philipbarrett

Wifey & the grumpy teens headed to the gym & a movie, peace but not quiet time. I stay home playing my new today Radiohead OK Computer on 180G vinyl. I'm turning over from side 1 to side 2 (eeny to meeny for RH fans) and I drop the damm thing & put a huge gash across the 1st & 2nd track. Then I settle back into my chair & just as I'm mellowing out again I kick my cup of tea (full & hot) all over the coffee table, floor & rug. %#@><#%%!!!

Malcolm Hill M3s & M2s. Odd combinations of ATC (9" I believe) and Tannoy co-ax drivers. Amazing low end & a fine box all around, rumor has it that the original UK Live Aid had 52 a side. Anyway, here they are on a Saxon tour in a type of configuration we used to affectionately refer to as "a flying junkyard!" I'd be one nervous drummer on that stage! First picture is Hammersmith Odeon, one of the greatest rock venues ever. Load in, hit the pub next door, come back for sound check, hit the pub again, then back for the show then load out.

I'm building a balanced PSU which negates the whole polarity thing as each leg caries 60V, I'll keep you posted on the results. One of the problems of owning ultra-high efficiency speakers systems!

Or you could buy a new SL-1200 and Ortofon Pro40s cartridge and have change left over for 3 copies of the St. Martin's boxed set! []

Firstly, the Guitar Hero 3 version (available from any good torrent tracker) is the exact same Metallica album without the "drastic" final mastering and is a much better listen. Secondly, although I agree we don't buy albums solely for the technical quality (at least on this forum thank goodness) I have to agree with AN, couldn't we do better? Having recently bought 2 Coldplay albums on 180G vinyl to find out that they sound as flat, lifeless & compressed as the FM radio version I feel somewhat cheated too.

Now if you're even slightly computer savvy you can always "try before you buy" using bitTorrent software. Find a good introduction here - http://www.what-is-torrent.com/

If you're into electronic dance music Beatport (http://www.beatport.com) has a 10 song sampler free for every new sign up, they often have other promos too. No purchase needed plus they're a great Spam-Free download site.

Glad you liked it. Nine Inch Nails have awesome product for free (http://nin.com) Firstly their latest album"The Slip" - Plus volume 1 of their 4 volume set "Ghosts" is free too. And the whole set is only $5 for 2 hours of music - If you join their remix forum (free) you can get to download stem mixes from their material & make your own remixes, lotsa fun for Mac GarageBand users.

Glynn Wood mixing, never met the guy but credit where it's due.

Eating up forum space here! I just re-read your 1st post, checked out the Rotel & have another idea. Make sure you do have the speakers connected to the LEFT/RIGHT outputs of the receiver (not the Surround or Center) and also that any DSP modes/5.1 simulation programs are turned off. These will try to spread a stereo image across all 5 speakers causing all kinds of bizarre stuff if you're only listening to the front pair. If you can switch the unit to MONO when testing that will help considerably.

Ah ha! Check that your speakers are wired in-phase. In other words, be sure that the hot/red terminal of each amplifier output is connected to the hot/red terminal of each speaker. Sometimes with certain speaker cables it's really difficult to see which conductor is which (I know, I have a pair like that). Out of phase (really polarity for the tech cops) speakers will cause a cancellation of all that is common to both channels leaving you only the differences, which in most modern recordings means you will miss most of the critical information such as vocals, drums & bass. The louder you turn the system the cancellation increases proportionally so although the actual mis-wiring will not damage anything the amp is driving harder to produce less acoustic output which can cause a failure of either the speakers or the amp. This would also explain your lack of bass because the low frequencies tend to cancel more effectively. It may be that the speakers are wired correctly & something else in the chain (most likely an interconnect cable) is causing the phase/polarity to be flipped on one channel which would prodce the same effect by the time it got to the speaker. Since this is a receiver, you might try experimenting with the FM radio as a source to solve the problem. As for the Rotel, you made a good choice. Although not Red Wine equipment (in-joke here at the forum) it should gve you excellent results on your RB-5s. They have a sensitivity of 96db, 1 watt at 1 meter (literally, 1 watt of power delivered to the speaker will generate 96db of acoustic output 1 meter from the cabinet) which for these days is very sensitive. Your Rotel will be more than capable of getting the neighbors on the phone once you get this problem sorted. As for EQ, there are 2 types. Those used for creative effect (such as brightening up a guitar input) and those used for correction such as across the outputs of a sound reinforcement system. The 2nd use is similar to applying one in the home and in theory makes some sense. However, the drawbacks of applying equalization are an increase in noise, distortion and phase shift. Even the top professional units exhibit these artifacts (I have a $9K Dolby Lake system) and the lower end units (pretty much anything under $1,200) deliver them in spades. This is an acceptable trade-off in a sound reinforcement environment where large room acoustics and less than ideal situations call for drastic measures. However, even then, most users try to use EQ sparingly and almost always as a cut not boost. The pro's will tell you there is no substitute for putting the right gear in the right place first then using EQ where needed. Hence, for home use it is highly preferable to get the playback chain & speaker locale correct (even if it means spending more $) than trying to correct problems already occuring with devices that create their own issues.

