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A Visit with Bob Carver and His Amazing Line Source Speakers

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amirm

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During the demos the sound would frequently cut out. We had blamed this on streaming Tidal through iPhone so a member brought out his flash drive with music on it:

I just used Shazam to discover Hold On by Amber Rubarth. https://shz.am/t99759386

Very nice.

Alas, the music continued to cut out. This time I noticed it was the Carver pre-amp that was shutting off. I suspect there was too much power being pulled by the subwoofer amplifier as it would only do that on large transients.
 
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I just used Shazam to discover Take Five (From Manhattan Murder Mystery) by The Dave Brubeck Quartet. https://shz.am/t63252074


Not sure if this was in this session or the follow up one at Mike Lavigne's house.
 
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Huh....I use full size panels sometimes and don't get that effect.

I'm trying to figure out why a line source would be perceived any differently than a panel in terms of height...
As I later explained, this is by design in these specific speakers. The levels of the lower drivers is lowered and hence the top ones play louder. That pulls up the soundstage.
 
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Thanks to member Gary Koh for posting these videos of the session so that you can hear Bob explain these things in person rather than my butchered interpretations :).

---

Member Joe Pittman did a video of the entire meeting.....





 

Blumlein 88

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Yes a big thanks for the video. Last night and this morning I listened to it all. Not like being there, but nice to get to see it anyway. So big thanks to Gary.
 

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Also, the speaker drivers are run in a way to cancel crosstalk between the two ears. That is, the left and right drivers inside each line source are run through a delay that is proportional to the distance between our ears in sound speed (around 800 milliseconds).

Thanks for the report Amir. Wonder what your impression would have been set up differently?

BTW, in your quote above, I think you meant 800 microseconds...
 
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Thanks for the report Amir. Wonder what your impression would have been set up differently?
I think the bass could have been improved but up high imaging is designed in and can't be cancelled out.

BTW, in your quote above, I think you meant 800 microseconds...
No, it is milliseconds. As you know sound travels one foot per millisecond. The distance between ears is about 6 to 8 inches so that translates into 500 to 800 milliseconds or so.
 

RayDunzl

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No, it is milliseconds. As you know sound travels one foot per millisecond. The distance between ears is about 6 to 8 inches so that translates into 500 to 800 milliseconds or so.

I knew you had a big head, but 500 to 800 feet?

I'd guess this guy to be about 10 milliseconds:

eddie-murphy-head-thumb-450x337.jpg


You must have incredible stereo acuity.
 

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Gosh, where was my head.... :) I am so glad we have you here Ray. :)

Sorry Don. You were right.

Amir, you were being a reporter. Bob said milliseconds and you reported it as such. During a lot of the meeting, I was sitting on the couch biting my tongue. Bob's a very. very interesting speaker and a great salesman. There was a particular moment when a crescendo on the piano made the drivers ring, and he walked right up to the speakers and declared "No distortion".... as if saying it loudly and enough times made it true.
 

Kal Rubinson

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Also, the speaker drivers are run in a way to cancel crosstalk between the two ears. That is, the left and right drivers inside each line source are run through a delay that is proportional to the distance between our ears in sound speed (around 800 milliseconds).
Did he offer a good explanation of how that can work?
 

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Gosh, where was my head.... :) I am so glad we have you here Ray. :)

Sorry Don. You were right.

I was just thinking the King had one heckuva big crown... :)
 

RayDunzl

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tomelex

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very entertaining thread, well done to all.
 

Blumlein 88

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Yes has to be microseconds. 8 inches between ears is about .592 milliseconds or 592 microseconds.

BTW, heard his early Amazins with the Sonic holography preamp which mixed a delayed reduced signal across channels. Setup was picky and seemed to need more space than normal stereo to work the best. I heard it in a large entrance area to large dealer. Front doors 25 ft to my right a large hall opening into a couple larger rooms further to my left. Many recordings sound fully unambiguously 40 feet wide or more. Sometimes they sound this wide with space out to infinity. Of course most recordings sounded something like this. Impressive and something you couldn't miss, but it didn't sound exactly right. I have a feeling earlier in room side reflections diluted the effect. I never saw this dealer setup anything else in his entrance hallway before or after that.
 

RayDunzl

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Amir, you were being a reporter. Bob said milliseconds and you reported it as such.
That's what happened even though at the time I heard it I knew it was all wrong. Getting too old I say. :)
 
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Did he offer a good explanation of how that can work?
No. He just mentioned that it tries to cancel crosstalk but didn't elaborate on why it work. It is in the video some place.
 
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