A long day of cleaning, unpacking and throwing out old junk finally yielded a new room to try out for stereo. Carl said it was the best audio room in the house and I would love it, so who am I to argue!
Pics
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4Dammit! He is right AGAIN! It sounds great in there!
It is not perfect, but has a nicer feel overall, and has a lot more potential than downstairs. I think it might sound better than downstairs already. I put some 4" panels at sidewall 1st reflections, which sounded very nice, makes the background seem quieter, more focused. Playing some adult contemporary music (aka "one note bass" music for souped up old Honda Civics) sounded pretty woolly in the bottom. I had already tried the GIK tritraps in the front corners, but didn't like that. So I laid them down along the floor/wall starting just in front of the speakers. Voila. Bass much better. No problems with soundstaging or tone when they are out in front of the speakers.
I don't know how I'm gonna get the big speakers up there, or if they will be too bass boomy, but that's for another day. Bass drivers are 40 pounds each, so I guess I can take it apart first.
Carl you're invited to help that day.
There is still a good amount of room sound that will need some more panels to tighten up, but overall sounds OK for a first day. My wife has already told her decorator she thinks she has regained the Living room. I am looking back over my shoulder with slight anxiety.
Now for the bad news: I started listening up there today with the Cary integrated, it sounded pretty good, as always, but a little compressed as always. I brought up the Manley Snappers. Nice and tight, huge sound, unlimited dynamics and ..... Welcome back shout! I was soooo happy to hear that!!
I will try rolling some tubes through them. Any suggestions for smooth EL34 or equivalent? Any experience with Groove Tubes E34LS? That's what I have now. It's a bastardized GE copy with higher than normal output, the changes could be effecting tone. These things are made for guitar amps after all. The thing that gets me is the amps did not have this sound when they were new and harsh. It came on after a lot of hours of burn in.
But I'm happy to have moved upstairs, at least for now. I'm also happy to have discovered the shout is a voice of the manley's. If I can fix that by rolling some tubes, the amp won't excite the room as badly and I might be able to stay downstairs and tighten that up a bit with Bryan's cloud.
All in all a fun day!
Rich