curt248

I just made my own acoustic fiberglass panels. I put one in (2 feet X 4 feet X 2 inches) at one of the first reflection points and it made a huge difference for the better. It's hard to explain, but the instruments are more detailed. I suppose it's because it is less mudded by sound if it hits your ear at the same time. It cost me around $250 for enough material to make 9 of these panels. They can be made for less easily. I used a more expensive speaker grill cloth material that cost $100 for 10 linear yards that are 63 inches wide. I used lathes from menards which cost $7 for 50. I bought 100 since not all of them are straight or useable etc. I also bought 3 six foot 2X4 pieces of wood at around $1.30 each and cut them to 2 inch sections for and stapled them together to made the corners. I bought polyester batting (material used for making quilts) and put that over the back side to keep the fiberglass particles contained. The batting cost ~$12 for enough for a king size bed. I purchased 2 of those. The fiberglass itself came in a pack of 9 for $80 from a specialty place that sold them in the area. They would sell less but I just went ahead and bought all 9. I added a blackout curtain across the entire back wall to deal with comb filtering. It took 5 sections at around $16 each and a $30 curtain rod setup that could go up to 120 inches wide. I did this about a month ago. If you are near the back wall, (I'm about 2 to 3 feet away when listening) you have major comb filtering problems if the back wall is not treated. This smoothed out the sound quite a bit. Also the reduction of light added a great deal of ambiance to the room. I now added 2 more panels and the bass is better controlled. From what have been reading, 8 panels tend to be the best amount for both small rooms (need more per cubic foot because of increased problems with smaller rooms) and larger rooms. This is enough if you space the panels around 5 inches from the wall. More are needed if you space them less like 2 inches. The great thing is that if you use less space between the panel and the wall that you can just add more panels to get the same effect. This room treatment stuff is unbelievably important. So far every addition I've done has made easily noticeable improvements to my room. These improvements are individually far more substantial than improvements by changing equipment for better stuff. So far the projects have been fun and not too expensive.

I'd like to know more about your experiences with different room treatments. This is my first forey into room treatments. It was perfect for me since it cost almost nothing especially as compared to any audio equipment I've purchased trying to Weeks out a bit more performance. I'm sure there are ways to tweek the performance with different treatment materials and placement. What did you find to be the benefits and detriments to the different materials and brands that you have tried? I still have to treat my first reflection points. Do you think velvet type blackout curtains would work well for the side wall reflection points? Also I was thinking of using the same blackout curtains to treat the back wall to reduce comb filtering. Im not sure what the sound absorbing abilities of blackout curtains are but since that type of material is often seen in movie theaters I'd think it would help.

I just added some corner bass traps from the foam factory. Whoa. If any of you don't have these yet, order them now. They made such a massive difference in sound quality that it isn't even funny. These things make kick drums sound like I'm standing in front of the drummer. The sound is just so planted now. You'd never know what your missing until you put these in your room. Since the bass (and other frequencies) are being held at bay, everything else sounds so much sweeter. When a singer goes throughout thier vocal range its so silky smooth and effortless. My system is on an entirely different level now. These things took 5 minutes to throw up in the corners and made more difference than anything else I've ever done to the system with possibly the exception of going to the la scala speakers over the cerwin vega's I was using previously. This purchase should be a no brainer to everyone interested in making thier system sound better. I got 8 of the foam corner bass traps from the foam factory for $100. http://www.thefoamfactory.com/acousticfoam/bassbroad.html I'd say that 8 is a good place to start. My corners are already filled up almost half way up the wall with speakers so the 8 were perfect to finish off the corners. If you have no speakers in the corners, I'd probably buy 16 and be done with it. It's better to overdo it then take some away if needed (sound is too dead or not lively enough). I don't know anyone at the foam factory or have any incentive to try to sell these things. I'm just blown away by how effective they were. I started looking into something to correct my room after listening to a set of la scalas I sold to someone in the buyers house. They sounded like totally different speakers. I figured that it was probably the tube amp he was using (I'm using solid state). He borrowed me his tube amp (awesome guy) and I tried the tube amp with my la scalas. They sounded horrible and nothing like they sounded at his place. I then tried out some 570 watt monoblocks from the same guy in my setup and they sounded great. When I brought them back to his house, we hooked them up to his la scalas. They sounded aweful. It was like they weren't even the same type of speaker let alone the same speaker that they actuallly were. They only thing different in our setups was the room. This was the only variable as we both were using the same source (squeezebox touch), amp and speakers. Nothing else was different but the room. If I didn't hear it myself, I wouldn't have believed it. This might explain why someone raves about a speaker, amp or whatever and someone else says it's junk and not to bother with it. Its the room! Go to this place to learn more about room treatments. This owner is awesome and really knows his stuff. http://www.realtraps.com/index.htm

