Holy %*&$, what an improvement!

[Mike Anderson]

My wife took off for a week this morning, so I decided to open up the living room and devote it entirely to my rig.

I moved the 1.6qr's out a good five feet from the back wall, and about 9' apart, with the speakers pointed a couple feet behind the listening chair. I've done this before, and I've never been particularly wowed, but... this time, I ran the Behringer 2496 DEQX with them in this position to do room correction.

Holy %*$&! Good God does this sound incredible! It's like I just bought a new pair of speakers!

Like I said, I've moved them out in front before, but without the room correction, I was missing a great deal of bass, and there was this high frequency glare that really made it fatiguing. Now I've corrected those problems, and JESUS does this sound good!

HUGE soundstage with loads of detail, incredibly rich and tight bass, silky smooth highs, and this amazingly gorgeous, syrupy midrange!!! I've been sitting here in my listening chair for about six hours straight, and MAN I am so blissed out right now!

I swear, I'm never going to move them back. I don't care if they completely dominate the entire living room, that's where they're living from now on!!



^^^ That's what it sounds like, BTW.

[superpanavision70mm]

Take a picture sometime so we can all see.

[Mike Anderson]

Take a picture sometime so we can all see.

I would, but... yesterday my wife knocked my Nikon D70 off a shelf, and literally cracked open the body. I'm not kidding, the body actually broke, and the electronics are sticking out.

But no, that's not why she left for a week! She was scheduled to go on this meditation thing.

And I'm not pissed off anyway, because she's buying me a D200 to replace the D70!

Boys and their Toys. Where would we be without 'em.

[Mike Anderson]

And yes, I marked the speaker positions with tape on the floor.

I'm not even watching Deadwood and Entourage tonight, because I can't turn off the stereo. That's how good this sounds. I'm not even sure I'm going to make it to work tomorrow.

So what if the client is looking at 25 years.

[paul_pci]

I would, but... yesterday my wife knocked my Nikon D70 off a shelf, and literally cracked open the body. I'm not kidding, the body actually broke, and the electronics are sticking out.

But no, that's not why she left for a week! She was scheduled to go on this meditation thing.

And I'm not pissed off anyway, because she's buying me a D200 to replace the D70!

Boys and their Toys. Where would we be without 'em.

Can you take a picture of that? That sounds gruesome!

[Mike Anderson]

Can you take a picture of that? That sounds gruesome!

No. I can't. That is what you call "irony".

[jrhymeammo]

She was scheduled to go on this meditation thing.

That's awesome. You should be able to get away with it for at least a week after she comes home; assuming meditation will have great impact on your wife.

[ericl]

So what if the client is looking at 25 years.

HAHAHAHAHA!!! Remind me never to employ you as my lawyer!!

You're making me really want to try that room corrector.

Mike you're the bay area like me, we have to get a group of us AR locals together and have a little pow wow sometime.

eric

[Mike Anderson]

^^ Agreed. I can think of any number of venues that would hold the three of us comfortably.

Including mine. Any one of you jokers is welcomed to stop by sometime to give a listen.

[Mike Anderson]

That's awesome. You should be able to get away with it for at least a week after she comes home; assuming meditation will have great impact on your wife.

Exactly. I'm thinkin' she'll be like, "Duuuuuude! That sounds AWESOME!"

For a day or two anyway.

[Florian]

Hehehe, yes Planars need room. By knowing that, imagine what a planar speaker with more twice the size etc... can do in a right room. If you want that soundstage but remain in your original listening position then try some real diffusors or my bamboo wall

PS: I am saving money for a real room correction that i had before, but like an idiot sold for a Krell KRC-2 (stupid me). Mmmh.....

I swear, I'm never going to move them back. I don't care if they completely dominate the entire living room, that's where they're living from now on!!

Like i said before, 6.2ft tall black speakers in the middle of the room is wonderfull! :-) "If that is what it takes to get this sound, then this is what i will do"

[JoeE SP9]

You guys have no idea how far some are willing to go in the quest for better sound. I knocked down a wall in my house in order to give my ESL's breathing room. You should try a movie with 4 ESL's in surround mode. I only use the front pair when playing music. Even with only those it's "illuminating". The idea about marking the spots where they sound best with thread in the carpet is something Magnepan has been suggesting for years. Now that you know what breathing room does to panels it may be time for acoustic treatment as Flo suggested. After all, you don't want the wife knocking your 1.6's over, although that might give you an excuse to get some 3.6R's. If you think the 1.6's are something you should hear some 3.6R's properly set up.

[Florian]

f you think the 1.6's are something you should hear some 3.6R's properly set up.

Yes and then 20.1's done right, and after that some big Apos and Soundlabs..... like we said....its a wonderfull journey...but only the beginnning. Because after that, the same goes with the room and the electronics....


Mmmmm

[Mike Anderson]

^^ Yes, yes I know BUT I swore to myself I'd have the downpayment on a house put together before I blow any more dough on music gear.

Someday though.

[Florian]

^^ Yes, yes I know BUT I swore to myself I'd have the downpayment on a house put together before I blow any more dough on music gear.

Someday though.

Yep, but maybe you should add a downpayment for a power generator too in case the local power company raised the prices ;-)

[kexodusc]

It's always fun rediscovering your gear.

