prefer tight well-defined bass? get a pair of vmps larger subwoofers, a marchand 24db/octave x-over, a used hi-power amp (rotel, adcom, parasound, aragon, etc). this will cost ~$2k. then audition lotsa monitor speakers - proacs, dynaudio, diapason, aerial, ae, to name a few. (i also am partial to my meret re's, but they're hard to come by, now). the totems & meadowlarks *are* nice, but much more veiled than the above, imho... |
Go no further: Reference 3A MM DeCapos ($2500 plus stands). It's nice to see so many comments about taming the room!!!!You need sufficient Symposium Svlete Shelfs to properly eliminate component resonances (@$200), maybe 3 Argent RoomLenses for room resonances(@$400) and you have the corner stone of a world class system. Reviews and info on my website www.audiotweakers.com |
My experience with Stratus Gold i has been excellent the cost performance is outstanding. Doing accoustic treatment as Carl advises is a must, the creativity part really comes tricky for wife acceptance specially if you don´t have a dedicated room Good luck |
Paradigm Studio 100s version 2 are a steal. I own PSB stratus Golds and they are excellent as well for around 2000.00. Check out Stereophile for reviews of both. Do not discount the Paradigms they are not as pricey or exotic as some others but these new speaker to my ears are the first truly exceptional speakers that I have heard from paradigm. I always like them, you know bang for the buck. But the new studio 100s are truly hi-end speakers. Suggest you listen to them first before you spend more money. I do not believe that any speaker in the 2000- 4000.00 range will embrass them. If you can buy speakers that are better in this price range that will be great because you will have made a true bargain. |
So experimenting with room decor and various soft objects placed in the room , in specific places , may absorb unwanted reflections and detrimental standing bass waves ? If this is the goal of production room tweaks and satisfactory results are obtained with eye pleasing devices ( ficus trees or rice paper folding panels ) , this could could be a two fold benefit . #1 sonic improvment and #2 for most other people , WAF or HAF , whichever the case may be . Has anyone listened to the vmps RM2's ? Likes , dislikes , or manufacture dissatisfaction ? This is a great web site chat page ! United we stand , Divided we fall .FBI |
Ej, of course professional dampening material is best, tube traps, sonex foam panels etc.....but there are design considerations in someones living room, for visual appeal. Any tall irregular 3D object placed in the corners behind speakers will break up reflections, as opposed to bare wall corners. Of course if floor is not carpeted, rug is mandatory between speakers and listening position. Should also mention planar speakers, large Magnapans great value/performance ratio and Martin Logans but they are not the last word in bass reproduction FBI wants....so stick with one of the box designs...regards Sam |
Hey Megasam, do fake Ficus trees give the same results as tube traps? I've never heard of this. I think my wife has an old out of style Ficus tree in the garage. My vote for speakers would be the Meadowlark stuff. Kestrels or Shearwaters are small easy to place with good bass and sound great with all diffrent kinds of music, though I've never heard them in such a large space as you have. Good luck |
PSB Gold-i speakers can be bought new on internet for @$2000 and offer unbeatable value/performance ratio. Of course there are other great speakers in the $2-4000 new range...Hales Revalation 3, Dynaudio Contour 3, Vandersteen Signature 3 etc, etc. When setting up room, to preserve aesthetic integrity, be creative instead of tube traps in corners use Ficus tree or other tall plants with can light at base for dramatic lighting effect at night, or rice paper folding panels etc, also use near field position to minimize reflections...regards Sam |
Sorry, I have the ASC ones. Good luck, though. I've only heard bad things about all the ASC clones, and feel the cost of the ASC ones is justified. I am a DIY'er, but only do speakers... |
Carl, what damping material or product are you refering to and are full round traps a DIY items or only manufactured items . If DIY, do you have print details and parts list to build? Dummy it up for me, 10-Q. FBI. |
Buy used if you want to have money leftover for a pair of bass traps. Do you know the Brentworth TypeIIIs? A rare pair is on auction now and well within your price range. Because you have a large room, you could get the most from their excellent bass extension. Just be aware that they will play LOUD with as little as 40 watts (yet can handle high power). Contact the seller, I'm sure they'd be willing to discuss equipment matching with you. Good luck. |
A good test CD is the Sheffield "My Disc", with the band limited pink noise tracks. Your ears will suffice, but you can use a radioshack SPL meter if you like. I have one. |
FBI What I´ve done to measure different treatment effects without expending that much money is get the Radio S. SPL and a test tone CD like Chesky/Stereo Review Stereophile has some too. It´s very easy to get an idea of placement and problems using this and plotting in a Excel sheet. You don´t get a fancy frequence sweep but you get a closer look to what´s really happening, sometimes seasoned golden ears find out that what they´ve as the best sound in their rooms is plagued with enhanced frequencies.... Good luck |
All you need to do is damp first reflection points on every wall, and preferably use full round traps at least in the room's corners behind each speaker (16 inch or larger diameter). Do this, and you're done. You can tweak the imaging and response smoothness by turning the diffraction sides of the traps to either face toward the wall, or away from the wall (besides adjusting listening seat and speaker position). The only reason to use mics and analyzers is if you have a lot of different "critical" audio listeners coming through often to listen to your system. They would obviously want to know how well your system/room measures. You'd want to be able to show them on paper, so they wouldn't try to move stuff every time they came by to "improve the imaging/tonality". |
CARL, HOW DOES ONE DECIDE UPON ACOUSTIC TREATMENTS ? DO I NEED AN AUDIO SWEEP GENERATOR AND A SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL METER TO TEST VARIOUS PLACES IN MY ROOM FOR HOT SPOTS? ELDRAGON AND 3141510 , I WILL GIVE THESE SELECTIONS CAREFUL CONSIERATION ,THANK YOU . ANY ONE ELSE ? |
Buy acoustic treatments first, if you want to hear what's on the recording. |
Agreed.Dynaudio is a very good choice,but consider VMPS FF3 as well. |
I am sure you'll like Dynaudio 3.0! |
