Poinsettia to the rescue.

[Floyddroid]

The strangest thing happened as I was about to start moving my system to a different room. Having bought a poinsettia for our dining room table I got it home only to find that my good lady had already bought one. Flipping heck I said, that's a bloomin nuisance. Needless to say the one that she bought went on the dining table with the adage "you'll have to put that one in your cave". Not happy! It's a big bugger too. I pacified myself with the thought that it's only temporary until Christmas has been and gone. However, settling down to a couple of hours music before work one morning I was flabbergasted at just how good my system was sounding. I scratched my head wondering if the mains had improved or my phono stage was now fully burnt in! No, none of these. It was my partners random placement of the poinsettia. To say I was gobsmacked is an understatement.
This brought to mind a comment made by Macca about room treatments rather than major relocation of my system. I think he may well be right and I intend to try out some strategic placement of items to tune the room to my listening position. I may well have been saved a lot of hard work by a poinsettia. Thank God it's Christmas. :scratch:

[Firebottle]

Look forward to more developments with this Steve, sounds like a bit of an undiscovered tip.

:)

[Marco]

Excellent. Did you ensure that the plant was pointing north? That is essential, in order to ensure maximum spatial separation.

Marco.

[jandl100]

:worthless:

[brian2957]

Aye we like the piccies here . Well done mate :D

[Puffin]

Isn't there a commercial enterprise making Stillpoinsettia's:D

[awkwardbydesign]

I showed this to my wife. :doh: I'm doomed, doomed I say!

[Ray]

Poinsettia can become very fatiguing, what you initially accepted as an improvement quickly wilts.
If you want to join the big boys it has to be Aspidistra.

[awkwardbydesign]

Lidl have loads at the moment. I'm considering getting several of the very small ones to go on my CDP and amps, to see if they work like Shakti stones.

[walpurgis]

Try some Pyrocanthas. Nobody will touch your gear then. :)

[Floyddroid]

Do i detect a hint of sarcasm there young Marco me lad?
Excellent. Did you ensure that the plant was pointing north? That is essential, in order to ensure maximum spatial separation.

Marco.

[brian2957]

Can you demo these at the next NEBO please Steve :D

[Floyddroid]

I was planning on a summer event Brian which would make these poinsettia twigs. I'll see what i can do though.
Can you demo these at the next NEBO please Steve :D

[brian2957]

Mmm ! The name's starting to grow on me mate . Audio P-Twigs ;) , there may be a market here :lol: Keep up the good work mate :)

[Floyddroid]

Ok Jerry, here goes. I'm sure most folk know what a poinsettia looks like though. The one good thing this little accident has done though is highlight (as Macca rightly pointed out) the importance of room lay out and treatments. I intend to start experimenting the week after Christmas. I will do it without the aid of Scotch and then report back when i am!

http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n621/Progmeister/Poinsettier%202.jpg (http://s1143.photobucket.com/user/Progmeister/media/Poinsettier%202.jpg.html)



:worthless:

[brian2957]

This will be interesting Steve , I've never been a fan of room treatments , but I'm always open to new ( preferably inexpensive ) ideas though .:)

[struth]

My mum had a poinsetia ready every year... She kept it under the bed in a nice dark and forboding place beside her stays...no one ever went there:lol:

[petrat]

Ah, it's a plant! At first, I thought Poinsettia must be one of Steve's obscure prog band recommendations, probably Italian :lol:

[awkwardbydesign]

How about silk plants? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/331696795486?adgroupid=13585920426&hlpht=true&hlpv=2&rlsatarget=pla-131843281026&adtype=pla&ff3=1&lpid=122&poi=&ul_noapp=true&limghlpsr=true&ff19=0&device=c&chn=ps&campaignid=207297426&crdt=0&ff12=67&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff14=122&viphx=1&ops=true&ff13=80 You can have several of them strategically placed, and they won't wilt.
Seriously. If I can talk my wife into it I may try it. :D

[Marco]

Do i detect a hint of sarcasm there young Marco me lad?

Wot, moi? :eyebrows:

I totally get where you're coming from, though. After I'd installed some new racks for my CDs, it had a significant impact on the sound of my system, due to altering the characteristics of the room.

