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  1. Mal P

    Are There Any Speakers Designed for Tweeter Not at Ear Level?

    On an anecdote, yes. The Dynaudio Confidence C1 with it's inverted driver configuration, is meant to be heard with the woofer at ear axis, with the tweeter below that. The reason? Time-alignment. Due to simple geometry, the tweeter is further away than the woofer, thus imitating a sloped baffle...
  2. Mal P

    Warm, tube like sound from a/v Receiver/ Speaker combination for $1500, possible?

    As a reccommendation on tube single ended amps, can I vouch for the Midwest Audio "Classic" 300B amps: http://www.audioweb.com/Store/StoreI...oreitemid=1136 (the stereobloc version is about $800 cheaper and they discount). Unfortunately, the owner of Midwest Audio has passed away, but the...
  3. Mal P

    Warm, tube like sound from a/v Receiver/ Speaker combination for $1500, possible?

    G'day Chu, I agree absolutely, Single Ended Amplifiers do generally tend to have higher distortion levels in some areas (like even order HD) than amplifiers with different topologies. In some areas, they have a little less distortion (such as the crossover from class A to B power, when...
  4. Mal P

    Warm, tube like sound from a/v Receiver/ Speaker combination for $1500, possible?

    G'day Michael, Anything that strips away the un-natural harshness and grit from many recordings has to be doing something right :) There are actually some very decent single ended amps out there for good prices... like the Billie kit, at: DIY HiFi Supply That one has been garnering great...
  5. Mal P

    Warm, tube like sound from a/v Receiver/ Speaker combination for $1500, possible?

    G'day Michael, Some good points indeed. With an 8 watt amp, my speakers (which have a steady impedence curve which rises at the bass - hence relatively easier to drive) can hit 99dB peaks quite well, and even more than that since most amps can handle temporary overloads without much...
  6. Mal P

    Warm, tube like sound from a/v Receiver/ Speaker combination for $1500, possible?

    In my opinion, I've always found that more of the "magic" of tube sound lies in the direct interaction between power tubes and a speaker, in preferably single-ended mode. For example, I've played around with numerous tube pre-amps in front of high quality 2ch Solid State power-amps, and while...
  7. Mal P

    Speaker Break-in...Fact or fiction?

    G'day Chu, It's good to see someone from overseas familiar with the work of VAF Research :) Their top of the line speaker has a frequency response from 21hz to 20khz +/- 1.2dB, with a phase deviation of +/- 5 degrees. Whoever said good sound couldn't be measured. I think that perhaps we're...
  8. Mal P

    Speaker Break-in...Fact or fiction?

    Yes, absolutely. Driver parameters certainly do change from "out of the box" and therefore speaker parameters can change. Is this audible? It depends on the degree of change. But I do have evidence to prove my claims, or at least, evidence provided by a popular speaker manufacturer: Driver...
  9. Mal P

    Did I ruin my tweeter?

    G'day Peter, Contact Axiom and have them send you a replacement tweeter. It most likely won't cost that much, and err there could be FR anomalies with using bicyle grease instead of ferro-fluid ;) Cheers, Mal
  10. Mal P

    receiver for an avid music listener

    Hi David, 1. Using a separate pre-amp and amp combo will usually yield slightly higher dynamics (bass transients etc) as the pre-amp stage is usually 'active' (as opposed to integrateds, where the pre-amp stage is usually passive). 2. Yup. I have an old Sony 555ES receiver, whose L/R...
  11. Mal P

    Best Sounding Speaker in $3500 range

    Danny, From Dynaudio's website for the Evidence, crossover description: The crossover unit is located behind the mid/high enclosure. Each separate frequency divider network (eight individual networks for each separate driver) are configured on double-thickness, fiberglass reinforced...
  12. Mal P

    Is Outlaw 950 now shipping?

    What was the reason for the cessation of production of the 950? Cheers, Mal
  13. Mal P

    Best Sounding Speaker in $3500 range

    Hi Bruce, I agree, it takes a lot more than just the drivers to make a good speaker. A lot of people start off in DIY with kits, designed by professionals. For example, Joeseph D'Appolito, the Godfather of speaker design himself *bows head* designs many kits when invited to do so by speaker...
  14. Mal P

    SVS PCI Plus or Ultra?

