Talk but not walk?

"My car, really most any stock car audio system, helps make all kinds of poor recordings sound decent. My car is not tuned to these poor classic rock recordings etc... No, the fact is there is a sameness that a stock car audio system impacts on all recordings so they all sound decent. "

In all honesty this is what i expereinced too.

Over the years I have been pondering why is it that some of my recordings sounds just plain and un-ivolving but when I play it in my car it sounds simply amazing or decent. I started off this hobby from car audio and slowly went into home audio. Now I would not place my self as a car audio freak but I did get an amp and changed the head unit. The amount of money I have invested in my home audio is way more than what I spent in my car. Unfortunately playing the same recording just does not justify that amount of money I spent.
Thats what got me all sparked up on searching for an answer which lead me to Michael Greens website. Going through his website made me think differently and made me realize that its not all about your equipments, speakers and cables. To get a good sounding system is not about how expensive or best sounding equipments that have won major awards. Nor how famous a particular brand is that some may swear upon it. But its about tuning and getting whatever system you have to fit in better with your surroundings.

As I started my journey taking Michaels advise I began to see and hear more into those recordings. More information was I able to gather, more involvement and finally more passion towards this hobby. Which ultimately got me thinking seriously into building my own dedicated room. Before this my system was placed in my living room. What never changed was my equipments that I have invested previously but what has tottaly changed was my mind set in this hobby.

Now if i had know this earlier would i have still bought my expensive setup well no. I would have got something more functional and enough to power my speakers and load my room up with music and tune the hell out of it lol!

Now I can only talk base on my expereince on what I have gathered by Michael's tuning ways and what he has thought me and guided me through out this journey for many years. Many people seems to blame recordings as the culprit when it comes to a good musical reproduction in thier systems. This is because some recordings in thier system sounds just sublime so those that sounds bad must be due to a bad pressing or recordings that was not done right. This was also the same for me when I started dwelling into home audio. Prior to this I did follow the usual acoustic treatment at first reflection point, applying diffusers etc etc but nothing was giving me what was missing. I was quite disappointed with what I heard coming from my car audio setup.

There were some notes that ceased to exist in my home audio setup and certain details that was lost. Using the same cd in my car I could hear those notes with better perception of that particular recorded cd. This got me thinking what is happening and why is my expensive home setup not able to produce these notes. As I started doing more searches and trying to play that same recording in my friends setup I started realizing that there's more than just a bad cd recording/pressing or possibly not enough high end in my system lol!.

This was when I stumbled upon MG's old website which was giving me loads of information and real time tuning by other members on thier systems guided by Michael and few other members. This website (now tuneland)  to me was a place where I was able to get answers on why this is happening. So much so Michael was guiding me every step telling me to voice out around my listening space. Placing cardboards around and listening to the changes. During this process I was shocked to hear the transformation by applying these cardboards around my listening space. Now every step i took was not about making improvments but it was more about realising significant changes happening to my soundstage, tonality, imaging, presence and high/low notes. To me this is enough to say that those musical notes are all there but its not coming out and reaching to my ears.

So now the question, is that particular cd a bad recording well the answer is nope. It's all there but they were just not reaching to my ears due to blockage in many ways. This was the biggest lesson I learned from Michael. Slowly practicing and understanding what he meant by pressure zone, laminar flow and mechanical vibrations only then was I able to dig in deeper, unblock those blockages and bring out all those notes back in my home system. Untill today I'm still learning but as of now being used in tune ways im able to hear and shape up a sound stage that brings utter joy and tears to me.

Well first of all I can attest that the OP here is purely getting into an understanding that a bad recording heard is not as what it seems be. Others may find that its not sounding good in thier system because it was a bad or a poor recording, but instead it could also be because the system is not working hand in hand with your surroundings. I can tottaly understand others may find this awkward based on each and everyones listening experience as I was too. Only after I started toying around with what Michael was saying I began to understand deeper what was happening.

Now my previous setup was located in my living room and I was having mixed feelings with what I was listening. Some cds played sounded amazing but the rest just sounded bad and lifeless. As I have mentioned on my previous post listening in my car audio setup it was the other way round those same recordings that bad and lifeless now sounds great. This got me thinking about what is wrong with my home setup. Well going around and reading all over the net and audio forums also on acoustic books did gave me some improvments but never the kind of amazing sounding system that I wanted. It was only until I stumbled upon Michael's website which initially seemed to be confusing as I couldnt wrap my head around on what he and other tunes were saying. Well this got me more and more interested as some of the topics discussed was actually what i felt that was lacking in my system.

