Speakers again (groan) -what's it all about

[karatestu]

Well I have two main systems in the house that I listen to the one downstairs is in the second lounge which we call the music room . Now at this present time the system consists of an Allo Digi + streamer / Theta Data Basic CD Transport feeding a MiniDSP DDRC 22D DSP unit which sends the digitaly revised signal to a Denafrips Pro 8 MK 1 DAC which is then fed via balanced output to an XTZ A100 power amp with the remote on the DDRC 22D acting as volume control in to a pair of Quad ESL57 . The speakers here are something I spent years not buying because I was told a number things they had issues with and that my room was not big enough . Well after a revealing vist to an enthusiast in Kendal I found that to be rubbish and bought a pair.After spending quite a bit on getting them over hauled by AQuadthing they were finally working . I then spent a very difficult twelve months were various items (DAC,s , Amps , DSP units) all failed and the system became very dysfuntional .

Happily in the last four or five weeks repaired items and patience in set up have rewarded me with the best music i have ever heard in my house to date . Quad speakers are really different to any box speaker I have heard in paticular for vocals. At first I thought there was somehting wrong as vocals I thought I knew well sounded different . I then tested a recording of my wife singing and realised for the first time that the Quads were accurate and sounded exactly as my wifes voice does . The issue was years of hearing box speakers and not realising that they were adding colourations . Once I got this things then took off . As speakers they image very well but sort of in a wall across the room not streching back . Bass is never going to be Sound System levels but it is in keeping with the whole sound and is textured and detailed . Added to this i can listen for very extended periods and just want to put something else on not turn the system off . So for me right now these are the perfect speaker and I will be leaving things as they are for a number of minths and just listen to and buy music .

I have always been intrigued by ESL's but put off by the reports of lacking bass extension and the size of them. Do they need to be out in to the room or can they work back against the wall ?

As for boxiness (I made that word up) I know where you are coming from having played briefly with open baffle. I think the way around that would be to have some large bass drivers in true infinite baffle mode partnered up with ESL's - the back wave of the bass drivers firing in to an under floor void or adjacent room of at least ten times the driver's VAS . No box effect there

[Bencat57]

ESL are not supposed to be anywhere near a wall as they are true dipoles and so have the same sound going backwards as forwards. However with the use of DIRAC Live 3.0 I have then hard against the wall on 18 inch stands that also tip them forward (Quad had them on legs pointing towards the ceiling to get first rteflections) and about 6cm from the wall . It should not work but it does . Bass is not ever going to be huge with ESL unles the panel was truly huge . What it has though is really precise and textured good enough to me .

My second system that I use loads (I am listening to it now while typing bit of McAlmont & Butler) is very different . Raspberry Pi 3 with HifiBerry Digi hat Pro+ feeding digital signal to MiniDSP DDRC 24HD which acts as Digital Crossover , DSP unit with DIRAC Live , DAC and pre for volume control , Pair of Quad 405 power amps one for each side (Left/Right) driving a stacked pair on each side KEF 103 Reference speakers (passive crossovers removed in both , top pair with bass and treble connected bottom pair bass only connected) .

Now this active system is my own attempt at DIY when i have little or no mechancical skills like woodworking . So I do the things I can with existing speakers that I like then with goading from some other DIY active users adding in a second set to increase the bass output . I should really do a proper three way split with the lower bass unit doing the low and the upper bass unit looking after the mid but then I would need a different MiniDSP unit as the DDRC 24 HD is only a one in foure out device . Plus another amplifeir for the mid and it just gets too costly . Happy with how it sounds now anyway and will be leaving this and touching nothing untill the next Wam Show at Kegworth happens as this will be my room system . Sounds wonderful now and has even impressed me by making the imaging so much better which is one thing you do lose with units hard against the wall . However the KEF 103 are infinite baffle speakers so they make up for this in real bass quality and slam . Plus these can now go loud .

[Geoff.R.G]

I have often thought that my turntable and CD player were lacking something. Yesterday I recorded a piano and bass, one mic each, in a church and i was happy with them live. We had recorded some music previously and weren't happy with what came out of YouTube so in the evening I connected my computer to the Hi-Fi and played back the Piano and Bass from the morning. Nothing wrong at all. Then I played back the audio of what we have on YouTube and it was all there.

The advantage, to me, of having my own recordings is that I know where I used compression and where I didn't, not much and mainly on vocals. My conclusion is that the problem isn't the hardware so much as the actual recordings that have compression applied. Of course we tend to apply a limiter in a domestic situation bu keeping the volume down!

Anyone know what, if anything, YouTube do to uploaded videos/sound?

I now wonder how much of the effort people go to to get good sound at home is thwarted by the engineers creating the recordings they are listening to.

[Lindsayt]

There are 3 types of speakers that I like:

Electrostatics: for their magical disappearing act, especially for string quartets. Fot their ability to put this type of music out into the room as if there are no speakers there.

Sealed box speakers with reasonably large woofer size. For the bass. This would be my choice for electronica / disco type music.

High efficiency speakers for the dynamics and midrange and treble clarity and compatability with SET amplifiers. My choice for jazz, main speakers in an AV system, full orchestral.

I'm not into low efficiency slimline ported speakers. For the lack of bass extension / control, lack of dynamics, lack of midrange bite / clarity.