about the deepest bass. We want the main speakers to have no obvious peaks and/or dips in the 25-250 Hz region. When you locate the position that has the smoothest overall reproduction, that is the place where you will locate your seat for serious listening and definitely for your speaker/room tuning.
As I said in Issue #17, moving your speakers about is important but it is of relatively small importance until you know where in the room you should listen because the bass is smoothest in that listening area. Then, once you have located that position, you can make other adjustments to speaker location without detrimental effects to the overall bass response smoothness… This is why I call the results of this step the Anchor Position. Once you have found it, then you can work on all else – presence, tone, etc…
2- These days, one can obtain a RTA (real time analyzer) or RTA app for very little expense and sometimes none at all. Why would you want to use one? Most certainly not for measuring your system’s overall response, and most certainly not for ultimate tuning of your system.
The RTA is great to have because it can save you a lot of time, compared to listening at a number of locations in the room. Although I have an expensive pro analyzer, the latest crop of apps (some free!) for phones and laptops make it easy to acquire and use one. You don’t need to have a technical background to use it at all.
The inexpensive-yet-more-than-accurate-enough app I use these days is AudioTools from Studio Six Digital. It is exclusively for iPhones & iPads. It cost me $19.95. All I ever use from this suite of tools is the RTA and the SPL (sound pressure level) loudness meter. Although it’s not necessary for our mission, you can purchase a calibrated microphone for your iPhone 5 or 6 or recent iPad from Studio Six/Audio Control for around $200. Their iTest mic has software that automatically calibrates that mic to the iOS device intended for it. I checked it against my much more expensive RTA rig, and it was almost exactly the same!
There are loads of RTA/SPL apps for operating systems other than Apple. Taking the time to find one on the Internet that you can use will be time well spent.
Note – at this point, it’s useful to determine what the ambient noise level is in your room. You can measure that with the SPL app. Set it on flat weighting if available. (NEVER on 'A') Measure from the existing listening position.
Once you determine how loud the room’s ambient noise level is, you want to be sure to run the pink nose about 20 dB over that level, so as to be certain that the measurements you will take will not be polluted by ambient room (or outside) noise levels.
Now, what you’ll do is simply play pink noise (equal loudness per octave – same as music). There are numerous resources for obtaining pink noise. The Audio Tools app supposedly has a pink noise source, but I have never tried it. (Set it on flat weighting if possible - NEVER on 'A")
We only want to look at third octaves in the 25-250 Hz band. They are 25, 32, 40, 50, 63, 80, 125, 160, 200, & 250 Hz. Be sure to maintain the mic height at or near seated ear height when measuring. If it is higher, then you may encounter other anomalies in the bass related to the vertical room dimension. Starting at the current listening seat position, slowly move the RTA forwards & backwards and you will see various third octave frequencies rise & fall. You are looking at the room’s effects on your system. Obviously, we want to work with the room, rather than against it.
Hint – systems in rooms – from 25-250 Hz – almost never look good. The fact is – all of the rooms of the size that we might use in our homes will have problems. We simply want to locate the area where the problems are less objectionable.
Regardless of which technique you employ, you will have located the spot in the room where you will listen. If you then have to move the speakers a fair amount due to the resulting listening position, the bass smoothness is not likely to change very much. That’s because of the room dimensions, which do not change. Congrats! You are working with, rather than against, the room! However, at this point it is worth a listen to music to see if you want to adjust the seat slightly – a few inches forward or backward – to make the bass even better."
Here is a link to the article quoted above -
http://www.psaudio.com/article/location-location-location/
Back at Mark’s
Using the above technique to locate the Anchor Position at Mark’s, it was apparent that we needed to move the sofa back. I found a location where the issues with the bass had smoothed out.
Except that now we were beginning to impinge on the open area behind the sofa and the kitchen island/counter area. So we called the Boss. After explaining what we found, Susan reluctantly-but-nicely agreed to move the sofa to that position.
At this point, my concern wasn’t so much for musical harmony at it was for marital harmony. So we suggested a compromise location – about 18” further forward from our preferred listening location, but still well back from the original location.
In this location, the bass had a more pronounced peak at 100 Hz, but not as strong as it had at the original seating position. And the 25 Hz region was still diminished, only not as much. All of the other bass frequencies were nicely smoothed out, with no obvious peaks or dips.