Ok I've been listening to the upa7 amp for about a week now. It is fantastic with my La Scalas. It's super quiet. The music just bursts through from a soundless backgroud. I just added some corner bass traps from the foam factory. Whoa. If any of you don't have these yet, order them now. They made such a massive difference in sound quality that it isn't even funny. These things make kick drums sound like I'm standing in front of the drummer. The sound is just so planted now. You'd never know what your missing until you put these in your room. Since the bass (and other frequencies) are being held at bay, everything else sounds so much sweeter. When a singer goes throughout thier vocal range its so silky smooth and effortless. My system is on an entirely different level now. These things took 5 minutes to throw up in the corners and made more difference than anything else I've ever done to the system with possibly the exception of going to the la scala speakers over the cerwin vega's I was using previously. This purchase should be a no brainer to everyone interested in making thier system sound better. I got 8 of the foam corner bass traps from the foam factory for $100. http://www.thefoamfactory.com/acousticfoam/bassbroad.html I'd say that 8 is a good place to start. My corners are already filled up almost half way up the wall with speakers so the 8 were perfect to finish off the corners. If you have no speakers in the corners, I'd probably buy 16 and be done with it. It's better to overdo it then take some away if needed (sound is too dead or not lively enough). I don't know anyone at the foam factory or have any incentive to try to sell these things. I'm just blown away by how effective they were. I started looking into something to correct my room after listening to a set of la scalas I sold to someone in the buyers house. They sounded like totally different speakers. I figured that it was probably the tube amp he was using (I'm using solid state). He borrowed me his tube amp (awesome guy) and I tried the tube amp with my la scalas. They sounded horrible and nothing like they sounded at his place. I then tried out some 570 watt monoblocks from the same guy in my setup and they sounded great. When I brought them back to his house, we hooked them up to his la scalas. They sounded aweful. It was like they weren't even the same type of speaker let alone the same speaker that they actuallly were. They only thing different in our setups was the room. This was the only variable as we both were using the same source (squeezebox touch), amp and speakers. Nothing else was different but the room. If I didn't hear it myself, I wouldn't have believed it. This might explain why someone raves about a speaker, amp or whatever and someone else says it's junk and not to bother with it. Its the room! Go to this place to learn more about room treatments. This owner is awesome and really knows his stuff. http://www.realtraps.com/index.htm

I tryed a pair of wyred 4 sound sx-1000's as well with my la scalas. They sounded a bit better than my onkyo 805 receiver. They sounded considerably better when paired with the wyred 4 sound DAC-2. I think the DAC made more of a difference.

Second the SqueezeBox Touch. It is wireless and can transport 100% information up to 24 bit/ 96 Khz files. It does pandora, slacker etc. and finds internet radio from around the world. You can just pick a country and listen to radio from there. Japanese commercials are strange but cool.

spanish harlem by rebecca pidgeon on SACD Iron man flying seen with fighter jets

I just ordered the upa-7 for my 3 la scala front and 2 heresy rears setup. In talking with the guy at emotiva they suggested the upa-7 for the high sensitivity setup of heratige speakers due to a lower sound floor (not sure if I'm getting the right terminology). He said the upa series is quieter than the xpa and that the extra wattage is not needed for the super high sensitivity speakers. With my 130 watt receiver I can play music so loud that I can't hear my own screaming voice and then still turn it up louder with no disortion or issues. I'm thinking an even better 125 watts from a dedicated amp will be plenty and hopefully quieter at mute.

