We used to have listening parties in college; we’d get the book of Beethoven’s middle quartets and just go through a few of them. Combine that with beer/wine/whiskey/“other stuff...”, and baby, you got a stew going! Didn’t help with the dating life, though. 🤷♂️
Greg F No way: it’s difficult with some scores and I only have a few (Copland’s Rodeo suite and Respighi’s Ancient Dances and Airs suite no 2 are easier to start with, some long symphonies and string prices are hard work). More importantly, playing air guitar takes time away from classical music.
Totally! Maybe its just me but I always found it very odd that people can spend so much money on audio listening gear but have little or no knowledge of music language or theory. Having even a small understanding of these things can drastically enhance ones listening experience.
For some music types I like to listen at low volume late at night. The amplifier stays in its class a region, avoids clipping on transients and has lower distortion. After a while the ears become more sensitive and you get drawn in, pulling out more and more detail at progressively lower and lower volumes. Just magic.
Increasing volume is such an obvious tweak, and playing music too quietly is a trap I fall into often. I’d play it loader, but my husband and kids can’t deal. 😂
One of the biggest adjustments I made in my system was speaker placement. I have them measured to be precisely placed in the room (from the rear wall and side walls). What can also make a huge impact is the space between your speakers. From my experimentation, the closer the speakers are together, the more the bass is pronounced. The wider they are, the wider the sound stage. It's important to find a happy medium between the two.
I see a huge future for Audiophile grade Hearing Aids for AGING Audiophiles. Imagine the possibilities, planar magnetic,solid gold accents, real wood damping, super expensive batteries with platinum wiring, freq responses to 50Khz even though these ears can barely hear 8 or 10Khz, lol! Aging boomers and their cash? A win win!
Reminds me of the user meade316, and basically videos of him riding around listening to 20kW amps and subs going at about 160-170 dB. As you watch later videos, you notice he has to SPEAK UP. Brings up the free top-tip of listening at reasonable volumes so you don't go deaf. I can still hear up to 16 kHz at 40 and hopefully I can keep it that way.
Some of the things I've read in regards to augmented reality and virtual reality and being able to choose and adjust what you can and can't hear will blow your mind. E.g you'll be able to choose to hear "real world sounds" and block out "augmented reality sounds" and vice versa.
Great presentation.. I agree with your suggestions completely. Additionally, make the room you are in quieter. Get the noise floor down below 30 db. I live on a quiet dead end street. My room is in the basement. I turn off the central air conditioner to reduce the noise floor. But then late night listening is wonderful at low volume. As Arthur Salvatore discusses, the measure of a great system is how well it can reproduce low level information. Such a system sounds great at quiet volume in a quiet space. Even then your comments are valid as there is always a sweet spot on the attenuator.
I know many would consider this snake oil, but I invested in high end power distribution via Shunyata with a dedicated 20 amp circuit, plus mid-level AudioQuest Speaker cables. All of this improved the performance detail of my system. More Clear, more accurate and balanced frequency response with great dynamics at both low and high volumes. In fact as funny as it may sound it really improved my low volume listening. I don't push my amp as hard anymore.
It's not snake oil. We alI hear what we hear. Replaced my plastic jacket cables with solid copper Anticables. Improved soundstage and punchy bass sound right away. Costing 120 bucks used including IC cable. Lifting up the floor standing speakers onto platforms with decoupling of bass with damping mats made a big difference. And then the room acoustics, which is close to 50 % of what you are going to listen to.
Great advice- Speaker placement is #1. Additional tweak - I use spikes and isolation ..yes AND. Had platforms built to place the tower speakers on, then spiked that (speaker) level to the lower level, which is isolated from concrete floor. The spikes allow for tilt adjustments that open the soundstage and height of the imaging. The isolation cleaned up the bass and left ought but detail and clarity. The subs cover whatever low end is required (lost previously) within proper speaker placement. Hope that helps, works wonders for me!
This is good advice. Concrete floors kill bass. Getting the speakers off the concrete and onto wood can definitely help. Pro tip: Try some solid slabs of two or four inch thick wood, if you can get it. Pine or Poplar is fine (also less expensive if you aren't using scrap wood), but stay away from things like Oak. Also, try the thickest, most heavy-duty spikes you can find. Like lag screw thickness or more. Use spikes, not cones. Finally, try experimenting with some weights on top of the speakers. You don't want too much weight here, but some can be beneficial.
Good tips! Nearfield listening with careful attention to relative height of ears and speakers combined with rake angle is perhaps the most cost effective tweak if the distribution of the drivers is sufficiently close so as to allow nearfield listening. As to various volume levels, I find they are analogous to finding the appropriate distance for viewing works if visual art. Pointillism is a great example here. On a personal note, I have long enjoyed your work since first discovering it in Stereophole. Thanks, Steve!
One tweak that becomes more important as you get older...the seating arrangement. Large fluffy furniture can absorb sound. Also, your back will appreciate a comfortable chair with good back support. I use a rattan chair with a cushion bottom rescued from a sofa (Freecycle!) a back pillow and a lumbar pillow. I am good for 4 hours of intense listening.
You might be surprised (or not!) to know that science supports what you say. I have a high-level diploma in wine and spirits and we were taught that a little bit of wine enhances your tasting skills/senses. But at some point after that with too much to drink, your tasting skills drop like a lead weight.
Cheap tweaks that made a difference in my system, is the power recepticle and cables risers. If you get a hospital grade recepticle, they have thicker and tighter contacts. I find they can bring your audio system a lower noise floor and it can sound cleaner and more detailed. They're also designed to handle more current and for extended periods of time. The hospital grade outlet will cost $15. I have a carpeted floor so when I added cable risers, the audio is cleaner and has a lower noise floor. You can buy cheap cable risers that cost under $15 each. You want at least 3 inches off the floor.
For us who live in Europe and can put the plug in the socket both ways, the polarity of the electricity is the most critical factor for a good listening.
asymmetric speaker placement can make a world of difference. My listening room has a stairwell next to my left speaker...a little further out from the back wall and a little more tow-in made an astonishing difference.
These 2 tips are super, thank you for this video. Speakers are now 18" from the wall and I've found my perfect volume, though it varies from one recording to another. BIG difference! If I may add to this: Sit in the right spot, there's only one. In this context, the height of the speakers or your chair is vital. For bookshelfs, a 2 ft stand approx is good. Make an equilateral triangle, speakers and you, as a starting point. Tweeters 2" below your chin. Big floorstanders, you need a high chair for that sweet spot 😂
As you said turning the volume up increases presence, turning it up too much increases fatigue and pisses off the wife and neighbors. Solution: tone controls or loudness button. Bringing speakers out in the room improves imaging but unfortunately also decreases bass. Solution: buy bigger speakers and place them in the middle of the room (which will also piss off the wife).
You know, Steve..the one thing I love the most about your videos is the retro charm of your recording room. The unending stacks of cds and records, turntables, huge sized vintage speakers..it is all so reminiscent of the golden era of stereo..so warm and cozy.. Unlike the setups of younger reviewers on UA-cam. Grey walls, ikea furniture, minimalist equipment, their "impeccable" recording setup, shallow depth of field..i don't know, I just cannot relate with those people even though I'm all of 32 right now. I hope you'll continue with this recording style. Please do not change anything! ☺️
Im 2.5 feet away from the wall on my Elac UB5's and they sound really great. Got them at the Goodwill for $30. Powering them with a Rotel RB-990BX I got for $52 at Savers. Happy hunting.
My two free ones worth: felt feet for your speakers if you are setting them on a hard surface, and experiment with angles - by which I mean start with your speakers symmetrical to the side walls and equidistant from the back wall. Then turn the angle so that the plane of the speakers is about 10 degrees from the back wall (so one is further away). Keep everything else the same. I bet that you’ll get much better imaging like that, as this makes your room work a bit like a diffuser. I’ve saved loadsamoney in room treatment over the years like this!
Worked well in my room, though it wasn't really necessary once I moved the speakers 6' from the front wall. Since I can't always keep the speakers in the middle of the living room, I keep them near the wall with extreme toe-in, and mark the perfect spot with masking tape for the days when I can pull them out and sit in the sweet spot.
