Multi-Channel, Multi-Amplifier Audio System Using Software Crossover and Multichannel-DAC

[dualazmak]

Topping DM7 8-channel USB DAC launched

Hello friends,

Just for all of our info,,,

Topping just launched today DM7 8-channel USB DAC which uses one ESS ES9028PRO ES9038PRO DAC processor;
https://www.tpdz.net/productinfo/862560.html

And amirm just shared his review entitled "Topping DM7 8-Channel DAC Review".

As far as looking on the shared data given by Topping and amirm, I assume DM7 would be a nice alternative of OKTO DAC8PRO in home audio multichannel (up to sync 8-channel) DAC applications.

 

[Godataloss]

Overhaul maintenance of super-tweeter FOSTEX T925A and further signal fine tuning thereafter

Hello friends, Happy New Year from Japan!

The super-tweeter (ST) Fostex T925A was launched in audio market in April 1994, and it has been keeping good reputation until today. It is amazing Fostex still has T925A in their product lineup, current price tag is JPYen 55,000 inclusive of 10% sales tax (somewhat cheaper in several web stores).
View attachment 176150

Please refer to my post here for the unique physical alignment (positioning) of T925As in my system setup.

I purchased a pair of T925A in 1996, and have been using with great satisfactions over 25 years. Last month, early December 2021, I contacted with Fostex Company, with no expectation of positive response though, inquiring the possibility of overhaul maintenance of my T925As.

They very quickly responded; "We thank you and very proud of your long-year loyalty of T925A. We are very happy to give overhaul maintenance of your T925As!" Then my T925As were hospitalized at Fostex service center for a week, and came back to my home in 10 days. Fostex completely disassemble T925A, cleaned-up every parts, measured, and replaced some of them, including the inner thin connection wires, with new ones.

I very carefully checked the refreshed T925As confirming the better sound quality, and then intensively simulated/calculated the high-pass (low-cut) capacitor configuration in SP level signal going into T925As; now I decided using series of 3 microF and 10 microF capacitors as shown here;
View attachment 176151

The series of 3 microF and 10 microF make total capacitance of 2.308 microF giving further -6 dB/Oct high-pass (low-cut) at ca. 8,611 Hz for the SP level signal going into T925A (impedance 8 Ohm) which already had -12 dB high-pass (low-cut) at 6,000 Hz by digital software crossover EKIO. (As for the use of 22 Ohm parallel resistors in the lines, please refer to my post here and here.)

All of the other elements of the configuration remain unchanged;
View attachment 176153

Then, firstly, I measured the frequency response (FR) of the SP high-level signals after the capacitors, just before going into SP drivers, just like I did measured as shared here, this time using another Hi-to-Low converter Audio-Technica AT-HLC130 , and TEAC TASCOM US-1x2HR Audio Interface, and Adobe Audition 3.01 on the second Windows 10 Pro PC;
View attachment 176304

The FR of SP high-level signals to go into the super-tweeters (STs) and tweeters (TWs) were "measured" in good conformity with my simulation/calculation;
View attachment 176183

I also measured the SP high-level signals to go into beryllium squawkers (SQs), woofers (WOs), and the line-level signal to go into active sub-woofers giving this total and individual FR curves;
View attachment 176156

Please note that the sensitivity (efficiency) of T925A is rather high in 108 dB (1m, 1W2.8V), and this means T925A sings 15 dB louder than the Yamaha 3cm Beryllium dome tweeter JA-0513 of 93 dB (1m, 1W2.8V) with a same gain/volume input signal.

As usual, I also measured the actual room air sound at listening position using the measurement microphone BEHRINGER ECM8000, just like I shared here, and here through here;
View attachment 176157

The total and individual SP driver air sound FR curves at my listening position, with L & R SPs singing, were "measured" as shown in this diagram;
View attachment 176158

Finally, the latest shape of the best tuned total FR;
View attachment 176159

The above latest total FR as of January 2, 2022, is essentially identical to the one I shared here, but now I have the refreshed sound of T925A with better/improved variable gain control.

I use a pair of t500a MK3's. I notice in your recount of the servicing by Fostex that they did not replace the diaphragms. Is it necessary? I am concerned about the parts becoming no longer available.

 

[dualazmak]

Hello @Godataloss,

Welcome to my project thread and thank you for your interests.

Your observation on my T925A is right; Fostex did not replace the super-light-aluminum-alloy diaphragms of my T925As; they found the diaphragms are still clean and in good conditions.

They completely disassembled, however, entire T925A and cleaned-up all the parts using super-sonic organic-solvent bath. Then they carefully replaced all of the old thin wires in it with new ones, reassembled using new screws and a very little amount of adhesive glue. After the complete dry-up and burn-in processes, they carefully and intensively tested the overhauled T925As according to their protocols, and sent them back to me with heavy-duty packages with a lot of cushioning materials.

It is really wonderful and amazing that T925A was launched in 1994 and it is still on Fostex product lineup (longer than 28 years!) with full Fostex craftsmanship repair and maintenance services.

 

[dualazmak]

Availabilities of repair, maintenance and overhaul services on my Yamaha SP drivers, Fostex SP drivers, as well as amplifiers I use in this multichannel multi-amplifier project

Hello friends,

I now briefly participate in the interesting thread entitled "20 year old flagship speaker vs today's best $2500 or under?"; I wrote my post #67 there which may be of your interest regarding the availabilities of repair,maintenance and overhaul services on my Yamaha SP drivers, Fostex SP drivers, as well as amplifiers I use in this multichannel multi-amplifier project.

 

[dualazmak]

Hello friends,

As I edited today my post #343, the title of that my separate thread has been modified into: Lute Music and Other Early Music: Stunning Recordings We Love. Your visit and participation will be much welcome.

 

[dualazmak]

Hello again friends,

Really interesting discussions (at least for me) are going-on on the thread entitled "Classical Instruments: Historical or Modern?" where I am partly participating now.

