What must I correct to get the perfect sound?
Wow! You've hit on almost every variable there is when it comes to tweaking for the best sound. You're young, start with one facet and take your time. For example, get on the internet and read everything you can about room acoustics, room treatments, etc. Don't go crazy and buy a lot of stuff. Just try to understand what affects what. Just one small example: tuning your room to tame the bass will actually improve your perception of what you hear. Honest1 hit on some of this. Bad highs can make bad lows and vice versa. It took me a year of experimenting to tame my room and I'm still fussing with it, but the improvements are incrementally noticable. One more thing, speaker placement is CRITICAL. There's a lot on the web about that too. Good luck, and by the way...don't forget to HAVE FUN. |
Oops, in the last post I gave the URL to the letters feedback to this Original Loud CD Article |
Just some thoughts; 1) your expectations might be based on "boomboxes", car audio and typical home audio bass heavy systems (What sells best at Circuit City). These systems are often full of distortion and resonance in the low end because buyers demand it (they are proud of all that earth shaking bass). 2) the harshness may be from your favorite modern pop/rock band's CDs ) ...do a google on "Loudness Wars". ACDC "Back in Black" is only mildly compressed compared to what you find commonly today. Michael Jackson's Thriller album is also well produced, has copious bass and is only mildly compressed. Fast forward to today and there is very little I can recommend that is not "hot". See also this Loud CD's 3) Your speakers will present a hard load to drive...your amp may be clipping long before the shut down or warning lights...distortion is perceived as harsh and loud somewhat independently from actual volume levels. 4) Are your ears ringing? Get a radioshack SPL meter. If you are listening above about 105 Decibels SPL (continuous) then you can certainly expect it to sound harsh as your ears may not handle it (IMD distortion in the inner ear) Generally rock concerts are done at around 105 db SPL for the heavy rocking tracks, which is close to the limit of what most people can stand and enjoy for a couple or hours (and as long as they play a few quiet songs in between to give your ears a break...ears will still ring afterwards) |
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Look at the tubes in the pre.First make sure they are good and biased accordingly.My guess this is the culprit right there.How big is your room?The Legacy's do need to be out from the rear wall 2-3 feet as others have said.I have the 20/20 focus and are not harsh at all.Run them off a Butler TDB2250 with excellant results.All switches in the back in the up position.As a pre I just use my B&k AVR 307 and a Pioneer 59 avi universal as a source.Reality cables,in a 24 by 24 ft room.They need room to breath bro.Maybe not the best match of gear either.I have no need for a sub as they pump out enough bass to shake the house.It's not so much the amount of watts you throw at them but the quality of the watts is most important.They need an amp with current to handle those 12 in. woofers.Of coarse your room is a whole nother story.Play around,tweek positioning them,swap out the pre or replace the tubes and lets hear back from you,good luck pal. |
Hey boy come over to the white ran for some rockin hard bass with smooth highs... but seriously I am bass head also and those recordings are harsh. I've heard you're speakers and they are hard on top but they have insane bass to image. They have to be away from the back wall. 2-3 foot because of the rear port. don't worry about your amp power or speakers as they are well matched. 500-1000watts will barely raise your system 3dbp (doubling power only yields 3dB increase) so I would recommend a Velodyne DD18 or Some large subwoofer for rock/trash/tool etc. so you can rock the bass without Killing yourself on the top end. PM me if you want to discuss volume and quality without killing your budget. you have done quite well so far! The transparent will hit harder than Cardas cables. Cables will not solve this problem. |
Pssst, you wanna buy some perfect sound forever? I have some silver discs to sell you. Actually, I would guess it would be your cables. 'Super Transparent' often times translates into 'bright' and/or 'grainy'. Try some Cardas cables. If I recall correctly, the Focus speakers have some switches on the back to adjust for room corrections. Have you played with the switches? Tried to find the right mix? If you happen to find the perfect sound, let me know. I've been looking for it for 30 years. :) Regards, John |
I don't think you are really looking for perfect sound. What you are asking for is decent bass, which is a reasonable goal. I looked at your plans, and it's a little hard to tell much. But you said there aren't a lot of soft srufaces in the room. Do you have much carpet? Is your couch completely upholstered, or is it a modern style metal frame type thing? Are there any curtains? If not, you may need more soft surfaces, to suck up the excess mid and hi frequency energy. Soft surfaces don't affect bass nearly as much as they affect higher frequencies. These sounds may be just bouncing around your room. I expereinced this recently when I bought a new toy - a djembe,a type of African drum. It makes 2 sounds a deep resonant "DOUM" and a high metallic "Bek". In a normal room it sounds fine, but downstairs, in an empty room with no curtains or carpet, the high frequencies completely drown out the lows. If your room looks like the trendy industrial loft, I'd guess that's the main culprit. If you decide to EQ, get a Behringer DEQ2496. It is hard to hear any negative effects, even in a very high-end system, and they are dirt cheap, even new. The benefit of an even response will far outweigh any minor loss of resolution. |