Most speaker drivers are omnidirectional below a critical frequency basically proportional to the diameter of the actual driver cone/membrane, etc. This means that if they're designed properly (i.e. the critical frequency is above the cut-off frequency for that driver), you dont need to aim them directly at you, as that will make them sound harsher. If they are not aimed at you, you can get, more or less, fairly uniform sound through most of the center of the room, which makes it easier if, say, your watching movies with the fam as everyone will get to enjoy the sound and not the person directly sitting in front of the speakers. The frequencies above the critical frequencies are radiated in a fairly narrow beam and make the speaker sound harsh if your directly in front of them, or if their set up to have a "sweet spot", sound dull when your not directly in line with the speakers. Experimenting with an audio spectrum analyzer, I can get a flat response from 45 Hz - 20 kHz (the advertised range) between the two speakers when they're just facing forward, and not directly firing at the microphone (or listener) with some minor (~ +/- a few dB) of adjustment to the EQ. This makes listening more convenient as I get roughly the same sound at multiple locations, less the inevitable constructive and destructive interference. If they sound dull you can just adjust them via your tone controls or EQ until they sound acceptable. No need to "aim" them unless the design requires it.
Experiment with adding or removing sound absorbing fabrics such as drapes, upholstered furniture, area rugs etc. to improve the acoustics of the room. Start with small, easily reversible changes. From there the sky's the limit on what you can spend to improve the acoustics of a room.
I recommend these tweaks: 1-Ground circle (attaching a closed wire circle to negatives of each speaker terminal) various degrees of benefit. 2-Placing marble plates underneath each speakers (6 cm in thickness at least) increases speaker sound quality performance by 30% 3-Upgrading the AC cable (huge difference) 4-Engulfment of transformers of amplifier & DAC units with sheaths of Cu inside & Fe outside incresases detail 5-Groundboxing of units (leads to a minor but significant difference of treble detail) 6-Black tourmalin placement near amplifier circuitry. (this is when the magic happens: incredible & significant effect) 7-Diffuser and absorber treatment of the room 8-Napping before listening. 9-AC inlet filters (especially effective if the listening site is located close to a industrial area)
Hi Steve, I assume you are familiar with the Fletcher the Munson curve regarding our hearing sensitivity over frequency. My old KLH mono FM radio sounds great because it incorporates an inverse curve, proportionally boosting the bass and to a lesser degree the treble with decreased volume. Some gear has a loudness button that provided a single fixed adjustment, but the beauty of the KLH circuit is that it varied with volume and was able to do this because it was a closed system with the entire signal path including the speaker under the designers control. Our hearing sensitivity explains the largest part of our differing perception to loudness. In addition speaker compression and equipment distortion levels come into play. My grandfathers Fisher's Fisher 500 B has tone controls as well as a loudness button. looking at its output with a scope, even with all EQ settings flat or bypassed, you quickly realize that the volume control is also a hidden EQ control as a square wave is approximately passed at only one precise setting. In this circuit as in so many the variable input inductance interacts with the gain circuitry such that a "great" sound is dependent upon an exact setting of all of the controls. Add to this your speakers moment of inertia, or how much of a push it needs to get going and the muscles of your ear constricting to reduce excessive air pressure variation and we begin to understand some of the reasons behind your comments. Ok enough of the "lecture" here is my tweak for better sound. My Quad speakers had failed, poor glue, a known design fault. Friends were scheduled to come over and hear the system. I positioned my old college speakers, some ADS L710's such that they were at the 3 and 9 positions relative to the listening position. They were about 1/3 rd of the depth of the room away from the far wall and about 1/4 to 1/5th of the width away from the side walls. I rotated them in and tilted them back toward the listening position, focussed to a point a foot or so behind the head of the listener. Everyone was amazed by what they heard. Incredible imaging, depth, and tonal balance. No one could believe they were listening to a few hundred dollar, 40 year old "bookshelf" speakers. I guess we need to adapt the real estate phrase from location, location, location, to position position, position when it comes to loudspeakers. Thanks for all your inspiring efforts to demystify our audio reproduction passions. If interested you can see more at www.reflectionaudiodesign.com All the best and stay safe. Stephen Balliet
I agree 100% on listening volume. I can definitely hear a difference in the detail and clarity of the music at different volumes. Sometimes it even seems to make different instruments sound more prominent.
Steve, you neglected to mention to raise your "Floor Speakers" off the "floor" as well! Six inches minimum makes a huge difference. Still loving that "Mrs. G" designed cucumber shirt! 👍👍
@5:28 -- Volume Although your room's dimensions / reflections and your amp's clipping trigger and your speaker's comfort zone level all play a role in when too much volume becomes bad... ...I find that the most common volume limiting factor is the mixing job they did at the studio. In the studio, they have a twisted passion for increasing the mids, and also for compressing and ruining the dynamics. So the loudest you will play a given song is determined by which singer or which instrument hurts your ears when played too loud. Often, you still want to turn it up more to, for example, feel the drums, but that blaring guitar prevents you from doing so. -- For example, listen to Gerry Rafferty's "Right Down The Line". When the song starts, you can really turn it up. But at the 1:35 time mark, when the chorus comes in, "OUCH!". All of a sudden the studio turns up the gain and blasts your ears with much louder vocals, forcing you to turn down the volume. -- Emerson Lake & Palmer's "Tank". When Palmer plays his drum solo, you can blast it too the moon. But when his solo ends, and Emerson's keyboards return, you better turn the volume down if you want to avoid hearing damage. Countless songs have this issue; whether it be vocals, guitars, some synthesized keyboard, or some other stem that the studio turned up. So we want to play loud music, to chase whatever dynamics remain after the studio crushed the dynamics, and the studio says "Oh no you don't, take this!" as they kill our ears with some too loud stem that is out of place with the rest of the song. Oh how I hope that the master tapes for most of our great songs are somewhere safe, and one day, someone that is not a duffus gets ownership of them and lets the world hear how great these songs really sound, when not processed and vandalized by the AlexS's of the world. Cheers!
One reason I love my el34 valve amp! It does volume without sounding nasty when the meters are in the red. Compression? Maybe, but certainly warm and friendly. Looking forward to hooking it up again in the autumn. Valve buffered SS for summer;-)
Well I moved my speakers away from the wall and turned up the volume and wow what a difference! - This also had the added benefit of eliminating interruptions as my wife packed her bags and left!
Here's one i happened to try today and i can't figure out how i never thought of it before: My speakers rest on spikes (pretty much the only option for that particular speaker) on a polished concrete floor. So i applied a small amount of 5 minute epoxy around the tip of each spike, effectively welding my speakers to the floor. I'm hearing noticeable improvements in transient response, dynamics and detail. Of course this results in semi permanent speaker placement (removal should be easy enough and nondamaging to both speaker and surface but you still wouldn't want to do it over and over), in my case it was more than worth the trouble. Thought i might share it in case someone else out there has their speakers on a surface that won't be ruined by scraping epoxy off of it.
My best four type of items I bought, other than cables, have been: Furutech TP-60 Furutech NCF line cleaning products Furutech Liquid Nano Tripp Lite Isobar plug-in unit.
Not free, but cheap - raise your speakers from the floor (using floor spikes). Most floorstanding speakers tend to sound a little "muddy" when sitting flat on the floor. I used to own a pair of Jamo S426s, which weren't supplied with spikes, and i was a little disappointed with detail (especially bass & low midrange) and imaging until i purchased a set of aftermarket floor spikes (cost me $30).the difference was noticeable straight away.
Speaker placement is so often overlooked and is also one of the most important parts of a listening system. There is no one right way as all systems and rooms are different. It took me years to get the optimal placement for my Klipsch La Scalas.
That'd be optimaly placing 'em in the waste skip then... Only joking!!!! - I'm actually really, really jealous! I heard La Scala's once at a show and they blew me away; almost literally! Far too big for my home or wallet but we can dream.... Good luck, stay safe and take care! ;0)
Try to isolate all cables (interconnect, speaker and power) from physically making contact with one another. in other words create some space between the cables. This can have a positive effect on reducing potential interference and improve overall system transparency. When not possible, try to route cables at 90 degree angles to minimize potential surface area interaction.
