2nd Systems
What are you keeping safe from the attic...?
With the Easter sunshine turned on today, I'm in the conservatory (ooo, get me) with my 2nd system.
I was complaining about the sound the other week, but raising the speakers up a bit (with bricks) has made a useful difference to the overblown and uncouth bass that was previously causing me to feel annoyance and disappointment. I suspect they could do with a bit more raising; I know Suzy found the Wharfdales sounded better when lifted up a bit. I have my 10 inch stands that she used in the shed. Maybe I'll get them out at some point... Although bricks seem more funky for a 2nd system. B-)
Anyway, I'm enjoying listening to this. Obviously not the widest soundstage I've ever achieved, but there's something about a 2nd system that means I feel liberated from an OCD pressure to achieve optimal SQ! Hard to go very wrong with a Claymore.
(And thanks again to Colin for the digital front end too (it's taking a wifi MP3 stream from the media PC via JRiver's Android ap 'Gizmo'). :-D )
With the Easter sunshine turned on today, I'm in the conservatory (ooo, get me) with my 2nd system.
I was complaining about the sound the other week, but raising the speakers up a bit (with bricks) has made a useful difference to the overblown and uncouth bass that was previously causing me to feel annoyance and disappointment. I suspect they could do with a bit more raising; I know Suzy found the Wharfdales sounded better when lifted up a bit. I have my 10 inch stands that she used in the shed. Maybe I'll get them out at some point... Although bricks seem more funky for a 2nd system. B-)
Anyway, I'm enjoying listening to this. Obviously not the widest soundstage I've ever achieved, but there's something about a 2nd system that means I feel liberated from an OCD pressure to achieve optimal SQ! Hard to go very wrong with a Claymore.
(And thanks again to Colin for the digital front end too (it's taking a wifi MP3 stream from the media PC via JRiver's Android ap 'Gizmo'). :-D )
Comments
(Conservatories are allowed in Gloucester, but only if one has a broken white good in the back garden.)
Denon 44 cassette
Meridian 506/24 (currently swapped for my MPC now in the main system)
Claymore
Heco S220
TBH this actually sees more action than the main system
Just behind it in usage is my headphones only set in the hobby room;
Marantz CD52ii
MF X-Cans (heavily moded)
+ headphones to suit the mood/music
Oh, there's also a portable MiniDisc player and closed-back Superlux cans in the bedside drawer!
What are the other bits?
The bits I haven't mentioned are a QED Tape switcher, a dodgy ebay "Indeed G2" open frame headphone amplifier (moded and rehoused in a retro DIY case) and lastly, peeking out from rear right is a Niles speaker and amp switcher...old school multi-room
However, some success today...
Slightly tarnished by the fact that Dave's recent suggestion that it was the speakers that were the obvious bottle neck has been proved correct! ;-)
Firstly, replacing the wadding with acoustic foam (the cheapo egg-box type (see below), attached to the inside of the cabinet) has reaped real rewards. The bass sounds to me more controlled now, and without the proportionally deadening effect across the frequency range that the wadding had. (Without any wadding or foam the sound was more lively, but intolerably boomy; in fact it was impossible to have the volume knob turned up beyond 8 o'clock - now it's up at 12 - far more dynamic and balanced! ;-) ).
I've also secured the Wharfdales back up on their stands (they had been just wobbling about on bricks). Their sitting on the floor reinforced the bass in a way that was wholly unnecessary and unhelpful.
Finally, I noticed a small split in the right hand mid driver (don't think I did it today) so a little insulating tape band-aid has gone on that. I think I've got a replacement driver in the attic somewhere. Or I might try a PVA repair. Or might just leave the insulating tape on.
Anyway, the upshot of all this is a 2nd system that I can actually listen to with pleasure. The Claymore is certainly better partnered now.
I'm feeling less guilty that your lovely little amp is now able to stretch its legs a bit more. An even longer stride is possible I suspect, once the Wharfdales allow...! :-)
And, I really like your PVA - tissue patch up idea. Like a paper-mache skin graft. I may try that. :-)
The rubbers are all fine. They seem to be of the rubber (not-foam...?) non-perishable kind. I've got some JPW AP1s somewhere the surrounds of which had disintegrated completely and I did replace the surrounds on those.
In fact, now I come to think of it, where the hell are they...? ...Would be good to compare to the Wharfdales. Probably the attic...?
:-?
