I agree Bob. Headphones are good for listening for details or when you need to not bother others but not the same. A good stereo set up has so much more life and impact.
I will let you know. I feel that my room is as good as it is currently going to get. I have some sidewall glass and a slightly longer dimension on the other side wall. I too spent many hours time aligning my driver's to my seated ear position and symmetrical placement (within 2 millimeters)...
Again great tip! Especially, for anyone who has not addressed the issue of room acoustics/speaker placement and their interactions. Getting this right is by far the most important thing. I have heard $2000 systems in a great room sound way better than five figure systems, in a bad room, with...
Interesting tip! Therefore, if the room has little interaction, it should sound and image similarly to the same test through headphones. I will give it a try on my three setups.
Imaging and Soundstage are totally dependent on timing and amplitude. Your room is definitely the largest source of distortions in these areas. Reflections and standing waves can destroy a stereo image. Speakers and their placement play a slightly secondary roll to the room. Speakers are the...
I definitely agree with your comment on timbre and I don't think we are far off. Every fundamental will have harmonics hopefully captured in the recording. Furthermore, if an amplifier has high THD, it will add/or subtract (depending on the phase relationship) these harmonic distortions to...
Other than the added gain, If the signal is changed in either amplitude or phase, it is by definition, distorted. Relatively loud harmonic distortions can either add or subtract to the amplitude and phase of the signal. This can distort the soundstage /image because that is totally dependent...
The Emotiva has no ground lug. If you don't understand how THD can collapse a soundstage or obscure detail, what can I say? If you change the amplitude or phase of the music signal in any way during amplification, that is distortion. I am a PE.
It was pretty simple. We listened to 7 tracks with all the same source equipment and preamp. The only difference was the power cord. We all took turns randomly switching the XLRs and Speaker leads. If you can't believe people can hear the difference, I can't help you. Just giving my testimony.
No razmataz here and I don't know how you quantify being a "trained" listener. Just an observation from an engineer and music lover's perspective. With speakers especially, if you can make the cabinet as inert as possible and the drivers as linear as possible you will have a better experience...
I was startled at how the Boulder/Kharma sounded and so was my friend with me who is an accomplished musician. It was nuts expensive! But there was no doubt it sounded startlingly real and had the deepest/widest/ most precise soundstage I ever heard. I expected 'pretty' but not the...
As an engineer nerd, until 6 months ago, I only took stock in measured performance. But that said, I am going to believe my ears and I could expand on my experience in detail track by track. Harmonic distortion matters. It can add or subtract to the amplitude/phase of the musical signal...
I purchased this Emotiva amplifier last year. I have since purchased GR research NXOtica speakers. The amplifier sounded powerful and added bass slam to my KEF R3 speakers but I felt the imaging to be flat and I detected some midrange smear and upper midrange glare. With the change to the...