 

[dualazmak]

Excellent Recording Quality Music Albums/Tracks for Subjective (and Possibly Objective) Test/Check/Tuning of Multichannel Multi-Driver Multi-Way Multi-Amplifier Time-Aligned Active Stereo Audio System and Room Acoustics; at least a Portion and/or One Track being Analyzed by Color Spectrum of Adobe Audition in Common Parameters: [Part-00] Introduction

Caution and Reminder:
Even though I refer to YouTube video/audio clip(s) in this post, I cannot guarantee its sound quality since I know little about YouTube's audio codec/compression, and furthermore I know nothing about your internet access environments.

Hello friends,

It is already about seven months after I have almost completed my construction of multichannel multi-driver multi-way multi-amplifier time-aligned full-active stereo audio system; it took me almost 3 years to settle into present setup; you would please find the latest system setup (including the DIY 12-VU-Meter Array) and related various information as of May 30 2022 in my post here.

You may be already well aware of that I am gradually shifting my centre-of-gravity to enjoyment of preferred music (not just sound) as you can find it on my another thread here entitled "Lute Music and Other Early Music: Stunning Recordings We Love".

Well,,, throughout my step-by-step mountain-climbing project shared on this thread, I repeatedly touched on the importance of having/keeping the "reference passive audio system of single amplifier and LCR-network for SP drivers" (in my case EKIO + OPPO SONICA DAC (or DAC8PRO as 2-Ch DAC) + ACCUPHSE E460 + LCR-network + SP drivers) to which I could/can roll-back anytime during my long climbing journey. I recently touched on this again in my post here on the remote thread.

I also repeatedly pointed that it should be critical having, all the way through, "audio sampler playlist" consists of various music tracks of excellent recording quality for subjective (and possibly objective) evaluation and validation of each step in system development; you may find here my audio sampler playlist as of January 25 2022.

In this "audio sampler" perspective, I occasionally and randomly participated in several remote threads; three of the typical examples are here, here and here.

Now, therefore, I assume it would be worthwhile, not only as my personal archives but also hopefully as useful reference for people who periodically visit this project thread, to start my "post series" on this thread with rather long title of "Excellent Recording Quality Music Albums/Tracks for Subjective (and Possibly Objective) Test/Check/Tuning of Multichannel Multi-Driver Multi-Amplifier Time-Aligned Active Stereo Audio System and Room Acoustics; at least a Portion and/or One Track being Analyzed by Color Spectrum of Adobe Audition in Common Parameters:"

I know very well that the Color Spectrum of Adobe Audition (I use Ver. 3.0.1) is not "the almighty" at all; it only gives 3D color representation of time-frequency-gain (sound pressure), and (almost) no info on sound cleanliness (S/N, distortion), sonority, 3D stereo perspective/image, extent of SP disappearance and so on. Nevertheless, I assume the Color Spectrum of Adobe Audition of specific audio sampler music track would be more worthwhile than having no such objective representation of the track. Let me show here just one typical example;

Edit: In YouTube, you can hear;

In the coming "post series" so entitled as in top of this post, I would like to share the info on sampler music track for which I do have physical CD or I actually download-purchased. If the original format is not pure PCM, I will convert it into WAV or AIFF (using JRiver MC or dBpoweramp's Music Converter) for the analysis by Adobe Audition 3.0.1.

The standard common parameters for the Spectral Controls would be;

- Preset Color Spectrum Representation: Adobe Audition 3.0.1 Default
- Windowing Function: Blackmann-Harris
- Dynamic Range: 120 dB (may be changed depending on the tracks)
- Saturation: 60 (may be changed depending on the tracks)
- Gamma: 2 or 3
- Resolution: 16384 Bands
- Vertical Frequency Scale: Logarithmic, 25 Hz - 22.05 kHz

As far as possible and available, and for your convenience, I will share the YouTube link to the specific sampler track or album, even though I do not know, I cannot guarantee, the sound quality of the YouTube clips. Nowadays, I assume that I can do so for almost all of my audio sampler tracks to be shared with you.

Your active participation having "your favorite sampler track" will be very much welcome for each of the "post series" of specific genre/category; in case if you do not have Adobe Audition, please share your sampler track through YouTube or PM communication with me so that I will analyze it with Color Spectrum Analyzer of my Adobe Audition 3.0.1.

Please note that I will slowly and steadily start, proceed and organize such "post series" on this thread. Your kind attention and patience, therefore, will be highly appreciated.

My very first post in such "post series" will come hopefully within a few days having the title of;
Excellent Recording Quality Music Albums/Tracks for Subjective (and Possibly Objective) Test/Check/Tuning of Multichannel Multi-Driver Multi-Amplifier Time-Aligned Active Stereo Audio System and Room Acoustics; at least a Portion and/or One Track being Analyzed by Color Spectrum of Adobe Audition in Common Parameters: [Part-01] Full Orchestral Music

Edit: So far posted in this series;
[Part-00] Introduction: #587
[Part-01] Full Orchestral Music: #588
[Part-02] Solo Piano Music: #590
[Part-03] Typical(?) Smooth Jazz Music with Guitar: #591
[Part-04] Bimmel Bolle Antique Orgel; Extremely High-Energy High-Frequency Sharp Transient sound: #592
[Part-05] Color Spectrum of Tracks in CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": #593
[Part-06] Female Vocal in Jazz and Popular Music, and One Male Vocal Track for Comparison: #596
[Part-07] Female Vocal and Counter Tenor in Early Classical Music: #639
[Part-08] (Smooth?) Jazz Trio: #640
[Part-09] Organ Music: #641
[Part-10] Lute Music: #642
[Part-11] Violin Music: #643
[Part-12] Cello Music: #644
[Part-13] Harpsichord (Cembalo, Clavecin) Music: #645
[Part-14] Piano Concertos: #650
[Part-15] Again, CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": Analyzed by Adobe Audition 3.0.1 and MusicScope 2.1.0: #651
[Part-16] A Cappella Chorus and A Cappella Vocal Ensemble: #652
[Part-17] Excellent Quality Music Tracks, But Containing Unacceptably High Gain Low-Frequency Air Conditioning Noises; What Counter Measures Can We Have? #658
[Part-18] An Interlude or Provisional Finale of the Post Series: #669

 

[dualazmak]

Excellent Recording Quality Music Albums/Tracks for Subjective (and Possibly Objective) Test/Check/Tuning of Multichannel Multi-Driver Multi-Amplifier Time-Aligned Active Stereo Audio System and Room Acoustics; at least a Portion and/or One Track being Analyzed by Color Spectrum of Adobe Audition in Common Parameters: [Part-01] Full Orchestral Music

Caution and Reminder:
Even though I refer to YouTube video/audio clip(s) in this post, I cannot guarantee its sound quality since I know little about YouTube's audio codec/compression, and furthermore I know nothing about your internet access environments.