If you have a peak at a room-dependent bass frequency, the excess bass (and sometimes even boominess) will override/obscure the music that the performer and recording engineer meant for you to experience. Put simply, it causes a reduction in dynamic range.
IMO – dynamics is a – if not the major - contributor to your engagement with the music and its message. Also suck-outs in that region (still related to room resonances) will reduce the dynamic range. As far as the listener is concerned, the diminishing effect on musical involvement is about the same.
Once we have located the best listening position (usually through experimenting with front-to-back locations, but sometimes off-center as well – if the room is wide enough), we can begin to voice the speakers to the room.
Sheesh, this turning out to be a LOT longer than I thought...
In the interest of time and space, and respect for Mike’s awesome AudioShark Forum, we’ll pick up tomorrow on the next part.
Contrary to what I often see and hear, the critical issue to ALWAYS ADDRESS FIRST when voicing a system to the room is the one that most obviously affects the musical dynamics. Until it is as good as it can be, the music will never have as much impact as is possible. That area is the bass - in the boundary dependent region – from 25-250 Hz or so. We are not looking for the deepest bass – although it is nice when it all comes together – we are looking for the smoothest bass.
Note – this issue is hardly ever about the speakers. It’s about the room and how it plays with the speakers. When you encounter a loss of smoothness from various frequency response peaks and/or dips in the boundary dependent region (25-250 Hz), it’s nearly always related to room resonances, unless the loudspeaker is somehow defective.
In case you haven’t seen or heard me say this before – it is relatively unimportant to move your speakers about until you find out what listening position in the room has the smoothest bass. This is about the room and working with it rather than against it.
Unless you are very lucky (or you knew to do it), chances are that you are not sitting in the best position in the room. I wrote about this aspect at length in some recent Copper magazine articles. Here is the most relevant excerpt:
"The Anchor – establishing your listening position first
Last issue, I said “the negative effects resulting from not addressing this critical issue simply cannot be overstated.” Basically, our mission is to find the best location/listening position for the smoothest bass in our acceptable listening area (‘acceptable’ due to restraints in décor).
Of course, if you are fortunate enough to have a dedicated room, and thus you have even more placement (listening & system position) flexibility, it’s even better. Either way, we want to work with our room, not against it (you will hear this statement again & again as I believe that this is critical if we are to enjoy any significant success in getting our music systems to reach a higher, more musically involving level).
Two proven techniques to achieve the smoothest bass response from our main full-range speakers:
1- Play a recording that has bass notes that are rising or falling in frequency – or various bass notes in a complex tune – that have approximately the same volume. Last issue, Paul (McGowan) suggested music from Brian Bromberg’s Wood. That’s a good one – I also like his Wood II.
While the cut is playing, your mission is to listen through a chosen musical section, then move forward and backwards in the room – each time listening to the same selection of music – in what could be an acceptable listening area. Whenever possible, using a lightweight seat that you can easily move so that you can listen at a seated position – which will give a bit more accurate results.
Walking around can work, but it won’t be as accurate due to vertical standing wave issues. I would suggest not moving more than a foot forwards or backwards before listening to the selection again. The bass will change in its character. You are listening for the smoothest rendition – no notes booming away or almost missing. This is NOT about the deepest bass. We want the main speakers to have no obvious peaks and/or dips in the 25-250 Hz region. When you locate the position that has the smoothest overall reproduction, that is the place where you will locate your seat for serious listening and definitely for your speaker/room tuning.
As I said in Issue #17, moving your speakers about is important but it is of relatively small importance until you know where in the room you should listen because the bass is smoothest in that listening area. Then, once you have located that position, you can make other adjustments to speaker location without detrimental effects to the overall bass response smoothness… This is why I call the results of this step the Anchor Position. Once you have found it, then you can work on all else – presence, tone, etc…
2- These days, one can obtain a RTA (real time analyzer) or RTA app for very little expense and sometimes none at all. Why would you want to use one? Most certainly not for measuring your system’s overall response, and most certainly not for ultimate tuning of your system.
The RTA is great to have because it can save you a lot of time, compared to listening at a number of locations in the room. Although I have an expensive pro analyzer, the latest crop of apps (some free!) for phones and laptops make it easy to acquire and use one. You don’t need to have a technical background to use it at all.
