Desktop audio improvements

[bogart]

An expected continued shift towards working at home has me slowly improving my desk for extended use. My first step was to build a desk worth sitting at all day! Having completed that step, I'm interested in thoughts on how to get great results, and a few questions have left me scratching my head.

Current State (Pictured Below)
Wall-mounted desk on a half-wall under attic roof slope. I've got an old Arcam receiver feeding Era Design 5 bookshelf speakers. To free up desk space and get tweeters closer to ear height, I plan to mount any speakers on the wall behind the desk.

I'm using this setup for work (virtual meetings) and music while working. Using a phone SPL meter, I have ambient noise levels at 29dB (I can hear a faint hiss from my speakers at idle) and normal sitting position puts me approximately 1m from the speaker, which is 25cm deep and just under 5cm out from the wall. Listening to music at typical volume puts me at 55 dB measured by the same phone SPL meter, Z-weighted.

The room is narrow and long (volume runs the whole length of the house). The width is rather narrow, maybe 3m. My wife works on the floor below me, so peak SPLs are limited by her and my dog's tolerance.

The Question At Hand: Do you see any reason to change?

I probably get 6+ hours a day of listening at this setup, far more than the nice Revel speakers in the basement get! Aside from being off-axis for the tweeter, the current setup is not bad by any means. If I roll my chair back and lower my head somewhat, the sound definitely comes into focus more. I've attached psychoacoustic smoothed response and 1/24th smoothed measurements from my listening position (mic above tweeter axis in rough position of my ears). I've also included distortion. No EQ being applied to these.

Amp and speakers are paid for. I'm using the headphone out from a Surface Pro to feed the amp at 100% level, and using receiver volume control. I've been debating something like Genelec G3's or the iLoud MTM to get a smaller profile speaker (shallower / narrower), or the Adam T5V as a potential replacement at similar size. No subwoofer in use right now.

I'm left wondering whether this is just gear lust, or whether good actives would represent a meaningful improvement. Have at it!

 

[Berwhale]

It's looks like you could fit a nice 34" ultrawide monitor on that desk with a pair of MTMs like my setup...

I recently added a PreSonus Sub8 under desk and high passed the MTMs at 80Hz. It sounds great.

 

[bogart]

True enough, it's a 50" wide desk, so I suspect you're right I'm wasting valuable screen potential! Do you have a camera mounted atop? I'll be a lot happier when I don't have to keep the surface out front to keep a camera available.

 

[Wes]

speakers on the wall are never good - but like you, I am forced to put mine up against the wall too

I keep thinking DSP could help but haven't tried it

 

[Berwhale]

The camera is built in the monitor along with a USB-C KVM with Power Delivery...

Curved UltraWide LCD Monitor with USB-C 346P1CRH/00 | Philips

The camera in the monitor is 'OK', I use it every day for Webex, etc. It's not as crisp as the one in my ThinkPad Yoga 360. The speakers in the monitor are surprisingly good and quite sufficient for conference calls and the odd bit of Youtube.

One nice thing about the curved screen is that you can bring the monitors away from the rear wall without them being infront of the screen.

 

[Putter]

You might want to angle the speakers upward esp. if the tweeter is below your eye level. I use doorstops, but you could certainly get more elegant.. It might also reduce 'floor bounce.'

 

[bogart]

speakers on the wall are never good - but like you, I am forced to put mine up against the wall too

I keep thinking DSP could help but haven't tried it

Agreed; though if I mount these high enough, I could get the port about the half-wall. I'm running Peace EQ on the computer so can definitely compensate with DSP.

You might want to angle the speakers upward esp. if the tweeter is below your eye level. I use doorstops, but you could certainly get more elegant.. It might also reduce 'floor bounce.'

I love the suggestion of doorstops. I may try that before wall-mounts.

 

[bogart]

It's fascinating so far that nobody wants to change my speakers for premium active ones

 

[bogart]

I recently added a PreSonus Sub8 under desk and high passed the MTMs at 80Hz. It sounds great.

Are you routing the MTMs via the Sub8 and using its crossover to accomplish it?

 

[Berwhale]

Are you routing the MTMs via the Sub8 and using its crossover to accomplish it?

Yes, I have unbalanced RCA connections from my Topping stack to the balanced TRS input on the Sub8 (the cables I previously used to connect the MTMs to the Topping stack) and balanced TRS connections from the Sub8 to the MTMs. On the Sub8, I have the LPF set to 80Hz and the HPF enabled (the manual says this is also at 80Hz). I haven't measured and set the levels properly yet - I've just done it by ear, but i've been pleased with the improvement that releaving the MTMs of lower frequencies has provided. Given the relatively low cost of the Sub8 (I paid £162) and it's compact dimensions, I think it's a nice addition to the MTMs.

 

[waynel]

An expected continued shift towards working at home has me slowly improving my desk for extended use. My first step was to build a desk worth sitting at all day! Having completed that step, I'm interested in thoughts on how to get great results, and a few questions have left me scratching my head.