Hello friends,

(You would please take a look on [Part-00] Introduction here in my previous post.)

Throughout my multichannel multi-amplifier project, and even prior to the project, I have been using the following two full orchestra albums as my reference music track for test check and tuning of my system.

1. Prokofiev: "Romeo and Juliet", Charles Dutoit and Montreal Symphony Orchestra (POCL-1082 430 279-2 London - Polydor)

Especially, the track-11 "Dance of the Knights" is really nice for audio system check and tuning, I believe;

You can hear the track here in YouTube;

I assume I have no need to describe much about this wonderful performance and recording; let me just touch on one point. In the rather quiet intermediate portion, you hear the sound of celesta comes-in at 2:56 to 3:12; how "nicely" your audio system represent it while you would sit at your listening position in your room acoustics?


2. Schubert: "Rosamunde", Kurt Masur and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (412 432-2 Philips);

Recorded in 1983, but still one of the best ten full orchestra recordings IMHO, in terms of performance, 3D stereo image, balance, S/N, sonority, hall tone, etc.

Here is the spectrum of the track-1 "Overture" in very nice dynamic range;

In YouTube;

The famous quiet track-7 "Entr'acte No. 3 in Bf major (Andantino)" is another nice challenge to our audio system. Here is its spectrum in exactly the same spectral parameters as those for the "Overture" shown above; you can see (and hear) the wonderful sound cleanliness and resolutions also in this quiet orchestral music:

In YouTube;

I always carefully check and tune the system so that (as if) I could identify each of the violinist in first violin group, and I could establish excellent 3D image/positioning of solo clarinet flute and oboe. I believe the 0.1 msec precision time alignment between all the SP drivers is really critical for these check and tuning as well as for the almost perfect disappearance of speakers.

Well, you can hear all the tracks in YouTube;
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTnNHBrYVLxCSCJo5oNg4lss76l0VLAaS

Even though I do not share the spectrum,,,
In track-5 "Romance", how nicely can you hear and see the soprano Elly Ameling at front-center on the stage?

In track-9 "Chorus Of Shepherds", can you identify each singer in the chorus?

Furthermore, in the middle of the track, four of the solo singer from soprano, alto, tenor and bass sing together in the center-back of the stage; we need excellent 3D sound perspectives and good resolution for impressive "identification" of each of the four singers.

Maybe, I spoke/wrote too much about this album...

BTW, this is my very first post in planned possible "post series" on reference sampler music tracks. Any of your frank impressions, suggestions and/or participations, therefore, will be highly appreciated.

Edit: So far posted in this series;
[Part-00] Introduction: #587
[Part-01] Full Orchestral Music: #588
[Part-02] Solo Piano Music: #590
[Part-03] Typical(?) Smooth Jazz Music with Guitar: #591
[Part-04] Bimmel Bolle Antique Orgel; Extremely High-Energy High-Frequency Sharp Transient sound: #592
[Part-05] Color Spectrum of Tracks in CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": #593
[Part-06] Female Vocal in Jazz and Popular Music, and One Male Vocal Track for Comparison: #596
[Part-07] Female Vocal and Counter Tenor in Early Classical Music: #639
[Part-08] (Smooth?) Jazz Trio: #640
[Part-09] Organ Music: #641
[Part-10] Lute Music: #642
[Part-11] Violin Music: #643
[Part-12] Cello Music: #644
[Part-13] Harpsichord (Cembalo, Clavecin) Music: #645
[Part-14] Piano Concertos: #650
[Part-15] Again, CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": Analyzed by Adobe Audition 3.0.1 and MusicScope 2.1.0: #651
[Part-16] A Cappella Chorus and A Cappella Vocal Ensemble: #652
[Part-17] Excellent Quality Music Tracks, But Containing Unacceptably High Gain Low-Frequency Air Conditioning Noises; What Counter Measures Can We Have? #658
[Part-18] An Interlude or Provisional Finale of the Post Series: #669

 

[dualazmak]

If you have Adobe Audition, it would be of your interests and nice experience to play and hear the music track by Adobe Audition having the color spectrum shown on your screen monitor and watching the yellow vertical time cursor proceeds forward on the color spectrum.

 

[dualazmak]

Excellent Recording Quality Music Albums/Tracks for Subjective (and Possibly Objective) Test/Check/Tuning of Multichannel Multi-Driver Multi-Amplifier Time-Aligned Active Stereo Audio System and Room Acoustics; at least a Portion and/or One Track being Analyzed by Color Spectrum of Adobe Audition in Common Parameters: [Part-02] Solo Piano Music

Caution and Reminder:
Even though I refer to YouTube video/audio clip(s) in this post, I cannot guarantee its sound quality since I know little about YouTube's audio codec/compression, and furthermore I know nothing about your internet access environments.

(You would please take a look on [Part-00] Introduction here in my previous post.)

Hello friends,

I used to play piano quite often, classical ones from Bach to Debussy, just for my and family enjoyments. I also have been to so many wonderful piano concerts in Japan and abroad. The piano sound with my audio setup in listening room acoustics, therefore, has been always one of the main "fundamentals" throughout my long audio journey.

I have so many CDs and download-purchased piano albums of excellent recording quality and wonderful performance; among them, I would like to share here only 6 tracks which I usually use nowadays for check and tuning of my audio system and room acoustics.

