Oh, forgot to mention, I sold the Concept table.

shawnlh March 08, 2011 06:26

Thanks for the compliments guys. I added a GutWire Maxcon2 power conditioner today, with another Acoustic Zen Gargantua II power cable for juice. Nice improvement. Everything sounds more accurate, with a big improvement in instrument placement and separation.

shawnlh March 08, 2011 06:07

Thanks for the compliments/advice guys. And treating the room was a must. Before any treatments were added, I was wondering why did I bother?? The room is now VERY heavily treated, and sounds much better ,to me, than ever before. I know there are better pieces out there other than MF, but for what I paid, it's an ok system for now.

shawnlh February 10, 2011 01:21

Ok, added some more 4'x2' panels for a total of 10 now. I put 2 on the ceiling at the first reflection point, and 2 more on the side walls at the second reflection points. MUCH better!! The stage is wider and deeper. Instrument placement is coming more into focus (not so congested) and there is more air around the instruments as well. The tendency for higher frequencies moving off the stage and up to the tweeter has diminished significantly. Amazing how much room acoustics affect the sound. Seems you can have nice gear, but if the room sucks, it won't do you any good. I'll add some pics when the room is finished. Hopefully by the end of the weekend.

shawnlh January 29, 2011 17:00

Thanks Zephyr, it sounds good. And yes I've tried several different speaker locations and played with toe-in. What I've found so far, is that the speakers need to be at least 2 feet away from the side walls with about 3-4 degrees of toe-in. I've also found that setting up the speakers and listening position in a equilateral triangle offers the best stage. The sound stage does seem a little narrow at times, the center instruments and vocals are compressed together, and depth isn't the best I've heard, but it's ok. I also notice that some higher frequencies will leave the stage, and move up to the tweeter at times. This I don't like. But the speakers only have about 40 hours on them, so I'll listen for more spaciousness and better instrument placement as they break in. The sound may also be restricted as the room is only 12.5 feet wide, and 7.3 feet high. Quite small, but it's all I have to work with, hence the room treatment process.
Just to be fair, the sound I'm chasing, and comparing to, comes from a friends system. His room is about 22'W, 28'L, and 9'H. He runs a moon w5 pre and power, totem forests with a totem dreamcatcher sub beside each forest. Top line acoustic zen cabling through out, and an expensive ac conditioner. His source is a ps audio cd player(don't know which model) and I'm not sure if there is a dac. The room is also highly treated. All I can say is WOW!!! The system sounds amazing. Everything is where it should be. Deep, wide, lots of air, simply amazing. I'd say in some instances, better than live. But, since I can't afford, nor have the space for that type of gear, I started with what you see here. My first attempt.

shawnlh January 27, 2011 18:39