@@SKUNKPROOF Yep - all cables generate their own electromagnetic field radiating outward from the cable regardless of the quality of the cable's insulator material. There's an old saying that Air is the best insulator! As you move cables away from one another there's almost an exponential drop in the ability for adjacent cables to act as potential microphones and pick up these external fields. You especially want to keep AC power cables away from low level signal transmitting cables like interconnects. If cable isolation throughout the entire system is carefully done, you'll notice a drop in the overall background noise floor, thereby a darker / blacker background. Good luck!
one of the biggest differences is the sitting position the further away you are from the back wall you will hear lees thickness of bass and more control
filling the stands with sand does not always result in an improvement. I filled my stands and emptied them two or three times just to make sure I heard the difference. They have been empty for about ten years.
w1nchester32 I wholeheartedly agree with you. For years I had stands filled with lead shot. The stands weighed a ton - just what the HiFi community say you should do. One day I had a HiFi dealer over to dem some speakers. He couldn’t get them to sound right. He said “empty the stands, they’re draining the energy out of the speakers” - Hey presto, they came to life! Unbelievable. I’ve over the years tried different stands with different speakers and filled and half filled the stands. EVERY combination has always sounded more open and out of the box with just a little filling (to stop ringing).
If you are using speakers on stands then secure the speakers to them using blu-tac. It holds them firmly and reduces vibration. I have suspended wooden floors - the worst case scenario for hifi. I'm using Mission 760iSE speakers on tall stands and the stands are blu-tacd to a pair of granite kitchen slabs.
If a Down firing Sub is used.... I’ve always placed a matching size Smooth faced 1/4”-1/2” thick Granite or Terra cotta Tile under it between it and Carpeted or Wood floors.. Be sure they don’t touch each other from cone excursion test👍 (I use my fingers) And raise Sub up if need be..You should hear an immediate improvement in a Better more defined textured Bass & More Impact❤️👍
Acoustic panels and bass traps, speaker positioning, good speaker cables, power conditioner, and the best possible recordings are a must if you want the best sound out of your system.
You just visited IN my room!! Nearfield is the key. In a 10' deep room using the rule of thirds 40" out from the front wall. I'm 40" from the speakers, and 40" from the back wall. I'm ALWAYS front row center, sometimes ON stage with a perfect image and a DEEP soundstage. Also nearfield eliminates ANY room effects.
I've used Linn DMS Isobarik speakers for decades in the 6"-12" from the wall Linn recommended position. When I moved and got a dedicated audio room, just for the hell of it I tried them out 5 feet. Holy crap! It was like going from black and white to Technicolor. The tradeoff was bass that dropped off a cliff at 50 hz. No problem with my M&K sub filling in the bottom end. I now take manufacturers recommendations with a grain of salt and always experiment for best sound.
Probably because less people were to buy them if they read recommendations about putting them that far from the wall, which in many living rooms with children (and spouses) wouldn't work.. 6'-12' is a nice compromise and a lot better than flat against the wall
One of the very best tweeks I've never heard anyone about is to place your hands behind your ears when listening as if you were trying to hear something from far away.. This greatly reduces room reflections and makes the sound much more focussed. Surprised that no one has made a helmet etc for this. As I've seen the lengths people will go too to get their room to sound better, this is an interesting one.
Lennard van Domburg I have also thought about this, its not possible to get a better major upgrade! Everytime I try this I always want the sound like this
I've tried this too.. the cupping can give you the conch shell reverb effect too. If you love this sound, you could also do a 4 corner stereo setup to give similar effect. Soundstage gets strange but you wind up enveloped in sound.
Good point! My listening preferences change during my sessions. If I listen to loud tracks early in the evening then tone it down later, I always wait a good 10 minutes or so before resuming.
Let me say it again: good sound does not come automatically and the best help is with an equalizer or at least bass and treble controls. That, despite many audiophiles and manufacturers of over-priced systems, stick to a system without these things.
Lol, people always laugh when I say anything up loud enough and it'll sound great...that's why buying a bands music at a gig, take it home and the magic is gone! Agree with the listen in the dark, but more trippy try the same in an isolation tank. Just don't go all Altered States (the crazy 80s flick....). Appreciate and look forward to your posts Steve! Your channel has helped me get back into my luv affair with sound! Example, I always drooled over these "silver metallic speakers this guy that lived in a garage. He was pumping out crazy double-bass metal music by Rob Zombie..his first hit record era....not my bag, but these speakers though squat small looking, but were handling every note, no bottoming out! 30 years forward, and I m the proud Papa of two Klipsch beauts that are powered, and compliment a simple ATlp-1240xp phono...still rolling pretty stock, but am holding out to upgrade versus the lateral move style....credit to shows like yours☆☆☆☆☆ Thanx from Los Angeles way!
I've set up my custom speakers in an equilateral triangle between left-right speakers and my listening chair with them slightly turned towards me and roughly 6 feet away from walls and curtains along the full width of the wall behind them. The speakers are basically transmission-line quarter wavelength and 61/2 inch full range single point source with a paper 2-inch tweeters mounted centrally to the apex of the driver. I removed the dust cap and much of the spider of the driver so there is very little suspension but enables the amp to grip on tight to the coil and custom made the crossover with an inductor that reduces sensitivity by a couple of Db and increases average impedance from 4ohms to 5ohms but adds to cabinet capabilities of going low to around 25 Hz and up to around 20Khz. The frequency is flat (measured) and at reasonable levels, one can feel the music. The driver is soft mounted, not screwed from the basket to the cabinet as that is a big no-no! The tube amp is a power amp single-ended in Ultra-Linear EL 34s with Driver tubes and I stress. It's a power amp! It needs a preamp for full potential bandwidth and when it's set up properly the imagery is incredible. It feels almost holographic and certainly three-dimensional. Yes, I've performed a lot of weeks but placement is critical and the sound from the speakers ideally should be closer to your ears than any walls.
If you usually toe in your speakers, try no toe in. If your speakers have a good off access response then you will be amazed at how much the soundstage increases.
I think it is very important to know how loud you want to listen when you buy speakers. There is such a big difference in speakers, I have Sonus Faber and I like to listen medium to loud...and I can do that in my house. If I would have to listen to lower levels I would buy a different speaker.
The tweak I simply won’t do without is the EQ. Right now I use my LG V30 phone with high quality streaming and downloads from Google Play and Spotify (LG actually designed this phone with quality audio in mind), and I play through Bluetooth to either Beats Studio wireless headphones, or a stand alone Bluetooth wireless Polaroid PBT3012 tower with 4 midrange drivers stacked. I got it on sale at Big Lots I think for $29. Believe it or not, I am extremely fussy about sound. I demand exceptional clarity and separation with a well defined low end. And by manipulating an Android EQ app on my phone which allows a significant boost to the signal if you want it, I can achieve a reasonably satisfying sound at a slightly elevated volume. For now this is what I’m working with, and the EQ allows me to mimic better quality audio equipment which I plan on getting in a year or two. BTW, the Polaroid tower serves double duty in the living room and bathroom, but it is never close to a wall, and this may be a significant contributing factor to the better than expected sound I’m able to tease from it.
Special case, as would be also the case with Bose 901, but that said, you are confirming that the relationship between the walls and the speakers are very important.
Hi Steve ! You're totally right with the level of the sound pressure. It's difficult to appreciate the music without a minimum level. Under a certain level you have less details et upper ... it's useless and noisy ! I've a small listening room and when I reach a level of 80 - 85 dB I consider that I can obtain the right feeling, the right immersion. The most difficult think to do is to convince my wife ! Is that another kind of tweak ?
Try adding pavestones under your turntable, especially if your system is not sounding good when loud. I put some pavers on a rubber hot pad (for the oven) and put the turntable on that. Make sure you re-level it afterwards. It helped. One way to tell if this might help is to record the output of the turntable on the leadout grooves while playing another source. If you can hear the beat on the recording you have a problem. Old recievers were great for this as many had record select functionality or tape monitor loops you could abuse to record one thing while playing something else.
Listening at different volumes or bringing up the volume until you get a realistic level of what the instruments or voices should sound like is the "great leveler" in maximizing music enjoyment. A Maggie owner.
