Pre and Power Amp

This Cardas room set-up worked perfectly on my system Darvin. Try it out and let us know if it works with your system.

Speaker placement simply stated:

The distance from the center of the woofer face to the side walls is: Room Width times .276 (RW x .276)

The distance from the center of the woofer face to the wall behind the speaker is: Room Width times .447 (RW x .447)

This is all you need to know to place speakers in a symmetrical, rectangular room!

Diagram A Distance Percentage
Speaker to side wall: RW x .276
Speaker to rear wall: RW x .447
Speaker to opposite side wall: RW x .724
Speaker to speaker: RW x .447

Speaker Placement
You may use any unit of measure (feet, inches, meters, centimeters) but all measurements must be numbers only and use the same unit of measure.

 

The Cardas method is one way. The Allison rule is another (and in my opinion, more sensible) way. Here's a link to a short article I wrote on the subject: http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=55656&highlight=speaker+set-up. As to the coffee table, move it out of the way and see if it makes a difference. In its present position, it may well cause some early reflections that interfere with staging and imaging.

In general, I recommend experimenting with speaker set-up BEFORE spending $$$ on any equipment upgrades. After all, it's free. First experiment with speaker position, then pay attention to the speaker/floor interface. What is the floor made of under that carpet? If it's concrete slab or tile, I'd recommend trying a soft interface between the speakers and the floor. With spikes and a very hard floor, you'll get vibrations bouncing back into the speakers, again blurring staging and imaging.

Finally, what Hal said about isolating tubes from vibration is very sensible. I would try all these things before upgrading components. Why not give your present components a fair chance by providing them the best conditions possible? If you don't, you may upgrade, only to find the same problems recurring.

 

My speakers came with a manual with suggested speaker placement. Do you have the manual for your speakers, if so try following their suggestions.

 

I'll second that second!

 

The suggestions for cabling seem a bit extreme to me. Room treatment can make a difference, but one needs a systematic and rigorous method to do it well. Get some help and go easy on the thinking solvent/motor fuel consumption whilst conducting the experiments.

I would go and get a new pre/linestage. It looks like you have a fair run to the amp, so a low output Z is going to be important. I would not go with an 'off-the-rack' item but find a DIY-er who can be hired. Listen to their creations and do it in your system. If you don't have to support a R&D budget, stuff can be a lot less expensive. Besides, listening to lots of different stuff is fun.

I build my own stuff, and help my friends to do the same. Some of the stuff I penned got excellent reviews on this very forum. I don't do this for money anymore but if you want some guidance, drop me a note.
cheers,
Douglas

 

Not really, cables can have as most seem to, added frequency coloration of the sound. Most members here are on the search for the most neutral ie. uncolored cables they can find. The Grovers I recommended do this the best I've heard so far.

 

Thanks for your detailed speaker placement recommendation, I will try and experiment and will give you feedback.

 

Thank you, all logical suggestions will be followed before going to any upgrades. You are very right in your statement...same problem will occur if best condition will not be provided in the components. BTW, what soft interface can you suggest to put in between my concrete floor and speaker spikes (aside from my present carpet and 1/4" thick carpet underlay)?

 

Sorry, can't find my user's manual. Maybe someone can share their manual for Dynaudio Contour 3.3.... thanks..

 

You're welcome, and I look forward to reading your results to see if it worked out for you.

 

Thanks, I'll be going on that route.

 

Thank You.

 

You could swap the spikes for threaded soft feet. There are several manufacturers of these in the audio world. Or you could get some of those rubber discs that are meant to go under furniture legs in order to save the floor. Don't spend a lot of $$$, just try it and see if it helps.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

Hey! Hey! Hey! Guess what, my present speaker location is slightly off from the suggested rule, therefore, a little moving do the trick . The big impact I made is changing the angle of the speaker. Meaning from the full toe-in, I moved it slightly out and it gives me a wider soundstage. How much more if I will change my cables, isolate my equipment... it will save me more $$$$ compared to changing my equipment...thank you to all of you guys...

 

Hey darvin, glad to hear you got some decent results. Did you try it exactly as recommended in the Cardas room set up at all?

If you decide to get the Grover cables, they will change the way you feel about your equipment I promise. Truly mega bang-for-the-buck.

 

After you are through experimenting with speaker placement and component isolation, I would consider a NOS tube swap in your pre. Next, consider Harmonic Technology Pro-Silway Mk III ICs between your amp and pre. The are very low in capacitance and rich in the midrange. If your CD player is plugged into a conditioner, try directly plugging it into the wall. Component isolation can be done very cheaply, under your pre amp try 3 bronze bushings placed on top of a maple cutting board. Good luck.

 

Yes, exactly the way Cardas wants it ...soon I will get that Grover cables .. thanks again

 

Hi, going to replace the whole set of tubes for an NOS will cost me a lot, just imagine 10-6922 and 2- 6GH8A maybe I will just change the LV1 and V2 positions as advised to me by Frank of Sonic Frontiers to start with..will check that Harmonic Technology and try to plug my CD player direcly to the wall? That would be a really cheap isolation alternative, but where can I find that Bronze bushings? Do you have a picture so I can show it to the hardware store? Thanks for your advise..

 

darvin2138- I have a total of 21 pieces of equipment in my Stereo system including a Tube preamp and a Tube power amp and no two of those 21 pieces was Resonance Modified using exactly the same set of tools. Each piece had to be individually tuned to get the best overall results and it took a lot of experimentation to get just the right system synergy, but the final results were well worth the effort.

~Maxx~

 

Let us know how it goes.. here are the bronze bushings you can buy from Home Depot or Lowes. Place 3 of these in this position under your component(s) and then place a maple platform under them - you should notice an improvement in bass solidity, soundstage depth and microdynamics.

 

RandyW- Have you ever tried anything with different resonance charictaristics than those of brass with a maple platform under them?

~Maxx~

 

I've tried rubber, sorbethene, superballs, raquet balls, cork, wood blocks, various metals, and granite and other wood platforms, as well as commecially available products like Navcom Silencers, Vibrapods, etc. Some of these materials I use in conjunction with brass/bronze/maple to reduce speaker borne vibration, but on their own they muddy the bass and reduce the soundstage/microdynamics too much for me.

 

Right on! There are no pat answers in Resonance Modification. Try everything and every combination until you find what works best in a particular situation.

I was in total awe at how much Resonance Modification improved the resolution and transparancy of my Audio system without touching one wire or one piece of equipment and the improvement/co$t factor is extremely high although it does take a lot of time to develop effective implementation.

~Maxx~

 

Ok Thanks.