Excited for a speaker demo tomorrow, accompanying my friend

[Deleted User]

mikeyb128 wrote: »

Well, for people that can't afford 40,000 dollar speakers a couple cheap svs subs will have to do.

Actually I think the S1 Mk2's will be sought after speakers on the 2nd hand market when they start appearing in the $9-$10k range...they have awesome bass for their size!

Joey_V

After reading what positive support there is for subs, I for one welcome the improvement to my system. In time (months) I will try it and report back.

Thanks to @halo71 @WLDock @mikeyb128 @SCompRacer

@bodhi I hear what you're saying. Ideal but hard to accomplish without some serious financial commitment

txcoastal1

The ROOM, The ROOM, The ROOM

You can have great music but never disregard any frequencies or improvements until you do room sweeps

It's amazing what diffusers, absorbers, and subs can do for a "2 channel system"

Spikes, no spikes etc

WLDock

Joey_V wrote: »

The delta between mine and the next one up is about 10,000$. Subs like 2 Rel g1 would be close to 9,000$... So the difference in money is equal.

Man those REL's are pricey! But that is just one option. Four of those 12" AE Acoustic subs with the upgraded motors are about $1700. Then add a couple of 1200 watts amps with DSP auto room correction for $1080. Last, some custom enclosures with a custom finish for $1000. Can have four high performing subs for the cost of a single G1!

Joey_V

txcoastal1 wrote: »

The ROOM, The ROOM, The ROOM

You can have great music but never disregard any frequencies or improvements until you do room sweeps

It's amazing what diffusers, absorbers, and subs can do for a "2 channel system"

Spikes, no spikes etc

agreed Ron

SCompRacer

Two 10" bass drivers per speaker can sure help, but it depends on the space. I had Carver Silver Amazings here once upon a time. Three 12" long excursion drivers per speaker. They still didn't play +- 3dB at their rated specs in my 10,000+ cubic foot space, with the low spec around 23Hz IIRC. Now this is setup on the long wall where speakers are not boxed by corners. A South wall setup boxed by corners changes everything here.

So my experience has taught me to identify the lowest Hz of music I listen to. Do room sweeps to see what frequency response I am getting. Move things around and use acoustic treatments to help flatten/improve response. Add subs if needed, repeat sweeps and adjust/move subs for best results. Then enjoy.

If one can swing a professionally done listening space, life is better. Most of us have to adapt to rooms not designed specifically for two channel systems.

[Deleted User]

@SCompRacer, that is the scientific way to do it. I agree, a good pair of subs or infrasonic generators can work well with a pair of standmounts or smaller floorstanders using an active x-over & taking time with placement, x-over settings etc. And I agree that base specs usually don't translate to in-room measurements.

I live in a two-level loft apartment with an open atrium to the right of my RH speaker. My listening room is also my living/dining room, so I have very limited options with speaker positioning (left to right is ok, but i'm pretty much locked into the distance from the front wall).

My Room size is (approx) 7.5 meters long x 4 meters deep (at edge of timber landing) or 5 meters deep to back wall behind stairs. My racks sit behind the speakers on the elevated hardwood landing, which helps to isolate them from the speakers. My speakers are placed along the long wall. Somehow though the combination of open hardwood stairs behind my speakers (which seems to act as a crude diffuser), carpet rug, 3.0 meters long soft-upholstered sofa & floor to ceiling timber venetians seem to create a basically good sounding room without any nasty (or atleast obvious) room nodes.

I do plan on borrowing a handful of Stillpoints Aperture panels at some point in the distant future & get my room acoustics guru to measure some different arrangements to see if there is any objective and subjective improvement. OTOH, if I get the opportunity to get room acoustics guru Franck Tchang to personally tune my room with his Acoustic Resonators, I might jump at that chance!

Anyway, coming back to the basic physics of the S5 mk2's twin 10's, if the S1 Mk2's performance at the Venetian this year is anything to go by, I think i'll be ok .

SCompRacer

It was over 10 years or more ago, I was reading a thread at the Martin Logan forum. Somebody was trying new speakers, and one member chastised the OP for not doing a room sweep comparing the two before the audition and writing the review. Now you can say this guy is really anal, nuts, or wow, this guy is pretty serious in his approach to audio.

Like in my case, I could have easily said my Salk's suck cause of the over 10dB dropout in the high mids. Moving them and removing treatments behind them brought the magic back when I heard them at the Salk factory listening area.

I recall a speaker shootout I attended between ML and Sanders ESL's. It was a small room with all walls covered with Owens Corning 703 covered by speaker fabric. The Sanders had the better bass module, a folded transmission line with long excursion SEAS woofers. Yet the low bass was lacking in the room with the Sanders speaker. But we had wonderful articulate deep bass in spades in the hallway and dining room with the Sanders speakers. It's always easy to say the speakers suck when we don't understand what we are dealing with in the room.

I fix things for a living so part of the challenge is having a full understanding of what goes on so you can apply the diagnostics and fix. The room is the major challenge in audio. You bring a new speaker in, give it a fair chance by doing the sweep, adjusting it to get the best response. Add subs if you have to enhance the lower frequencies. Then judge away.

Knowing what I know now, I may not have cycled through so much gear, but it was fun. Or one can say ignorance is bliss. We get what we accept.

WLDock

SCompRacer wrote: »

The room is the major challenge in audio.

Amen to that! I can tune my bass drum on my drum set at home in the basement to get the sound I want. In some other rooms it can sound even better, punchier, bigger, etc...and in some other rooms it can just suck majorly. Speakers are no different! Bass can vary with the room! You have to tweak things!