I haven't put pedal to metal on the LRS with the Bryston 4BSST yet. In fact the volume sweet spot is high noon on the BP25 preamp or a little below but 1 pm or 2 pm I am leery of slapping starting. These are pretty new and maybe 100 hours on them. They sound very nice even far away as in my basement through the vent. It is interesting.
John Doe The LRS has gotten the most awesome reviews and Bryston amps are used by so many Maggie owners I'm not surprised that the music sounds "nice" even in the basement.
Here’s an easy one - turn off the lights! The longer you’re in the dark the better your hearing becomes. It’s called the ‘Ray Charles Effect”. (Not joking)
Yes, this works wonders. For me, the lights on my equipment can become even more annoying in a dark room; the bright blue lights on my amp bleeds through even with my eyes closed, so I use a sleep mask to block out any remaining ambient light sources. Best $5 I ever spent.
Agreed.. listening to music in a dark comfortable listening room is better than the distractions during the day....also the mains power should be a little cleaner to.
Toe the speakers inward to form a perfect triangle, ie, distance from left to right speaker equals distance from your ears to left and right speakers. This combined with some distance between the speakers and the front wall gives you the best of both worlds....great sweet spot with a substantial soundstage.
On my computer I downloaded a free equalizer called "configuration editor". Very handy for switching between "listening volume" and "sleeping volume". That way I can play with the preamp and mid-range, and hear the quiet parts in movies. It can also be reversed, and limit the loud portions. All configurations can be saved, and opened.
Hersey Berry I love to put my speakers 3‘ to 4‘ away from the wall, unfortunately My speakers are in a great-room and therefore the room accommodates other uses. I have big Altec voice of the theater speakers and they already stick out away from the wall too much.Even in my old house, my stereo was in the living room and once again I was restricted on how far away from the wall the speakers could go. It’s called the “Wife acceptance factor” or WAF for short. In fact there are a lot of videos of people showing stereo systems with Small speakers, because their wife does not want them to buy big huge speakers and put it in their house. Nobody said being an audiophile was easy, did they?
My wife is actually pretty good about my stereo equipment. My only problem is using it while my wife is watching TV in another room! Although she is open to a "dedicated sound room" in our 4th level basement. I'll work on that one!
I'm late here but, my wife loves our music nights and usually wants it louder than me. Only problem, we can't both fit in the sweet spot unless she sits on my lap... Keep it clean people.
Here's one you try if you're a vinyl lover the weight of the cartridge sometimes heavier is better obviously it depends on your arm and your turntable also if you have aluminum platters the simple mat is a great upgrade you be amazed on how much better your turntable will sound!!!!! And if you have turntable mats hanging around maybe try switching them up you might find one sound better than the other😀✌
Here is a very simple tweak that costs nothing and that many audio snobs will never do. Adjust your tone controls and stop thinking they must be at their neutral setting.
Regarding volume level, raising the audio level should usually just make the level of detail increase as softer sounds will be more audible. This is also why there is an apparent plateau in the improved quality as once all the sounds are above the threshold of audibility, there's not much more to be gained. Obviously there's a limit to this based on power and what you can tolerate, but with good drivers the sound shouldn't change too dramatically. If it does, then it indicates nonlinearities in either the speakers or amplifier, usually the speakers unless your using a single-ended class-A audio amplifier that generates harmonics due to its inherent non-linear operation. A good set of speakers will usually be quite linear at low to moderate volumes, and then as the compliance range is used up, they get more non-linear, and start generating spurious harmonics and even intermodulation distortion. Same with class-A amps: The linearity gets worse with increasing amplitude (otherwise known as large signal nonlinearity or gain compression). Most well designed class-B or D amps wont have this issue, but they will obviously clip when sufficient input is applied.
If you have a coffee table between you and your speakers, park a couple of throw cushions off the sofa on it. Also, if you have your system rigged up for your TV, push the TV sound through it, even half an hour warm up before playing music will sweeten your hi-fi sound and, therefore, your listening pleasure
Don't forget you can also tweak use feeders speakers by just turning the men slightly towards the listening position sometimes that makes a world of difference...
I found that in a small room the sound bounces around of everything creating an incoherent blur of individual instruments. The loudness control is useful to retain the highs and lows you had at high volume but now at a volume where it doesn't all get mashed up
I added a tube buffer and a Equalizer sounds great now . Back in the day they said don't add more equipment in the chain.they said not as clean l now know this was BS they just wanted to sell you more expensive gear will never go without a Equalizer again.
How about this for a ported speaker design. Cut one of those cheap (3/4 inch thick) sound absorption foam into 2 strips about 3 inches wide and roll them up. Stuff em in the ports. Depending on how tightly they are rolled up you can 'adjust' how snug they stuff the ports. Makes a difference in taming the bass boominess and bringing up the mids. I know this is not exactly free as you gotta have one of those foam around, but it's close enough.
@@Aswaguespack Yup, I used to do that, but found out that it is hard to control how much I want to block the ports. It's either 'on' or 'off'. With this, I can control somewhat how much blockage I want depending on how tightly I roll the foam up. This allows me better control of how much bass I get. Works for me cause my listening area is rather small. Well that's my experience anyway. Ymmv
Here’s one Steve, CLEAN YOUR EARS! I recently got mine cleaned by my ENT doc, my hearing improved a good 10-15% especially in the high’s.
Or use ear spray
Especially for the older folks
If you like classical, buy the score and learn to follow it in real time. Soon you’ll be hearing a lot more.
We used to have listening parties in college; we’d get the book of Beethoven’s middle quartets and just go through a few of them. Combine that with beer/wine/whiskey/“other stuff...”, and baby, you got a stew going! Didn’t help with the dating life, though. 🤷♂️
👆🏼This!👆🏼
Use a baton and soon you’ll be demanding to be referred to as Maestro.
Greg F No way: it’s difficult with some scores and I only have a few (Copland’s Rodeo suite and Respighi’s Ancient Dances and Airs suite no 2 are easier to start with, some long symphonies and string prices are hard work). More importantly, playing air guitar takes time away from classical music.
Totally! Maybe its just me but I always found it very odd that people can spend so much money on audio listening gear but have little or no knowledge of music language or theory. Having even a small understanding of these things can drastically enhance ones listening experience.
For some music types I like to listen at low volume late at night. The amplifier stays in its class a region, avoids clipping on transients and has lower distortion. After a while the ears become more sensitive and you get drawn in, pulling out more and more detail at progressively lower and lower volumes. Just magic.
Increasing volume is such an obvious tweak, and playing music too quietly is a trap I fall into often. I’d play it loader, but my husband and kids can’t deal. 😂
Headphones baby! Just have to be careful to not blow out your eardrums :)
It’s amazing how much more you hear with headphones! 🤩
One of the biggest adjustments I made in my system was speaker placement. I have them measured to be precisely placed in the room (from the rear wall and side walls). What can also make a huge impact is the space between your speakers. From my experimentation, the closer the speakers are together, the more the bass is pronounced. The wider they are, the wider the sound stage. It's important to find a happy medium between the two.
I see a huge future for Audiophile grade Hearing Aids for AGING Audiophiles. Imagine the possibilities, planar magnetic,solid gold accents, real wood damping, super expensive batteries with platinum wiring, freq responses to 50Khz even though these ears can barely hear 8 or 10Khz, lol! Aging boomers and their cash? A win win!
Headphones with the volume turned up?
sign me up - - - ( :
Reminds me of the user meade316, and basically videos of him riding around listening to 20kW amps and subs going at about 160-170 dB. As you watch later videos, you notice he has to SPEAK UP. Brings up the free top-tip of listening at reasonable volumes so you don't go deaf. I can still hear up to 16 kHz at 40 and hopefully I can keep it that way.
Some of the things I've read in regards to augmented reality and virtual reality and being able to choose and adjust what you can and can't hear will blow your mind.
E.g you'll be able to choose to hear "real world sounds" and block out "augmented reality sounds" and vice versa.
A nice rosewood case for travel and such would be a beauty! ;)
Great presentation.. I agree with your suggestions completely.
Additionally, make the room you are in quieter. Get the noise floor down below 30 db. I live on a quiet dead end street. My room is in the basement. I turn off the central air conditioner to reduce the noise floor. But then late night listening is wonderful at low volume. As Arthur Salvatore discusses, the measure of a great system is how well it can reproduce low level information. Such a system sounds great at quiet volume in a quiet space. Even then your comments are valid as there is always a sweet spot on the attenuator.