Current State (Pictured Below)
Wall-mounted desk on a half-wall under attic roof slope. I've got an old Arcam receiver feeding Era Design 5 bookshelf speakers. To free up desk space and get tweeters closer to ear height, I plan to mount any speakers on the wall behind the desk.

I'm using this setup for work (virtual meetings) and music while working. Using a phone SPL meter, I have ambient noise levels at 29dB (I can hear a faint hiss from my speakers at idle) and normal sitting position puts me approximately 1m from the speaker, which is 25cm deep and just under 5cm out from the wall. Listening to music at typical volume puts me at 55 dB measured by the same phone SPL meter, Z-weighted.

The room is narrow and long (volume runs the whole length of the house). The width is rather narrow, maybe 3m. My wife works on the floor below me, so peak SPLs are limited by her and my dog's tolerance.

View attachment 128110


The Question At Hand: Do you see any reason to change?

I probably get 6+ hours a day of listening at this setup, far more than the nice Revel speakers in the basement get! Aside from being off-axis for the tweeter, the current setup is not bad by any means. If I roll my chair back and lower my head somewhat, the sound definitely comes into focus more. I've attached psychoacoustic smoothed response and 1/24th smoothed measurements from my listening position (mic above tweeter axis in rough position of my ears). I've also included distortion. No EQ being applied to these.

Amp and speakers are paid for. I'm using the headphone out from a Surface Pro to feed the amp at 100% level, and using receiver volume control. I've been debating something like Genelec G3's or the iLoud MTM to get a smaller profile speaker (shallower / narrower), or the Adam T5V as a potential replacement at similar size. No subwoofer in use right now.

I'm left wondering whether this is just gear lust, or whether good actives would represent a meaningful improvement. Have at it!

Biggest improvement would be speaker stands. After that Genelec 8030c's or Neumann KH120s.

 

[Berwhale]

@bogart - One downside of the MTM is the tweater placement in the virtical centre of the speaker (so the speaker needs to be raised higher than one with the tweater at the top). You may struggle to get the left tweater at ear height given the slope of your roof on that side of your desk (especially if you added an ultrawide screen)

 

[bogart]

Biggest improvement would be speaker stands. After that Genelec 8030c's or Neumann KH120s.

Thanks, it wouldn’t be ASR if we didn’t at least mention them

 

[Loathecliff]

The mug handle is not of optimal thickness for consumption resolution.

(Am I really typing this?)

 

[bogart]

The mug handle is not of optimal thickness for consumption resolution.

(Am I really typing this?)

Man, the sound out of it isn’t fantastic either my wife gave it to me when we started dating and before she knew the depth of my audio interests...

 

[waynel]

Thanks, it wouldn’t be ASR if we didn’t at least mention them

but speaker stands are more important. My Neumann KH120s sounded terrible directly on my desk but wonderful on desk stands.

 

[bogart]

but speaker stands are more important. My Neumann KH120s sounded terrible directly on my desk but wonderful on desk stands.

I had looked at these as options, but the KH120 end up at $1900 CAD, vs Genelec G3/8030 at $1600. iLoud MTM would be $800 CAD.

Interestingly, the Genelec 4030AWM would come in lower at $1400, and from what I understand is essentially identical to the G3/8030.

Is there anything inherently limiting the bookshelf speakers I have from integrating better in near field? Amir had only shown that graph for one or two speaker reviews indicating the distance at which the sound field resolved, so I don’t have any intuition on it. The speakers are very pleasant sounding from a couch; they’re not bad where they are now but I’m not sure what to expect from a “nearfield monitor” in comparison.

 

[bogart]

@bogart - One downside of the MTM is the tweater placement in the virtical centre of the speaker (so the speaker needs to be raised higher than one with the tweater at the top). You may struggle to get the left tweater at ear height given the slope of your roof on that side of your desk (especially if you added an ultrawide screen)

Really interesting point about the tweeter being surprisingly far down the baffle. I hadn’t considered that; while there might be room it would end up awfully close to the ceiling. Great call out.

 

[waynel]

I had looked at these as options, but the KH120 end up at $1900 CAD, vs Genelec G3/8030 at $1600. iLoud MTM would be $800 CAD.

Interestingly, the Genelec 4030AWM would come in lower at $1400, and from what I understand is essentially identical to the G3/8030.

Is there anything inherently limiting the bookshelf speakers I have from integrating better in near field? Amir had only shown that graph for one or two speaker reviews indicating the distance at which the sound field resolved, so I don’t have any intuition on it. The speakers are very pleasant sounding from a couch; they’re not bad where they are now but I’m not sure what to expect from a “nearfield monitor” in comparison.

What are your current speakers? Either way get them off the desk and tweeters at ear level.

 

[bogart]

Current speakers are Era’s Design 5 satellite. It’s a 5” woofer and 1” dome tweeter in a relatively nice cabinet. Peachtree took over the brand and kept the design and D5 name around 2011 and discontinued them a few years later. Reputable reviews of them are scarce!

https://cdn.soundandvision.com/content/era-d5-series-speaker-system

Your point about stands is definitely my first priority as well, but didn’t want to buy desk stands/wall mount one thing only to find I prefer another. Perhaps some shoe box prototypes are in order for the current speakers.