Why just one plant, though? Get a few, place them strategically around the room, and see what happens! ;)

Marco.

[awkwardbydesign]

Marco, did you not read the post immediately before yours? :doh:

[Marco]

Haha - nope, just dived in and replied to the latest one, as I often do (due to a simple lack of time)! ;)

Marco.

[PaulStewart]

Back in the day, when I set up show rooms for JVC or Garrard, I always put plants in them, Yucca palms are good, as are philodendrons erc., they help break up standing waves plus take away the bareness of the room. I always managed a reasonable sound using this method. Think BAF inside speaker enclosures, the plants work the same way. Have plenty of plants in my existing space now. On a possibly foo note, though I don't think so, plants produce negative ionisation, and can regulate humidity, both good things when it comes to audio kit. :)

[awkwardbydesign]

On a possibly foo note, though I don't think so, plants produce negative ionisation, and can regulate humidity, both good things when it comes to audio kit. :)
And breathe out oxygen in the day. But CO2 at night! :stalks:

[PaulStewart]

And breathe out oxygen in the day. But CO2 at night! :stalks:

Sort of, yes plants take in carbon dioxide during photosynthesis in the light and release Co2 during their respiration phse in the dark. However, plants take up far more in photosynthesis than they give off during respiration. In fact, there is a lot of carbon fixing involved here.

[awkwardbydesign]

I wasn't actually worrying about it, just felt like mentioning it. :) Note to self; must get out more.

[struth]

Some plants give off oxygen as well at night. Many eat nasties in the air like Xylene . The Areca Palm removes xylene and toluene from the air, but also happens to convert a lot of CO2 oxygen during the daytime. Having four shoulder high plants of these per person in your household provides enough oxygen to survive on during daylight hours.... Sounds like a done deal to me.

[awkwardbydesign]

But will the silk ones do that too?

[struth]

Guilty secret: I once watered an artifical plant for 6 months.....:doh::doh: Thought it was doing awfy well:D

[petrat]

:lol:

Actually, I may be able to match that, Grant. I once bought a new girlfriend a strikingly impressive bunch of beautiful blooms. You can guess the rest. :rolleyes:
I mean, how was I to know that the local supermarket would mix real and artficial flowers in the same display stand? I just went for the most colourful ...

[jandl100]

Ok Jerry, here goes. I'm sure most folk know what a poinsettia looks like though. The one good thing this little accident has done though is highlight (as Macca rightly pointed out) the importance of room lay out and treatments. I intend to start experimenting the week after Christmas. I will do it without the aid of Scotch and then report back when i am!

http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n621/Progmeister/Poinsettier%202.jpg (http://s1143.photobucket.com/user/Progmeister/media/Poinsettier%202.jpg.html)

Whoops, missed that when it was 1st posted. :scratch:

Thanks, Steve - great looking room, with or without poinsettia :thumbsup:

Hang on - that little pot plant made such a difference? .... :mental: :lol:

[awkwardbydesign]

Whoops, missed that when it was 1st posted. :scratch:

Thanks, Steve - great looking room, with or without poinsettia :thumbsup:

Hang on - that little pot plant made such a difference? .... :mental: :lol:

You said it yourself; it's a POT plant. Makes a big difference to most things. So they tell me.

[jandl100]

:lol:

I reckon that must be it.

It's not a poinsettia at all. :nono:

http://www.alternet.org/files/styles/story_image/public/story_images/marijuana_1.jpg

[Audio Advent]

Sort of, yes plants take in carbon dioxide during photosynthesis in the light and release Co2 during their respiration phse in the dark. However, plants take up far more in photosynthesis than they give off during respiration. In fact, there is a lot of carbon fixing involved here.

Until the owner forgets to water it, it dies, gets thrown away and is then incinerated at the local waste disposal plant.. carbon released again. To carbon fix would require more and more plants being allowed to grow on land everywhere until we were overrun and urbanisation forced to stop.

[Audio Advent]

The plant could be evening out the listening space considering there are curtains on one side of the room, presumably harder surfaces on the other.

I remember finding that sort of thing out as a teenager moving a friend's home studio away from the curtained windows - didn't realise the frequency imbalance until making the change.

