The post pics of yer 2 channel audio setup thread - Page 17

jeimuzu · 17th July 2012, 4:01 PM

Where did you get that headphone stand?

h2oxide · 17th July 2012, 7:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeimuzu

Where did you get that headphone stand?

PM Sent

sublime · 29th July 2012, 6:22 PM

My Stereo setup, located behind the left door of the entertainment unit:

Click to view full size!

Rotel ra03 integrated amp
Rega planar 2 turntable
Nad phono stage
Logitech squeezebox touch
Krix harmonix speakers.

The speakers sound much better when powered by the rotel stereo amp compared to the marantz receiver. At the moment I'm running separate speaker wire from the stereo amp and the receiver to the speakers and I have to switch it over if I want to change amps. Anyone know a better way to have two different amps hooked up at the same time? This might be the best solution to limit sound degradation though.

samo · 29th July 2012, 6:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sublime

My Stereo setup, located behind the left door of the entertainment unit:

pix

Rotel ra03 integrated amp
Rega planar 2 turntable
Nad phono stage
Logitech squeezebox touch
Krix harmonix speakers.

The speakers sound much better when powered by the rotel stereo amp compared to the marantz receiver. At the moment I'm running separate speaker wire from the stereo amp and the receiver to the speakers and I have to switch it over if I want to change amps. Anyone know a better way to have two different amps hooked up at the same time? This might be the best solution to limit sound degradation though.

does your receiver have pre-outs? If so, just run rca cables from the front pre-outs to your Rotel. Should be all gravy from there.

Amfibius · 30th July 2012, 1:13 AM

sublime, your speakers would sound even better if you pulled them away from the corners of your room. All those early reflections would be playing havoc with the tonal balance and clarity of your system.

silenthunter · 30th July 2012, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amfibius

sublime, your speakers would sound even better if you pulled them away from the corners of your room. All those early reflections would be playing havoc with the tonal balance and clarity of your system.

Keith, haven't seen a photo of your setup for some time now (years!) have you many any changes recently we can all drool over?

Stonerboy779 · 30th July 2012, 12:00 PM

My Audioengine A5+ on their lovely stands, sometimes I turn the pos sub on too which is run from the pre out.

Amfibius · 30th July 2012, 12:08 PM

Yeah there have been a few changes

To understand the changes and why they were made, I have to go through the anatomy of the speaker again:

As the picture shows, my speaker is a 3-way system with a plasma tweeter, a horn loaded midrange, and a conventional driver in a box.

This is what a plasma tweeter looks like when dissected. The box is in 3 segments - on the right is the power supply, on the left is the control electronics including the crossover and power amp, in the middle is the PL519 radio frequency valve with the milled brass combustion chamber with integrated horn.

The midrange horn box lifts off the speaker as a seperate unit. To get at the crossover, undo 6 Allen bolts and the horn-driver unit lifts off. As you can see, the horn unit is lead lined, constructed of double ply, AND filled with sand. There is a fill hole at the back to refill the sand. The reason I opened the box was to bypass the crossover.

I never did like the sound of the bass cabinet. Compared to the tweeter and horn midrange, it always sounded slow and muddy. We opened up the cabinet to find out why. Reason - it is a SEAS CA25 ACA driver. Cost - approximately $100. However - note how solidly constructed the cabinet is. Thick ply, lead lined, and lots of bracing.

Thanks to the help of my friends at SGR, I got a new driver custom made for my application by Loranz in Melbourne. Note the thick cast iron basket (as opposed to the flimsy stamped basket in the SEAS), the more substantial magnet and voice coil, and the thicker and more inert paper cone.

The passive crossover components have been removed, and the system is now fully active. This means that each driver has its own channel of amplification. This diagram explains how the system is wired up.

The system in my room, along with my new CD player and my new equipment rack. And my growing music collection

ben hoskin · 30th July 2012, 1:28 PM

Keith I take it you wanted the analogue signal for your mid and tweeter and then fed the balance to the deqx rather than just running the deqx for all its processing?
Seems a shame to have the deqx there only to adjust the sub!

Amfibius · 30th July 2012, 1:54 PM

Hi Ben, I bought the DEQX intending to use it as my all-in-one crossover. However, it doesn't work very well in my system. The inputs tend to clip, and the DEQX does not have enough output to drive the power amps. There are jumper switches to adjust the input sensitivity and output voltage, but it is not enough. On top of all that, it doesn't sound very good.

I tried to sell it, but nobody seems interested. Rather than have it collecting dust somewhere, I relegated it to sub duties.

Grimace22 · 30th July 2012, 9:43 PM

all those photos are awesome but the last gets a 10/10 in my books

$100 drivers in a set of speakers that cost $IcantrememberbutIrememberitwasALOT!!! That seems absurd??

protecon · 1st August 2012, 2:49 PM

How do you find the Plasma Tweeter?
Stereophile gave it a bit of a harsh write-up.

Amfibius · 1st August 2012, 4:55 PM

They did? I thought that John Atkinson said that the default level was too high.

In any case, he's right. There is a volume control at the back with a mark drawn at the recommended setting. It is way too high. Once you back down a little bit it sounds great. JA also recommends soldering a resistor in series with the interconnect ... something I haven't tried yet.

fuller2002 · 2nd August 2012, 3:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grimace22

all those photos are awesome but the last gets a 10/10 in my books

$100 drivers in a set of speakers that cost $IcantrememberbutIrememberitwasALOT!!! That seems absurd??

This.

