VDS
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Posts posted by VDS
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12 hours ago, richieb said:
You left us hanging - what does the passive do that is astounding and eye opening over the NBS? Does the passive have the drive and jump of the active NBS? I imagine passive vs. active tubes the passive is quieter, a blacker background?
Yes, how does the passive compare? I’ve had the NBS, it’s very nice. I don’t think a lot of us have experienced a passive preamp.
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3 minutes ago, Curious_George said:
I love oils...?
I don’t even know what I meant to say! Ha
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I love oils want to recommend Aric Audio. He’s a solo builder in MA, great service, great communicator, will work with you to give you options. I have his Motherload 2, 6sn7 based preamp. Recently I had a Benchmark preamp for comparison. I thought the Benchmark would offer more transparency and quieter. Aric’s preamp is, to my ears, just as transparent, just as quiet. I really thought the Benchmark would give more transparency and perhaps a better rendition of violins, but Aric’s is just as transparent. Aric’s is much more dynamic and gives, what I consider, beautiful tube coloration.
Check-out his website, he has pics of all insides to see. I found out about him 2 years ago and think he is a high quality resource for tube amps/preamps
ted
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On 8/20/2022 at 2:24 PM, mark1101 said:
Not to offend anyone here but this has become a very much "budget" forum. REALLY good electronics DO make a difference.
I’ve thought this also. With the price of newer Klipsch Cornwall, LaScala, Khorns, and Jubes, I’m wondering if many members have moved to higher priced components and found differences? I love spending less, but am interested in experiences where members have moved up in price and found improved sound.
I understand diminishing returns, but wondering if people have spent more and got that magic little bit more that made all the difference. -
im a little nervous about DRC, as Chris said, “backing the early reflections” into the mix, maybe good DRC can tell the difference by amplitude and delay, IDK. With Xilica I can make adjustments from listening position, but I have no way to differentiate original sound from reflected sound.
Sounds like you’re quite impressed by results.
For right or wrong, I am interested the idea of staying digital until the DSP Dac at the end right before amps. Currently I have streamer, Dac, preamp, Xilica, amps.Does the Lynx Hilo with Audiolense require a dedicated laptop always plugged into system, unlike Xilica which store settings in unit?
Anybody have info on DEQX as comparison to Lynx? -
2 minutes ago, VDS said:
@Rudy81 I’ve tried my 402MEH 3 way with a single Amt 1 and felt the tone was very different from the 2 way 402, it was tranpearent(?), but not as clear. I know, words don’t describe sound very well. Wondering you impressions of tone?
I should say the amt was about 2-3’ from back wall, don’t no how much a diffence this distance matters for the tone of dipole drivers
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1 hour ago, Rudy81 said:
I still use mine as my main system in my media room.
@Rudy81 I’ve tried my 402MEH 3 way with a single Amt 1 and felt the tone was very different from the 2 way 402, it was tranpearent(?), but not as clear. I know, words don’t describe sound very well. Wondering you impressions of tone?
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Tom, I sent @Chris A a request for help. Currently I'm going in circles checking Group Delay, Spectagram, delay and FR, trying to figure out their relationship to phase.
Phase so far is kind of a moving target!Ted
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On 4/24/2022 at 5:23 PM, Wirrunna said:
VDS,
Getting phase flattened made a a more noticeable difference than a really flat SPL.
Here are a couple of references -
Here is my modified K-Horn where I have flattened the phase.
Phase smoothing requires FIR filters which may not be available on the Xilica. I bet that the DSP for the new Jubilee is using FIR filters.
I’ve been working on phase but I’m stuck at about 400 degrees. I don’t have access to FIR filters with my Xilica XP. Phase seems so touchy. @Chris A seems to have done it w/o for, but I can’t quite get it yet.
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On 2/28/2022 at 11:28 AM, Chief bonehead said:
My blind tests proved otherwise.
A 3.5 ms delay between drivers was very clear to me, I especially heard it in the frequency sweep. Listening critically to the sweep is a major tool for me to judge my EQ in Xilica. For right or wrong
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On 4/13/2022 at 4:44 AM, garyrc said:
IMO, providing that the speakers are fairly well balanced (or made that way with EQ), most ear fatigue, especially with IM distortion, centers on about 2KHz, and ranges between about 800Hz and 3.5KHz. The "BBC dip" that they built into some of their speakers is around 2KHz, and helped make for lovely sounding speakers that (in my experience) did not cause listening fatigue, and were not harsh, despite some horrible recordings they dealt with in the 1950s and 1960s.
