maxg Posted February 18, 2002 Share Posted February 18, 2002 A local HT rag (HITEC - Greek magazine) was giving away a free DVD test disk for projectors and sound systems. A friend had picked it up for his projector and then lent it to me for my sound setup. Test 1: I ran was a sweep down from 200Hz to 21. Some remarkable and surprising results came out of my brief testing from last night, as follows: 1. On my tubes the Heresys play all the way down to 48Hz (wow!) at my listening position. The range from 200-60 is remarkably flat - much flatter than expected. After 60 it drops off a bit towards 50 (as expected) but at 50 there is a BIG peak (not expected). Slight dips and peaks noted around 160 and 120 Hz but nothing like the dips I have seen reported elsewhere for Heresy's. 2. On my Accuphase SS amp the Heresy's play down to 62 Hz - nothing below that. No idea why this should be but it does match the setting adjustment on my sub I have to make when switching amps. I was so surprised at this that I forgot to note down the peaks and troughs - I will check again tonight but I seem to be aware of a whole around 160 Db (will get back to you on that). 3. My sub plays down to 35Hz at minimal listening volumes (ie just audible). Below that it moves but does not create sound. Raising the main system volume to conversation levels the sub drops down a further 10 Hz audibly to 25Hz. At louder levels it goes all the way down to 21 Hz (the limit of the test disk). 4. The resonant frequency of my room is 22 Hz - nicely out of the way by pure luck (contrast to my friends house which is resonant at 40Hz and very in the way). Test 2: Soundstage. The system sweeps sound from front left through centre to front right and then round rear right, rear left and back. The phantom centre is doing its stuff - perfect gradual move from left to right all across the stage (in the sweet spot). Moving from right front to right rear progresses evenly at first but then jumps to the rear channel. I think this is because the distance between front and rear soundstages is too great for the rears to cope properly. (Maybe time to go find another pair of Heresy's - WAF permitting). Rear sound-stage is off - shifted to the right as I sit in the sweet spot - not a surprise - the speakers are off in that direction too. There is little I can do about this as there is a main supporting column in the way - ah well. Test 3: Tonal match The disk plays a tone through each speaker to see how close the sound is one to another. Phantom centre is obviously a perfect tonal match. Big surprise in the rears (Homemade). They match the sound of the Heresy's exactly to my ears (just slightly smaller). All in all I was delighted with the results obtained. My system actually scores better all round than my friends system (Sony receiver - KLF 30 fronts, B&W 603 rears - no sub). I should point out, however, that as a movie experience his system is actually way better (not for music). So much for test disks!!! But what about that SS performance - will check again tonight to see if I got anything wrong - but pretty weird all the same. ------------------ 2 * Heresy 2 (mains) 2 * Homemade horn speakers (rears) 1 * REL Strata 3 sub Accuphase E211 amp. Tube monoblocks with separate pre-amp (solid state). Marantz CD6000 player Sony NS900 SACD/DVD player Stax Headphones Humax 5400 digital satellite receiver Sharp Video 32" Sony flat screen 16:9 TV Mogami interconnects Silver Synergistic speaker cable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted February 18, 2002 Author Share Posted February 18, 2002 Just as an addendum MY friends KLF 30s produced truely bizzare results. Dips at 160, 120 and 100. Peaks at 170 and 110. Flat from 100 down to 70. Another dip (disappearing act) at 67 then back and tails off down to 50. Big peak at 50 then decreasing steadily down to 35. Nothing below 35, UNTIL 24 - back in with a bang and goes strong till 21 Hz - the limit of the test! His room is less than ideal accoustically. I have heard worse but it is not good. not sure it that would go some way to explain his results. We re-tested with his B&W's. They too had lots of gaps and peaks (but in different places - didnt note them down) - who cares!! Surprisingly for such a small speaker (in relation to the KLF's that is) they made it all the way down to 35 Hz. I suspect that when watching a surround sound movie the speakers are masking each others gaps and therefore creating what is an amazing movie experience. Admittedly though, his CRT projector probably has a lot to do with that (117 inch wide screen). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manuel Delaflor Posted February 18, 2002 Share Posted February 18, 2002 What did you use to test volume? an RS SPL? or your ears? In my Room, the Heresy's are able to achieve around 35Hz, but at that frequency they are (I don't recall the actual numbers) 10dB lower than at 45Hz. At around 60hz to 100Hz the dB's are lower than at 50Hz. And from there the response is relatively flat to a peak of +3dB at around 5Khz and then flat to 10Khz (the limit of the RS SPL). The numbers are not exact, that's what I recall of my last test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted February 18, 2002 Author Share Posted February 18, 2002 35Hz???? Out of a Heresy???? Are you sure? My god - they are only supposed to go down to about 47 or so - after that they just die. BTW - I was using my plain old ears - keep saying I want to get an SPL meter but never get round to it. I am fairly confident about my hearing though - thwe Doc says it is good and it aint made a monkey out of me yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barista Posted February 18, 2002 Share Posted February 18, 2002 quote: keep saying I want to get an SPL meter but never get round to it. They are only like $35 at Radio Shack. Everyone needs one IMHO. No matter how good your ears are, they still have a larger margin of error than a SPL meter. They are fun to play around with too. ------------------ Barista T. Bill My Rig, Minus the new Klipsch RF-5 (Not shown) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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