The performance and stunning recording quality of this album of improvisations by Ola Gjeilo now occupies the top position and priority;

Especially this rather quiet track-7 "Dark Blue" in amazingly high S/N with nice recording room/hall tones;

You can hear this in YouTube;

This album "Haendel: Suites for Keyboard" by Keith Jarrett was recorded in 1995; the performance and recording quality is "my taste and preference";

I mainly use the track-3 for check of audio system and room acoustics;

In you tube, you can hear this starts at 5:48;

Even though many famous piano teachers and professors say "You should never play Francsois Couperin's Clavecin (Cembalo, Harpsichord) pieces with our modern piano!", Iddo Bar-Shai plays Couperin so nicely; released in only CD format, but really wonderful recording and performance;

I especially like track-10 "La Misterieuse" which is also suitable for system check and tuning;

In YouTube, you can hear this at 19:52 of this clip;

This album performed by Mao Fujita was really enthusiastically accepted, at least in Japan, as one of the world best piano recordings in years 2013-2014;

I download-purchased the album in DSD256(x4) 11.2 MHz 1 bit format. It is interesting that the universal gain of this DSD album is about 12 dB lower than usual CD release of classical music (it is sometimes the case with DSD release of classical music, though), I always play this album with 10 dB - 15 dB boost by DSP EKIO and/or DAC8PRO's preamp gain controller.

Consequently, for the analysis of the dynamic track-8 and quiet track-10, which I use for system check and tuning, the Spectrum Control "Range" of Adobe Audition 3.0.1 was set in 165 dB for your easier comparison with other tracks shared in this post.

In YouTube;

and,

In YouTube;

Above two tracks are really excellent for system check and tuning. I feel, however, the total sound quality of the entire album would be a little bit "thin" or "dry" (for my personal taste) probably due to the less intake of the hall tone and/or reverberation as well as the issue of microphone selection and positioning. I boost my woofer gain in 3 dB, therefore, when I would enjoy this album as excellent piano "music" performance.


Let me also touch on Andras Schiff's wonderful live performance with stunning recording quality at 2010 Leipzig BachFest;

Among the program contents, I mainly use the track-8 "Italian Concerto" for system check and tuning;

In YouTube;

Just for your reference, here and thereafter I (we) had interesting discussions on the recording engineering of the YouTube video album contains this track since we almost cannot see and identify the microphone(s) in the video images;
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhIP1CNbYhVObXv7ByHmE5oETjj6RXyAN


Even though I usually use several other excellent piano recordings for system check and tuning, I assume the above 6 tracks (with color spectrum) would be enough for the "audio sampler" perspectives of this post.

Edit: So far posted in this series;
[Part-00] Introduction: #587
[Part-01] Full Orchestral Music: #588
[Part-02] Solo Piano Music: #590
[Part-03] Typical(?) Smooth Jazz Music with Guitar: #591
[Part-04] Bimmel Bolle Antique Orgel; Extremely High-Energy High-Frequency Sharp Transient sound: #592
[Part-05] Color Spectrum of Tracks in CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": #593
[Part-06] Female Vocal in Jazz and Popular Music, and One Male Vocal Track for Comparison: #596
[Part-07] Female Vocal and Counter Tenor in Early Classical Music: #639
[Part-08] (Smooth?) Jazz Trio: #640
[Part-09] Organ Music: #641
[Part-10] Lute Music: #642
[Part-11] Violin Music: #643
[Part-12] Cello Music: #644
[Part-13] Harpsichord (Cembalo, Clavecin) Music: #645
[Part-14] Piano Concertos: #650
[Part-15] Again, CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": Analyzed by Adobe Audition 3.0.1 and MusicScope 2.1.0: #651
[Part-16] A Cappella Chorus and A Cappella Vocal Ensemble: #652
[Part-17] Excellent Quality Music Tracks, But Containing Unacceptably High Gain Low Frequency Air Conditioning Noises; What Counter Measures Can We Have? #658
[Part-18] An Interlude or Provisional Finale of the Post Series: #669

 

[dualazmak]

Excellent Recording Quality Music Albums/Tracks for Subjective (and Possibly Objective) Test/Check/Tuning of Multichannel Multi-Driver Multi-Amplifier Time-Aligned Active Stereo Audio System and Room Acoustics; at least a Portion and/or One Track being Analyzed by Color Spectrum of Adobe Audition in Common Parameters: [Part-03] Typical(?) Smooth Jazz Music with Guitar

Caution and Reminder:
Even though I refer to YouTube video/audio clip(s) in this post, I cannot guarantee its sound quality since I know little about YouTube's audio codec/compression, and furthermore I know nothing about your internet access environments.

(You would please take a look on [Part-00] Introduction here in my previous post.)

Hello friends,

Even though the major portion, say about 93%, of my digital music library is in classical and early music, I also have and occasionally enjoy jazz and popular music. In this post, I would like to share "audio sampler" tracks from my favorite typical(?) smooth jazz music (or better to call easy-listening popular music?) with acoustic guitar.

I have these 13 CDs of jazz/popular guitarist Peter White. We often enjoy the endless-loop-playback of all the 138 tracks of Peter White (with iPod, all compressed in mp3) during our (I and my wife) very long highway car cruising. We sometimes also enjoy these tracks with our main audio system, but mainly as BGM for our ergometer workout (in our listening room!).

Some of the tracks in these CDs are also very nice as "audio sampler" for check and tuning of the multichannel multi-amplifier system and as well as room acoustics. I will share here just 3 tracks as follows.

In this CD "Perfect Moment";

I use two tracks for check and tuning. The track-5 "Don't Want To Be A Fool";

You can hear this in YouTube, but I feel the sound quality is not optimal. If you could find link(s) to high-audio-quality-sharing of this track, please let us know.

I also prefer this track-7 "My Prayer";

Here in YouTube

Looking at the above two spectrums and hearing the YouTube sampler, I assume you easily understand how these tracks, containing clear super-low Fq transient sound, are suitable for audio and room acoustic check and tuning. We definitely need excellent heavy-and-large sub-woofers (I have L&R Yamaha YST-SW1000 , 30 cm driver, 16 Hz - 160 Hz, 48 kg each, see my post here for spec) which I operate in 16 Hz - 60 Hz by DSP(XO/EQ) EKIO.

