Author: Ertan Oksuz
Article:Basically accepted only thing in audiophile world is that italmost impossible to achieve the best sound by just combiningonly the best equipments. Much cheaper but properly selected andtweaked home theater system may sound better than its expensivebrothers. This is called system synergy in audiophile world.System synergy is not only about combining the best equipmentsbut it is a kind of long and enjoyable way to maximize theirperformances.
The precautions and principles may be seen absurd andmeaningless for someone who does not have solid understandingwhat the hi-end is. Within last twenty years, I spentconsiderable time, money and efforts to achieve best sound (..Orwhat ever the best is). I wrote a couple of important pointsfrom my own perspective. Most of these points may be known bythe audiophiles anyway if not implemented. More important, belowpoints consist of my own observations merely. There are so manyknown different tweaks and techniques. I avoided not includinghere the points that I did not try and/or the points did notwork well with me. I believe below mentioned points will step upsomeone's system to a higher level by using the same equipments.
I apologize for my level of English. I am appreciated if someonewarns me about the main language mistakes anywhere in the website.
The only certain truth I learned after twenty years is that"there is no one absolute truth in Hi-End" Most of the truths inHigh-End can not be proven by scientific measures. Verysensitive human ear hears a lot, interpret, evaluate and decide.In a listening session of three audiophiles, what is probablygoing to happen is one of the persons will find the bassinsufficient, the other may find it so much and excessive, butthe system owner will think it is fine, not less, not more. Thatphenomenon is called "brain reference". (See for more details)Brain reference is a kind of prejudice comes out of our ownsystem's timbre and tonality. This phenomenon sometimes causesconflicts with someone who compares better equipment versus hisown equipment and may not like the sound of the other in spitethe other was clearly better.
Most of the points stipulated below will depend on thecapabilities of the system but more important, depend on theexperience of audiophile. A poor system will not differentiatethe points or less experienced ears may not pick them up either.That's why some of the points below may not be regarded byeverybody. I will be delightful if someone who reads thatarticle picks up one or two points.
1- Listening at Night; Critical listening or equipment testingshould be done in the night hours. This rule obviously appliesto one who lives in a big city. Non noticeable city noiseaffects our hearing and we are basically not able to hear whatour system delivers to us during the day. Due to city noise isseveral times lower in the night, all hidden aspects in hi-endappear in the night and the system delivers its full potential.For more information, please check Noise (see for more details)
2- Heat and Humidity; Humidity and heat have serious influenceson sound. Systems can not generate their best sound, power anddynamics in a warm and damp weather. I am not sure why thishappens but it happens. There may be two reasons: The damp airis heavier in such circumstances, thus the loudspeakers are notable to pull enough air into the room. Or the loudspeakermaterials may soften and behave differently in warm weather. Tocool the listening environment prior to listening sessioneliminates that effect.
3- Darkness; Music should be listened in dark room.Particularly, the loudspeakers and the system should be kept indark and the original recording venue should be imagined whilelistening. The main objective of a good quality hi-end system isto depart from the hardware and to go into the recordingenvironment. Listening music while watching the hardware willphysiologically demolish the virtual environment that we intentto be in. The most inconvenient part of a hi-end system isinexistence of visual imaging. The reality sense is so differentwhen participating to a live concert or listening/watching froma DVD player via a surround system. If the listening environmentis not dark, the speakers will be perceived as the sources ofthe original sound.
4- Finding the Correct Listening Distance; the sound is spreadin waves called frequency. The volume of every frequency will bedifferent in connection with the distance from the speakers. Interms of the volume, frequencies will be up and down when thedistance is changed. Especially higher mids and treble sectionswill vary between 20-5 centimetres. Such frequency peaks can beeasily recognized by listening. a � Listen a test CDwhich contains different test frequencies. For instance startwith mono 1000 Hz at the listening chair. Then stand up and walkvery slowly through your system. (Preferably with your closedeyes). You will immediately realize that the signal will haveups and downs in volume while you are moving as if somebody wasturning on and off the volume control. b - The main frequency ofthe music and the one which is closest to human sound is 1000Hz. 1000 Hz is your starting point. 1000 Hz will be at its peaksso many times in connection with the distance of your listeningchair. Find the closest distance to your current listening chairthat the 1000 Hz is at peak. The ups and downs in that bandshould be changed around 50-70 centimetres. This is the bestlocation to hear the middle frequencies but it is not the bestlocation yet to achieve the best frequency spectrum. It is justthe starting point. c - Stick a rope to back wall that may comethrough your shoulders. Now close your eyes and listen differentfrequencies such as 300-500-1000-2000-5000-10.000 Hz etc, movetop of your body (while sitting) forward and backwards. Mark thepeak points of every frequency you listened on the rope. Our aimis to find a particular point that most of the frequencies areat their peaks. If you are not successful and these points arenot closer each other, move your speakers 10 cm's to front (oryour listening chair to 10 cm front or rear) and repeat the sameexercises till you find a certain point that most of thefrequencies are at their peaks. It is not an easy task, timeconsuming but free of charge. Once you have the point, you willbe very surprised with the improvement of the sound of yourexisting system.
