Mika K's system

[AlfaGTV]

You like the NS's so much you're selling your Altecs? Saw your ad on hifimagasinet.com
Regards //Mike

[wiicrackpot]

Really!!... those Yammy's must be something else.

[Mika K]

They really are special speakers that I have loved for decades. They offer something that is still rare among modern speakers. It's a pity that many of the people heard the Yams have no clue of their true potential This is actually my third pair and as they are minty domestic ones thinking to keep them, if not always the main speakers but at least for that second set.

Altecs are also something special but would need bit bigger room to reach the optimum listening distance etc. However the actual problem is that I do not have any possibilities to store them at the moment, so while Yams are at the spotlight the Altecs are tucked to the rear corners of the living room and taking quite a lot of space. During the last weeks did some search for storage offerings but that will just be too expensive, as do not have any friend that could take those to loan, decided to publish add to finnish and swedish forums. So let's see what the lady luck says this time..

[Mika K]

Altecs are still here waiting some decision. Lately I've been more and more thinking should I just start another enclosure project to result a bit smaller outcome than the Onkens - sacrifice a little bass performance to sill fit these to the house together with my Yams. Perhaps some cornermount or hmm..

In the meantime a little pic from yesterday evening when was listening some music while Mrs. was at work. Daddys and kids toys fit here nicely..

[Wakefield Turntables]

. Daddys and kids toys fit here nicely..

Love it!

[Mika K]

The last supper..

..kind of.

Have now few days again listened the Altecs before will transfer them to dry and warm storage space I have rented. The plan is to fill that with Altecs and some bikes with some other stuff (clothes/toys/etc) our family is not needing at the moment. This is mainly because we have put our apartment for sale and Mrs. has implied that having these monsters at the corner of our living room and other stuff lurking from the closets does not actually make it any easier..




Anyway, have now listened these without the JB supertweeters and still the sound is something really special and might be that if these will not be sold soon I will just store them until have space to use them again. The Yams work extremely well with the Shindo/RWA amplification and have no rush to change that. Perhaps in the meantime will just continue to develop some heretic design for smaller enclosure for the bass and then study the use of some DSP solution to make it work. I'm going slightly mad..

[Mika K]

AN UK inspired

Audio Note UK showrooms and also few systems I have heard at other enthusiasts places have always puzzled me. MOstly because of the recommendation to put the speakers close to room boundaries or even the corners. Have also thought the same when studying a bit for the corner enclosures used with vintage Altec drivers. Long time ago I used Snell J/II speakers and had them pretty close to room boundaries. Now the Yamaha NS-1000's have pretty mild bass department and in theory the corner placement should be possible even have not seen that one used anywhere - bravely go to the places where no man has gone..

I placed the speakers in front of the GIK Acousticsin broadband corner traps so that the speakers aim diagonally towards the room and distance to the walls is approx. 18cm measured from the speaker back corners. I'm listenig the speakers now off-axis, so that the speakers on-axis cuts approx. 1m and 30cm in front the listening spot. Looks weird! Have try to get some pics of this..

What is the most surprising the speakers actually work well like this even without the fine tuning. The lower bass has bit more power and the response seems to be surprisingly flat without any room modes. Mid and high frequencies are tad milder that with standard placement and overall the sound is not so accurate than before. Actually the sound now reminds me pretty much of the one I heard last time with Audio Note UK system. Despite the piano spreads too wide or the cello seems to be played by 3m giant, the music overall seems pretty effortless and has some nice scale with decent prat.

Some heretic trials you need to abandon immediately but this one seems to have some serious potential. Perhaps have to investigate this a little bit more and after a while try the traditional placement and se what thoughts will come up

[Mika K]

And here's the pic..

[AlfaGTV]

Looks good visually too, but i must say im sceptical to the soundstaging and depth this way?
I tried this with my Snell E/III earlier, but in my room that didn't work.
(Have listened to AN UK stuff i familiar environments though, and that have always worked nice...)
Regards Mike

[Mika K]

After some time of listening and making more minor adjustments the speakers are now bit further away from the corners so that the speakers on-axis cuts approx. 70cm in front of the listening position. As suggested by Mike this led to improved soundstaging without compromizing the lower end and prat. Also the center stage is now better without piano spreadding too wide. There are still few room modes to fight thou, so I think that the minor adjustments will continue as before..

ATH-W5000

Last week received new headphones from a friend that proposed to trade them to one of my old vinyl players. Have tried to get into world of headphones earlier with several models from Stax, Sennheiser and Grado but always failed. It's not the sound but more about the feeling that you're somehow restricted when using headphones. So far have only managed to use headphones more at the office or with portable devices. However have not tried closed applications earlier, sohere we go again



I guess the next thing to do is to try few alternatives as a headphone amp. Now using only my Macbook pro or iPad and somehow think there's still some potential left to discover..