With your audio system, how nicely and clearly can you hear the repeating transient-and-compact super-low-Fq sound of around 36 Hz? (I assume, it would not be possible with small desktop audio system...)

In my setup, using EKIO's flexible "Solo" and "Mute" push buttons on each of the output panels, even on-the-fly, I can easily select each of the L&R sub-woofers sing alone or together; all the other SP drivers including the woofers (WOs) being fully muted-off.

I can also easily do either of;
- L-SW+L-WO only
- R-SW+R-WO only
- L-SW+LWO and R-SW+R-WO
and so on.

In this way, I can easily check the low sound reproduction in each of L-channel and R-channel, and L&R together. This kind of actual room air stimulation tests using the "low-Fq sound of real music" are also very useful for check and possible tuning of room acoustic.

And, how nicely and cleanly can you hear the faint marktree chimes (should I say wind chimes or jazz chimes?) together with rather high gain bass-midrange sound? We need excellent tweeters and super-tweeters hopefully driven directly (without LCR-passive network) by dedicated amplifiers like in my setup.

The 0.1 msec precision time alignment between all the SP drivers greatly contributes to wonderful total sound quality in these tracks; I could/can easily reconfirm it, even on-the-fly, by EKIO's group delay controls.

Another Peter White's CD "Glow";

I also prefer this track-7 "Life Story" as an audio sampler track;

You can hear it In YouTube, but again the sound quality is not optimal, I feel. If you could find link(s) to high-audio-quality-sharing of this track, please let us know.

Again, how nicely and cleanly can you hear the high-Fq transient sound with your tweeters (and super-tweeters)
simultaneously with rather high gain bass-midrange sound?


This "post series" on "excellent audio sampler tracks (color-spectrum analyzed)" will be slowly and steadily continued one-by-one on other genre and/or categories of various music fields. Please stay tuned...

Edit: So far posted in this series;
[Part-00] Introduction: #587
[Part-01] Full Orchestral Music: #588
[Part-02] Solo Piano Music: #590
[Part-03] Typical(?) Smooth Jazz Music with Guitar: #591
[Part-04] Bimmel Bolle Antique Orgel; Extremely High-Energy High-Frequency Sharp Transient sound: #592
[Part-05] Color Spectrum of Tracks in CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": #593
[Part-06] Female Vocal in Jazz and Popular Music, and One Male Vocal Track for Comparison: #596
[Part-07] Female Vocal and Counter Tenor in Early Classical Music: #639
[Part-08] (Smooth?) Jazz Trio: #640
[Part-09] Organ Music: #641
[Part-10] Lute Music: #642
[Part-11] Violin Music: #643
[Part-12] Cello Music: #644
[Part-13] Harpsichord (Cembalo, Clavecin) Music: #645
[Part-14] Piano Concertos: #650
[Part-15] Again, CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": Analyzed by Adobe Audition 3.0.1 and MusicScope 2.1.0: #651
[Part-16] A Cappella Chorus and A Cappella Vocal Ensemble: #652
[Part-17] Excellent Quality Music Tracks, But Containing Unacceptably High Gain Low Frequency Air Conditioning Noises; What Counter Measures Can We Have? #658
[Part-18] An Interlude or Provisional Finale of the Post Series: #669

 

[dualazmak]

Excellent Recording Quality Music Albums/Tracks for Subjective (and Possibly Objective) Test/Check/Tuning of Multichannel Multi-Driver Multi-Amplifier Time-Aligned Active Stereo Audio System and Room Acoustics; at least a Portion and/or One Track being Analyzed by Color Spectrum of Adobe Audition in Common Parameters: [Part-04] Bimmel Bolle Antique Orgel; Extremely High-Energy High-Frequency Sharp Transient sound

(You would please take a look on [Part-00] Introduction here in my post.)

Edit:
You would please also refer to my post [Part-15] Again, CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": Analyzed by Adobe Audition 3.0.1 and MusicScope 2.1.0: #651
Also please refer to:
- Four "real air-recorded transient-sound tracks" of Sony Super Audio Check CD played and analyzed by MusicScope 2.1.0: #760


Hello friends,

Even though a lot of people have been intensively discussing about audio reproduction of low frequency bass sound like on this thread entitled "Bass!", very few people talk about the suitable high-Fq transient sound music tracks for check and tuning of our audio system and room acoustics; this is also the case even on this thread entitled " Critical (Best) Music Tracks for Speaker and Room EQ Testing" started by amirm.

In this post, therefore, let me share with you one very unique track containing extremely high-energy high-frequency sharp transient music sound of Bimmel Bolle antique orgel.

The track can be found in "Super Audio Check CD" by CBS/Sony released in 1983;

(I will show you color spectrum of all of the tracks in this unique CD in my coming post.)

The track-20 "High Frequency Linearity Check" is actually an extraordinary recording of "Bimmel Bole antique orgel" containing extremely high-energy high-frequency sharp transient sound; I have never heard recorded sound having such a high-energy and high-speed high Fq components.

By looking at enhanced and enlarged spectrum in Fq zone of 14 kHz - 22.05Hz, you can easily understand what I mean with this track;

I use this track for check and tuning of my tweeters and super-tweeters by subjective hearing and also by objective microphone measurements.
Edit:
Let me add here the video clip sharing this unique track with my VU-Meter Array dancing:

As for the unique physical positioning of my super-tweeters, Fostex T925A, you would please refer to my posts here and here.

Now I well understand and expect your highly possible inquiry regarding our hearing ability above 7 kHz, and also regarding the age dependent hearing decline in high frequency (and how to compensate it).

In this post, however, I will not go into the detailed response to such possible inquiry since I have already intensively discussed on the issue as well as the flexible variable relative gain controls for tweeters and super-tweeters in my setup. If you would be really interested, please firstly refer to the latter half of my post #404 and my post here (#70) and here (#72) in the remote thread. My post here would be also of your interest, I assume.