[awkwardbydesign]

Now there's a marketing opportunity. Poinsettia balance controls!

[Audio Advent]

Not balance, frequency control..

But everything in your room does that to some extent, sofas, thick curtains, bookshelves, people, plants... it's the actual room treatments which could be considered the marketting opportunity because there are other objects you can use instead which might have a similar effect.

[awkwardbydesign]

For heaven's sake, why are you being sensible? :doh:

[Floyddroid]

Rumbled

:lol:

I reckon that must be it.

It's not a poinsettia at all. :nono:

http://www.alternet.org/files/styles/story_image/public/story_images/marijuana_1.jpg

[Floyddroid]

Quick update, the poinsettia is very nearly brown bread! Looks like i will be looking at some alternatives above. Thanks guys.

[struth]

Told ya it will come again next year if you keep it right.

[awkwardbydesign]

Quick update, the poinsettia is very nearly brown bread! Looks like i will be looking at some alternatives above. Thanks guys.

I'm seriously considering 2 or 3 of these. Not perfect, but cheap. We'll see how long my wife keeps watering them. :D
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331696795486?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[Audio Advent]

For heaven's sake, why are you being sensible? :doh:

:lol: because balance or it changing the volume of left or right wasn't mentioned before so it didn't make sense to me as a joke either...

[awkwardbydesign]

:lol: because balance or it changing the volume of left or right wasn't mentioned before so it didn't make sense to me as a joke either...

You're doing it again! :doh:
I may go for some of these (from Dunelm), and drape them at first reflection points. :D The problems will start when I want to treat the ceiling.
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m604/awkwardbydesign/Mobile%20Uploads/20151230_122348_zpstabpwzqz.jpg
And no, not the red flowers!

[Audio Advent]

You're doing it again! :doh:


It's your interpretation... it's in the eye of the beholder on forums or with any text based form of expression.

I even put a laughing face in front this time to try to help ... but it didn't make a dent. But you did ask why I was being (toungue-in-cheek) serious so I explained for you - your joke was random out of nowhere so I light-heartedly gave you a ribbing for the joke not even making sense.. Can we laugh now? haha :lol:

[Audio Advent]

I may go for some of these (from Dunelm), and drape them at first reflection points. :D The problems will start when I want to treat the ceiling.
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m604/awkwardbydesign/Mobile%20Uploads/20151230_122348_zpstabpwzqz.jpg
And no, not the red flowers!

You may be joking but seriously it has real merit in terms of breaking up higher frequency reflections and I'm sure will have been done in all seriousness with big leafy plants - much nicer than some dispersion products and less imposing than bookshelves.

[jandl100]

It is quite a tempting idea to try some botanical room treatment with a couple of big pot plants in the corners - trouble is my Man Cave really is a bit of a cave and I doubt they'd like the poor light conditions. :scratch:

[awkwardbydesign]

It's your interpretation... it's in the eye of the beholder on forums or with any text based form of expression.

I even put a laughing face in front this time to try to help ... but it didn't make a dent. But you did ask why I was being (toungue-in-cheek) serious so I explained for you - your joke was random out of nowhere so I light-heartedly gave you a ribbing for the joke not even making sense.. Can we laugh now? haha :lol:
Ditto.

[awkwardbydesign]

You may be joking but seriously it has real merit in terms of breaking up higher frequency reflections and I'm sure will have been done in all seriousness with big leafy plants - much nicer than some dispersion products and less imposing than bookshelves.
Not joking at all. I may say it in a jokey manner but I am perfectly serious. I get the feeling there are some here who don't get me.


It is quite a tempting idea to try some botanical room treatment with a couple of big pot plants in the corners - trouble is my Man Cave really is a bit of a cave and I doubt they'd like the poor light conditions. :scratch:
Then look at the silk ones. Some of them are very convincing.

[awkwardbydesign]

The plant could be evening out the listening space considering there are curtains on one side of the room, presumably harder surfaces on the other.

I remember finding that sort of thing out as a teenager moving a friend's home studio away from the curtained windows - didn't realise the frequency imbalance until making the change.


Now there's a marketing opportunity. Poinsettia balance controls!