Seems very odd, I would be pissed off if I paid that much and they put a $100 driver in there.

~Spyne~ · 2nd August 2012, 3:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fuller2002

This.

Seems very odd, I would be pissed off if I paid that much and they put a $100 driver in there.

You'd be pi$$sed off at A LOT of pricey speakers, then.
There are countless expensive ($5k, $10k, even $20k+) speakers that use quite cheap ($50-$300) drivers.
The Vifa XT25, DX25 and D27 are famous cheap drivers that feature in some very expensive speakers. Peerless HDS midranges and woofers, SEAS CA woofers and various tweeters. They're all quite cheap in comparison to the end products.

Cabinet and crossover design, assembly and then marketing costs are where the money comes in.
Oh, and mark-up. There is ridiculous mark-up on home audio speakers. I've seen many a distributor price-list and there's often at least 30% mark-up, usually closer to 45-55% between the distributor's buy price and the consumer RRP. Then you have the unseen mark-up from the manufacturer to the distributor.

29th July 2012, 6:22 PM	#243
sublime Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Adelaide Posts: 71	My Stereo setup, located behind the left door of the entertainment unit: Click to view full size! Rotel ra03 integrated amp Rega planar 2 turntable Nad phono stage Logitech squeezebox touch Krix harmonix speakers. The speakers sound much better when powered by the rotel stereo amp compared to the marantz receiver. At the moment I'm running separate speaker wire from the stereo amp and the receiver to the speakers and I have to switch it over if I want to change amps. Anyone know a better way to have two different amps hooked up at the same time? This might be the best solution to limit sound degradation though. __________________ If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done.

30th July 2012, 1:13 AM	#245
Amfibius Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Melbourne, Victoria Posts: 6,584	sublime, your speakers would sound even better if you pulled them away from the corners of your room. All those early reflections would be playing havoc with the tonal balance and clarity of your system. __________________ -Amfibius

30th July 2012, 12:08 PM	#248
Amfibius Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Melbourne, Victoria Posts: 6,584	Yeah there have been a few changes To understand the changes and why they were made, I have to go through the anatomy of the speaker again: As the picture shows, my speaker is a 3-way system with a plasma tweeter, a horn loaded midrange, and a conventional driver in a box. This is what a plasma tweeter looks like when dissected. The box is in 3 segments - on the right is the power supply, on the left is the control electronics including the crossover and power amp, in the middle is the PL519 radio frequency valve with the milled brass combustion chamber with integrated horn. The midrange horn box lifts off the speaker as a seperate unit. To get at the crossover, undo 6 Allen bolts and the horn-driver unit lifts off. As you can see, the horn unit is lead lined, constructed of double ply, AND filled with sand. There is a fill hole at the back to refill the sand. The reason I opened the box was to bypass the crossover. I never did like the sound of the bass cabinet. Compared to the tweeter and horn midrange, it always sounded slow and muddy. We opened up the cabinet to find out why. Reason - it is a SEAS CA25 ACA driver. Cost - approximately $100. However - note how solidly constructed the cabinet is. Thick ply, lead lined, and lots of bracing. Thanks to the help of my friends at SGR, I got a new driver custom made for my application by Loranz in Melbourne. Note the thick cast iron basket (as opposed to the flimsy stamped basket in the SEAS), the more substantial magnet and voice coil, and the thicker and more inert paper cone. The passive crossover components have been removed, and the system is now fully active. This means that each driver has its own channel of amplification. This diagram explains how the system is wired up. The system in my room, along with my new CD player and my new equipment rack. And my growing music collection __________________ -Amfibius

30th July 2012, 1:54 PM	#250
Amfibius Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Melbourne, Victoria Posts: 6,584	Hi Ben, I bought the DEQX intending to use it as my all-in-one crossover. However, it doesn't work very well in my system. The inputs tend to clip, and the DEQX does not have enough output to drive the power amps. There are jumper switches to adjust the input sensitivity and output voltage, but it is not enough. On top of all that, it doesn't sound very good. I tried to sell it, but nobody seems interested. Rather than have it collecting dust somewhere, I relegated it to sub duties. __________________ -Amfibius

1st August 2012, 4:55 PM	#253
Amfibius Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Melbourne, Victoria Posts: 6,584	They did? I thought that John Atkinson said that the default level was too high. In any case, he's right. There is a volume control at the back with a mark drawn at the recommended setting. It is way too high. Once you back down a little bit it sounds great. JA also recommends soldering a resistor in series with the interconnect ... something I haven't tried yet. __________________ -Amfibius

17th July 2012, 4:01 PM	#241
jeimuzu Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Melbourne Posts: 51	Where did you get that headphone stand?

30th July 2012, 12:00 PM	#247
Stonerboy779 Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 197	My Audioengine A5+ on their lovely stands, sometimes I turn the pos sub on too which is run from the pre out.

30th July 2012, 1:28 PM	#249
ben hoskin Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 136	Keith I take it you wanted the analogue signal for your mid and tweeter and then fed the balance to the deqx rather than just running the deqx for all its processing? Seems a shame to have the deqx there only to adjust the sub!

30th July 2012, 9:43 PM	#251
Grimace22 Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Perth Posts: 1,157	all those photos are awesome but the last gets a 10/10 in my books $100 drivers in a set of speakers that cost $IcantrememberbutIrememberitwasALOT!!! That seems absurd??

1st August 2012, 2:49 PM	#252
protecon Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Perth, WA Posts: 1,089	How do you find the Plasma Tweeter? Stereophile gave it a bit of a harsh write-up.