In any way, I believe it would be really worthwhile for you to hear and experience this unique "Bimmel Bolle Antique Orgel" sound using your own audio system. If you would be seriously interested in "Super Audio Check CD by CBS/Sony", please simply PM me writing your wish.

Edit:
Please also refer to;
- Five "real air-recorded transient-sound tracks" of Sony Super Audio Check CD played and analyzed by MusicScope 2.1.0: #760

Edit: So far posted in this series;
[Part-00] Introduction: #587
[Part-01] Full Orchestral Music: #588
[Part-02] Solo Piano Music: #590
[Part-03] Typical(?) Smooth Jazz Music with Guitar: #591
[Part-04] Bimmel Bolle Antique Orgel; Extremely High-Energy High-Frequency Sharp Transient sound: #592
[Part-05] Color Spectrum of Tracks in CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": #593
[Part-06] Female Vocal in Jazz and Popular Music, and One Male Vocal Track for Comparison: #596
[Part-07] Female Vocal and Counter Tenor in Early Classical Music: #639
[Part-08] (Smooth?) Jazz Trio: #640
[Part-09] Organ Music: #641
[Part-10] Lute Music: #642
[Part-11] Violin Music: #643
[Part-12] Cello Music: #644
[Part-13] Harpsichord (Cembalo, Clavecin) Music: #645
[Part-14] Piano Concertos: #650
[Part-15] Again, CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": Analyzed by Adobe Audition 3.0.1 and MusicScope 2.1.0: #651
[Part-16] A Cappella Chorus and A Cappella Vocal Ensemble: #652
[Part-17] Excellent Quality Music Tracks, But Containing Unacceptably High Gain Low Frequency Air Conditioning Noises; What Counter Measures Can We Have? #658
[Part-18] An Interlude or Provisional Finale of the Post Series: #669

 

[dualazmak]

Excellent Recording Quality Music Albums/Tracks for Subjective (and Possibly Objective) Test/Check/Tuning of Multichannel Multi-Driver Multi-Amplifier Time-Aligned Active Stereo Audio System and Room Acoustics; at least a Portion and/or One Track being Analyzed by Color Spectrum of Adobe Audition in Common Parameters: [Part-05] Color Spectrum of Tracks in CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD"

(You would please take a look on [Part-00] Introduction here in my post.)

Edit:
You would please also refer to my post [Part-15] Again, CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": Analyzed by Adobe Audition 3.0.1 and MusicScope 2.1.0: #651

Hello friends,

I recently analyzed all the tracks in the CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD" by color spectrum analyzer of Adobe Audition 3.0.1 and I found these spectrum data are really interesting and worthwhile for understandings not only for myself but also (I assume) for your reference.

Adobe Audition can play the track while you have the color spectrum on your screen monitor, and this feature is very much useful in several tracks since you can easily read and identify (by pushing Pause button) the numerical data, such as time, frequency, gain, etc. which you hear.

Attached herewith please find the PDF liner notes (booklet) of the CD (English translation by myself) also for your reference.
If you would be seriously interested in "Super Audio Check CD by CBS/Sony", please simply PM me writing your wish.

Adobe Audition can play the track while you have the color spectrum on your screen monitor, and this feature is very much useful in several tracks since you can easily read and identify (by pushing Pause button) the numerical data, such as time, frequency, gain, etc. which you hear.

Edit, again:
You would please also refer to my post [Part-15] Again, CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": Analyzed by Adobe Audition 3.0.1 and MusicScope 2.1.0: #651

Hopefully, my next post on this "post series" will be "[Part-06] Female Vocal in Jazz and Popular Music".

Edit: So far posted in this series;
[Part-00] Introduction: #587
[Part-01] Full Orchestral Music: #588
[Part-02] Solo Piano Music: #590
[Part-03] Typical(?) Smooth Jazz Music with Guitar: #591
[Part-04] Bimmel Bolle Antique Orgel; Extremely High-Energy High-Frequency Sharp Transient sound: #592
[Part-05] Color Spectrum of Tracks in CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": #593
[Part-06] Female Vocal in Jazz and Popular Music, and One Male Vocal Track for Comparison: #596
[Part-07] Female Vocal and Counter Tenor in Early Classical Music: #639
[Part-08] (Smooth?) Jazz Trio: #640
[Part-09] Organ Music: #641
[Part-10] Lute Music: #642
[Part-11] Violin Music: #643
[Part-12] Cello Music: #644
[Part-13] Harpsichord (Cembalo, Clavecin) Music: #645
[Part-14] Piano Concertos: #650
[Part-15] Again, CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": Analyzed by Adobe Audition 3.0.1 and MusicScope 2.1.0: #651
[Part-16] A Cappella Chorus and A Cappella Vocal Ensemble: #652
[Part-17] Excellent Quality Music Tracks, But Containing Unacceptably High Gain Low Frequency Air Conditioning Noises; What Counter Measures Can We Have? #658
[Part-18] An Interlude or Provisional Finale of the Post Series: #669

 

[GXAlan]

Since you enjoy piano music, have you listened to

Earl Wild performing At 88!

Earl Wild continues to amaze with his artistry and longevity - Mozart, Beethoven, Balakirev, and Chopin plus his new arrangement of the Mexican Hat Dance. This latest CD appropriately is called "At 88 on the 88's," recorded in May 2003. Wild's virtuosity has not been diminished by the years, and...

ivoryclassics.com

No high res download available even though it was mastered at 24/88. One of the few professional recordings of a Shigeru Kawai EX concert grand piano.

Or

Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker - Stewart Goodyear - Steinway & Sons

For his third Steinway & Sons label release, Stewart Goodyear returns to the music of Tchaikovsky with a world premiere recording, his own arrangment for solo piano of the complete Nutcracker ballet.

www.steinway.com

SACD available. Very classic pieces reimagined as pure piano pieces. Sponsored by Steinway, and truly a master recording.

 

[dualazmak]

Hello @GXAlan,

Thank you for your info on links to the piano music; I will listen to them in the near future.