The inexpensive-yet-more-than-accurate-enough app I use these days is AudioTools from Studio Six Digital. It is exclusively for iPhones & iPads. It cost me $19.95. All I ever use from this suite of tools is the RTA and the SPL (sound pressure level) loudness meter. Although it’s not necessary for our mission, you can purchase a calibrated microphone for your iPhone 5 or 6 or recent iPad from Studio Six/Audio Control for around $200. Their iTest mic has software that automatically calibrates that mic to the iOS device intended for it. I checked it against my much more expensive RTA rig, and it was almost exactly the same!
There are loads of RTA/SPL apps for operating systems other than Apple. Taking the time to find one on the Internet that you can use will be time well spent.
Note – at this point, it’s useful to determine what the ambient noise level is in your room. You can measure that with the SPL app. Set it on flat weighting if available. (NEVER on 'A') Measure from the existing listening position.
Once you determine how loud the room’s ambient noise level is, you want to be sure to run the pink nose about 20 dB over that level, so as to be certain that the measurements you will take will not be polluted by ambient room (or outside) noise levels.
Now, what you’ll do is simply play pink noise (equal loudness per octave – same as music). There are numerous resources for obtaining pink noise. The Audio Tools app supposedly has a pink noise source, but I have never tried it. (Set it on flat weighting if possible - NEVER on 'A")
We only want to look at third octaves in the 25-250 Hz band. They are 25, 32, 40, 50, 63, 80, 125, 160, 200, & 250 Hz. Be sure to maintain the mic height at or near seated ear height when measuring. If it is higher, then you may encounter other anomalies in the bass related to the vertical room dimension. Starting at the current listening seat position, slowly move the RTA forwards & backwards and you will see various third octave frequencies rise & fall. You are looking at the room’s effects on your system. Obviously, we want to work with the room, rather than against it.
Hint – systems in rooms – from 25-250 Hz – almost never look good. The fact is – all of the rooms of the size that we might use in our homes will have problems. We simply want to locate the area where the problems are less objectionable.
Regardless of which technique you employ, you will have located the spot in the room where you will listen. If you then have to move the speakers a fair amount due to the resulting listening position, the bass smoothness is not likely to change very much. That’s because of the room dimensions, which do not change. Congrats! You are working with, rather than against, the room! However, at this point it is worth a listen to music to see if you want to adjust the seat slightly – a few inches forward or backward – to make the bass even better."
Here is a link to the article quoted above -
http://www.psaudio.com/article/location-location-location/
Back at Mark’s
Using the above technique to locate the Anchor Position at Mark’s, it was apparent that we needed to move the sofa back. I found a location where the issues with the bass had smoothed out.
Except that now we were beginning to impinge on the open area behind the sofa and the kitchen island/counter area. So we called the Boss. After explaining what we found, Susan reluctantly-but-nicely agreed to move the sofa to that position.
At this point, my concern wasn’t so much for musical harmony at it was for marital harmony. So we suggested a compromise location – about 18” further forward from our preferred listening location, but still well back from the original location.
In this location, the bass had a more pronounced peak at 100 Hz, but not as strong as it had at the original seating position. And the 25 Hz region was still diminished, only not as much. All of the other bass frequencies were nicely smoothed out, with no obvious peaks or dips.
If you have a peak at a room-dependent bass frequency, the excess bass (and sometimes even boominess) will override/obscure the music that the performer and recording engineer meant for you to experience. Put simply, it causes a reduction in dynamic range.
IMO – dynamics is a – if not the major - contributor to your engagement with the music and its message. Also suck-outs in that region (still related to room resonances) will reduce the dynamic range. As far as the listener is concerned, the diminishing effect on musical involvement is about the same.
Once we have located the best listening position (usually through experimenting with front-to-back locations, but sometimes off-center as well – if the room is wide enough), we can begin to voice the speakers to the room.
Sheesh, this turning out to be a LOT longer than I thought...
In the interest of time and space, and respect for Mike’s awesome AudioShark Forum, we’ll pick up tomorrow on the next part.
Audiophilehi
Member
Thanks Jim! Lots of good stuff for me to start working with. Looking forward to your next post.