Jimbos Audio ramblings

[Jimbo]

Last night was spent listening to some great music and critically appraising where have now got to with the system and the room acoustics. My system has not changed for a good while because I am very happy with it and feel it plays and presents music much to my liking. I do like to try new things but my continuous "box swapping " days are over. I learnt many years ago that you can convince yourself that every shiny new thing that comes along sounds better but in actual fact it usually just sounds different and it is those differences that torment the mind and lead to dissatisfaction with ones own system.

It is great when you get to a point where you really like how your system plays music and you can sit back and enjoy it rather than continuously analysing the sound and whether it is resolving detail enough etc. This is like photography enthusiasts who do pixel peeking, they are more concerned with the tiny details rather than the bigger picture and I fall into the later camp. For me the Big picture is what matters.

So my system is pretty much a fixed point but over the last few months I investigated the last area I think any of us consider in our hifi journey, room acoustics. I have spent 40 years buying and listening to hifi equipment and I never did anything in those years to change or consciously control my room acoustics. Ok I may have drawn the curtains but that was about it. I went through tonnes of equipment seeking the best set up I could and tried everything from polishing fuses to mad cable swapping in order to get a better sound. I have had numerous amplifiers, speakers, turntables and cartridges and a few DACS and it was always about how these items sound and how they changed the sound but never about the room. I think I have always known the room was an influence but it is only in recent years I realised how much it was responsible for what you hear. I consider it as influential as any of the equipment you put into your listening room.

After drawing a line in the sand with the equipment I decided hesitantly to just see what could be done to my room to change the sound for hopefully better. I have written a fair bit about how it has changed the sound of my system on previous posts so these are just a few thoughts on how I consider it has influenced the music and performance I am now hearing off the record.

My first choice is a jazz album I use regularly with Duke Ellington on piano and Ray Brown on double bass. It is a very simple set up and miked in the studio with a very clean and realistic presentation. When you listen to the album "This ones for Blanton" it is as if you have the two performers playing intimately for you in your own room. Clever and thoughtful recording. So the track I listened too is called 'do nothing until you hear from me". Recorded in 1975 so pure analogue if you get the original pressing.

Playing this record before and after the room acoustic work is interesting and I will try and describe the differences before and after. So before the room was treated it was a very live and immediate sound but almost too forward verging on a bit of harshness on some notes. A few piano keys jarred a bit as if the recording was a bit too hot. But as I was to find out it was not the recording but the room that accentuated this and over egged the recording. With the room treatment not only did all harshness disappear the whole weight and tonal quality of the piano improved. Also the acoustic space and dimensionality of the piano improved. It appears in the left of the recording and with the acoustic treatment there is a lovely palpability and richness to the harmonics from the instrument. It is almost a few octaves lower than before.

This also had a bearing on the double bass which is positioned in the centre of the recording. The bass now sounds deeper and more woody/ resonant. The harmonics are more vibrant and untangled so the singular complexity of the instrument is revealed in a more believable realistic way. Nothing is lost in the recording and in fact small details I heard before are still there but it as if the whole recording has been fleshed out in a more natural and wholesome way. There is a touch more richness to the whole sound that is expressed through improved tonality.

This was the first of the recordings I have ear marked to assess the work I have done on the room acoustics and I will listen pop down my thoughts on others later. But that is probably enough to bore you on this post.

[Macca]

So often it is the recording that gets blamed. Totally overlooks the fact that the recording was made by experienced professionals and monitored and mastered on high quality equipment in an acoustically treated space. Then it is played back on a system of boutique tat chosen and set up by an amateur in a poor acoustic. And he blames 'cloth-eared engineers' because the top end takes his head off.

It's a funny old game.

[Jimbo]

So often it is the recording that gets blamed. Totally overlooks the fact that the recording was made by experienced professionals and monitored and mastered on high quality equipment in an acoustically treated space. Then it is played back on a system of boutique tat chosen and set up by an amateur in a poor acoustic. And he blames 'cloth-eared engineers' because the top end takes his head off.

It's a funny old game.

Very true Martin. I wonder how many other recordings I have dismissed after hearing them on poor equipment and in tragic acoustic environments?

[Macca]

Very true Martin. I wonder how many other recordings I have dismissed after hearing them on poor equipment and in tragic acoustic environments?

I know I have a fair few, like Aretha Franklin 'Soul 69' where her voice overloads the mic on occasion and I wondered for years why they didn't do another take.

In reality it was my set-up introducing the distortion - probably clipping - the recording is clean.

[Macca]

or one meet I went to where some prototype speakers were being demoed, at first with a Sony CD player. Not a great sound, the CD player was blamed (digital - tool of the devil) so a reel to reel was wheeled out.

First tune played sounded even worse - 'Poor recording' said everyone. I mean this is R2R - analogue gold - so it couldn't be that.

In reality the speakers just needed more work on the crossover.

[Jimbo]

How many audio hifi meet ups have you been too or indeed hifi shows in hotel rooms where it is obvious the acoustics are not here best and you hear something and you thing ahh that sounds terrible. May not be the fault of the equipment or the recording but the room.

[Macca]

How many audio hifi meet ups have you been too or indeed hifi shows in hotel rooms where it is obvious the acoustics are not here best and you hear something and you thing ahh that sounds terrible. May not be the fault of the equipment or the recording but the room.

certainly must have happened. Although when the rooms are identical and one room has great sound and the next doesn't, that variable is sort of eliminated.

Surprised at last year's NW Audio show how many exhibitors were using room treatments. That's not been the case on previous years.

Very few poor sounding systems last year*, that's not been the case previously either. Some connection?

* does take the fun out of it a bit, nothing more entertaining than a ludicrously expensive system, choc full of foo, sounding harsh and hard. Or just bland.

[Jimbo]

certainly must have happened. Although when the rooms are identical and one room has great sound and the next doesn't, that variable is sort of eliminated.

Surprised at last year's NW Audio show how many exhibitors were using room treatments. That's not been the case on previous years.

Very few poor sounding systems last year*, that's not been the case previously either. Some connection?

* does take the fun out of it a bit, nothing more entertaining than a ludicrously expensive system, choc full of foo, sounding harsh and hard. Or just bland.

[Barry]

I heard an industry reviewer on a Podcast recently and he said he preferred to have equipment with him for many weeks or a few months to evaluate as it took this long for him to really know what its strengths and weaknesses were especially when evaluating with alternative equipment and speakers. Its a complex business and I feel a judgment on anything needs time and lengthy consideration.

Also important to go back to where you were with your system to see if your were really imagining an improvement or whether a piece of equipment turns out to be just different and a sideways move. The more I work on my system and room acoustics the more I realise the whole process is so personal and unique to your own environment and listening preferences.

Isn't that what I said in the previous post?