Weakest Link in my system... Power Supply, DAC, or...

I am humbled, grateful, and delighted by all of these insightful responses. Thank you!!!!

i do see room treatments as the main next step for me. I do have the ability to move the speakers easily (The PAP’s are on good feet and easily movable) and my listening chair also moves easily. When doing a proper listen I move my speakers out from the wall about 3-4’, with about 6.5’ between them, and my ears are about 6.5’ from them, forming a equilateral triangle. 

I am an architectural designer with a fair amount of design, cad, CNC, and fabrication chops, so am eager and have a lot to learn in terms of accoustical treatments to the room. It’s not that I can’t add acoustical treatements, it’s that i want them to look good and I want them to be integrated into the custom book shelves that I will soon design. 

I will be soon designing bookshelves for the two corners of my room where my speakers are closest to. Their dims can be 2’ deep, 4’ wide, and 8’ tall. (I would incorporate the equipment and a bit of vinyl into their design)

If I simply have shelves with those exterior dimensions, lined with books and vinyl, is that a close approximation of the ideal room treatment in this location behind the speakers in the corners of the room? Or is there more to do? (I will look at the resources you all mentioned soon).

If I have fabric panels in the ceiling (what percentage and location of the ceiling) is that a good approximation of “room treatment”? (I would consider incorporating the lighting into the panels)

Currently I have a thick blanket on the floor before the speakers, two largish cloth sofas, and a cloth chair, with little on the walls and ceiling. I think this warrants improvement as you all seem to suggest! 

Currently the system sounds absolutely amazing. Soon I’ll be adding a nagra streamer (as my Mac mini is currently the weak link) with a Accoustical Zen Silver MC2 coax cable. I do enjoy the music, every single minute of every single hour it plays, which is several hours a day. It’s stunning. 

I just always want to eke out a few drops more, potential is potential…. ! 

THANK YOU ALL! 

R. 

Not sure if Dropbox links can be attached as images here, but here are links to photos of the front and back of my listening room. 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qr0z96ll6crnz7806pywa/IMG_6048.HEIC?rlkey=f8qfq1z6oadds8ex1x6iqe02u&st=raz6shsb&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ex5cd8awt26sgijmgqb7u/IMG_6050.HEIC?rlkey=4gqyl009b4i00gxj62jtio25r&st=7bj5f43o&dl=0

I am also curious how open baffle speakers such as these may have different requirements, or simply more of the same requirements, as a regular box speaker. 

It does play the room, and the stage seems as large as a big rig….

r.

If I simply have shelves with those exterior dimensions, lined with books and vinyl, is that a close approximation of the ideal room treatment in this location behind the speakers in the corners of the room? Or is there more to do?

For corners behind the speakers it’s common to use bass traps, and bookshelves won’t do anything to help with that if you’re trying to improve in-room bass.  Not sure it’s as big of an issue with dipole speakers (but it’s probably still an issue), but if you’re hearing overdone or wooly, soft, or slow bass then traps might be worth looking into.  Also treating first reflection points on the side walls and ceiling can be very effective, and using some absorption or diffusion devices (or a combo thereof) on the front wall and/or between the speakers can also yield tangible improvements.  A lot of people here have used GIK Acoustics so might be worth contacting them to get their thoughts, and their products seem to be good and not unreasonable price wise.  Let us know how the AZ MC2 works out if you could. 

https://www.gikacoustics.com/

I have been obsessed with finding the right room treatments for my very small ( 8.5 feet by 10 feet by 6.5 feet high) dedicated listenting room for 3 years. Various closed box standmounts were the mainstay of my room for 3 years. Power amps and integated amps came and went.

I was constantly playing with room treatments: tri-corner bass traps in all corners, ceiling corner bass traps, 75% of the ceiing covered in absorption ( OC 703 2 inch thick ), first and second reflection points absorbed with OC 703, diffusion on front wall, diffusion on rear wall, combination diiffusion and absorption in different places. It was crazy making.

The madness finally ended when I made the move to open baffle speakers; Tri-Art 3 Opens Reference. My components are nice but not over the top. Krell K-300i, Ayon S10 MKII, decent speaker cables and interconnects. 2 MJ Acoustics Reference 200 subs.

With open baffles the room becomes the speaker cabinet / enclosure. First and second reflection points can't be treated with pure absorption. I found scatter that 2 foot by 2 foot scatter plates mounted on 2 inch OC 703 and covered in wool blend fabric work best. 

Having tri-corner bass traps in the corners behind the speakers was not ideal so I removed them. I left the ones in the back corners in place. I removed most of the ceiling absorption and left 2 panels at the reflection points.

By far the most profound improvement ( and the best $2500.00 CDN I have ever spent on this hobby ) was to have 6 quadratic diffusers custom made locally and hang them on the wall behind the speakers. Full diffusion behind open baffle speakers is of paramount importance to get the most out of your open baffles and your room. Also key ( in my room ) is that the distance from the speakers to the front wall ( 42 inches ) matches the distance from the back wall to my listening position. I have pure absorption on my back wall.

The width and depth of the soundstage, the imaging and separation, the layering. It's quite remarkable. Every single time I have a listening session I find myself shaking my head in disbelief.

I found the following article very useful. I'm sure many of you are already familiar with it already.
https://www.linkwitzlab.com/conclusions.htm#:~:text=Open%20baffle%20speakers%20are%20inefficient,bass%20with%20less%20room%20interaction.