Brilliant advise. Many thanks from London, England
I know many would consider this snake oil, but I invested in high end power distribution via Shunyata with a dedicated 20 amp circuit, plus mid-level AudioQuest Speaker cables. All of this improved the performance detail of my system. More Clear, more accurate and balanced frequency response with great dynamics at both low and high volumes. In fact as funny as it may sound it really improved my low volume listening. I don't push my amp as hard anymore.
It's not snake oil. We alI hear what we hear. Replaced my plastic jacket cables with solid copper Anticables. Improved soundstage and punchy bass sound right away. Costing 120 bucks used including IC cable.
Lifting up the floor standing speakers onto platforms with decoupling of bass with damping mats made a big difference. And then the room acoustics, which is close to 50 % of what you are going to listen to.
Great advice- Speaker placement is #1. Additional tweak - I use spikes and isolation ..yes AND. Had platforms built to place the tower speakers on, then spiked that (speaker) level to the lower level, which is isolated from concrete floor. The spikes allow for tilt adjustments that open the soundstage and height of the imaging.
The isolation cleaned up the bass and left ought but detail and clarity. The subs cover whatever low end is required (lost previously) within proper speaker placement.
Hope that helps, works wonders for me!
This is good advice. Concrete floors kill bass. Getting the speakers off the concrete and onto wood can definitely help.
Pro tip:
Try some solid slabs of two or four inch thick wood, if you can get it. Pine or Poplar is fine (also less expensive if you aren't using scrap wood), but stay away from things like Oak.
Also, try the thickest, most heavy-duty spikes you can find. Like lag screw thickness or more. Use spikes, not cones.
Finally, try experimenting with some weights on top of the speakers. You don't want too much weight here, but some can be beneficial.
@@HareDeLune Try Auralic damping mats on transport dollies. Decouples the bass and get the floorstanding speakers of the ground into the air
@@theklipschcave3389
Thanks, but that's not for me. I like good bass! : )
I love it. These are tweeks to listeners' behavior, expectations, and perceptions. Spoken like a true musician's friend.
Read the manuals inside out and upside down. There may be many internal tweaks via the menus, etc. that you are missing.
Good tips! Nearfield listening with careful attention to relative height of ears and speakers combined with rake angle is perhaps the most cost effective tweak if the distribution of the drivers is sufficiently close so as to allow nearfield listening. As to various volume levels, I find they are analogous to finding the appropriate distance for viewing works if visual art. Pointillism is a great example here.
On a personal note, I have long enjoyed your work since first discovering it in Stereophole. Thanks, Steve!
My number one tweak is to send my kids outside. Reduces background noise by 100%!
I took your advice on moving the spielers away from the wall a few months ago, and it was a revelation!
One tweak that becomes more important as you get older...the seating arrangement. Large fluffy furniture can absorb sound. Also, your back will appreciate a comfortable chair with good back support. I use a rattan chair with a cushion bottom rescued from a sofa (Freecycle!) a back pillow and a lumbar pillow. I am good for 4 hours of intense listening.
Have a few shots of vodka or rum before you listen. Many things can sound pretty good after that!
Or better.. Spark up some green herb ;)
I prefer a single malt Scotch. Really enhances my listening experiences!
You might be surprised (or not!) to know that science supports what you say. I have a high-level diploma in wine and spirits and we were taught that a little bit of wine enhances your tasting skills/senses. But at some point after that with too much to drink, your tasting skills drop like a lead weight.
Cheap tweaks that made a difference in my system, is the power recepticle and cables risers. If you get a hospital grade recepticle, they have thicker and tighter contacts. I find they can bring your audio system a lower noise floor and it can sound cleaner and more detailed. They're also designed to handle more current and for extended periods of time.
The hospital grade outlet will cost $15. I have a carpeted floor so when I added cable risers, the audio is cleaner and has a lower noise floor. You can buy cheap cable risers that cost under $15 each. You want at least 3 inches off the floor.
Yes, drip that snake oil all over your system. Slather it in every nook and cranny. 😂
For us who live in Europe and can put the plug in the socket both ways, the polarity of the electricity is the most critical factor for a good listening.
asymmetric speaker placement can make a world of difference. My listening room has a stairwell next to my left speaker...a little further out from the back wall and a little more tow-in made an astonishing difference.
These 2 tips are super, thank you for this video. Speakers are now 18" from the wall and I've found my perfect volume, though it varies from one recording to another. BIG difference! If I may add to this: Sit in the right spot, there's only one. In this context, the height of the speakers or your chair is vital. For bookshelfs, a 2 ft stand approx is good. Make an equilateral triangle, speakers and you, as a starting point. Tweeters 2" below your chin. Big floorstanders, you need a high chair for that sweet spot 😂
As you said turning the volume up increases presence, turning it up too much increases fatigue and pisses off the wife and neighbors. Solution: tone controls or loudness button. Bringing speakers out in the room improves imaging but unfortunately also decreases bass. Solution: buy bigger speakers and place them in the middle of the room (which will also piss off the wife).
easier solution, get rid of wife and the neighbours. 😀
@@markrowe8824 It has crossed my mind a few times.
Tone control not necessarily
My basic marriage contract: "love me, love R2 and D2!"
I can relate 😂 great post
You know, Steve..the one thing I love the most about your videos is the retro charm of your recording room. The unending stacks of cds and records, turntables, huge sized vintage speakers..it is all so reminiscent of the golden era of stereo..so warm and cozy.. Unlike the setups of younger reviewers on UA-cam. Grey walls, ikea furniture, minimalist equipment, their "impeccable" recording setup, shallow depth of field..i don't know, I just cannot relate with those people even though I'm all of 32 right now. I hope you'll continue with this recording style. Please do not change anything! ☺️
Late at night , some candlelight , bottle of wine that's it !! All you need guys !!
Im 2.5 feet away from the wall on my Elac UB5's and they sound really great. Got them at the Goodwill for $30. Powering them with a Rotel RB-990BX I got for $52 at Savers. Happy hunting.
Same speakers for for me, but paid a bit more... I moved mine, 32" away about 6 months ago, would never go back! Mine paired with an Emotiva stack.
Yamaha NS-6490s here. The magic happens at exactly 3 feet off the wall.
Congratulations on your excellent bargains!
My two free ones worth: felt feet for your speakers if you are setting them on a hard surface, and experiment with angles - by which I mean start with your speakers symmetrical to the side walls and equidistant from the back wall. Then turn the angle so that the plane of the speakers is about 10 degrees from the back wall (so one is further away). Keep everything else the same. I bet that you’ll get much better imaging like that, as this makes your room work a bit like a diffuser. I’ve saved loadsamoney in room treatment over the years like this!
Try extreme toe in, can reduce room influences greatly, increase the sweet spot
Worked well in my room, though it wasn't really necessary once I moved the speakers 6' from the front wall.
Since I can't always keep the speakers in the middle of the living room, I keep them near the wall with extreme toe-in, and mark the perfect spot with masking tape for the days when I can pull them out and sit in the sweet spot.
Goes well with near-field listening!
Strangely just a mild toe in works in my room having speakers placed at longer wall and sweet spot almost at the opposite wall.
Absolutely!
Most speaker drivers are omnidirectional below a critical frequency basically proportional to the diameter of the actual driver cone/membrane, etc. This means that if they're designed properly (i.e. the critical frequency is above the cut-off frequency for that driver), you dont need to aim them directly at you, as that will make them sound harsher. If they are not aimed at you, you can get, more or less, fairly uniform sound through most of the center of the room, which makes it easier if, say, your watching movies with the fam as everyone will get to enjoy the sound and not the person directly sitting in front of the speakers. The frequencies above the critical frequencies are radiated in a fairly narrow beam and make the speaker sound harsh if your directly in front of them, or if their set up to have a "sweet spot", sound dull when your not directly in line with the speakers. Experimenting with an audio spectrum analyzer, I can get a flat response from 45 Hz - 20 kHz (the advertised range) between the two speakers when they're just facing forward, and not directly firing at the microphone (or listener) with some minor (~ +/- a few dB) of adjustment to the EQ. This makes listening more convenient as I get roughly the same sound at multiple locations, less the inevitable constructive and destructive interference. If they sound dull you can just adjust them via your tone controls or EQ until they sound acceptable. No need to "aim" them unless the design requires it.