BTW, what was your impression on the "sampler piano music tracks" I shared in my post #590?

 

[dualazmak]

Excellent Recording Quality Music Albums/Tracks for Subjective (and Possibly Objective) Test/Check/Tuning of Multichannel Multi-Driver Multi-Amplifier Time-Aligned Active Stereo Audio System and Room Acoustics; at least a Portion and/or One Track being Analyzed by Color Spectrum of Adobe Audition in Common Parameters: [Part-06] Female Vocal in Jazz and Popular Music, and One Male Vocal Track for Comparison

Caution and Reminder:
Even though I refer to YouTube video/audio clip(s) in this post, I cannot guarantee its sound quality since I know little about YouTube's audio codec/compression, and furthermore I know nothing about your internet access environments.

(You would please take a look on [Part-00] Introduction here in my previous post.)

Hello friends,

All of readers here may agree with me that female vocal sound/music is always nice challenge and reference for our audio system. I use several excellent recording quality female vocal tracks in jazz and popular as well as early-classical music; in this post, I share my audio sampler tracks of female vocal in Jazz/popular music.

Let me start with this really enjoyable and amazing recording quality album entitled "Casa" by "Ryuichi Sakamato and Mrelenbaum2" on music by Antonio Carlos Jobim.

This album has been so highly rewarded, and you can purchase in various formats as you find here in the Discogs site. Remastered DSD128(2x) and DSD64(1x) formats are also available in various places including this e-Onkyo site. I have this gem album in physical CD and download-purchased DSD128(2x).

I always use the track-1 "As Prarias Desertas" for check and tuning of my audio system and room acoustics;

You can hear the entire album YouTube, even though I feel the sound quality is not optimal;
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjUmA4K9wvbUdbFNa-q2pFlGVJMNiRL5s
The track-1 on YouTube is here;

Her (Paula Morelenbaoum's) face and lips should be always firmly allocated in slightly-upper in the center of the stereo image throughout her voice with wide frequency range and with any of pronunciations. I also check (and tune) whether I can (as if) hear how wet/dry her lips are, especially listening to her voice/words including "p", such as "As Praias Dersetas" and "Esprando por nos dois".

Furthermore, on your audio system, can you nicely hear and identify the charming birds outside of Jobim's house joining at 2:40 in this beautiful track? Even though I cannot remember where he wrote or spoke, Ryuichi Sakamoto once commented with his deep emotion that "When I carefully listen to Jobim's music, I always feel as if various charming birds are singing in his music. It was really our miracle experience, therefore, that the birds outside of Jobim's house wonderfully joined our recording of As Praias Desertas with Mrelenbuam2."

Although I can talk much more about many pros of this track as "audio sampler", I believe I should not spare further lines in this post for them; I believe you can easily understand and guess by hearing the track even on YouTube. I would highly appreciate if I could hear your impressions on this track and entire gem album.


The performance and recording in album entitled "Over And Over" by Erin Bode are also stunning;

I usually use track-1 "Holiday" for check and tuning;

You can hear this on YouTube;

Again, I have no need of describing a lot about this wonderful track; nice music and very much suitable for system check and tuning.


I also usually use this nice track for check and tuning; "Fields of Gold (by Sting)" in album "Songbird" by Eva Cassidy. I have only the track-1 in my digital library;

The color spectrum of the track;

You can hear it on YouTube in fairly good sound quality, but please be careful enough since this YouTube clip is in rather high gain;

Let me share one more from my "audio sampler playlist"; "Caruso (Lucia Della)" by "Antonio Forcione (guitar) & Sabia Sciubba (Vocal)" in Album "Meet Me In London". I have only the track-3;

The color spectrum of the track-3 "Caruso";

On YouTube;

I became aware of this wonderful performance and excellent recording through @amirm's post here; amirm wrote that "Warm vocals and sublime guitar strings. What more could you ask for???". I highly appreciate and fully agree with him; this is also a nice challenge to our audio system and room acoustics.


To close this post, as our comparative reference, let me share just one male vocal track in this category/genre from Peter White's album "Confidential" with male (rather tenor-side) vocalist Christopher Cross;

The color spectrum of track-4 "She's In Love" with male vocal Christopher Cross;

You can hear it on YouTube, even though the sound quality is not optimal;

I am sorry that I do not have any other excellent recording quality male vocal jazz/popular tracks in my digital library.


Hopefully, my next post on this "post series" will be "[Part-07] Female Vocal and Counter Tenor in Early Classical Music".

Edit: So far posted in this series;
[Part-00] Introduction: #587
[Part-01] Full Orchestral Music: #588
[Part-02] Solo Piano Music: #590
[Part-03] Typical(?) Smooth Jazz Music with Guitar: #591
[Part-04] Bimmel Bolle Antique Orgel; Extremely High-Energy High-Frequency Sharp Transient sound: #592
[Part-05] Color Spectrum of Tracks in CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": #593
[Part-06] Female Vocal in Jazz and Popular Music, and One Male Vocal Track for Comparison: #596
[Part-07] Female Vocal and Counter Tenor in Early Classical Music: #639
[Part-08] (Smooth?) Jazz Trio: #640
[Part-09] Organ Music: #641
[Part-10] Lute Music: #642
[Part-11] Violin Music: #643
[Part-12] Cello Music: #644
[Part-13] Harpsichord (Cembalo, Clavecin) Music: #645
[Part-14] Piano Concertos: #650
[Part-15] Again, CBS/Sony's "Super Audio Check CD": Analyzed by Adobe Audition 3.0.1 and MusicScope 2.1.0: #651
[Part-16] A Cappella Chorus and A Cappella Vocal Ensemble: #652
[Part-17] Excellent Quality Music Tracks, But Containing Unacceptably High Gain Low Frequency Air Conditioning Noises; What Counter Measures Can We Have? #658
[Part-18] An Interlude or Provisional Finale of the Post Series: #669

 

[Doodski]

Excellent Recording Quality Music Albums/Tracks for Subjective (and Possibly Objective) Test/Check/Tuning of Multichannel Multi-Driver Multi-Amplifier Time-Aligned Active Stereo Audio System and Room Acoustics; at least a Portion and/or One Track being Analyzed by Color Spectrum of Adobe Audition in Common Parameters: [Part-06] Female Vocal in Jazz and Popular Music, and One Male Vocal Track for Comparison

Caution and Reminder:
Even though I refer to YouTube video/audio clip(s) in this post, I cannot guarantee its sound quality since I know little about YouTube's audio codec/compression, and furthermore I know nothing about your internet access environments.

