Mods for Avantgarde speakers

If I could add to duomike's list of great tweaks, decoupling
the screws on the tweeter front plate for a little more naturalness.

I made a very very thin slice of Sorbothane, by shaving a footer & placed it on the lugs where the tweeter screws screw into.

Silver wiring the speaker cables inside the sub if you can face it! Try solidcore cable.

I have found in my set up solidcore cables work very well on the Trio, especially if using flea power. Gives a little more focus & dynamic poise.

Duomike,

what kind of damping material did you use for the cylinders? I was thinking of trying the sticky back rubber damping for the cylinders. It is said to be great for damping resonance. Or are you using foam for the back wave?

Or is it about both?

I am struck by this issue with AG time alignment. Has anyone tried to time align in the digital domain?

I know the issue then moves into multiple amps etc. I have seen many systems that could do this. The problem then becomes one of the quality of the amps & the digital crossover.

Is the improvement really that great? It strikes me that time alignment is a can of worms. Surely at some point you still run into phase problems? Or is it that to get the tweeter & mid closer in alignment is enough? My seating position is around 4.5-5m away.

Duomike,

I have read a reasonable amount about time alignment & it strikes me there is little gain vs all other issues. Probably why AG do it that way.

It may be easier to time align a 2 way, but once you get to 3 & 4 ways it gets very tricky as off axis response, beaming at various frequencies, room interaction & positioning becomes very difficult deal with. It strikes me the only sane way to attempt alignment is in the digital domain.

I have a friend who has a DAC/Pre which has built in room correction/4 way digital xover. I will see if I can borrow it & have a play. My problem is a multichannel amp. 8 channels & all the cables... I will try & organise it over Xmas if I can & report back. Looks like a lot of work!

Duomike,

It looks like my friends room correction/crossover/dac/Pre in a box can be used as an insert on my DAC (computer FireWire into my Weiss DAC then out into room correction & back into my DAC then into the amp).

Also rather than getting into xover & multiple amps, it can still do the time alignment/phase etc into a single amp. So there won't be too many variables. So aside from the insert cables & the algorithm everything else will be the same. I will try & deal with it this week or maybe next & report back.

Hi Duomike,

the inserting of this room correction box should be ok. It's all in the digital domain & still using my existing DAC as an interface/volume control & all clocked too. It's the best one could do. All the cabling is top notch. So the least compromised way to test the time alinement without cutting up the trios!

I will listen to the system before time alinement to make sure there are no changes in the performance. Then get into the alinement/correction.

Duomike,

My understanding is this correction device is very clever & flexible. Not only can it split the signal 8 ways & send to its various analogue or digital outs, but what is useful in this situation is it can also do all the splits for the xover internally & send that split & corrected digital information bussed to the main out. (so my system stays plugged in the same way. Only difference is a digi out into correction, then digi out from correction back into my DAC)

Im not sure exactly what happens with the microphone & room responses. I suspect you do them 1st. Then set the xover freqencies or types for each driver and it works out the rest & busses it to the main output.

Now this is probably not the best way of using it, but it is the most practical for my purpose, without the need for multiple amps etc etc.

But as they say "the proof of the pudding is in the eating". I will let you know but the guy is extremely confident it will work as I explained. I know one guy who has used it & he said it was perfect! I had that RP1 room correction device which is not as flexible, but it was very very good.

Hi guys,

I still haven't managed to go pick up the box of tricks yet. I got bogged down in Xmas/work/family commitments.

I just wanted to add that the RP1 room correction which is a later & reworked version of the Tact worked well in my old set up.

At the time I was running planars & large power amps in a complex system with up samplers, clock,DACs & all that nonsense. The room correction did fix a few details I would not have noticed otherwise. It had to go due to low sample rate capabilities. I tried the integrated amp/room correction which was a sterile sounding affair, but not bad for the money.

Maybe today with Trios & SET digititus may well set in with the RP1 & render it insulting to listen to. Its only a matter of time before that kit sounds natural I am sure. Digital gear does keep getting better.

Duomike, just for the record I am trying the magic box to get an idea of the alined sound. If its great then fine. If its great but I lose naturalness due to the magic box, then I take a drill to the trio frame & deal with the measurements.

I replaced the mundorfs in the Trio with duelunds. Any idea of the differences between duelund & Vcap sonics? I must admit the duelund is very organic with a solid presentation. Not fizzy like the mundorf. Fizzy may be the wrong word Hyped is probably better.

Hi Face,
thanks. It had Mundorfs in before which i suspect are in the ball park of the V-caps in a slightly hyped sound. I'll probably be shot for saying that, but hopefully you understand my point?

I like the Mundorf silver/oil & the silver/ gold in oils even more so, but the Duelund has a naturalness & image density I really like. It has all the detail but without shouting it. I would call it a grown up listen! I am sure the v-cap is excellent too as many swear by them. I have never seen a shoot out between these fine caps.

I have noticed that a mix of caps brings dividens in some equipment. Maybe not so much in a crossover, but I found in my tube amp the mundorfs shoved or preserved detail to make it further down the chain where some duelunds as coupling caps acted as a naturaliser making sense of everything. Best of both worlds I would like to think.