Experiment with adding or removing sound absorbing fabrics such as drapes, upholstered furniture, area rugs etc. to improve the acoustics of the room. Start with small, easily reversible changes. From there the sky's the limit on what you can spend to improve the acoustics of a room.
I recommend these tweaks:
1-Ground circle (attaching a closed wire circle to negatives of each speaker terminal) various degrees of benefit.
2-Placing marble plates underneath each speakers (6 cm in thickness at least) increases speaker sound quality performance by 30%
3-Upgrading the AC cable (huge difference)
4-Engulfment of transformers of amplifier & DAC units with sheaths of Cu inside & Fe outside incresases detail
5-Groundboxing of units (leads to a minor but significant difference of treble detail)
6-Black tourmalin placement near amplifier circuitry. (this is when the magic happens: incredible & significant effect)
7-Diffuser and absorber treatment of the room
8-Napping before listening.
9-AC inlet filters (especially effective if the listening site is located close to a industrial area)
Will try the tourmallin stones. Would you mind sharing what kind of improvements you had?
wow
@@brunorivademar5356 well, a bit of dynamic response and detail
Hi Steve,
I assume you are familiar with the Fletcher the Munson curve regarding our hearing sensitivity over frequency. My old KLH mono FM radio sounds great because it incorporates an inverse curve, proportionally boosting the bass and to a lesser degree the treble with decreased volume. Some gear has a loudness button that provided a single fixed adjustment, but the beauty of the KLH circuit is that it varied with volume and was able to do this because it was a closed system with the entire signal path including the speaker under the designers control.
Our hearing sensitivity explains the largest part of our differing perception to loudness. In addition speaker compression and equipment distortion levels come into play. My grandfathers Fisher's Fisher 500 B has tone controls as well as a loudness button. looking at its output with a scope, even with all EQ settings flat or bypassed, you quickly realize that the volume control is also a hidden EQ control as a square wave is approximately passed at only one precise setting. In this circuit as in so many the variable input inductance interacts with the gain circuitry such that a "great" sound is dependent upon an exact setting of all of the controls. Add to this your speakers moment of inertia, or how much of a push it needs to get going and the muscles of your ear constricting to reduce excessive air pressure variation and we begin to understand some of the reasons behind your comments.
Ok enough of the "lecture" here is my tweak for better sound. My Quad speakers had failed, poor glue, a known design fault. Friends were scheduled to come over and hear the system. I positioned my old college speakers, some ADS L710's such that they were at the 3 and 9 positions relative to the listening position. They were about 1/3 rd of the depth of the room away from the far wall and about 1/4 to 1/5th of the width away from the side walls. I rotated them in and tilted them back toward the listening position, focussed to a point a foot or so behind the head of the listener. Everyone was amazed by what they heard. Incredible imaging, depth, and tonal balance. No one could believe they were listening to a few hundred dollar, 40 year old "bookshelf" speakers. I guess we need to adapt the real estate phrase from location, location, location, to position position, position when it comes to loudspeakers.
Thanks for all your inspiring efforts to demystify our audio reproduction passions.
If interested you can see more at www.reflectionaudiodesign.com
All the best and stay safe.
Stephen Balliet
Interesting.
I agree 100% on listening volume. I can definitely hear a difference in the detail and clarity of the music at different volumes. Sometimes it even seems to make different instruments sound more prominent.
Steve, you neglected to mention to raise your "Floor Speakers" off the "floor" as well! Six inches minimum makes a huge difference. Still loving that "Mrs. G" designed cucumber shirt! 👍👍
Yep that's one good thing. off the floor and decouple with damping-mats from Auralic.
@5:28
-- Volume
Although your room's dimensions / reflections and your amp's clipping trigger and your speaker's comfort zone level all play a role in when too much volume becomes bad...
...I find that the most common volume limiting factor is the mixing job they did at the studio.
In the studio, they have a twisted passion for increasing the mids, and also for compressing and ruining the dynamics. So the loudest you will play a given song is determined by which singer or which instrument hurts your ears when played too loud. Often, you still want to turn it up more to, for example, feel the drums, but that blaring guitar prevents you from doing so.
-- For example, listen to Gerry Rafferty's "Right Down The Line".
When the song starts, you can really turn it up. But at the 1:35 time mark, when the chorus comes in, "OUCH!". All of a sudden the studio turns up the gain and blasts your ears with much louder vocals, forcing you to turn down the volume.
-- Emerson Lake & Palmer's "Tank".
When Palmer plays his drum solo, you can blast it too the moon. But when his solo ends, and Emerson's keyboards return, you better turn the volume down if you want to avoid hearing damage.
Countless songs have this issue; whether it be vocals, guitars, some synthesized keyboard, or some other stem that the studio turned up.
So we want to play loud music, to chase whatever dynamics remain after the studio crushed the dynamics, and the studio says "Oh no you don't, take this!" as they kill our ears with some too loud stem that is out of place with the rest of the song.
Oh how I hope that the master tapes for most of our great songs are somewhere safe, and one day, someone that is not a duffus gets ownership of them and lets the world hear how great these songs really sound, when not processed and vandalized by the AlexS's of the world.
Cheers!
🍻
One reason I love my el34 valve amp!
It does volume without sounding nasty when the meters are in the red.
Compression? Maybe, but certainly warm and friendly. Looking forward to hooking it up again in the autumn.
Valve buffered SS for summer;-)
I agree.
Well I moved my speakers away from the wall and turned up the volume and wow what a difference! - This also had the added benefit of eliminating interruptions as my wife packed her bags and left!
Sorry to hear that your wife left.
Thanks for the tips from Steve and all the comments. I know I’m going to learn some cool things!!!
Here's one i happened to try today and i can't figure out how i never thought of it before: My speakers rest on spikes (pretty much the only option for that particular speaker) on a polished concrete floor. So i applied a small amount of 5 minute epoxy around the tip of each spike, effectively welding my speakers to the floor. I'm hearing noticeable improvements in transient response, dynamics and detail. Of course this results in semi permanent speaker placement (removal should be easy enough and nondamaging to both speaker and surface but you still wouldn't want to do it over and over), in my case it was more than worth the trouble. Thought i might share it in case someone else out there has their speakers on a surface that won't be ruined by scraping epoxy off of it.
I'd rearrange the furniture in the room and see how that affects the sound.
Get divorced... It's not free thought 😜
My best four type of items I bought, other than cables, have been:
Furutech TP-60
Furutech NCF line cleaning products
Furutech Liquid Nano
Tripp Lite Isobar plug-in unit.
Not free, but cheap - raise your speakers from the floor (using floor spikes). Most floorstanding speakers tend to sound a little "muddy" when sitting flat on the floor. I used to own a pair of Jamo S426s, which weren't supplied with spikes, and i was a little disappointed with detail (especially bass & low midrange) and imaging until i purchased a set of aftermarket floor spikes (cost me $30).the difference was noticeable straight away.
Speaker placement is so often overlooked and is also one of the most important parts of a listening system. There is no one right way as all systems and rooms are different. It took me years to get the optimal placement for my Klipsch La Scalas.
That'd be optimaly placing 'em in the waste skip then... Only joking!!!! - I'm actually really, really jealous! I heard La Scala's once at a show and they blew me away; almost literally! Far too big for my home or wallet but we can dream.... Good luck, stay safe and take care! ;0)
It's about the room as always. Curtains, diffusers and absorbers. Have you tried Klipsch atmos speakers on top of your La Scalas?
Try to isolate all cables (interconnect, speaker and power) from physically making contact with one another. in other words create some space between the cables. This can have a positive effect on reducing potential interference and improve overall system transparency. When not possible, try to route cables at 90 degree angles to minimize potential surface area interaction.
Absolutely, didn't realize how bad this is til I got a good set of headphones.