I have a large room, 20 ft wide, but lined with furniture and stuff along the side walls at some points. Nonetheless I have my speakers about 8 ft apart. This is a compromise somewhat, since I sit about 10 feet back from the speaker plane. My wife wont' let them go any wider. Those rare times I do separate them, I'm amazed at the wide, deep soundstage the generate. It's literally like moving up 20 rows or so in a concert. This room holds my home theater - It does quite well for music, but is admittedly more setup for multi-channel than stereo. Having a big freakin' TV set in between and back a bit from the speakers doesn't help either.

This was the biggest reason I built a whole separate system for stereo - downstairs, my studio only has a few guitars, 2 racks of gear, a piano,and cello along the back wall, and 2 chairs and my stereo system in the front half. The room isn't as wide (only 16 feet) wide, but I'm able to properly place my towers and really get lost in the music. It looks like crap having 2 big towers in the middle of the front half of the room, 4 feet or more form the walls, but I don't need the space.

Room treatments can make a world of difference with reflections and nodes etc, but there's no substiture for having a big enough room to hold the sound your reproducing. The best systems I've ever heard have always been in large rooms. The bigger the better it seems. On the flipside, I've done some auditions with very highly regarded speakers in smaller rooms and left very unimpressed. Bottom line, I think all speakers need room to breathe to sound their best. Always consider your room when buying speakers - large towers aren't going to work their best in a closet.

[Feanor]

... but... this time, I ran the Behringer 2496 DEQX with them in this position to do room correction.
....

Proves, I mean, what EQ can do!

[jrhymeammo]

You guys have no idea how far some are willing to go in the quest for better sound. I knocked down a wall in my house in order to give my ESL's breathing room.

mad enthusiast gone too far........ I LUV IT!!!
Peace,
-JRA

[E-Stat]

I moved the 1.6qr's out a good five feet from the back wall, and about 9' apart, with the speakers pointed a couple feet behind the listening chair...
Holy %*$&! Good God does this sound incredible! It's like I just bought a new pair of speakers!

Congratulations as the 1.6s are capable of producing a huge and spacious image. All bipolars like to breathe. Mine live about nine feet out from the back wall.

rw

[JoeE SP9]

mad enthusiast gone too far........ I LUV IT!!!
Peace,
-JRA

I'm not not mad. I'm just serious. I've got 4 ESL's 2 subwoofers and a woofer cabinet. I can't fit all of that in a small room. I only use 2 ESL's and 2 subwoofers for music.

[bubslewis]

My wife took off for a week this morning, so I decided to open up the living room and devote it entirely to my rig.

I moved the 1.6qr's out a good five feet from the back wall, and about 9' apart, with the speakers pointed a couple feet behind the listening chair. I've done this before, and I've never been particularly wowed, but... this time, I ran the Behringer 2496 DEQX with them in this position to do room correction.

Holy %*$&! Good God does this sound incredible! It's like I just bought a new pair of speakers!

Like I said, I've moved them out in front before, but without the room correction, I was missing a great deal of bass, and there was this high frequency glare that really made it fatiguing. Now I've corrected those problems, and JESUS does this sound good!

HUGE soundstage with loads of detail, incredibly rich and tight bass, silky smooth highs, and this amazingly gorgeous, syrupy midrange!!! I've been sitting here in my listening chair for about six hours straight, and MAN I am so blissed out right now!

I swear, I'm never going to move them back. I don't care if they completely dominate the entire living room, that's where they're living from now on!!



^^^ That's what it sounds like, BTW.

Mike, could you briefly explain what the Behringer 2496 DEQX is, and how it works. Does it make automatic corrections or is everything a manual type adjustment where one would have to search and experiment?

thanks,
Bill

[Mike Anderson]

Mike, could you briefly explain what the Behringer 2496 DEQX is, and how it works. Does it make automatic corrections or is everything a manual type adjustment where one would have to search and experiment?

thanks,
Bill

To make it simple, it's an equalizer with built-in automatic room correction.

You plug in a microphone. The unit puts out pink noise. The microphone picks up the pink noise, and the equalizer analyzes it. Then, the unit applies EQ until the frequency spectrum of the pink noise is more or less flat. It's an iterative process that takes several minutes to complete.

I started another thread on how to implement it, here:

Thoughts on using the Behringer DEQ2496 for room correction

[bubslewis]

To make it simple, it's an equalizer with built-in automatic room correction.

You plug in a microphone. The unit puts out pink noise. The microphone picks up the pink noise, and the equalizer analyzes it. Then, the unit applies EQ until the frequency spectrum of the pink noise is more or less flat. It's an iterative process that takes several minutes to complete.

I started another thread on how to implement it, here:

Thoughts on using the Behringer DEQ2496 for room correction

I listen to my maggie 1.6's for music, but also have them tied in to my HT setup. My Yamaha AV receiver has an automatic YPAQ equalization setup with microphone that runs thru the tone busrt routine for all seven speakers plus the subwoofer. That's fine for home theater applications, but unfortunately this function doesn't work if I just wanted to apply EQ to the two front maggies when I listen to music.

Am uncertain if I could even tie in an additional equalizer into the system and am uncertain if it would produce any different results than what the YPAQ does.

As a matter of fact I find that I'm uncertain about most things in life. However, I was intrigued by your description of when you moved your maggies out and hooked in the Behringer. I will check out your new thread to see if I can pick up any insights.

thanks,
Bill