Long story short I registered in his forum and started posting up my questions to Michael who then began to lead me step by step on what to do first and the next step after. It was about voicing my listening area and mapping out on what he calls as pressure zones. Now based on his directions I followed with an open mind towards his methodes. As I started doing it, I was then only able to get a better picture on what he meant by pressure zones and laminar flows. To me it was one of those "aha" moments lol! Now there are no short cuts as this requires you to get up and start talking around the room while listening to how the tone of your voice changes and vibrations that resonates within you.

The next step was to understand why those sounds change and how to use them to your advantage. Its hard for me to explain untill you start doing it and experience it yourself. But when I started doing it based on Michael's suggestions he started introducing me some basic tools that was readily available like cardbord and wooden planks. Initially I was skeptical as it was something that I never read nor heard off. So I did as what he asked for and started placing them around my listening space. What I experienced next was shocking, my soundstage grew bigger, holographic
 and presence was amazing. It was literally like I was having a new life in my system. My next immediate responce was to try out those cds that sounded bad previously. Needless to say they sounded amazing, at last my faith in my system and this hobby was fully restored.

I know many of you guys here have amazing systems and have invested your hard earn money to push those boundries for a perfect sounding system. Im also sure many of you have also done a great deal of effort to maximize your acoustics too of course based on WAF if your system is based in a common room. But there's more that can be done before thinking of upgrading to gain a better sounding system or even resorting to other methods that may require bigger expenses. Im one for sure who will work on every inch of my room regardless how long or hard it takes as I have expereinced something that no equipments nor speakers could weigh in especially when it comes to price to performance ratio.

I can see some confusion that many people are facing concerning words like laminar flow or pressure zones. Well not to worry even initially I too had a though time trying to wrap my head around it. How would one define the meaning on laminar flow or pressure zones? Where are all these found in a given space or room? What is the first step should I do in order to have an understanding on them? Well these were all the questions that I was asking to myself again and again.

After years of practicing hopefully i could shed some light to those who are still not clear on them. It has got to do with pressure build up by your room itself. For an example if you walk out from a room to an open space your voice will sound open, less focussed and the loudness will be lesser as in comparison when you are in an enclosed space. This is a simple example on what a pressure in a room is causing towords our speakers when they are singing away and activiating or loading a given room. Of course speaker to room size ratio and thier placement is important as that will also determine how much of pressure zones will it activate in a room. Now what we are tuning here are these pressure zones. To give them a much more effective and organized way to work with our speaker and room itself. Pressure zones will be more towards acoustical space within the room itself and laminar flow are the pressure build up around the corners travelling along the walls of the room.

I tune them by using my voice which i hear and feel the resonance within me. Hearing a change of tone and openness in my voice dictates if the flow is moving away or concentrated in that one particular area. Now I'm not here to argue or prove myself at all. Bringing in physics and other methodological manner is not what im interested as what im doing is more than enough for me to understand and make it work for me. But what I would love to hear from others here is to give it a try by voicing yourself in your room and listen for the changes this itself should give you some idea on what is tuning all about. Now from what Michael has mentioned above concerning those simple cardboard excersises was exactly what I did a few years back which brought out a whole different way of thinking and mind set to me in this hobby.

Now onto what Bill has mention concerning on addressing mechanical and eletrical side this is another level of tuning that is equally important. I have removed most of my cable ties in my equipments that I can get my hands on and to be honest I was shocked with the improvments heard and it was a big improvment. As I said I came in with an open mind to what Michael has to offer and was very happy with the results. What got me thinking was how much of improvments I got just from listening to Michaels advise which was tottaly free. Of course knowing that he has such great depth of knowledge eventually gained my trust and of course I looked onto his products to augment my system more.

Hi jf47t ,

Wow must have been awesome experiencing what MG did and how he did it firsthand.  Wish I  was staying near to him and have the convinience to learn and work on my system with him around lol!

Even me staying thousands of miles away have had good success with my system via emails and from his forums but seeing him working up a system is definately the best expereice that one can ever get.  What you said about settling in is something that I have noticed and experience too. 

"Where he started and where he ended up at was more than any amp or speaker change I've ever
witnessed."

This is the exact thoughts and experience I had and have mentioned on this thread initially. A good sounding setup has to do more than just having good equipments. Money spent doesn't need to reach an exorbitant level. A simple setup with the ways of tuning can get you there and deliver amazing results. 

Michael has developed ways to get ones system up to another level. Its just how open and how far are you willing to listen and try it out. For me after a while getting the hang of it and practising makes it easier to understand what Michael is saying.