Tales From the Rabbit Hole

[Gryph]

I was right about that stand not being rated 135 lbs on the middle shelf. There's some metal bracing underneath the wood, but it's more robust on the top shelf. I was getting some sagging.

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It's rated for 135 lbs now! Originally I had it propped up only in the middle, but I was getting some sag underneath the Monolith. You really have to pick it up to appreciate how heavy this thing is. I threw around 60-80 lb boxes around all day at work. This thing made me grunt. The back of the shelf is attached to the spine and I'm not seeing any sagging back there.

The whole system is looking really good, glad it's sounding the same.
Nice easy fix for the sag, if you wipe those dowels with a close stain it will look like it came that way from the factory.

 

[Pogre]

Oh...I think you had pretty good speakers already but I do agree...with hi res music and upgraded sources, the speakers are a big part of discerning the difference in SQ.

I got most of the SACDs Wed and I purposely played a stereo SACDs that I already owned in redbook version...based on a very small sample..I'm giving SACD a thumbs up so far. I will say this SACD (Nora Jones - Come Away With Me) had received a lot of good reviews on the SQ...they were right.

Crossovers...seems like Audessey would do that but I guess it defaults to 80 too. We got rain tomorrow so no golf...I should have the Atmos completed in the morning and run the EQ and see what happens.

Audyssey measured my towers as full range towers with no crossover. I went in, set them to small, did my magic and got it to where I like it. When I switched them to small the default xover was 40hz.

 

[Hetfield]

I know one thing. Upgraditist can be contageous and you were recently exposed to it right here. Probably from eating a chunk of mushroom you found down here in the rabbit hole. Stay away from those and that crazy caterpillar and whatever it is he's smoking. You'll be spending money before you know it!

Man, I think you already know the answer. You gotta listen and hear for yourself (I get that one a lot too). I've only ever heard the 65's in a magnolia room and every speaker sounded like poop in that room... I will say I owned the SM55's and I did like them for the price. Despite the bad rap I think they still make some good speakers.

One thing I would say is, if you're gonna do it with upgrading in mind it's gonna cost more than a few bucks to significantly best the 65's imo.

Yeah exactly. I agree with all that. I can't do anything now anyway. I just spent a lot of money. I was just asking the question.

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[Pogre]

The whole system is looking really good, glad it's sounding the same.
Nice easy fix for the sag, if you wipe those dowels with a close stain it will look like it came that way from the factory.

Oh yeah. that's what I'm gonna do. I made a few more lengths of dow rods to hold it up when I stain them.

 

[Pogre]

I was just asking the question.

No problem. I don't mind if my threads drift a little. Makes it more fun. Didn't mean to put you on defense...

 

[Hetfield]

No problem. I don't mind if my threads drift a little. Makes it more fun. Didn't mean to put you on defense...

No problem. I was looking for you to say "your crazy, don't do it" "come off the ledge". In the end I can't do anything anyway. I'm tapped for a long time as it sounds like you are too now.

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[KEW]

Audyssey measured my towers as full range towers with no crossover. I went in, set them to small, did my magic and got it to where I like it. When I switched them to small the default xover was 40hz.

That is right in line with SVS's Merlin tool. It says to either run them Large/Full Band or set a 40Hz XO when used with a modern AVR!

...and XO sub at 31.5Hz if your are running it in an old fashioned two channel rig... IOW no proper bass management available and running the speakers at full range - this doesn't apply to you, but still interesting to see where they would start adding sub.

 

[Pogre]

That is right in line with SVS's Merlin tool. It says to either run them Large/Full Band or set a 40Hz XO when used with a modern AVR!

...and XO sub at 31.5Hz if your are running it in an old fashioned two channel rig... IOW no proper bass management available and running the speakers at full range - this doesn't apply to you, but still interesting to see where they would start adding sub.

I have my xover at 80hz. It's a little thin when I drop it below 60hz. The towers are both really close to the subwoofers on one side. I doubt that's optimal for those speakers. If I really wanna hear them full range I think pulling the subs out and sliding the towers just a little closer together (to get the left one out of the corner) and running Audyssey again would do them justice. I may just do that one of these days when I get settled down.

 

[Puglover]

Stood the subs back up this morning and ran Audyssey again.

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Hard to get a good pic inside my house in the morning. The camera on my tab is very fickle with lighting.

I like the way it looks in the last one. those speakers are just too pretty to cover up! Plus now I have somewhere to set my BS for a little A/B testing...

Looks like a picture in a magazine! Pretty cool. I thought about svs as an upgrade option. I bet it sounds as good as it looks. I am curious what you think when you do the a@b test.

 

[Pogre]

I got some better lighting for some pics. I think I'm done tweaking them around as fast positioning. I busted out a tape measure and got pretty anal about it too.

Those dow rods are measured equally. It looks a little off center because of the camera angle...

And this is what I'm doing tonight. Gonna put the first one in after this post.

*Edit: I just now barely got through the first 2 minutes of EOT . I plugged a port and went eq1. That beginning is like a full body massage. I had some pretty loud port chuffing at one of those frequencies tho. You could feel the air blowing from across the room!

