Dialing in Digital Stereo System

[Swerd]

It was the speakers!

Switched to some Focal 706's and back to hifi music!

I read this thread several days ago, and realized I had nothing to say, until your recent post. Of course! It's always the speakers that make the most difference, good or bad!

I searched for some info or reviews on these ELAC speakers, especially audio measurements. I did find a frequency vs. loudness curve (below) on an online review site called NO Audiophile http://noaudiophile.com/ELAC_UB5/. But I did not find a frequency vs. impedance curve anywhere.

I noticed something bizarre in this curve. It shows a woofer-mid range crossover between 200 and 300 Hz, as expected (Elac says it's at 270 Hz). And it shows the tweeter rolling in above 2700 Hz, again as expected. However, the mid range response does not fall off above 2700 Hz. It and the tweeter both play up to 20 kHz, with somewhat ragged looking responses, roughly ±5 dB. I would not expect that 4" concentric mid range driver to sound good from 270 Hz to 20 kHz. The author has nothing to say about this, so am wondering what gives?

 

[Texaz]

I think I see what you mean....the mid being the yellow line, at some point should have made a dip to the baseline along the X axis, a Y=0 at some point or at least not Y< Tweeter. Probably much less than tweeter if not zero as Bass does (although I'd not be surprised to see some mid influence just reckoning from ear NO experience with such curves!)

The Mid is even > tweeter at the very end @19.8khz.

Having zero experience but an MS degree in geoscience and read seismic profiles I can make a shaky interpretation that this echos my listening experience. The trebles just had a lack of defined character and I had to crank up to a point of distortion to even hear what was happening. And even then not a pleasant experience!

I now have some Focal 706's playing Bach Trios (Yo Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile) and am quite impressed! Focal says 20-50 hour break-in but already sound very rich. Incredible separation and imaging! I recommend this recording for those wanting to hear some beautifully recorded music and check a system. Very nice clear separate ranges.

A different class altogether from the Elacs but the Elacs did sound much better on a 4 ohm system so.....YMMV

Thanks,

T