Playing ripped 256 mp3s from its SD card.
The RPi will have to wait. I'm having too much fun structural engineering with silicon and foam, and soon with PVA and tissue paper to stray into electronics... ;-p
The book! Well spotted. :-)
It was the one knock-on effect of the stands: raising the speaker tops to a level slightly above the bottom of the TV, hence meaning they were forced outwards. I'm trying to keep everything compact, so raised the TV slightly with the book to allow the speakers to stay snug to the cabinet. I chose it because it was the largest book I had available, although I was certainly pleased that it happened to be the book it was, and arranged it spine-out to show it off. :-) It speaks of a time long ago when I considered a budding artist and art historian...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_of_the_New
Reading and watching now, Robert Hughes is terribly didactic. But I did glean a lot of information from him in the late 80s,,,
The experience put me in mind of getting into a time machine and travelling from somewhere at the beginning of my hifi journey about 25 years ago (as represented by my 2nd system) and stepping into where I am today (as represented by my first system), but bi-passing all of the faffing, expense, tweaking and frustrations!
Crikey, I'm glad I've got all the system building out the way already in my life.
My 2nd system is fine, but I am so happy with the big rig. And I want to make clear that what I am seeking to communicate there is relief, not smugness!
(...I do want to stick the Claymore in the 1st system though. To see what it can do with proper partnering.)
Have been seeking to further to tame the woofers with some doping.
Just using PVA (very slightly watered down).
Have put on about 6 coats so far. Very pleased with the results. May stick on a couple more tomorrow. Bass sounds much tighter and less boomy. The midrange (especially vocals) is much clearer.
Obviously the cones look white when the PVA is wet, so temporarily the woofers match the old Leek Squawkers. Nice! And even when dry I prefer the look of the doped cones to their previous look.
In the second photo, where I've been careless and applied a bit too much the PVA has collected around the dustcap and hence is taking longer to dry to clear. Also you might be able to see a few tiny bubbles. I found that for some reason this seemed more likely to happen if the PVA was used neat (hence the slight watering down).
If something goes disasterously wrong, I do have a spare set of these woofers in the loft. So I don't feel too tense!
These are the results before and after doping:
Actually, I think the "After doping" chart is a bit optmistic. The bass probably remains a bit higher.
However the bass boom is significantly reduced. :-)
I stopped at 8 coats as I was noticing that as the boom reduced so the midrange was thinning out too (presumably the woofer reaches up into that area). This is shown on the graph. After the 8th coat I didn't want to lose any more midrange warmth on the vocals, although the bass is still slightly more boomy than I'd ideally like.
Oddly, but pleasingly the doping has affected the upper bass far more than the lower deep bass, which actually stands out far more now, and sounds fantastically Wonforesque coming from the supercharged Claymore.
Finally much of the problem with the bass is likely to do with the room, and my listening position within it. It's a conservatory (about 4m x 4m) with a peaked roof. It may be that I've now tuned the speakers for the unique acoustics of this room, and that if I moved the speakers into the lounge with the main system they'd sound pathetically weedy!
Anyway the system is now very listenable, and I am more than happy to give up the lounge (and the 1st system) and listen in here instead. As I am now. :-)
Bloody brilliant.
Absolutely love it.
Mind you, the cheapo Stanton in there at the moment is great fun.
Now where the cor-blimey-guvna do I put all these records that I've just dragged out of the loft...?
Too much time with feminists...
Now living in my hobby room. I need some kind of isolation for the speakers (old Heco i220s) as they really boom on top of chest-of-drawers.
And refreshed!
Meridian and Teac...
I don't recall their presence previously...
The Meridian is slumming it from the main system (tucked away for house-works) and the Teac is a cast off from the work hifi.
The "tripods" are diffusers that help even out the response of the HF units.
The Celan series was rather nice, I've personally heard the 700 and 300, both were excellent. It's a little known brand in the UK but a big one in Germany. Meaning you can get a good deal if you find some in the UK. I sold them briefly but can't remember who had the UK distributorship back then. The i220S that I have are from a cheaper range but still surprisingly good.
A standard Marantz CD52ii on transport duties, going into a DIY DAC and then feeding a heavily modified MF X-CanV2 which in turn drives the AKG K550 shown.
Edit... Ah, the MuFi bean can range. :-) I love those. I had the X-LPS I think it was called. :-)
A bit of a reshuffle to keep the quality reasonble but system simple.