 

[Hetfield]

I got some better lighting for some pics. I think I'm done tweaking them around as fast positioning. I busted out a tape measure and got pretty anal about it too.

View attachment 21442

Those dow rods are measured equally. It looks a little off center because of the camera angle...

View attachment 21443

And this is what I'm doing tonight. Gonna put the first one in after this post.

I'll tell you have a very cool step up. Is that room by itself, not open to other rooms? Is it sort of a rectangular or square room? My room is terrible, just terrible. To start it's a condo so hitting the gas hard is out of the question, don't want any angry neighbors, knock on wood no complaints. Then the room is open to the dining room, and kitchen and hallway that leads to the bedrooms. Try that bad room on for size? I'm desperately working up but a house. I told my wife she can have anything she wants in the house, whatever bedrooms, whatever bathrooms, whatever color even pink, I just have to make sure there is a decent room or really good room for the HT.

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[Pogre]

I'll tell you have a very cool step up. Is that room by itself, not open to other rooms? Is it sort of a rectangular or square room? My room is terrible, just terrible. To start it's a condo so hitting the gas hard is out of the question, don't want any angry neighbors, knock on wood no complaints. Then the room is open to the dining room, and kitchen and hallway that leads to the bedrooms. Try that bad room on for size? I'm desperately working up but a house. I told my wife she can have anything she wants in the house, whatever bedrooms, whatever bathrooms, whatever color even pink, I just have to make sure there is a decent room or really good room for the HT.

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It's open to the kitchen behind me, a hallway and a doorless entry to a den on my right. It's ~6000^3 so it's a big area to pressurize. It's a little oddball shaped, but Audyssey does a very nice job taming it. It sounds as good as it looks. I love it.

 

[Hetfield]

It's open to the kitchen behind me, a hallway and a doorless entry to a den on my left. It's a little oddball, but Audyssey does a very nice job taming it. It sounds as good as it looks. I love it.

My biggest issue besides it being a condo which is tough. I describe it as having a Ferrari but can only drive 22 miles and hour when you want to hit 100. But my biggest issue is the HVAC return vent. It's so dam loud it just destroys the whole movie experience. Now because we like in a upstairs unit the AC runs a lot, I mean A LOT in the summer but in the winter the heat doesn't run much really. Hear rises as we all know. Bottom line is I need a house!
You got a nice setup. I wish I were closer I'd definitely like to give it a listen and vice versa. We could really compare SVS and Definitive Technology.

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[lovinthehd]

Ok I have a "rabbit hole" question. Porge you can yell at me for asking this here if you like? I am in this hobby which auto makes me crazy. I recently finished putting my latest HT together and buying everything and its basically done. Since then I have become obsessed with PSA speakers. I have for those of you that don't know Def Tech SM 65 mains, SM 65 center speaker, SM 55 surrounds, SVS PB-1000 sub. I have been thinking of because yes I am crazy with going with 5 PSA MT-110 speakers all the way around. Now I really can't do this now, but wanted to get your take on just how much or if it would be an upgrade in sound quality? I mean would it be a very, very big significant step up in sound quality? The thing is the system I have now sounds really, really awesome. Its really incredible, and I love it. Just wanted to see what you guys think?

Quite a change but I've always wanted to try those MT110s, read lots of good user comments and you at least just doubled your amp power It is a different animal from the DTs, though.

 

[lovinthehd]

LOL. Thumb, thump, after a few cold ones does it really matter...problem is I haven't had the 1st cold one yet...good catch.

I just thought it would be funny to see what images would come up, think that one actually has something to do with the fishing kind of bass I have left my xover at 100 for a while now, had used before that 120 and 110, each for a few weeks, and kinda stopped even tho I was going to keep dropping it periodically (in a 9.4 setup)....been a while since I even thought about it. Will try to remember to change it later....

 

[KEW]

I just thought it would be funny to see what images would come up, think that one actually has something to do with the fishing kind of bass

LOL! I was thinking it was someone laying electric bass who had stopped long enough to lose his callous and tore up his soft skin with a blister forming underneath!

 

[lovinthehd]

LOL! I was thinking it was someone laying electric bass who had stopped long enough to lose his callous and tore up his soft skin with a blister forming underneath!

I wanted some giant thumb stroking a bass, upright or guitar, but didn't see one in a quick search at least....

 

[KEW]

Not a giant thumb, but how about a video?

 

[Tankman]

When it comes to clean watts, too much is just enough. You've got that amp problem covered, for now and into the future. Just heed Tankman's cleverly worded advice about avoiding throwing a rod.


One of THESE.

That link, 'ski2xblack' posted is what you need to remove that low level hum. I had that same issue with a COX set too box. The hum would go away when I would remove the cable line coming into the box I ordered a 'loop' filter installed it where the cable technician ran the cable into my apartment. He had used a cable 'Barrel' cause he split the cable line coming into my apartment. He said he did the cable run like that so I could take the extra cable line with me if I moved. But that filter removed the hum completely.

 

[lovinthehd]

Not a giant thumb, but how about a video?

That is indeed an impressive thumb! Almost makes me want to connect the laptop to the main system....