Bose 201 System Fine Tuning

[ik632]

Well, after listening at Rich's I thought that I could widen the sound stage a little. I like the acoustics in my room where it's a little echoey and sound like live music, but the highs don't seam to disperse as well in the front. I decided to take the 201's and stand them on end with the tweeter on top. It's an entirely different sound. The 201's are designed so that the tweeters are kept on the inside and basically point at the sweet spot while the woofers face a little further out. It tends to make a nice warm sound but not quite separate.

Rotating the speakers on end has the tweeters facing still towards the user, but also firing upwards towards the ceiling. It gives some different sounds to the whole deal. The highs definitely have what I want but maybe a little too much openness (not quite sure of the right word). I'm wondering if a regular mini-monitor style speaker with woofer and tweeter pointing in the same direction would do more of what I want. I'm going to experiment with 2 of my Paradigms form upstairs to see if I like them any better in that atmosphere.

[Carlman]

You might also try pointing the tweeters to the left and right, using the sidewalls to bounce the highs...
Worth a shot..

I wouldn't expect a lot of discouragement to try Paradigm's... I'd even consider PSB Audio, or a host of good monitors out there... You can try mine if you want, just to see what it sounds like with a traditional monitor.  (I have Era Design 5)

-C

[richidoo]

You can also experiment with some thick felt around the tweeters, or on the sides of the speaker coplanar to the front baffle to "steer" the highs a little. Stopping the highs from diffracting around some front corners of the cabinet and allowing them to diffract on other edges can steer the highs, perceptively at least.. But with a speaker as highly optimized by big budget lab as BOSE, this may not yield much improvement. Even a piece of flat wood or cardboard with a couple sock layers will work OK for extending the baffle and you can just tape it on. Worst case, a fun way to waste an hour... Maybe even just tape a thick white sock on the speaker sides with their edge touching the front baffle edge. Experiment. Corrie will love the new look!!  But your image as audiostyle will be in jeopardy.

[ik632]

I tried with the teeters pointing out and it gives a similar sound to when I have dynamic processor turned out. I have been using the 680 the last 2 weeks and it has quite a bit more high than the 7700 does. The 7700 seams a little more mellow at the top than the 680. I did drag my Paradigms down for a bit and liked the way it sounded. The sub was way off, but I liked the directional sound a bit more. Though, the 201's do give that concert sound through the entire downstairs. The Paradigms were missing further out of the sweet spot. I guess if I went that route then I'd need to add some additional speakers though the downstairs (I do have 4 ceiling speakers I can install).

I did experiment a bit with adding more damping between the stands and the speakers and they actually sound fuller with less damping (just a towel to keep the vibrations down). I wanted to affix them to the columns with some blue tack but I didn't find any while digging through the office boxes.

I need to drop the 7700 off with Alex for some cleaning and the SX6800 (tuner) for cleaning and tuning and the dealer next door sells Paradigm and several others so I may listen to some of the higher (than I have) end speakers and maybe bring home a pair of monitors.