My latest music set up

[jaudere]

Hello friends,
I am writing on forum after many months. I am using my open baffles with my philips dvdp mainly for movies(for 22" LCD, I think stereo is more than enough) .
Recently i got some money to spare,and decided to spend on this hobby. After a lot of discussions and auditions, i bought Marantz pm6002 at 16.5k with warranty. Selected it over norge 2060,yamaha ax497 & "high end amplifier" by DNM(Thats what they call it. There is no model no. Not even the DNM Logo on it)
I already had ventronic bookshelf speakers ( actually they are in between bookshelf & towers with twin 8"mid bass & 1 silk dome tweet). I was mulling over what to do abt source. I had old sony dVDP (8 yr old). I didnt have budget even for budget cd player. I didnt want to put money in new dvdp either.
As a blessing, i got HP Mini 210-2090NR As gift. Loaded foobar 2k on it with wasapi. Tweaked windows 7 for audio by using guides available on net (it works as music source & nothing else), tweaked foobar similarly. I set 55hz equalizer abt 6db above all other with autolevelling. Ripped my audio cd collection into .wav format and my dream set up(at least for now) is ready now.
Sounds excellent. Made my wife listen to kehna hi kya(bombay),how do i live without you(leann rimes)& wonderfull tonight by eric clapton. She was simply mad. She told me i never had my system sounding so clean and well balanced in past (she has been a patient listener to my audio journey. So i take her word even though she is not audiophile).

In a computer shop nearby, i stumbled upon a lenovo 5091 mini cordless key board. Very handy. Has multimedia keys & mouse trackball. Works as an excellent remote controller for my netbook. Got it for 1.7k. So the only problem for of using comp as music source was solved.

A note:1)my open baffles sound hopeless with marantz with no body to music & quite harsh. However the same speakers sound quite good with my philips all in one system in my bedroom. So i think i now believe that you cannot evaluate speakers alone. They must be reviewed with accompanyig amp & room.
2) i dont think i will ever put money on a costly CD PLAYER. At the most i may buy USB dac.

 

[vasishta.sushant]

Pics or it didn't happen

 

[imgene]

Great journey so far. Many congratulations.

Can you share the links with all of us to tweak windows and foobar to get the best output....

 

[jaudere]

Hi,
Actually I write my posts from my nokia mobile. So its difficult to provide links. Its the same reason that i have not posted the pics. So I am sorry. I found the links by googling "optimize foobar 2k " & "optimizing windows 7 for audio". I hope it helps. On googling, i got the needed information withing first 3-4 responses.
Cheers.

 

[imgene]

Ok, thank you.

 

[jaudere]

It seems that the speakers that i own are based on MTM/D'appolito design. So unknowingly i purchased a good design. Down side:minimal freedom about height of placement of speakers due to limited dispersion of tweeter sound although horizontal placement is more forgiving. If i keep them horizontal,the problem about height of placement is somewhat solved but the sweet spot becomes very narrow. I dont know what is the slope of the XO . In d'appolito it should be 18dB/Octave. If its not then its simple MTM design. Nevertheless, i gained some more knowledge about speaker design which is very important.

 

[jaudere]

Finally some pics

Here are some pics of my set up.
The plates on top of the speakers are to put some heavy weight on speaker (12.5 kg for each speaker). Was part of some experiment. Didn't find any difference though. So they no more there.My speakers already weigh more than 10kg and they do not vibrate(can't feel it when I touch). This is how some experts have advised to test whether your speakers need some weight addition or no(feeling for vibration with hands while playing some bass heavy tracks. If you don't feel any vibtrations, you speakers have adequate weight and addition of further weight won't improve bass response)

 

[baijuxavior]

Nice setup there. Congratulations.

 

[vasishta.sushant]

Nice clean setup there man.

 

[Deleted member 17547]

kewl.. nice space u've got..
congrats buddy for ur setup.. keep updatin about ur impression on the sound quality n componets..

 

[spirovious]

Congrats Doc,we hardly can see huge speakers now a days.

 

[gobble]

The setup is certainly very pleasing to the eye with its bare minimalist layout :clapping: hyeah:

Happy listening!

--G0bble

 

[jaudere]

Congrats Doc,we hardly can see huge speakers now a days.

Yeah! It's twin 8" drivers.still these speakers are small in front of my open baffles (which uses a 12" driver and a an 8" driver). So WAF is better despite the big size as these are small in comparison.

 

[Deleted member 17547]

I wish i cud've this much space.. hindi mein bole to faad diya hota..
m sure u r enjoyin ur setup..

 

[Kevian]

Clean setup Hakimji....but curious about one thing though..did you write that word "cock" on that black drawer?

 

[Deleted member 17547]

Clean setup Hakimji....but curious about one thing though..did you write that word "cock" on that black drawer?

Nice catch Kevian.. just noticed that thing.. :clapping:

 

[spirovious]

curious about one thing though..did you write that word "cock" on that black drawer?

It has so many meanings,hyeah:

 

[jaudere]

I wish i cud've this much space.. hindi mein bole to faad diya hota..
m sure u r enjoyin ur setup..

With 2 kids of less than 5 years, I have to keep as much free space as possible. They just keep on running around. Today itself my son tried to poke in one of the speakers with a stick. Luckily no 'audible'/visible damage.

I am enjoying my set up like never before. In addition to this nice set up,I found a treasure trove in my friend's laptop: excellnt songs with excellent recording in FLAC(luckily not mp3).

 

[jaudere]

Clean setup Hakimji....but curious about one thing though..did you write that word "cock" on that black drawer?

Obviously not!. My daughter is in junior KG and learning to write. Took those snaps absolutely casually with my mobile. That is why that COCK is there in addition to the magazine mess on left side . The boxes doing duty of speaker stand are put into horizontal position to properly adjust height of speakers to ear level.

By the way, with your hawk eye, you must have noted the wooden shelves/boxes on which I have kept my speakers (open on left side and closed black one with COCK on it on right). FYI, those are my failed open baffle speakers ,now converted into shelves. I have another such pair doing duty of vegetable shelf in kitchen. 3rd pair finally succeeded and is being used really as "speaker" but I use them only for movies.

 

[sdurani]

A few things you may want to try out. Stand the speakers up vertically to minimize off-axis lobing/interference. Toe them in so that they are pointing directly at you for smoother, more extended frequency response (especially in the highs). If you have thick blankets or thick wall rugs, hang them on the wall in-between the speakers. Place a rug on the floor between yourself and the speakers.