I would agree, using X console I have found 1500-3000hz to be a little harsh. Removing the harshness would be best, but EQing it down a few DB is helpful. -
25 minutes ago, Shakeydeal said:
Well to give you some history about me. I'm not someone who likes "euphoric" sounding gear. I have owned and loved both tube and passive preamps in the past. But I don't want an overly "tubey" sounding piece. So when I say it sounded "clinical" to me, don't mistake that as it didn't have enough pleasing colorations. That wasn't the case at all. I like preamps to deliver the signal intact because I try to build my system so that it sounds good without embellishment at the preamp stage. So that means a tube amp that gives me just enough tube goodness to realize I'm not listening to SS, and a preamp to allow that signal to come through unscathed.
Not sure if I made things more clear or muddied the water.
That makes sense. I’m not calling anybody out, it’s just l that language is a poor metaphor for describing sound.
I think I’m like you, my ideas is to stay as clean as possible for as long as possible, maybe using the power amp as a tone, or coloration control. My idea is that once you lose information or transparency in the chain, it’s gone forever. Wether this is a good idea in real sound IdK. -
18 minutes ago, Shakeydeal said:
I haven't heard the Benchmark amp, but I did own the LA-4 preamp. It is very clean, quiet and dynamic. I wouldn't say it brings out harshness, but it is somewhat "clinical" sounding. In the end, it didn't engage me in the music. I know that sounds like a subjective copout, but that's the way I heard it. Even though it's pretty transparent I can't say it doesn't add anything to the signal. Maybe a bit of "sheen". I can see where some people would like it, it's a "just the facts" piece of gear. But it just didn't move me.
That’s my concern. I wish there was a way to describe “clinical” and “musical” with measurements. Maybe there is, I’d like learn to interpret data better.
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Hi, I know several m number are using Benchmark gear. I’m interested in their extremely low distortion numbers coupled with their vey “engineer centric” philosophy.
My only concern is wether Benchmark may bring out some harshness that Klipsch can have. Any comparisons to Benchmark vs Class A amps and how your sound changed with Benchmark?
thanks
I know Roy @Chief bonehead is always repeating “low Distortion “ and he obviously know what’s what.
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Just now, Khornukopia said:
I don't know the details of your equipment or DSP settings but, I have to guess that some little thing (phase, maybe?) is causing your condition.
Well, yes, designing a frequency response curve with PEQ and designing the crossover slopes and placement is a near endless hole.
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3 minutes ago, VDS said:
Thinking of trying Tannoy…
I am also playing a lot with the Xilica active networks. I’m thinking the right EQ curve, ( not flat) may be the solution
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6 minutes ago, VDS said:
Not really… sound is still kind of 1 dimensional, all strings, not much body.
Thinking of trying Tannoy…
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36 minutes ago, Khornukopia said:
Did the new cabinets help with your original concern about the sound of violins and cellos?
Not really… sound is still kind of 1 dimensional, all strings, not much body.
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22 minutes ago, Khornukopia said:
Any progress reports or pictures?
New cabinets are smaller volume, basically enough to fit horn/ drivers into. Better bracing and 2 layers with green acoustic goo in between. Bass is much more articulate, but just as deep (30-35hz) as old bigger boxes.
much better coverage with 90 degree horizontal dispersion. Soundstage is not that good, but I’ve got to work on room acoustics , so we’ll see if I can improve that.
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I’m sure more attention to room treatment would help reduce the buildup of certain frequencies, but Xilica gives the option to reduce the frequencies at the source.
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Well, I’ve been working with REW / Xilica lately. Measuring on/off axis at 1m, and at listening position. Axis changes in FQ are not significant, due to k402 design no doubt. Listening position, oh boy! I always thought that my system didn’t sound as good as possible, but when I measured listening position I saw a 10 db hump centered at 1000hz, no wonder. When I made that go away, I got a big increase in clarity. Also, I don’t no why, but I had 1 speaker set 1.5ms delayed, correcting this also noticeable increased clarity.
Now I want to get the phase cleaned up as @Chris A has recommended, I got rid of preset xo settings, but still have over 1000 degrees of phase.not sure how to proceed.
Anyone with simple steps to help phase?
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My thinking is that any sound coming through the cabinet is not a sound I want to add to my listening experience.
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Constrained layer Damping is something I’m currently adding to my K402 MEH cabinets. Bracing pushed the frequency of resonance up in Hz, but does not diminish amplitude, (as @ChrisA said). My understanding suggest that higher frequency resonance is easier to reduce with a constrained layer.
Im adding a layer of 1/2” particle board over my existing 3/4” mdf, with a layer of Green Glue in between. -
Hi, I’m using REW extensively in combination with Xilica. I understand the point of 1meter measurements to try to measure speaker only, with minimal room interactions. I’m starting to also take measurements at listen position, which is a very different frequency response. Has anybody found listening position measurements helpful, either for adjusting EQ or understanding room interaction better?
thanks, Ted
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First Watt
in Solid State
Posted
I’m only using f8 for midrange( >400hz) my guess is that the xa25 would have better punch in the bass. But I’ve never compared…0verall the sound is similar in the mids, but id take the F8 (or f3) as the winner, excluding bass.