@@SKUNKPROOF Yep - all cables generate their own electromagnetic field radiating outward from the cable regardless of the quality of the cable's insulator material. There's an old saying that Air is the best insulator! As you move cables away from one another there's almost an exponential drop in the ability for adjacent cables to act as potential microphones and pick up these external fields. You especially want to keep AC power cables away from low level signal transmitting cables like interconnects. If cable isolation throughout the entire system is carefully done, you'll notice a drop in the overall background noise floor, thereby a darker / blacker background. Good luck!
My fyne audio f302 floorstanders sound amazing soft and medium on my icon audio valve amp. Late night listening I am transfixed👍👍🙂
Listening in the dark is awesome!
Properly aligned cartridge makes a huge difference! If you already have the necessary tools, this becomes a free upgrade.
Cucumber shirt for the win 🥒 I love it.
Here in Louisiana Tabasco Pepper Shirts are very popular 😉😂
one of the biggest differences is the sitting position the further away you are from the back wall you will hear lees thickness of bass and more control
If you have stand mount speakers fill the stands with sand.
Alternatively, ditch the hollow stands and use solid six by six lumber (if you value good sound and low cost over aesthetics).
Did it
filling the stands with sand does not always result in an improvement. I filled my stands and emptied them two or three times just to make sure I heard the difference. They have been empty for about ten years.
w1nchester32 I wholeheartedly agree with you. For years I had stands filled with lead shot. The stands weighed a ton - just what the HiFi community say you should do. One day I had a HiFi dealer over to dem some speakers. He couldn’t get them to sound right. He said “empty the stands, they’re draining the energy out of the speakers” - Hey presto, they came to life! Unbelievable. I’ve over the years tried different stands with different speakers and filled and half filled the stands. EVERY combination has always sounded more open and out of the box with just a little filling (to stop ringing).
Now, I always use the Pure Direct circuit in my receiver. This enhances the soundstage and clarity of the music.
Try listening in the dark; really focuses the concentration. Then try a single candle; gives a nice glowing ambiance and ionises the atmosphere ;0)
If you have Klipsch Heresy - put them on end tables that are about 22” high; they are so much better off the floor.
If you are using speakers on stands then secure the speakers to them using blu-tac. It holds them firmly and reduces vibration. I have suspended wooden floors - the worst case scenario for hifi. I'm using Mission 760iSE speakers on tall stands and the stands are blu-tacd to a pair of granite kitchen slabs.
Fantastic descriptions of an Audiophiliac!
If a Down firing Sub is used.... I’ve always placed a matching size Smooth faced 1/4”-1/2” thick Granite or Terra cotta Tile under it between it and Carpeted or Wood floors.. Be sure they don’t touch each other from cone excursion test👍 (I use my fingers) And raise Sub up if need be..You should hear an immediate improvement in a Better more defined textured Bass & More Impact❤️👍
Acoustic panels and bass traps, speaker positioning, good speaker cables, power conditioner, and the best possible recordings are a must if you want the best sound out of your system.
You just visited IN my room!! Nearfield is the key. In a 10' deep room using the rule of thirds
40" out from the front wall. I'm 40" from the speakers, and 40" from the back wall. I'm ALWAYS front row center, sometimes ON stage
with a perfect image and a DEEP soundstage. Also nearfield eliminates ANY room effects.
I've used Linn DMS Isobarik speakers for decades in the 6"-12" from the wall Linn recommended position. When I moved and got a dedicated audio room, just for the hell of it I tried them out 5 feet. Holy crap! It was like going from black and white to Technicolor. The tradeoff was bass that dropped off a cliff at 50 hz. No problem with my M&K sub filling in the bottom end. I now take manufacturers recommendations with a grain of salt and always experiment for best sound.
Probably because less people were to buy them if they read recommendations about putting them that far from the wall, which in many living rooms with children (and spouses) wouldn't work.. 6'-12' is a nice compromise and a lot better than flat against the wall
One of the very best tweeks I've never heard anyone about is to place your hands behind your ears when listening as if you were trying to hear something from far away.. This greatly reduces room reflections and makes the sound much more focussed. Surprised that no one has made a helmet etc for this. As I've seen the lengths people will go too to get their room to sound better, this is an interesting one.
I have tried this ear cupping method and it really works. I had mentioned this in one of Steve's previous videos a few months ago.
Or place cushions behind your head and/or ears.
I have made comparison using hands and cushions, and I prefer hands. Maybe material and shape matter.
Lennard van Domburg I have also thought about this, its not possible to get a better major upgrade! Everytime I try this I always want the sound like this
I've tried this too.. the cupping can give you the conch shell reverb effect too. If you love this sound, you could also do a 4 corner stereo setup to give similar effect. Soundstage gets strange but you wind up enveloped in sound.
I agree, volume control is key in getting the best sound out of one’s sound system.
Another tip: after listening to loud music, give your ears time to reset their sensitivity.
Good point! My listening preferences change during my sessions. If I listen to loud tracks early in the evening then tone it down later, I always wait a good 10 minutes or so before resuming.
Jim Smith's book, "Get Better Sound" is full of free tweaks.
Toe In adjustment is another one to try in new spots!
Let me say it again: good sound does not come automatically and the best help is with an equalizer or at least bass and treble controls. That, despite many audiophiles and manufacturers of over-priced systems, stick to a system without these things.
Lol, people always laugh when I say anything up loud enough and it'll sound great...that's why buying a bands music at a gig, take it home and the magic is gone! Agree with the listen in the dark, but more trippy try the same in an isolation tank. Just don't go all Altered States (the crazy 80s flick....). Appreciate and look forward to your posts Steve! Your channel has helped me get back into my luv affair with sound! Example, I always drooled over these "silver metallic speakers this guy that lived in a garage. He was pumping out crazy double-bass metal music by Rob Zombie..his first hit record era....not my bag, but these speakers though squat small looking, but were handling every note, no bottoming out! 30 years forward, and I m the proud Papa of two Klipsch beauts that are powered, and compliment a simple ATlp-1240xp phono...still rolling pretty stock, but am holding out to upgrade versus the lateral move style....credit to shows like yours☆☆☆☆☆ Thanx from Los Angeles way!
Listen closely to the first minute and45 seconds! From my own experiences over the years simply moving speakers around as Steve suggests can be HUGE.
I've set up my custom speakers in an equilateral triangle between left-right speakers and my listening chair with them slightly turned towards me and roughly 6 feet away from walls and curtains along the full width of the wall behind them. The speakers are basically transmission-line quarter wavelength and 61/2 inch full range single point source with a paper 2-inch tweeters mounted centrally to the apex of the driver. I removed the dust cap and much of the spider of the driver so there is very little suspension but enables the amp to grip on tight to the coil and custom made the crossover with an inductor that reduces sensitivity by a couple of Db and increases average impedance from 4ohms to 5ohms but adds to cabinet capabilities of going low to around 25 Hz and up to around 20Khz. The frequency is flat (measured) and at reasonable levels, one can feel the music. The driver is soft mounted, not screwed from the basket to the cabinet as that is a big no-no! The tube amp is a power amp single-ended in Ultra-Linear EL 34s with Driver tubes and I stress. It's a power amp! It needs a preamp for full potential bandwidth and when it's set up properly the imagery is incredible. It feels almost holographic and certainly three-dimensional. Yes, I've performed a lot of weeks but placement is critical and the sound from the speakers ideally should be closer to your ears than any walls.
What do you mean by "soft mounted", and why is screwing the basket to the cabinet a big no-no?
Noise reduction? Keep kids out of your listening room.
If you usually toe in your speakers, try no toe in. If your speakers have a good off access response then you will be amazed at how much the soundstage increases.
Thank you Steve for the info and good night from Singapore..
Great suggestions and reminders, Steve!
Thank you so much for the "sound" advice!
I think it is very important to know how loud you want to listen when you buy speakers. There is such a big difference in speakers, I have Sonus Faber and I like to listen medium to loud...and I can do that in my house. If I would have to listen to lower levels I would buy a different speaker.
Cucumber slices
90db is the sweet spot for my dali zensor 8s and rega elix-r
Either get a divorce or a dedicated listening room where the wife has no say about anything!