5- Room Acoustics; Room Acoustics is the most known but theleast considered part of Hi-End. A conventional speaker maythrow % 40 of the sound directly to listener; rest of the soundcomes through the walls by reflections. Reflection means thetiming difference of the original signal, hence an additionalacoustic which does not exist in the original record. Withinsuch a complexity of reflections, a part of the original signalwill come late due to the front wall or ceiling or etc, a partof the original signal produced by the left speaker will come asif coming from the right speaker and vice versa. Such a complexlistening environment will demolish the stereo imaging andchannel separation. Some audiophiles are happy with this casedue to speakers are seem to be better disappeared and soundstageis wider and deeper. Some producers add additional mid/trebleunits to the back side of the speakers (dipoles) to emphasizesuch effects. One thing should be considered that suchreflections do not exist at the original sound. If something isproduced by the system/room in addition to the original soundshould be named coloration. If the aim of a good hi-end systemis to reproduce the original sound, such reflections should beavoided as much as possible. Especially ribbon and electrostaticspeakers will suffer a lot from such reflections. Carpet on thefloor is a must to lower the reflections (standing waves)between the floor and the ceiling. Thicker curtains will help tolower the reflections of the windows. Glass covered photos andsuch stiff furniture should be avoided. This article is notintended to give recommendations how to make a room tuning, lotsbut lots of information may be found on internet. But it is justto emphasize the importance of room acoustics.
6- Precise Focus and Loudspeaker Placement; this is also anotherknown but the least considered part of Hi-End. It is criticallyimportant to locate both speakers at the exactly same distanceto achieve precise focus. Distances should be very carefullymeasured and both of the speakers should be placed exactly tothe same distance through listener.
OK but why such important!
Sound signals are distributed in waves as explained in sectionfive. The people who tried the settings in section five willrealize that, the peaks of frequencies vary in conjunction withthe distance from the speakers. Especially the treblefrequencies will vary a lot by only one centimetres of a change.In such cases, if one speaker is just one cm closer to thelistener, some frequencies will be heard a lot from one speakerbut will not be heard from the other speaker. If the upperharmonics of the human sound consist of such upper frequencies,(it is!) this is obvious that the sound will move from themiddle to left or to right. Moreover, within that case, somefrequencies will be collided in full phase and will beexaggerated, some others will be collided by inverted phase soare destroyed.
This is the exactly the same effect of loosing bass whenconnecting one speaker out of phase.
7- Mechanical Vibration of Electronic Units; Quite a lot ofvibration absorption feet and platform kinds exist in themarket. They are to be placed under the electronics/speakers.Such materials have two intentions;
a- To eliminate the external vibration coming through the unitb- To eliminate the vibration of the unit itself (CD drivermotor, speaker cone vibrations etc)
Most popular ones are the cones (spikes). I believe the properusage of spikes is not known very well. Rather than being avibration absorber, spike is a kind of transmission materialthat transmits vibration from one point through the other point.In other means, vibration is condensed to one point andmechanically carried to other platform by the spike but noteliminated. If the connection surface is stiff (for instancemarble, granite, etc) such vibrations are passed to thatsurface. Underneath of such a stiff platforms (marble, MDF,glass, granite) must be covered by an elastically material suchas cork, mouse pad, neoprene rubber or similar.
The vibration can not pass from a stiff platform to anelastically platform and will be transposed to heat between.
Direction of the cone is also critically important. Thedirection should be in conjunction with the intention ofvibration transmission.
May be the last thing about the cone is the cone should be intouch with the chassis of the component directly. If any kind ofrubber, double sided band, blue tack or such an elastic materialis put between cone and the unit that material will try totranspose the vibration and the cone will not work.
8- Marble Under the Loudspeakers: A marble platform under thespeakers eliminate most of the unwanted resonances of thespeaker. The thickness of the marble should be at least 3 cm andthe size should be at least 10 centimetres bigger then theedges. Underneath of the marble has to be covered by an elasticmaterial such as cork, mouse pad, neoprene etc.
How does it effect the sound is, you have more powerful but moreclear and tight bass, relaxation at the mid and top frequencies.
The speaker has to be connected to the platform via a cone, notby an elastically feet. The sharp end of the cone has to directthe marble but not to the loudspeaker.
9- Grounding the Metals for Static Electricity; especially inwet weather and in fully carpeted listening environments, staticelectric become an issue. The carpet is charged with staticelectric which can be passed through the electronic equipmentsvia the rack and/or via human touch. Static electricity on thecarpet is such powerful that when checked in the morning beforesomebody walks on it, can be clearly seen by simple tools soldin Radio Shack
In order to eliminate the effect, the loudspeaker stands and theequipment racks should be connected to earth by a thin wire.Moreover, the loudspeaker cables and interconnects should belifted away from the floor due to the same effect.
What benefits you may expect from this tweak is I don't know whybut less blurry and more tide lower bass.
10- Loudspeaker Distance from the Front Wall; Loudspeakerproducers generally recommend the distance of the speaker by thefront wall (the wall behind the speakers). Generally speaking,the speaker should be located as far as possible from the frontwall. (Side walls as well) If they are so close to the wall,bass standing waves will be reinforced (explained in articlefive) and mid/treble band will be compressed due to excessivebass energy.
Some audiophiles find the desired bass volume by placing themcloser to front wall which is not correct. One thing should beconsidered that such bass increase is not due to the originalsound but it is the consequence by the room response calledcoloration.
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About the author:Ozhan Atalay is the developer of http://www.nonamehifi.com HighEnd Audio Pages, where the audio enthusiasts may share theiraudio systems, music recommendations and articles. Moreover,they may buy or sell second hand rare audio components atNonamehifi. http://www.nonamehifi.com . is multinational portaland free of charge. What you have to do is to register. .
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