Happy Holidays and Your Favorite Tips?

Positive thinking wins every time.  No negative posts wanted here. Save 'em for yelp.  Be happy with what you have.  God bless you.

@boxcarman  x10000 and Merry  Christmas 🎄🎁 

Tip 1: System synergy. I found this to be more important than expensive cables, room treatment and dollars invested. The key being amp and speakers. 

Tip 2: Try not to demonize those with whom you disagree. Anger and resentment shorten your life.

Start early morning

Go to bed late.

I too find sleeping to be the worst use of my time  

My version: Go to bed when you’re tired, get up when you’re not  

Sleep may cost you time in the short term but you’ll get it back and then some in the long run….hopefully  

Just wanted to chime in regarding the sock in the port trick... the reason this works and why it's worth trying is that a ported speaker is going to have a higher Q factor compared to a sealed speaker. Typically this translates to a low end bass bump followed by a steep roll-off of 24db/octave or more. Most subs have an 18db/octave low pass filter. Plugging the port in your speaker with a sock or foam plug or whatever will reduce the Q factor of the speaker... less bass bump and shallower bass roll-off. Generally speaking this makes it much easier to integrate a subwoofer with it.

Most subs have an 18db/octave low pass filter.

That’s news to me, I thought the THX standard was 24?

But generally, yes. Regardless of Q, having a main speaker that has a hump, and then having the sub take over below that hump can be challenging. It can also just be challenging for the room. So, this is, broadly speaking, a tone control.

However, I do think that many speakers, sealed or ported, have a bass hump. The ability to raise or lower the Q isn’t limited to ported speakers.

Raising the cut-off frequency AND sealing the box greatly reduces woofer distortion by controlling excursion, another benefit.  Of course, at the end of the day what matters is whether the listener likes it or not.

@ncbassplayer

Re: preference for short posts. Small ideas will fit in them. Nuance, detail, complexity—not so much.

Re: to plug or not to plug (one's ports). Room acoustics are largely mysterious; even experts often get this very wrong. I've posted about that before (long posts...). So try it both ways, and let your ears be the judge.

Re: Sir Richard Burton. Also a fan. One of my treasures is a copy of his translation of the "Thousand Nights and a Night" in seventeen hardcover volumes issued in just 1,000 numbered sets to subscribers of the Burton Club in the 1880s (mine is set #239). An amazing character: adventurer, scholar, linguist, prolific writer. His mastery of languages (not quite 50, more like 27, but who's counting?) enabled a "translation" so full of multi-lingual neologisms that it is virtually in its own new language. 

@linnvolk 

Thank you!

Learn how to turn off your "critical ear" and just enjoy the music.

In whatever you do learn to do it properly before you attempt shortcuts and bastardization. 

Merry Christmas,

barts

Cables matter in every regard but particularly on interconnects.

@erik_squires 

Subwoofers... such a deep topic! 😆 And as many have stated in varying ways, the only real "right" answer is the answer that sounds good to you.

That’s news to me, I thought the THX standard was 24?

Yes, absolutely. But I am assuming there are a large number of listeners who are using non-THX certified subs and/or receivers. Subs for music seem to have some variance here, but I've seen reference to 18db/octave being most common for that application. Tests of REL subs have shown those to have a 12db/octave slope. Some (such as Perlisten) are variable.

However, I do think that many speakers, sealed or ported, have a bass hump. The ability to raise or lower the Q isn’t limited to ported speakers.

Yes, the crossover designer can raise or lower the Q of the speaker wether ported or sealed, but how would an end user go about raising/lowering Q of a sealed speaker?

The solution I implemented in my room... I built bookshelf speakers with passive radiators using Purifi drivers (ultra-low distortion). The passive radiator boxes give me more low end extension without added room boom. I supplement those with 4 sealed 10" subs crossed over very low and running just enough volume to add some "roundness" to the low end. Sounds good to my ears!

Happy Holidays!

Yes, the crossover designer can raise or lower the Q of the speaker wether ported or sealed, but how would an end user go about raising/lowering Q of a sealed speaker?

I meant, a speaker maker can make a sealed or ported speaker optimally flat (rare) or bump the bass.  This is mostly a function of the cabinet though, not the crossover. 

Don't overlook acoustics, electrical noise, equipment isolation and damping

Everything matters.

Do something nice for someone else, even if it's just to make them smile.

Don't sell short what you already have, thinking the audio grass is greener somewhere else. Chances are you'd be making a sideways move more often than not. Try some subtle tweaks, cheap room treatments and experiment with cables but until you're financially ready to go bigger (in price and level of performance), just be content: it's not the end of the world.

Oh, and Happy Holidays! 

All the best,
Nonoise

Tip- build and tweak your system to your liking, not someone else’s!  

If you have a room on floors the are not concrete base, address any vibration issues you undeniable have, especially with the turntable, then the speakers. Even with concrete floors, it can't hurt.

Attend AXPONA (Audio Expo North America), the largest annual gathering of audio enthusiasts, music lovers, audio dealers, manufacturers and distributors in North America. 

NEVER work on your audio system when you are tired.

Corollary: never listen critically when tired.

Thanks for the topic, erik_squires

Find a true mentor-s, even if you are extremely experienced and knowledgeable.  When you go deep, one discovers deeper levels bringing you closer to the real thing.  Seeking out experienced, trusted advisors can save you in so many ways, especially around room tuning, suitable gear, and yes, modern DSP, including BACCH, if you are explorative.  Any harm done is vastly outweighed.  For the naysayers, yes, you can do damage.  However, wizened, skillful Techs who understand sound, harmonics, layering...how tube distortions work vs the low noise of great solid state can take you to amazing levels of gratification.  

The journey is often one of not knowing what was missing until attained.  This from an ever impassioned, ever reaching, old fart. 

More Peace, plus Joy          Pin              (bold pring for old eyes)  

@erik_squires wrote:

Raising the cut-off frequency AND sealing the box greatly reduces woofer distortion by controlling excursion, another benefit. Of course, at the end of the day what matters is whether the listener likes it or not.

I don’t block the dual ports of my subs-augmented main speakers (haven’t tried either), but the dual 15" woofers are high-passed just below 85Hz, 36dB/octave L-R, and with 100dB sensitivity here I’ve never seen the cones visibly move, even at bonkers SPL’s, so in that regard blocking the ports should see no real advantage. Question is whether there’s unintentional port contribution seeping through from the upper range, but at least listening impressions don’t point to this. Interesting tip though..

My tip(s): be critical; challenge audiophile conventions; keep/have an open mind; read, listen and observe all you can; experiment; listen to live acoustic music; let sound be the determinant - not price (or looks, brand or other); go DIY and 2nd hand; include pro as well as hi-fi segment (whatever works, works); go active configuration; physics rule with speakers (i.e.: let form follow function, not the other way ’round); implementation is king; a lot matters, but not all equally; forest for the trees. And, at the end of the day: make up your own mind.