The tweak I simply won’t do without is the EQ. Right now I use my LG V30 phone with high quality streaming and downloads from Google Play and Spotify (LG actually designed this phone with quality audio in mind), and I play through Bluetooth to either Beats Studio wireless headphones, or a stand alone Bluetooth wireless Polaroid PBT3012 tower with 4 midrange drivers stacked. I got it on sale at Big Lots I think for $29. Believe it or not, I am extremely fussy about sound. I demand exceptional clarity and separation with a well defined low end. And by manipulating an Android EQ app on my phone which allows a significant boost to the signal if you want it, I can achieve a reasonably satisfying sound at a slightly elevated volume. For now this is what I’m working with, and the EQ allows me to mimic better quality audio equipment which I plan on getting in a year or two. BTW, the Polaroid tower serves double duty in the living room and bathroom, but it is never close to a wall, and this may be a significant contributing factor to the better than expected sound I’m able to tease from it.
I have Ohm Walsh 3000 and tried moving them out from the wall but they sound excellent about 12" from the wall being that is how they are designed.
Special case, as would be also the case with Bose 901, but that said, you are confirming that the relationship between the walls and the speakers are very important.
Hi Steve ! You're totally right with the level of the sound pressure. It's difficult to appreciate the music without a minimum level. Under a certain level you have less details et upper ... it's useless and noisy ! I've a small listening room and when I reach a level of 80 - 85 dB I consider that I can obtain the right feeling, the right immersion. The most difficult think to do is to convince my wife ! Is that another kind of tweak ?
Best inexpensive tweak is tighting driver bolts with torque wrench.
at what torque does mdf usually strip?
@@jackmills5071 in my experience, right after I convince myself that I just need to do a quarter turn more....
@@jackmills5071 in mine I use 1.5Nm, do it twice a year
Try adding pavestones under your turntable, especially if your system is not sounding good when loud. I put some pavers on a rubber hot pad (for the oven) and put the turntable on that. Make sure you re-level it afterwards. It helped. One way to tell if this might help is to record the output of the turntable on the leadout grooves while playing another source. If you can hear the beat on the recording you have a problem. Old recievers were great for this as many had record select functionality or tape monitor loops you could abuse to record one thing while playing something else.
Listening at different volumes or bringing up the volume until you get a realistic level of what the instruments or voices should sound like is the "great leveler" in maximizing music enjoyment. A Maggie owner.
I haven't put pedal to metal on the LRS with the Bryston 4BSST yet. In fact the volume sweet spot is high noon on the BP25 preamp or a little below but 1 pm or 2 pm I am leery of slapping starting. These are pretty new and maybe 100 hours on them. They sound very nice even far away as in my basement through the vent. It is interesting.
John Doe The LRS has gotten the most awesome reviews and Bryston amps are used by so many Maggie owners I'm not surprised that the music sounds "nice" even in the basement.
Here’s an easy one - turn off the lights! The longer you’re in the dark the better your hearing becomes. It’s called the ‘Ray Charles Effect”. (Not joking)
Some call it pitch black listening. they do shows with this in London. I practice it all the time.
Yes, this works wonders. For me, the lights on my equipment can become even more annoying in a dark room; the bright blue lights on my amp bleeds through even with my eyes closed, so I use a sleep mask to block out any remaining ambient light sources. Best $5 I ever spent.
Agreed.. listening to music in a dark comfortable listening room is better than the distractions during the day....also the mains power should be a little cleaner to.
This was one of Steve's first suggestions in this video.
Daryl Sawatzky oh yeah, I just rewatched it.....silly me
Toe the speakers inward to form a perfect triangle, ie, distance from left to right speaker equals distance from your ears to left and right speakers. This combined with some distance between the speakers and the front wall gives you the best of both worlds....great sweet spot with a substantial soundstage.
You are Damm right I totally agree thanks
On my computer I downloaded a free equalizer called "configuration editor".
Very handy for switching between "listening volume" and "sleeping volume".
That way I can play with the preamp and mid-range, and hear the quiet parts in movies. It can also be reversed, and limit the loud portions.
All configurations can be saved, and opened.
I’m pretty,pretty, pretty sure, the wife won’t like moving speakers in the middle of the room.
Hersey Berry I love to put my speakers 3‘ to 4‘ away from the wall, unfortunately My speakers are in a great-room and therefore the room accommodates other uses. I have big Altec voice of the theater speakers and they already stick out away from the wall too much.Even in my old house, my stereo was in the living room and once again I was restricted on how far away from the wall the speakers could go. It’s called the “Wife acceptance factor” or WAF for short. In fact there are a lot of videos of people showing stereo systems with Small speakers, because their wife does not want them to buy big huge speakers and put it in their house. Nobody said being an audiophile was easy, did they?
Try moving the wive out of the room :D
My wife is actually pretty good about my stereo equipment. My only problem is using it while my wife is watching TV in another room! Although she is open to a "dedicated sound room" in our 4th level basement. I'll work on that one!
Steve is not married so... 😎😉
I'm late here but, my wife loves our music nights and usually wants it louder than me. Only problem, we can't both fit in the sweet spot unless she sits on my lap... Keep it clean people.
My speakers are 2 meters from the wall. If I double that I will have problems. You are right that distance from the wall makes a huge difference
Your neighbors must love you.
Here's one you try if you're a vinyl lover the weight of the cartridge sometimes heavier is better obviously it depends on your arm and your turntable also if you have aluminum platters the simple mat is a great upgrade you be amazed on how much better your turntable will sound!!!!! And if you have turntable mats hanging around maybe try switching them up you might find one sound better than the other😀✌
Here is a very simple tweak that costs nothing and that many audio snobs will never do. Adjust your tone controls and stop thinking they must be at their neutral setting.
Regarding volume level, raising the audio level should usually just make the level of detail increase as softer sounds will be more audible. This is also why there is an apparent plateau in the improved quality as once all the sounds are above the threshold of audibility, there's not much more to be gained. Obviously there's a limit to this based on power and what you can tolerate, but with good drivers the sound shouldn't change too dramatically. If it does, then it indicates nonlinearities in either the speakers or amplifier, usually the speakers unless your using a single-ended class-A audio amplifier that generates harmonics due to its inherent non-linear operation. A good set of speakers will usually be quite linear at low to moderate volumes, and then as the compliance range is used up, they get more non-linear, and start generating spurious harmonics and even intermodulation distortion. Same with class-A amps: The linearity gets worse with increasing amplitude (otherwise known as large signal nonlinearity or gain compression). Most well designed class-B or D amps wont have this issue, but they will obviously clip when sufficient input is applied.
Can’t agree more about the volume, problem is I like my music at low levels
Great video, thank you
Love this topic!
If you have a coffee table between you and your speakers, park a couple of throw cushions off the sofa on it. Also, if you have your system rigged up for your TV, push the TV sound through it, even half an hour warm up before playing music will sweeten your hi-fi sound and, therefore, your listening pleasure
Crystals in your power box I kid I kid
The volume level is very much dependant on the type of music being played in my experience.
Don't forget you can also tweak use feeders speakers by just turning the men slightly towards the listening position sometimes that makes a world of difference...
I found that in a small room the sound bounces around of everything creating an incoherent blur of individual instruments. The loudness control is useful to retain the highs and lows you had at high volume but now at a volume where it doesn't all get mashed up
Sometimes the same volume will sound different on another day. Humans change.
Different air pressure's and air densities; atmospherics play a part, too.
Drives m e nutz!
I added a tube buffer and a Equalizer sounds great now . Back in the day they said don't add more equipment in the chain.they said not as clean l now know this was BS they just wanted to sell you more expensive gear will never go without a Equalizer again.
How about this for a ported speaker design. Cut one of those cheap (3/4 inch thick) sound absorption foam into 2 strips about 3 inches wide and roll them up. Stuff em in the ports. Depending on how tightly they are rolled up you can 'adjust' how snug they stuff the ports. Makes a difference in taming the bass boominess and bringing up the mids. I know this is not exactly free as you gotta have one of those foam around, but it's close enough.
I’ve read where some folks have rolled up a pair of old socks to “stuff” into those ports. Cheap alternative
@@Aswaguespack Yup, I used to do that, but found out that it is hard to control how much I want to block the ports. It's either 'on' or 'off'. With this, I can control somewhat how much blockage I want depending on how tightly I roll the foam up. This allows me better control of how much bass I get. Works for me cause my listening area is rather small. Well that's my experience anyway. Ymmv