I listened to some Thiel 2.4s

[edwinr]

I wonder how accurate these inexpensive spl meters are? Can they react fast enough to give us a true indication of the peak spl's we're listening to? An spl meter might register a peak of say, 104db at the listening position, but is that the true peak?

I reckon peak spl's might reach even higher than the meter might indicate, even if it's for only a millisecond or so. We can probably hear this as a difference in sound between one amplifier and another when driving the same loudspeakers.

[pauln]

I wonder how accurate these inexpensive spl meters are? Can they react fast enough to give us a true indication of the peak spl's we're listening to? An spl meter might register a peak of say, 104db at the listening position, but is that the true peak?

I reckon peak spl's might reach even higher than the meter might indicate, even if it's for only a millisecond or so. We can probably hear this as a difference in sound between one amplifier and another when driving the same loudspeakers.

PWK thought so too - that the peak setting on the SPL meter was designed to monitor male voice for radio in the old days when the standard was established - so it sums the sound within a small space of time to drive the level indicator for just that particular kind of sound. The musical peaks are shorter and don't show as well. PWK said these meters read 14dB too low when measuring musical peaks. In an uncontrolled environment like a listening room there will be additional variances, but I guess on average you can correct up 14dB.

We are all louder than we thought?

[steve]

Larry

as for your question..I really like the AH! 4000..but it takes a lot of hours for the magical "break in"..I highly recommend it. It does cost a few bucks, and I personally think it's worth it.

But then again..I'm a member of the SET camp too, after numerous SS amps, and a couple of high dollar/higher wattage tube amps to boot!

Does my opinion still count?

Regards

Steve

[DrWho]

The only thing I'd like to do is tighten up

the bass a bit. I know a ss amp would help. But I want to stay with the

SET amps. Would putting some fiberglass or other material in the

enclosures help this. Any suggestions appreciated.

One thing you might try without tearing the speakers apart would be to

lower the tuning of the port - which can be achieved by reducing the

effective width of the port to about 12 inches. This should help reduce

some of the peakiness in its frequency response.

You should also consider your room acoustics...it seems you're starting

to get picky with your sound and it's important to realize that the

room is responsible for more than half of the sound. You might be

surprised how much difference acoustical treatment can make.