Ok a friend just borrowed me his wyred4 sound W4S DAC-2 and 2 of these W4S SX-1000 Monoblock These are quite expensive for what I'm used to at about $2400 for the 2 channel preamplifier and $1400 for each of the monoblock amps with 540 watts RMS each and now I'm getting the upgrade bug. I listened to a few songs and level matched them with my current Onkyo 805 reciever for 2 channel music without a sub. The wyred for sound stuff brough out things in the music that is really hard to pick out with the onkyo 805. It really is at least a level above the 805. I'm not sure yet if it's the amps or the preamplifier DAC unit. I'm thinking its more the preamp, but I'll do some testing tomorrow to figure that part out. I'll use the amps with my 805 to see if the songs have that extra detail. I mean it is 530 watt/channel vs the 130 watts per channel of my 805 (may be 140 in pure audio 2 channel). To think I'm missing that much of the music just kind of sucks. I thought my stuff was incredibly detailed. It was, but this is so much better in that respect. Also the bass hits harder with more abrupt start and stop of each bass guitar string or whatever is bassy. The extra seperation that I'm hearing is very much like what I heard going to my la scala speakers from what I had. Although, that difference was more like 7 levels better with the la scalas. I'd say this is at least one or maybe 2 levels better in terms of seperation and detail. After hearing this I now know there is better out there for my main passion of home theater. After reading all of the thread here a second tome, I begining to think the umc-1 or maybe the xmc-1 (when it comes out) would be my answer to sonic nirvana. Oh on another note, when using the rca cables for the borrowed setup, I heard a fairly loud when silent buzz in my speakers when connecting the amp. When I used a XLR cable the buzz went away completely. This was using a 6 foot or less RCA cable and a 15 foot XLR cable. In a review I read on the borrowed system, they mentioned that XLR should give a much better sonic experience. I'm wondering if that would translate to the UMC vs XMC? It is making me think that the XLR is just a better setup idea and going to it may be better in the long run.

using the sound meter to match sound levels the bass is way too strong for music and movies. I'm not sure if that was how it was intended or not. Maybe I like to listen to really high db levels normally and the bass is just too much when doing that. I turned my bass down by 10 db and that is just about right. Strange because I am sort of a bass head.

You could go with an all Heresey setup. They would be perfectly matched and sound really good. With Heresies you would need (want) a sub though for movies and for music too. Used Heresies go from $250 to $500 per set of 2. That setup would blow away everything you have heard for movies in any demo room. You could also try an all forte setup. It would be best to keep all of the speakers the same though whatever you do. For a little more $$ you could mix in 2 la scalas for fronts (for really full 2 channel sound). My buddy did this with 5 heresies for a 7.1 Klipsch Heritage system. The surround effects were beyond good. You could hear every nuance of sound. It really felt like a room of sound walls all around you. When we stopped or paused a movie you could feel the walls of sound drop away. Emotiva has some subs that would probably work really well for not too much $$. I'm thinking around $300. The sub is very important in theater. For the ultimate, I will never need another sub, type of sub you could go with the Epik Empire (my personal sub). He is still selling them for $799 which is just an insanely low price for such a sub. Epik also makes a slightly smaller sub with the same design for $500. You might have to wait a bit to find all of your speakers used on craigslist, but it would definitely be worth waiting. For $900 ($300 per set of heriseies) or more likely ~ $400 per nice set or $500 for perfect ones. You'd even have an extra speaker to sell for $200 to $250 as a center speaker for someone else. $900 plus $300 for an awesome but inexpensive (internet direct) subwoofer (check out avs forum for talk of which sub would be best for your budget) brings the total to as little as $1200 for a system that will blow the doors off more than likely anything you've heard. Now that would be a budget system to be proud of. I compared Hereseies to the top of the line reference series Klipsch speakers (not cheap) at a guys house and the Heresies were more articulate sounded like a better class of speaker with better articulation and presence. The reference series speaker had way more bass, but the quality of the rest of the sound was good but just not as good as the Heresey. The reference series speakers had a sort of reserved quality to the sound that the Heresies didn't have. As long as you buy a sub, you'll have the best of both worlds. The reference series speaker did look more elegant with a piano black finish, but I'd prefer to put my speaker $$ into the best sound possible.

I'm a little closer to getting my first set of 402's with drivers. I just refinished a set of la scalas in black. They turned out really nice. I used 5 coats of oil paint (takes 24 hours/coat to dry) and I think I have about 7 different types of wood filler laying around now. After I sell them, I should have enough extra cash to put in an order.

I was about to go out and buy a sound level meter from radioshack today, but remembered a sound engineer was saying that apps for the iphone and droid were pretty accurate for setting up commercial sound systems. If you have a android phone get the "RTA Analyzer" for it. You can monitor the spl with it. It's a freedownload. I just used it and it worked well. So sweet. You have to love technology. Even if the spl is not perfectly accurate, the relative spl's should be right. You only need to match all of the speakers to the same sound level.

I love it! It looks even better than the Belle. Is that sub new? What happened to the Belle? My buddy may be interested in it if you are thinking of letting it go.

I can't wait to join this exclusive group soon. Anyone else have jub-scalas to post pics of?