My approach is work with speaker placement, then fix the room, and then listen. I found my high efficiency single driver floorstanders seemed too bright (I use a sub for the bottom). At first I used some cables to calm them down some but fianally pulled out my RTA (real time analyzer) and did a third octave analysis. The speaker started rolling off at 1.6 kHz at nearly 6dB per octave. Then at 10 kHz there was an 8-9dB peak. This explained why a single 7" driver seemed to have high frequency content but also why it was hard to listen to. Out came the third octave EQ. Flattened a sag in the midrange (about 3dB) and gave the high end a nice room curve of -3dB per octave from 2kHz up (without any peaks). Bottome line: Great improvement! Suddenly my choice of cables needed to be revisited. Once that was done, I could listen to the music. Rather than scrap my inexpensive high efficiency speakers that work so nicely with tubes for much more expensive speakers, I was able to make use of equipment that was in the closet (RTA and EQ). Not everyone has this kind of equipment, but this approach is an alternative to the piece by piece looking for synergy approach. Personally, I like both and will probably take the EQ out when I can afford better speakers.
What's wrong with tailoring the sound?
Probably been addressed a bazillion times but I'm wondering why it is apparently so wrong to tailor the sound with tone controls? I read lots of posts on the various audio forums and hear things like "these speakers may be a tad shy in the bass but...." So whats so wrong about having a devise which will aleviate this problem in an otherwise wonderful speaker? Won't this increase the listeners enjoyment? I also read about certain cables being brighter or darker than others. It seems that the only way for this to be true is if certain frequencies are being altered in some way. Why spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a cable to take some brightness away when one could just tweak a knob and get the same results in a few seconds (and for free) What is to be done with recordings that aren't quite up to par? The overly bright or overly dark. Should they just be discarded in favor of audiophile quality recordings, content be dammed? What do you do when you want a little more depth in your sound when the lack of it is due to unavoidable room conditions? Are there good quality units out there that will allow me to have hi-end sound AND be able to adjust/compensate for personnal preference? The recording engineer did not mix the recording using my equipment, in my room, using my ears and with my personnel taste in what I find most pleasing.
I've also read enough posts on these forums (though not usually on Audiogon) that I will ask this favor. Don't beat me up too bad, I'm relatively new.
I've also read enough posts on these forums (though not usually on Audiogon) that I will ask this favor. Don't beat me up too bad, I'm relatively new.