I still can't get the proper sound out of my SVS or my Velodyne (or any other sub).. (1 Viewer)

[Josh Wolfman]

So some years back, Mark Levinson invited me and a friend to Ciello, located in a New York townhouse (a company Mark co-owned and promoted). So, anyway...Mark proceeds to demo a pair of speakers (they cost approx $150,000 for the pair) with the Eagles hell freezes over disc. He is also utilizing some $8500 contraption that works sort of like an eq (but don't call it an eq cause he states its so much more) along with some gigantic amps sitting on the floor. When that disc opens, there is a kick drum (bass drum) that literally hit me in the chest and sounded like I was at a real concert. Since then, i have never been able to reproduce this sound anywhere! I thought the SVS would have a shot at it but to no avail. BTW- this is NOT taking a stab at SVS...I could not find any subwoofer that could reproduce this experience. I guess the reason i am writing this post is cause i would like to recreate that experience in my home without spending $200,000. Anyone have any ideas????

 

[Josh Wolfman]

Just a FYI, the speakers we listened to at Cello were the Grand Master, and the EQ thing was called the audio palette.

 

[Marcus Lewis]

Maybe an infinite baffle based around Adrie's tmult subs
and custom built speakers of some sort likely using horns for the high output without 50K in amps ...

Just my thoughts ...

 

[Mark Seaton]

Hi Josh,

Hmmm... A few things come to mind. First and foremost, realize that the "kick" you are describing does not only live in the subwoofer, but will also require a healthy, uncompressed midbass. From there you also need to take a look at what your speakers/sub are providing you at the listening position. If you have significant recession somewhere in the 60-200Hz range due to positioning in the room, you will be fighting an uphill battle.

The perception of such "reality" often is heavily reliant on dynamics, frequency response, and low distortion. There are also matters of the integration of the various parts of the system (sub-midbass-etc).

How about describing the driver makup of this Cello speaker as well as what you are and are not hearing from your current set-up?

 

[Josh Wolfman]

here is a pic of the speakers- they are a bit large but sound amazing!
http://www.frenchimages.com/marklev/cello/img/gm_p.jpg
I don't know exactly what the drivers are made of.

 

[Josh Wolfman]

here is a pic of the audio palette...it won a bunch of awards when it first came out. This is THE product to fine tune your system!
http://www.frenchimages.com/marklev/.../apallet_p.jpg
BTW I have no association with Cello in any way and do not profit by posting any of this. I am just relaying my personal experiences. As you can see by my sig I have zero cello equip- it is just too pricey

 

[Khoa Tran]

try upgrading your wires, that's my situation too i used taralabs 50 dollar interconnecters versus 300+ cables. the kick drum hit then stopped immediately with the taralabs cables but with the expensive cables the kick drum seem to come alive and have a lasting effect after it hit. so what stated above in the other replies and your cables play a major role. by the way this is with a cinanova grande amp and psb goldis.

 

[John F. Palacio]

IMHO I have a sneaky suspicion that the room acoustics played a big part in the sound you heard.

People that demo super high end systems spend a lot of time and money tuning the room. Had you taken that exact same system you loved and places it in a less-than-ideal environment it would have sounded quite different.

 

[Josh Wolfman]

The room (Townhouse in NYC) was treated to the max! We were one story up from the street and could not hear a thing. I don't know how much the accoustic treatments played a part, though. There was a distinctly different (real) sound coming from the speakers when that bass drum was kicked. I just have never heard anything like it on ANY system so far.