    What would be interesting are distortion figures between the CS+ vs. the CS Ultra at say 20hz... Cheers, Mal
  15. Mal P

    Best Sounding Speaker in $3500 range

    I agree with Chris, most of these high-end companies tend to use the same drivers (or slight variants) as those that are available to the DIY community. Even then, since high-end speakers have generally low volume sales, these companies can't justify customising a lot of the drivers, so they are...
  16. Mal P

    SACD/DVD-A player w/o Bass Management: Pointless?

    Gentlemen, The Denon DVD-3000 and DVD-9000 both have time delays, as well as bass management (80hz crossover, 12dB/Octave slope). It appears as though you can actually turn the centre off too... and re-direct the signal to the L/R channels (I'll need to confirm that though). That last option...
  17. Mal P

    Studio's or Vienna's?

    G'day Mark, I assume the same reason for all blinds tests, to detect whether one can hear a difference between the two items, and if not, then choose the one that's cheaper, or looks better or has the features you'd prefer. Cheers, Mal
  18. Mal P

    Good fabric tweeter speakers

    Hi John, Absolutely, it's all in the implementation, and there are harsh examples of both soft and metal dome tweeters. However, a lot of metal tweeters have resonances out beyond 20khz or so, which is usually what causes an unpleasant character to the sound, in the form of ringing. Thus, it...
  19. Mal P

    Studio's or Vienna's?

    Don - Most speaker manufacturers have their drivers sourced from the top OEM driver manufacturers, like SEAS, Audax, Scan Speak, Vifa etc. Whether a speaker manufacturer makes their own drivers or not is inconsequential to the sound quality, as the drivers made by some of these companies (for...
  20. Mal P

    3Hz!

    Also, perhaps it's not actually that really deep 15hz sound you're hearing, but the distortion caused by the subwoofer. Cheers, Mal
  21. Mal P

    Anyone interested in designing some MTM's?

    This project sounds fun! :) Just to note, the Seas Excel kits at http://www.seas.no/kits%20main%20page.htm has a lot of crossovers available that tame the resonant peaks of these magnificent (and in my opinion, best sounding for clarity and low stored energy) drivers. I'm sure that some of them...
  22. Mal P

    Anybody Use Dynaudio Speakers in their Set-Up?

    Hi David, The Dynaudio Contour series is superb. Extremely accurate and neutral, which is generally a desirable feature - although their bookshelf units do tend to exaggerate the mid-bass if placed close to a wall. Please note that they can be difficult to drive due to relatively low...
  23. Mal P

    4.1-5.1 Channel Stereo From A 2 CH. Source

    Alex, That solution would work just fine. Also, you could get a wire to merge the L/R signal into a mono signal that is sent to the centre. All this would get you the equivalent of the 5ch stereo mode on some receivers. Stereo imaging isn't generally an issue with 5ch sound, as people are...
  24. Mal P

    what is the improvement over speakers from 10 years ago?

    Cone materials have also changed, we now have superior metal cones drivers (SEAS etc), Aerogel (Audax), Kevlar (Focal) and so on. Cheers, Mal
  25. Mal P

    Hypothetical situation: measure good/sounds bad vs. sounds good/measures bad

    What if you don't know what sounds "good"? What if you have been accustomed to the excessive sharpness of mini-systems all your life, and don't like the imaging or soundstaging that comes from decent equipment? Which is better then? Cheers, Mal
  26. Mal P

    Sony DA5ES Switching/Noise

    Angelo, I had this problem with an older Sony receiver. Make sure that for each source (TV, DVD, CD etc) you have manually set the input type you're using (be it optical, coaxial, analog etc) instead of "auto". That should hopefully fix it. Cheers, Mal
  27. Mal P

    SURVEY: Do you notice a big difference in $10K+ speakers vs. more affordable ones?

    There are speakers costing $US600 that perform as good as speakers costing $US5000+. Alas, these are more often than not, Aussie made speakers ;) If it's possible for that to occur as it has in my experience, than it is certainly possible that price isn't necessarily an indicator of performance...
  28. Mal P

    New Cirrus Triple-Xover a good thing?

    Hi Craig, You make an excellent point, that if properly integrated and setup, a system that diverts bass at different cross-over points to the sub should not cause a soundstage degradation. However, there are tonal differences in the bass between subwoofers and speakers, a lot of people...
  29. Mal P

    New Cirrus Triple-Xover a good thing?

    I personally would not like to use different cross-overs for different channels. The reason is that it may cause a less-integrated soundstage. If you had, say, a plane that was moving from Left -> Centre -> Right, and the cross-over point for the L/R channels were different to the Centre...
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