Tact room correction?

Thanks Michael. I think that this is the way forward for me. AV plus uncompromised stereo in one basic system. Perfect.

Why does anyone have separate systems, unless they want to use different rooms?

 

Thats what I have now... :duck:

PS - Uncompromised doesnt mean the best in the world...

 

Maybe I should have put up another disclaimer.

Of course what I meant was that the stereo was uncompromised by also acting as the main channels of an AV system - which is not to denigrade your system (which I haven't heard) in any way.

 

Dreeeeeem Deream Dream dream Dreeeeeem

 

It looks like the one dreaming is you my friend, who knows how long it will take before you hit a system you can finally enjoy...

I am well awake and quite happy with my music... :MILD:

 

Steve,

Obviously subjective sound quality is just as large an issue for surround sound systems as with 2ch. However, having your speakers THX certified will go a long way towards helping with saleability within the market place.

Take a look at this site:

http://www.thx.com

Specifically this section:

http://www.thx.com/mod/techLib/index.html


The one technical look in to the subjective sound quality of suround sound systems that I have seen agreed with Antonios findings. The single most important factor that affected the perceived quality of the surround sound speaker set up was unity of cross over and drive unit frequency/phase/dispertion characterstics etc between all of the speakers used.

GTM

 

great! I'm sure you are and it's good to hear of someone who has beaten the upgrade bug

But it is a compromise Something you seem once again to be naively denying. But self denial can be a good thing

 

I don't know. You two boys, eh?

Well here's news for both of you ...

My hi-fi's better than yours.
Myuh myuh myuh myuh myuh.

 

Thanks GTM.

So, no crossovers = no problems. As for the frequency/phase/dispertion characteristics, It won't be a problem as all the speakers will sound identical, large or small.

I'm going to be rich, rich I tell you.

PS: It's not too late to jump onto the Seventh Veil bandwagon. Just send your cheque, with the amount blank and made out to "cash" to ...

 

I know it is a compromise, what isn't...

I did fix all the enoying bits, until I find more, but channeled upgradetitis to cableTV, ordered a PowerPac II from RA... :shame:

 

For the record, guys. This from a UK valve amp designer on the subject of 'AV Bypass':

"I think the tape out provides this function. Signal comes into the pre from any of the working sources and goes straight to the tape deck if you want to record.
It is a unity gain input/output."

Is he missing something?

 

No Steve, he's spot on. The only potential advantage of a true theatre bypass input is AFAIK that of a potentially shorter signal path - hardly important when you consider the signal most of the time.

It is the one way of running AV & music systems combined whilst be able to keep the 2 channel stuff seperate, although you could argue that the additional speakers in the room interfere when in two channel mode.

 

Probably not too much of a problem unless the resonances of the additional speakers are significantly different to the mains, in which case you could get some audible excitation. You could put hoods over the speakers if it's an issue.

 

It's quite funny Steve and I would agree in most cases. But in my old cubbyhole with the levels cranked up, you could clearly hear the bass units in the Dynaudio surrounds singing along nicely

 

Interesting. How different were the surrounds from the main speakers?

So, the committed audiophile with an AV system might need to hood the surround speakers when listening to stereo. What do you think about this issue, Michael, Antonio, et al? Has it been a problem for you?

 

I never heard the "unused" speakers's woofers when playing stereo for my audiophile guests, as I use DPLII most of the time otherwise...

But my speakers are all at the same distance, about 10 feet away, as I think they must be for proper surround...

 

I don't think resonance of the unused speakers in an AV system is an issue at all, any more than resonance of anything else in your living/listening room. I've certainly never noticed it.

Michael.

 

I used to get the centre channel cones going in sympthay with the main units, as you found out Steve, placing it on Still cured it. I'm sure they are other options that are far less expensive, but had a spare set so I used em.

 

In my case, the effect was agravated by sitting close to the rear speaker and listening at above 100db in a small room.

but given those conditions, you could clearly see the bass driver on the Dynaudio 40 moving like a passive radiator and sense an overall thickening of the bass octaves.

If you were being ultra critical, or listen at very high levels where you fully energise the room, then it is likely that you will suffer from a similar effect. I am not suggesting however that the average enthusiast would be bothered by it in normal domestic conditions.

 

I'm surprised that no one seems to have experimented with taming the room's bass response by tuning 'secondary speakers' to act as smaller 'bass-traps'.

Using 'untuned', non-matching rear speakers as headphones with 100dB+ SPLs (Merlin-mode) can be detrimental to the sound but get them right and 'secondary speakers' could clean up a room.