Not balance, frequency control..

But everything in your room does that to some extent, sofas, thick curtains, bookshelves, people, plants... it's the actual room treatments which could be considered the marketting opportunity because there are other objects you can use instead which might have a similar effect.


For heaven's sake, why are you being sensible? :doh:
While I'm here, I'll go back to this one. It seems you didn't understand your own posts! I have exactly the same situation, and a balance control has centred the image. But rather than do pfm style rebuttal point by point, I figured a lighthearted tongue in cheek post would be better. But you took the whole thing way too seriously. And still didn't notice the inconsistancies in your posts!
Does that explain it? And no, I'm not going to add a smiley, as that would probably be misinterpreted too.
Lighten up, man!

[Audio Advent]

You can't drag us back to this and then say I should lighten up? Can you? :lol:

It's a bit dull but here we go:

balance = the comparative volume of left and right channels and where the image sits between the speakers

frequency imbalance = the two channels aren't consistent in their frequency response as they hit your ears so the image can be still in the middle but just sounds odd, sometimes makes you feel you're going a bit deaf in one ear because the treble's missing something compared to the other ear, for example. Just distracting and kind of ruins 3D holographic possiblilties I think.

Different things - that's where the misunderstanding lies. (OK, you could assume that increased reflections, reduced reflections causes a difference in volume/balance but that's only going to happen above a certain frequency range and the more energentic frequencies won't be effected so the brain will perceive pretty much the same volume but recognise the discrepencies in frequency response instead.)

Of course it is confusing because the word "balance" is contained in the phrase "frequency imbalance" just like the word "cup" is contained in the word "concupiscent". Be a shame if a woman expresses her concupisience for you but you move the conversation on to your favourite novelty mug. (No, I didn't know that word until now either...) ;) (a wink to show that although the last paragraph is a bit sarcastic, I try to make light of it with the silly situation at the end..)

[awkwardbydesign]

Oh well.

[Floyddroid]

Anyhow! The plant is deceased.

[jandl100]

:deceased:

You going to get another one? Can you live without its sonically beneficient effects?

Just don't tell ABD or AA if you do. :eyebrows:

[brian2957]

Back to square one then Steve . At least you have what may be viable upgrade path :)

[struth]

Keep it moist and in the dark is the advice i used to give the wife

[awkwardbydesign]

Anyhow! The plant is deceased.
How are the acoustics now?

[awkwardbydesign]

:deceased:

You going to get another one? Can you live without its sonically beneficient effects?

Just don't tell ABD or AA if you do. :eyebrows:

Too late! How about one of these? http://www.dunelm.com/product/artificial-green-bamboo-tree-1000043857?cmCategoryId=34213 And you can decorate it at Christmas to avoid buying a tree!

[Floyddroid]

Just the very chap for me.
Too late! How about one of these? http://www.dunelm.com/product/artificial-green-bamboo-tree-1000043857?cmCategoryId=34213 And you can decorate it at Christmas to avoid buying a tree!

[awkwardbydesign]

Just the very chap for me.
I don't have any floor space, or I would be very tempted. It will probably have to be the artificial ivy, then it can cascade over the windowsill.
What I would really like is one of those vertical plant walls; there's a big one in Plymouth.
http://plantsolutions.com/wp-content/gallery/greenwalls/web5.jpg

[awkwardbydesign]

Update; 99p each from the local Barnado's charity shop. I'll be stocking up now! But for some reason my wife is unimpressed; women, eh?
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m604/awkwardbydesign/Mobile%20Uploads/20160201_201440_zpscreohfh4.jpg

[Marco]

But for some reason my wife is unimpressed; women, eh?


Have you tried wearing one in your hair (if you have any left)? ;)

Marco.

[awkwardbydesign]

Cheek! I have a full head of hair. And some of my own teeth.

[Marco]

Ok, then next time when you're serenading her, put one between your teeth! :lol:

Marco.

[Barry]

:lol:

I reckon that must be it.

It's not a poinsettia at all. :nono:

http://www.alternet.org/files/styles/story_image/public/story_images/marijuana_1.jpg

It's recommended that one should always get 'five a day'. :scratch: