My first home audio venture. 2.1 setup and pictures to come as I go...

[ErinH]

I'll keep this updated as I go.

Here's my Bic H-100 sub, I got for $240 shipped from this place. Link

Just got the sub in a couple hours ago. Right now it's in the middle of the floor playing some pink noise tracks. Trying to get this "loose". Then I'll pull out the RTA gear and start trying different positions.

Expect to see some RTA results, and my Aperions along with their FR charts hopefully by this weekend.

So, on to the pictures...
















3 things to note:
1. The "scratches" at the top are just due to the film that I haven't taken off the top yet.
2. The camera I used to take these pictures sucks. When I get more time I'll bring out the DSLR.
3. My puppies don't like sub-bass. The one in the picture was whimpering when I had the sub playing sine waves.

 

[mazersteven]

I'll3. My puppies don't like sub-bass. The one in the picture was whimpering when I had the sub playing sine waves.

Whats the puppies name? And how about the others?

 

[Gimpy Ric]

Hi Erin,

Nice Sub! Good darn deal for $240.00. What are you using to power your mains with? I have Aperions (5) and LOVE THEM! You can't beat the quality, sound, and the finish. I believe that they will be in business for the long run.

If you need interconnects, go to Blue Jeans Cable and get good cables, custom, and CHEAP.

Keep this thread updated for us.

 

[ErinH]

Whats the puppies name? And how about the others?

The one next to the subwoofer is Sophie.

Sadie is the other:

Hi Erin,

Nice Sub! Good darn deal for $240.00. What are you using to power your mains with? I have Aperions (5) and LOVE THEM! You can't beat the quality, sound, and the finish. I believe that they will be in business for the long run.

If you need interconnects, go to Blue Jeans Cable and get good cables, custom, and CHEAP.

Keep this thread updated for us.

Powering with a Denon avr-587.

I'm very much looking forward to them. Should be here Friday.

As for cables, I've actually already got all my cables from monoprice.

 

[ErinH]

Got my Aperions in and running. They come boxed up very well, and even in a freaking velour-like bag for each speaker. The gloss black is bad *** looking.

God, they sound great. For little 5.25" drivers I'm seriously amazed. When I was reading reviews people would say that they have "big sound", and now I totally understand what they were saying.

I have a couple friends over and we've listened to some Dire Straits, Eagles, Michael Jackson, and watched Bad Boys 2 & Four Brothers. They're more impressed than I am.

I'm ****ing pumped.... I can't wait until things get broken in!

 

[ErinH]

RTA fun:

Fronts only (no sub):

Going to have to wait until I get my 25' "subwoofer" cable until I can move it around, but in all honesty, there's not really anywhere I can move it without it being in the way. Hardwood floor kills me being able to put it behind us...

Edit: Keep in mind that the RTA reading is done in 1/24db increments.... if it were on 1/12db that response would look much flatter. This makes Erin happy.

 

[mazersteven]

Congratulations Erin,

I hope you get many years of enjoyment from your new system.

And I just love the way the speakers are packaged in Purple & Gold draw string bags.

 

[croseiv]

Very cool set-up there!

 

[ErinH]

Thanks.

So far, I'm very pleased. I must've stayed up until 2 am last night listening to Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms" CD.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

That's turning aout to be quite a nice set-up. As a matter of facet; it kind-of looks like a smaller version of mine...

 

[Davemcc]

That looks like a really nice setup. I'm happy that you are happy. As I recall, you smashed your budget for this system. I hope you agree that the results were worthwhile.

 

[no. 5]

Edit: Keep in mind that the RTA reading is done in 1/24db increments.... if it were on 1/12db that response would look much flatter. This makes Erin happy.

It doesn't actually look that bad, besides, higher resolution is better.

What do decay times look like?

 

[ErinH]

That looks like a really nice setup. I'm happy that you are happy. As I recall, you smashed your budget for this system. I hope you agree that the results were worthwhile.

Yea, man. Think I said $300 for everything at the very beginning?... so much for that, lol.

I'd say it's very much worth it. I felt "compelled" to go with Aperion and with the trial period, I figured why not. But, I don't think these speakers are going anywhere.

It doesn't actually look that bad, besides, higher resolution is better.

What do decay times look like?

I think I know what you're talking about with decay... but, not sure how to explain the "fall" of measurements as the track changes energy (I assume that's what you mean). If we're talking about the same thing, then the "decay" is "avg" on smaart, which when I took these readings was at 64. With Smaart you can set the decay as quick or slow as you want. 64 seems to be a good mix.



Thanks all for the comments. My wife works nights at the Hospital so when she got home I had her listen to some tracks. She likes it, so it passes the "wife test".

 

[no. 5]

I think I know what you're talking about with decay...

A measurement of the rooms time response; or how long it takes for a sound made in the room to become inaudible. Useful for measuring room acoustics because in any room some frequencies will "ring" audibly, but a pure RTA measurement lacks the temporal resolution to detect it.

Glad to hear it passed the "wife test".

 

[ErinH]

A measurement of the rooms time response; or how long it takes for a sound made in the room to become inaudible. Useful for measuring room acoustics because in any room some frequencies will "ring" audibly, but a pure RTA measurement lacks the temporal resolution to detect it.

Glad to hear it passed the "wife test".

I gotcha.

I didn't measure that. But, I could watch the RTA and figure it out...


I'm quite sure that this program has that feature... at least for $800 it better! (but, I didn't pay for my copy... thank my school professors)


I'll look into that feature and see what I can find. I've only used this for RTA purposes. I use ARTA for time arrival analysis.

 

[Introspector]

Great Post

Erin thanks for the great post! Love all the photos. I'm using a SMAART rig very similar to yours. I think I'm using the exact same M-Audio interface you're using. Thanks for the detailed updates; great contribution to the site.

You're not asking, but may I offer a few tips on using SMAART? Ok, good.

First, the specification that No. 5 was asking you for is the RT-60 time of the space, which can be determined using the "Impulse" function of the SMAART software. (Over to the right, it's the third button down.) You will need to capture an impulse response from which you can calculate the RT-60 time. As long as you are getting very expensive software for free, you might as well get the matching Acoustic Tools software also made by SiaSoft. It will allow you to measure the RT-60 times of specific frequency bands; very nice for determining which specific acoustic treatments the room needs.

Second, just a little user tip to help you get the best data. Way over at the far right of the screen are displayed the measurement and reference gains. You need to adjust your interface gain settings so that the gains are equal to each other and roughly at -6dB to -12dB. It is important for those gains to be higher and matched for the data to be accurate. Doing so will increase the resolution of your response curve and you "may" find that your response is not quite as flat as previously shown.

But anyway, GREAT post! I'm excited to see some another SMAART user out there posting their results. With so much theory and conjecture in the forums, it's refreshing to see some hard empirical data. And who doesn't love dogs!?

 

[ErinH]

Thanks for the info! I've since tinkered with other programs a bit, and have been using ARTA doing impulse response with that (in my car). A buddy of mine made me a special cable that I can use to 'bridge' the m-audio to itself so that it will reference itself and give me the correct t/a measurements. <-- I'm sure I botched that explanation up, but I know what I'm talking about... just not sure how to say it, lol.

I'll keep your suggestions in mind. Thanks.