Speaker & IC cable recommendations for Alexia/ARC pairing

Mike - Excellent point. After I posted my comments earlier this morning, I remembered some of the challenges you've had in your room. Measuring the room should be the first element of the prescription. Don't spend any $s on anything (cables, amps,...) until the real issue is sorted out.
 
Exactly. Plus, there are technologies such as the box from Spatial Black Hole which "listens" for nodes and instantly cancels them. It works independently, outside the audio chain. I have one in storage which I would be happy to loan to Bob.


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Good suggestion Mike. I think getting room measured if possible is a good place to start in any diagnostic of a system. The way I understood Bob's issue it seemed like less of a bass node issue (I.e., bass suck out or enhanced bass node) because he hears the bass extension there, it's just not cleanly delineated or punchy which to me sounds more like the amp's control over the woofer drivers and being able to get them to go and stop on a dime without any overhang. But I think getting room measured is a good baseline assessment no matter what and will prove useful in analyzing all possible parameters.
 
mauidan said:
Bob,

Do you have KT-150s in your REF 75?

BTW, when I had my REF 75, I tried a full loom (digital, ICs, SCs and PCs) of tuned Transparent Reference cables with my WA Sophia S3s.

After burn-in and a month of listening, I went back to my Audience Au 24 SEs.
Click to expand...

Dan- what were the differences? Cheers
 
Guys, I am ignorant of how you measure the room sonically. I have Stereophile test CDs, the analyzer app Mike mentioned, and a Radioshack SPL meter. I understand getting a well calibrated mic is a good thing too. Is there a text somewhere you could point to that describes the basics?

I had started the initial conversation with Rives Audio for some help with the room remodel, but lucky me they closed thier doors and took my deposit of $900 with them.

Wifey is afraid if I start adding room treatments the room won't look amazing, and she likes it when I take guests down for a few cuts (always turns out to be more). So I now need to engage another firm for remodeling the space. I've abandoned the idea of closing off the room completely due to the stairway that floats down into the room, and the sound is pretty good currently with the slight lack of bass transparency noted.

Some albums, like 'Morph the Cat' are over cooked on bass and can really get things muddy, but Hugh Masakela 'Hope' LP doesn't seem to suffer in any way. The speakers are always going to have that ~73hz bump. The room, being open, drains out reverberant energy, but that doesn't mean nodes don't exist, and there is a fundamental room node at 41.16 hz; 72.39 hz, and 125hz. (According to my room dimensions and the room mode calculator Sengpielaudio.com.) And tinkering with the analyzer app confirms bumps at those freq. So the Alexia bump is going to exacerbate that. I need to measure my listening position isn't on top that focus.

Anyone have a west coast acoustician they'd recommend? I can work with the original architect for design, but want to have collaberation with an acoustician who understands 2-channel rigs.
 
Bob, start with the app I mentioned and from your listening position (this is key), watch the graph as the song plays. Note any massive spikes. You are typically looking for a big spike in that 50-100hz range (typically 60-80).

The more sophisticated approach would be the XTZ kit: Room Analyzer II Pro

You place the microphone at various locations around your room and you can produce waterfall graphs which shows the reverb time of the bass node(s) in your room.

But plan on a few hours of learning...that beverage in your avatar will come in handy.

Mike
 
Hey Bob,

Hear you on the challenges with getting god bass in a room. I actually found that acoustic treatments work best from upper bass on up, rather than in the mid bass where you are probably having challenges in. I think speaker/listening position helps the most for bass anomalies. The best bass response in my room is with the speakers about 10' from the front wall, listening position 5 feet from the rear, maybe less. On paper, not an ideal SP/LP, but works for me. My Alexias worked best in that location as well, which suggests it's really the room causing the bass hump, not any other component in my system. Cyril had a good suggestion though as far as trying SS amps (would suggest Soulution if you have a dealer near you - they are known to be balanced from top to bottom). Once done with that, play with the speaker and listening positions more. Took me months to settle in on my S5s where they currently are and I just recently put spikes on them for that reason. After that, then add acoustic treatments to open up the sound, uncongrest those vocals, and melt down those walls in the room! Vicoustics have been great for me and there are some good dealers here that sell them.

I have done some measurements of my room using the XTC kit and can help somewhat, but Ralph (kiwi) is the real expert here on that. Maybe he will chime in on this thread.


HTH!
allen
 
I've decided to go ahead with the room remodel I'd considered when we first got the house. Starting to interview acoustic consultants. The as-built doesn't quite match the blueprints, but there's plenty of space to work with. Cables can come later!
 
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