Guess Ill just have to keep searching for a good budget speaker for my room then. The a130 was almost flawless for iys price but I know I couldnt stand that 5db hump at 1k for too long.
There is a simple crossover mod discussed earlier in the thread that will bring down that hump. See posts #322 and 342. It is very simple if you can do a little soldering.
My investigations have shown, that the 15 kHz peak is barely a peak at all - and that removing it worsens treble extension. I've chosen to ignore it, as AB testing of filters removing it and not were preferentially wonderfully inconclusive: I can hear the difference, but neither is better than the other. Perhaps that's an effect of my room. I'd like to take some quasi-anechoic measurements of my speakers à la napilopez; and see, if mine don't exhibit a different fr up there
The 15k hump isnt really a problem at all though, in fact that might give a nice airy sparkle to the top end. The 1k hump is problematic, when I auditioned the speakers in a showroom it made it sound thin and kinda grainy compared to all the speakers next to it, namely the Wharfedale 12.2, Dali Spektor 2, Q A 3030i and Mission LX3 MKII. That hump sticks out like a sore thumb, killing an otherwise wonderful sounding speaker. Im quite ol skool, I listen mainly to CDs and Blurays and I dont have an eq, the best Ive got is the treble control on the amp, which may or may not help, or totally change the top end.
Honestly, Im totally shit at things like that. Lol!
What did you get in the end? I was looking at these exact same speakers, just the larger versions of them, Wharfedale 12.2 and Mission LX3 MKII. I too lean towards the 12.2 as they sound the most smooth and great bit of higher end clarity too, unlike the Diamond 225. The LX3 MKII is very mids focused (in a very good way) and clear highs but not as warm as the Warfes. Reason I have yet to get the 12.2 is because Ive seen no tests on them.
Stand it?
Ive listened to the a130 in 3 different setups (showrooms) and all of them have a thin shrill in the vocals. Is the hump from 800hz - 2.1khz causing that? If its not, what do you think is causing that thin almost shouty vocals? Could it be the 15khz spike, which I seriously doubt? It also cant be the mismatching of components as I heard the same attribute in 3 different setups. That was the main reason that stopped me from buying it on the spot, besides that mahogany colour which I dont like. There are no black ones here, you guys overseas took all the good stuff. If I could identify what is causing what I heard and solve it, I would snap a pair up the first thing in the morning as one of the showrooms is just 3kms away from me. When the sales person put on other speakers like the Mission LX3 MK2 and the Wharfdale 12.2, that thin sound just isnt there. Do you notice such a characteristic with yours when playing cd?
My system is rather old school, an SACD player and a bluray player connected straight to an amp and then to the speakers. I sometimes use my phone's bluetooth to play some regular aac tracks but thats about it. I do not have an eq, physical or software, and all I got are the treble and bass controls on my amp. Heck I dont even have a DAC. Lol!
Im from Malaysia but Im currently living in Thailand with my wife. All I can get is the mahogany one here for 8900 baht. My whole system is black and I intend to keep it that way. Hahaha!
It is possible, but shipping will most probably cost more than the speakers itself. Ill ask them later in the am. Where are you at btw?
From the measurements in post #1 the port resonances are directly below this bump. Any clues to distinguish if it is port or woofer resonance contributing to the bump in measured response ?