Firstly "watts" as used in audio is a pretty loose term & should not be confused with an amp's ability to actually drive speakers. Secondly can you define "not hearing clearly?" Is it the low end that's missing, vocals are gone or something else entirely? Your speakers were designed to work in a wide range of domestic environments, obviously these will make differences to the sound but not as drastically as you seem to infer. An external EQ is a weapon of last resort and fraught with their own phase & noise problems. Any EQ worth inserting on a home system will almost always be prohibitively more expensive than fixing the cause of the problem rather than the sympton.

No, but Costco most certainly is.

I suppose it's a little too late for me to ride onto the field sporting an escutcheon bearing my charge of Walmart Yardmaster Cable in argent against a tincture of azure? Just checking.

LOL - actually the ART gave me the biggest headache, I knew I recognized that ugly little white noise generator but couldn't for the life of me rememeber it's name. Likewise with the Crown..."what did they call that thing again"... I should have got the Snickers bar, I used to carry a few for the usual "no dinner for FOH" gigs. Now I prefer Cliff Bars, I even once called the 800 # and got put through to Cliff.

How do the TFM-6CBs compare against the bigger brothers? I have a chance at a pair which I would run bridged, 1 per side on my Scalas.

oops - forgot the Lexicon LXP-15, sorry about that

Claiming my bonus points, top down - 1) Furman PL-Plus power conditioner 2) Alesis Quadraverb 3) dbx 166A (right channel switched to Gate mode) 4) dbx 215 graphic equalizer 5) ART Multiverb LTX 6) Sony POS 5-CD changer 7) Crown DC-300 (install version) 8) rack drawer containing - a) CD remote control pack of Camels filtered c) BIC lighter d) roll of white paper tape e) 2 sharpies (one is dry) f) pair of much misused Sony MDR-7506 headphones Please PM me for prize pickup!

I'd need a sawzall for 20' & I don't think the missus would be very pleased with the missing home parts!

How far apart? Mine are 118" apart C-C which makes for a 118" x 140" x 140" triangle to my head at my "preferred" listening position. I can move to get the 60 degree triangle, in that postion the center image is slightly crisper but the width is less impressive. Then I can always turn on the Holography on the Carver which makes for some real spacey listening!

Thanks for your comments. Interesting on the bass as their website claims: 2) Great Bass: Because there is no output transformer, bass response is not attenuated in any way. The amp is flat ( -0.25 dB) to 10 Hz! Bass tones are full and lifelike. The amplifier is perfect for driving large full range horns with no loss of bass energy. Output impedance is a very low 1 ohm. This is much lower than most conventional single-ended amplifiers and provides excellent woofer control giving very clean and sharp bass transients. Percussive sounds are crisp and true. What would be your choice? PB

Looking at one to team up with my La Scalas (Crites magic performed). I'm looking for the bass that my Sony receiver (used just as a power amp) delivers with the smoothness of my SE tube Darling amp. I was very impressed with Rozenblit's book & no nonsense approach to audio electronics. Here's the amp - http://www.transcendentsound.com/singleended.htm Thanks, PB

I haed out for some Hibachi & one too many Sapporos & you comedians hi-jack my thread. :-)

Pandora's "Swingin' Christmas" playlist is a perfect "getting stuff done on Christmas Eve" selection! http://pandora.com/

Factory in a BMW is a Harmon Kardon, not bad at all. Dosn't claim to be something it's not.