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How can I make this system better? Hegel h390 and focal Diablo utopia
- Thread starter Diseasex
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That would be a waste of money.
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No b&w please.
- Thread Starter
- #44
Really? So whats you guys high end of choice would you replace these utopias for . Say 30k range
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Kii 3 + BXT
Dutch & Dutch 8c
Neumann KH420 + KH870
Genelec 8361 + W371
But first, get a bigger room + room treatment.
Why the kh870 is Soo expensive? I am planning to build 2 18 inch subwoofer and they are going to Be much more powerful, does the kh870 have some advantages for the integration in the system ?
- Thread Starter
- #47
Any reason why they are all active and studio speakers ?
My preference would be Quad electrostats, but in a rather bigger room. The room is almost always the biggest problem, and certainly when as tiny as this. The smaller a room the higher the frequency of room modes and the more subjectively obnoxious.
They are the best measuring and thus the most transparent, they are also full-range so you hear everything and they have built in PEQ to take room derived bass peaks.
Many ‘audiophile’ speakers are really pretty poor, but heavily marketed!
Keith
- Thread Starter
- #50
And that’s the ultimate goal? The transparency and full range that would give the most listening pleasure ? I’m intrigued
Sorry if daft question
Would only hearing a distorted half give you more?
Keith
Keith
Bingo. You would use equalization and room correction to tune the sound to your taste. The speakers and the Rest of the components should faithfully reproduce everything and not color it.
I agree with folks who recommend adding a subwoofer and room correction/dsp as next steps.
There is a bunch of information in the low and and small speakers and a relatively low power amp cannot reproduce them well. Adding a powered subwoofer will make a noticeable audible improvement. My speakers in one room go down to 25hz -3db and it's night and day adding a subwoofer.
- Thread Starter
- #53
Well judging from this, I chose rather OK (let’s say totally by random ;-)Actually, now I look at some measurements on the web (anechoic, without room effects) I'm pretty impressed:
View attachment 256848
Stereo: Produkt
www.stereo.de
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Because active speakers are the way to go and these are some of the very best out there. These all will surpass your focals in many ways.
Going active also means you will be cutting out a lot of the voodoo bs in this business, the bs of magically matching different components and “synergy” when driving passive speakers.
- Thread Starter
- #55
I’m not convinced honestly (as I had few active low end and they sounded terrible so I’m biased). But will look to test this.
If you enjoy the hobby aspect, switching cables ‘upgrading’ ( often there is no such thing) swapping boxes then actives will not be for you.
If you want the very best possible sound in your actual room, by best I mean the highest fidelity to the recording then contemporary actives are the way forward.
Keith
If you want the very best possible sound in your actual room, by best I mean the highest fidelity to the recording then contemporary actives are the way forward.
Keith
tuga
Major Contributor
You will get a massive improvement if you buy a TV stand, some bookcases and a thick rug.
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You cannot compare the mentioned speakers to the low cost ones like jbl 305/308 etc.
Rather than think about other gear, try to make the best of what you have (which is not bad). So first, after buying the Umik-1, buy a copy of Floyd Toole's book on speakers and room acoustics. Learn from it that room effects above the Schroeder frequency (about 200-250 Hz in your room) are different from those below it. Above the Schroeder frequency you probably need some damping to reduce the bathroom effect of your barren room. Below the Schroeder frequency you need to deal with the room modes that make for a booming bass response. The best way to do that is probably to use two or three smallish subwoofers and dsp room eq. your amplifier has a variable line level output to drive subwoofers, but I see no way to use a high pass filter for the main speakers, which is unfortunate. This is a problem with many integrated amplifiers. MSO is the best way to equalize the subwoofers, but without a high pass filter the low pass filters on the subs will have to be set quite low and the equalization will only affect the lowest frequencies. This needs some thinking.
- Thread Starter
- #60
Later after I know the room layout that sounds the best . Also I don’t know the positioning of the woofers (if they are to stand between the speakers or in obscure places in room) and hence don’t know how much space I have between the speakers.
Waiting for umik and I will start exploring how different position affects the sound and take it from there
I deliberately didn’t add anything as I’m learning (and asking) how to do this best. Lots of knowledge to process before I’m comfortable buying diffusers and absorbers . Getting that rug though!
Wouldn’t setting the woofer to work below 44hz only solve that partially or do I need to use that woofers higher frequencies ? Because as far as I know I can set svs to work with 44 and lower and my speakers are working 44hz and up?
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