the Interceptor's general AUDIO thread

And now I'm looking at Paradigm surround sets <_<

I'm already going to buy a fancy pen tomorrow, if I buy a Paradigm set I'll probably be left with $200 for the rest of the month.

Any recommendations for a good high quality 5-7 speaker set (subwoofer not necessary, my current Sony is more than sufficient) in the $4-500 range?
 
Yeah, I'd like good floor speakers, but I don't have floorspace anywhere near where they need to be put. My current speaker config is quite wonky anyway. I'll work on it in a month or two.
 
shad_68, once you get used to the IE8, I don't think anything cheaper will sound good to your ears.

If you still have them, just use them instead.

I don't have them anymore. Got a loose contact, sent them back under warranty and got a full refund.

And call me a philistine, but I didn't actually notice that much of an improvement over, say, the K518s. So I don't think I could get myself to spend that sort of money on them again.
 
Awesome thread.

I'm not an audiophile, my hearing isn't the best (but not so bad that I can't hear obvious faults), but I do find the tech interesting.

I have a small room (3.5m x 3.75m / 11.5ft x 12.25ft) with a setup that I have had for a little over two years now.
I mainly watch movies and TV with it, but occasionally listen to music as well.
(I bought the Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds: Live at Radio City Music Hall blu-ray which sounds excellent).

Now for my question:
Given my setup, what should I have the LFE crossover set at?
The center / satellite speakers are listed as 60Hz on the low end and the sub is listed as 100Hz on the high end.
Would it be better for the sub to handle the 60-100Hz range or the satellites?
At what frequency can a human no longer tell what direction sound is coming from?
I probably won't be able to tell the difference and I'm currently quite happy with the performance of the system, but still it would be nice to know what it should be set at.

Here is the setup:

Onkyo TX-SR875
TX-SR875B_front.jpg


Elemental Designs A6-5T5-MTM ( x 5 )
mainIMAGE.jpg

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Frequency Response [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]60-22KHz[/FONT]

Elemental Designs A2-300
A2_300_main.jpg

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Frequency Response [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]18-100Hz[/FONT]

Auralex GRAMMA Isolation Riser
GR.gif

This thing made a huge difference.
I had the sub on a wood floor without this before and the floor, the walls and everything else would rattle.
Now with this underneath it, there is very little of that left.



FYI (unrelated to my question), in my computer room I have this:
Klipsch ProMedia 5.1
500x500.aspx
 
In theory: the lower, the better. The lower the crossover frequency goes, the less you can hear where the sound comes from. A too low LFE crossover frequency will however mechanically overload your satellites and decrease the SPL of your subwoofer for a given input power.

Therefore, I'd recommend to go as low as possible and do some tests to find out the maximum SPL at that setting. If that's loud enough for you, leave it there. If it's not, try a higher crossover frequency.

By the way: the stated upper / lower frequency ranges of the speakers are more or less pure fantasy, so I wouldn't use them to find out how to handle the speakers. ;)
 
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Excellent, thanks!

Do you have a recommendation on how to test?
Is there a particular music track or movie scene that you know of that is well suited for this?

FYI, here are the SPL vs Freq graphs of the sub and the satellites (in case that tells you anything):

Sub:
473_large.jpg


Satellites:
468_large.jpg
 
What you need for the test is some piece of music or a movie sample you should know well, and which has some substantial bass frequencies. Then turn it up as far as you think you'll ever go, watch the diaphragms of the satellite's midrange speaker and listen to it carefully. Does the bass sound distorted? Do the diaphragms move wildly (how much is too much is kinda hard to say without knowing the speaker)? If so, your crossover frequency is too low.

The frequency response diagrams are more or less irrelevant, since they are not very representative of the true performance, and since the actual low-frequency-response in real life is altered by so many factors that the measurements made in an anechoic chamber are next to useless.
 
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Could you maybe point me in the right direction? I've skimmed over the last few pages (down to 16) and didn't really notice anything. :?
 
Oooh, those Soundmagic PL50s look quite interesting! But jeez, availability seem to be really bad... and I'm not sure if I want to order something from out of country, what with my terrible luck in terms of headphone lifespans and the following warranty claims. :(

I'm considering giving the Senn CX300-IIs a shot, from what I read on head-fi people seem to be generally quite pleased with them. :think:
 
Hmm, I wasn't too pleased with the CX300 when I tried them.

Head-direct is a good place to shop for IEMs - http://www.head-direct.com/products.php?c=1

They have their own brand of IEMs as well, and the range as a whole seems to have some pretty positive reviews on head-fi.

The PL50 is a great choice for a cheap but good IEM, and I think you shouldn't have too many warranty issues. I got my pair from here - http://dealperfect.com/detail.dp/sku.23679

On another notes, recently had custom tips made for my TF10pro:

IMG_9648.jpg
 
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In theory: the lower, the better. The lower the crossover frequency goes, the less you can hear where the sound comes from.

Ahh yes, good quality bass. Gods, I love it.:) I've always been of the opinion that; proper bass should be 'felt' before it's 'heard'. It should creep up on you, make you know that it's on it's way.

Start slow and subtle, be separate, yet part of the entire sound envelope that you're creating.

You don't want bass that will rattle the windows, but sound like shit. You know what I mean. The stuff that drowns everything out with nothing more than a load of vibrating noise. But hey! It's loud!

Bass that is adjusted and re-created properly can make or break your whole sound system. And placement of the sub is critical. There are tons of sites out there that can help.

A too low LFE crossover frequency will however mechanically overload your satellites and decrease the SPL of your subwoofer for a given input power.

True.

If by doing this, you're making your satellites work overtime, you have the wrong speakers, or the wrong setup, or simply the wrong placement of your equipment. :) I did Home Theater sales and install for several years. And I've seen a lot of good systems bought for top money, then just thrown together.

It ain't pretty. I'd much rather a 'starter' system (which I regrettably have for now)that is set up and calibrated properly, but will let me upgrade as I go along, than a high end system that's cobbled together by an idiot.

<----loves her audio setup.
 
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Alright, just read through 19 pages of this thread...quite epic.

I've been looking to buy a setup for awhile...but haven't had the time to look hard enough, so instead, thought I'd ask some people who know what they're talking about ;)

I'm looking for a setup for my room. I live on acreage so I do tend to up the volume fairly regularly. Currently I have a shit-tastic stereo from years ago...a Phillips something or other. I mainly listen to house/electro/dance music but also enjoy rock and some classical.

So...I was thinking maybe just monitors but after more thought, these may be too small for the bass that I need.

Also, I've no idea on how much I'm willing to spend, so what kinda price ranges would I be looking at for low, medium and high end systems? (I doubt I'll be going high end...)
 
I just want to say, anyone who has a decent system and a turntable, needs this album from Sheffield Labs:

https://pic.armedcats.net/n/na/nabster/2010/01/09/Ive_Got_The_Music_In_Me_1.jpg

I just got a copy and hot damn, I've never heard my system sound as good- I quite literally feel like I'm sitting in front of them while they play and I haven't got it completely perfectly clean yet. I'm going to buy a second copy now.
 
Goddammit I want a turntable. :(

shad_68, what did you end up getting?
 
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