(You would please take a look on [Part-00] Introduction here in my previous post.)

Hello friends,

All of readers here may agree with me that female vocal sound/music is always nice challenge and reference for our audio system. I use several excellent recording quality female vocal tracks in jazz and popular as well as early-classical music; in this post, I share my audio sampler tracks of female vocal in Jazz/popular music.

Let me start with this really enjoyable and amazing recording quality album entitled "Casa" by "Ryuichi Sakamato and Mrelenbaum2" on music by Antonio Carlos Jobim.
View attachment 231374

This album has been so highly rewarded, and you can purchase in various formats as you find here in the Discogs site. Remastered DSD128(2x) and DSD64(1x) formats are also available in various places including this e-Onkyo site. I have this gem album in physical CD and download-purchased DSD128(2x).

I always use the track-1 "As Prarias Desertas" for check and tuning of my audio system and room acoustics;
View attachment 231375
You can hear the entire album YouTube, even though I feel the sound quality is not optimal;
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjUmA4K9wvbUdbFNa-q2pFlGVJMNiRL5s
The track-1 on YouTube is here;

Her (Paula Mrelenbaoum's) face and lips should be always firmly allocated in slightly-upper in the center of the stereo image throughout her voice with wide frequency range and with any of pronunciations. I also check (and tune) whether I can (as if) hear how wet/dry her lips are, especially listening to her voice/words including "p", such as "As Praias Dersetas" and "Esprando por nos dois".

Furthermore, on your audio system, can you nicely hear and identify the charming birds outside of Jobim's house joining at 2:40 in this beautiful track? Even though I cannot remember where he wrote or spoke, Ryuichi Sakamoto once commented with his deep emotion that "When I carefully listen to Jobim's music, I always feel as if various charming birds are singing in his music. It was really our miracle experience, therefore, that the birds outside of Jobim's house wonderfully joined our recording of As Praias Dersetas with Mrelenbuam2."

Although I can talk much more about many pros of this track as "audio sampler", I believe I should not spare further lines in this post for them; I believe you can easily understand and guess by hearing the track even on YouTube. I would highly appreciate if I could hear your impressions on this track and entire gem album.


The performance and recording in album entitled "Over And Over" by Erin Bode are also stunning;
View attachment 231376

I usually use track-1 "Holiday" for check and tuning;
View attachment 231377
You can hear this on YouTube;
https://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8PPJOYm-6M

Again, I have no need of describing a lot about this wonderful track; nice music and very much suitable for system check and tuning.


I also usually use this nice track for check and tuning; "Fields of Gold (by Sting)" in album "Songbird" by Eva Cassidy. I have only the track-1 in my digital library;
View attachment 231378

The color spectrum of the track;
View attachment 231379
You can hear it on YouTube in fairly good sound quality, but please be careful enough since this YouTube clip is in rather high gain;

Let me share one more from my "audio sampler playlist"; "Caruso (Lucia Della)" by "Antonio Forcione (guitar) & Sabia Sciubba (Vocal)" in Album "Meet Me In London". I have only the track-3;
View attachment 231380

The color spectrum of the track-3 "Caruso";
View attachment 231381
On YouTube;

I became aware of this wonderful performance and excellent recording through @amirm's post here; amirm wrote that "Warm vocals and sublime guitar strings. What more could you ask for???". I highly appreciate and fully agree with him; this is also a nice challenge to our audio system and room acoustics.


To close this post, as our comparative reference, let me share just one male vocal track in this category/genre from Peter White's album "Confidential" with male (rather tenor-side) vocalist Christopher Cross;
View attachment 231382
You can hear it on YouTube, even though the sound quality is not optimal;

I am sorry that I do not have any other excellent recording quality male vocal jazz/popular tracks in my digital library.


Hopefully, my next post on this "post series" will be "[Part-07] Female Vocal and Counter Tenor in Early Classical Music".

What is the red colored Adobe Audition graph conveying to the viewer? I don't get the graph's meaning.

 

[dualazmak]

What is the red colored Adobe Audition graph conveying to the viewer? I don't get the graph's meaning.

Would you please read carefully my introduction post here?

And if you would understand the "meanings" of the color spectrum of Adobe Audition in my previous 6 posts, you may know the pros of the spectrum.
If you have Adobe Audition, you may play and hear the tracks having the color spectrum on your screen, and you will know the "meanings", I believe.

We shared many of these spectrum in other thread such as here entitled "Bass!".

Can any one here visiting this thread explain more nicely and simply about the "pros and meanings" of time-Fq-gain color representation, for Doodski's understandings?

 

[Holmz]

What is the red colored Adobe Audition graph conveying to the viewer? I don't get the graph's meaning.

I am with you…

I think that it would be perhaps a bit more insightful as an objective thing, if the colour graph was a null test of what the speakers pumped out - the digital input.
But I think it is just a spectrogram of the digital file, and tells us nothing about going through the multichannel chain…??

Hence I am also confused.

 

[Doodski]

it only gives 3D color representation of time-frequency-gain (sound pressure), and (almost) no info on sound cleanliness (S/N, distortion), sonority, 3D stereo perspective/image, extent of SP disappearance and so on. Nevertheless, I assume the Color Spectrum of Adobe Audition of specific audio sampler music track would be more worthwhile than having no such objective representation of the track.

I think this is a dynamic bit of software that is best exemplified by dynamic use and not a static view as I have presently. The graph seems a bit fluffy in that it is eye candy? It's cool for sure but it's candy'ishy. Perhaps I am missing something? I am installing Audition right now. BRB.