The Quest for audio nirvana

Like all things in life , passion takes its toll on us and the journey to reach oure objectives are full of danger.And this little thing that starts as a hobby becomes a time and money consuming part of oure daily life , some of us have such appetite that they cannot be satisfied fast enough , and some of us just eat loads of junk food .

The moral lessons are equal , we appreciate things more because there is contrast
So we need bad experiences to even more relinquish oure victories .

Is it wise to take shoretcuts one might ask , because part of the fun is the journey , so if the journey is short maybe the goal will not be appreciated , it will look too easy .

But alas , I need to share my experiences and so its up to you to improve upon them .

Like all good things in life , real high end systems are not for everyone ,
Because first you need to get back to the basics .

Example : learn to eat without salt and pepper and taste the food as it is , then only you'll know when and how much you need to add to get the taste right .

Basic diet for a beginner in high end sound :
Whatever system you have , set all tone controls to neutral and start listening like this , even if it sounds awfull , after a month take notes what bother you most and start listening elsewhere
And compare , go to shops , friends concerts ect

After a month or 2 you'll know what to replace odds are that it's the speakers or the amp you'll want to upgrade .

Budgetwise , don't see this as an investment , its not a business , you're not trying to make money here , so don't worry if you are afraid about the resale value of things to come .

Best advice I can give is if you have a decent speaker , to start tweaking it :
Replace the filter components and don't be afraid to change the filter itself in its design ,
My competitors and myself will gladly assist you and the result will be unbelievable , and
All of this for virtually peanuts .

Next step : tweak you're amp or buy a new ( 2nd hand ) one that is much better , or even better
Build your own . ( its really great )

Amp tweaking :
Solid state or tube : replace especially capacitors , this will improve dramatically the sound ,
Increase capacitance in powersupply and try to use chokes as well (more expensive but really worth it)
Replace real old tubes , and all coupling capacitors , decouple large caps .

Cd players : buy a decent one :
Pioneer top models or Sony ES series the 5 or 7 series is quite good
Other brands are also good , new a cd player should cost at least 750 euro

At the end of the journey try the kit we sell with the non oversampling dac .
Its not too expensive and its excellent .

Accessories :

Cables or fables , I know this is a hot topic , I am in favor for low cost big coppersectioned signal cable , doesn't need to be shielded and it sounds just as good as any super expensive cable I auditioned I sell this for 1,5 euro/meter

Speaker cable :
Same thing applies a plain copper cable of 2,5mm2 just does the job , no fancy things needed here , you can bi-wire ( doubling of cable thickness ) or use the 2nd wires for the tweeter and use a thinner wire there , you can mix cables , I believe in this :
Different metals have different sonic signatures , so mix copper , tin , silver and steel cables to obtain a sound that you like , this will take many years of trying but if you have time and patience you'll get there .

Spikes , I never used them but they are available quite cheap know and I plan to use them , they can't harm the result so maybe its going to be positive ,
Please note the underground has to be flat and hard or it will not work , use a marble (stone ) or acrylic sub plate .
Cheap trick : use tennis balls under you're equipment it also works

Acoustic treament :
This helps for sure but you need to know what to do and where , this is no easy affair and not allways positive , for good listening sessions you need a quit non resonant room ,but surely not anechoic ( acoustic dead ) if you have the possibility there are the golden measure :
5 meters deep , 4 wide and 3 meters ceiling height .
in the corners you put acoustic damping foam blocs , thick carpet , carpet on the walls ( thin )
and a false ceiling at 2m50 with absorbing material on top of the ceiling ( cork is an excellent material ) avoid sharp edges ( tables and furniture ) a nice couch to sit and listen ,and the speakers nicely 0,5 a meter away from the walls .
( no neighbours please , because often they make too much noise !!!! )

AC line filters :
I think it makes a difference but it depends on the rest of the system , don't over pay
I know some companies have crazy prices and they are certainly right because they sell those products and they get excellent reviews , but when I read that a AC line filter sells for 2500 euro my mind thinks more about theft and fraud then about hi end .
We supply a very nice kit for the whole audiochain , it will be more or less effective depending on many factors .

C37 ennemoser lacquer : it seems to work quite good , it shifts resonances of different materials to the frequencies where oure brain filters them out so we don't here them anymore
But at 75 euro/bottle of 10mL I think it's a bit overpriced , actually any lacquer will do , but not as good , organic ones works best , they are available in artists shops for a fraction of the price .you can apply it on almost anything , speakercones , resistors , cd's , pick up arms,chassis ,cables transformers ect .

Speaker tricks :

Active speaker : the idea is quite good but it is very expensive and to do this properly you need a few high quality amps ( not cheap or a lot of work for the diy )
And you need an active or even better a passive cross over before you amplify .

Filter out of the box : excellent idea ,ike this the filter is not the subject of the tremendous strains of air movement in the cabinet and also there are less physical resonances .

Special speaker damping :it works quite good except the rubber never stays glued properly
Glued on the magnet it calms down the bass -mid speaker significantly

Extra bracing of internal speaker cabinet is also most beneficial

General advice on speakers and amps :
Historically people follow trends , and some of us allways go against them
The trend in high end is high sensitivity and fullrange , and indeed remarkable things exist in this range , but they are full of compromises as well .My system's (yep 2 systems ) today is one with standard 89dB/w 3 way system using thiel speakers and peerless bass/mid , they are truly fantastic
The other system is the humprey horn with fostex Fe204 and Visaton TL16H ,this also is really good
Of both systems I can only say that they are all most identical in reproduced quality , but the horn (95dB/w/m) is the better for most things , it puts out a 3 dimensional sound that you can almost feel , you want to reach and expect to touch the artists performing but alas when you open you're eyes they are not there , you're ears have betrayed you !!!!!
It took me 3 years to perfect the horn , but I learned a lot .

All things being equal : everybody has a different way of listening to music
And different styles need different artists/performers and different sounds

So do the wisest thing of all find out what you like , and don't be persuaded by friends or shops or magazines , decide you're self what is you're cup of thea

The choice :
Tube or mosfet or solid state also low power to high , class A or class AB ( class B is not high end incase you wondered )
Then you have amps with feedback and without .

Once the amp is set you need to find the right speakers to match it , the other way around is just as valid . ( first the speakers then the amp )
Speakers is more complicated :
Full range or 2 way or 3 way or even more
Then there is the issue : horn loaded , closed , bass reflex or transmission line or electrostatic and then we have the coaxial types and the endless baflles and array type of speakers
Or a mix of those , and to make it worse there is the size , active or passive .

And the problem here is that there are good and bad ones so this will take a good part of you're journey to find out what suits you , (finding a spouse is easier , but keeping one ….)

How to solve this enigma efficiently ?

Go to specialist like myself , sit down have a chat , listen and borrow equipment and review it at you're place , go to hi end shows try to go when its quiet = not on week end days but a day before or after , take your own cd's so you can compare easily .

Good luck

Copyright 2002
Benny Glass

info : email sales@diyparadiso.com