Diffraction elimination

[jimdgoulding]

Boy . . that must have been a slow boat. You guys still ain't got your surrounds yet?

[Alan]

Boy . . that must have been a slow boat. You guys still ain't got your surrounds yet?

My boat just came in!
I will share impressions in due time.

[Marco]

Nice one. What about Jerry? He must have had his too by now...

Marco.

[jandl100]

Hi there

Yup, my Woolly Widgets or WWs (as I call JimG's fine little accessories ) have arrived.

By popular request, i.e. at JimG's and Marco's suggestion) here is my PM to Jim with my 1st impressions, slightly edited for intelligibility .....

But first, I should acknowledge that the main use I have put them to is on a speaker they were not specifically tailored for, as you will read in the following text.

______

Hi Jim

OK - I hear what these are doing, I think.

They certainly do not dull the sound like those appalling Russ Andrews accessories that have been mentioned. I would agree with you that the tonal balance stays pretty much the same (much to my surprise).

I have tried them on 2 sets of speakers - my open baffle ProAcs and a pair of John Bowers Active One speakers - large stand-mounts, with 300W per speaker of active (onboard) power.

First the ProAcs - I have grown to dislike these speakers as set up in my room - they are now up for sale on eBay. Diffuse soundstage and imaging that the WWs failed to do much with - the backwave simply dominates that aspect of their sound. Forget the ProAcs!

Secondly the John Bowers Active One speakers. One tweeter and two 6 inch mid/bass units. Ah - much better! I used the WWs that you sent to go around the small ribbon tweeters on the ProAcs, placed around the tweeter. Much, much more interesting.

Here's a pic of the speaker ..... with a CD placed for scale .... bloody big things, they weigh 30Kg each (that's 66lb in 'real money' ....



In essence, it seems to me, the WWs seem to remove a bit of the 'reverberant field' making images much more precise and well focussed. Good stuff. But ... in so doing they also seem to remove some/most of the recorded ambience of the recording making for a somewhat sterile presentation. You might respond - "But the WWs are just showing what is on the recording, any extra 'ambience' is an artifact added by the speaker cabinet" - Hmmm, maybe so, I might reply, but it does rather seem to be like listening in an anechoic chamber.

I plan further listening - and perhaps (well, almost certainly!) fooling around with a halfway house; if I chop up the no-longer-needed midrange WWs that you sent to fit around the ProAc's small midrange cone and place them around the speaker front baffle in various configurations I may well end up with a good compromise between improved focus and enjoyable (although perhaps spurious) ambience.

Sadly, that will have to wait a while - my head cold has returned and my hearing is currently severely curtailed - I now have an appointment booked with my doctor for an ear-syringing on Wednesday!

Jerry

[jimdgoulding]

All- Here is a copy of my reply to the Jerrster (PM):

Jerry- Good of you to reply. Thanks. And I’m delighted to know they exceeded your expectations based on your past experience. Don’t know what to make about your loss of ambience as this is not my experience. There IS less energy hitting your side walls above your crossover in studies I’ve seen (one on a set of Dynaudio two ways) along with an evening out of peaks and valleys around and upwards of the crossover and that might be missing. And, yeah, you’re right . . I’m gonna say you’re getting more of the truth as best as your and my systems are capable of resolving. I’m sticking one of those frequency domain studies in my avatar today for you to see. By all means, customize those babies to your hearts content. The density and thickness of the wool is a bitch to cut neatly, however, with any hand tools I’ve tried. I use a guillotine paper cutter that will cut a half ream of paper at a time. Most paper cutters won’t accept the thickness and/or don’t have a sufficient guide to keep the cut straight. There may be a print shop in your area that does. Oh, I almost forgot . . the material you have is easier to manage. If your Velcro tabs lose their adhesiveness, I’ll send some more. Just let me know if you need anything at all. Happy trails and I will appreciate your follow up. Thanks, Jim

Second thoughts- Jerry, direct me to some pictures of your speakers. I want to send you what Rob has and what I normally provide. I insist.

To which I would add I listened to two opera recordings over the weekend. Loads of ambience and hall sound on these. Had my doctor irrigate my ears in November. He also used a tool to remove hardened wax. Can't recommend that you do this, however, as I learned subsequently that this is risky.

[jimdgoulding]

Jerry- Boat left today. I invite others to try this. It's a tiny investment for what you will be getting on the recieving end of listening to music. See if after awhile you aren't more relaxed listening and making fewer trips to your player to change the music. Oh, there are extroverted changes alright, but how you feel listening, your sense of it, is where the proof is most in the pudding. Your speakers may look too beautiful too hang some wool on them, or their technology and esteem too precious in your opinion, but those notions will change after a short while. I offer with a 30 day in home audition, at least for the time being. :crowd: There are no losers.

[Alan]

Jim, hope you are well. 1st impressions are certainly good, and quite suprising. Its definately the mid and upper bass which has benefited most, its so 'soft' if you like, though I certainly dont mean that it lacks impact. It is so much easier to discern detailed nuances that were somehow a little buried in the mix before. Yet it is not tiring to listen to at all, which is good as I am not a detail freak; I want the emotion in the music, which has not suffered at all with these additions.
This must sound a little vague as a description, its just that its hard to work out what these actually do until you take them off and everything sounds a little harsher, with missing detail. Oh you know the detail is there, because you just heard it, but with these pads back on its all there, and not the least bit harsh or fatiguing.
The imaging is somehow improved too, and not just a little. I look forward to getting to know the sound a bit better maybe next week with some on-off comparisons, perhaps on van morrisons new album.
A tentative thumbs up, though I won't be sending them back. I've already persuaded a friend to have a pair too.
Many thanks, Alan

[Alan]

[QUOTE=jimdgoulding;6562]Jerry- Boat left today. I invite others to try this. It's a tiny investment for what you will be getting on the recieving end of listening to music.

It is a tiny investment - dont forget the exchange rate.

[jandl100]

Second Impressions of JimG's Woolly Widgets (WW)

The WWs that Jim has made specially for my Bowers Active speakers have not yet arrived, but as promised I have been fooling around with the stuff he sent to go on my old ProAcs (now sold ) ......

I still don't like the 'full surround' approach (where the tweeter is fully surrounded by the absorbent material) feeling that it reduces the ambience of recordings too much - but I am most pleased with a half-way house where strips are placed either side of the tweeter .....



Zounds!! No loss of "air" but hugely improved focus and more easily perceived detail. I can hear right in to the ambient acoustic of the recording with these. Very nice indeedy. Yup, something of JimG's work will definitely be staying in my system. I can't hear any downsides to this.

Yes, the strips are attached with Blue Tac - Jim supplies stick-on velcro patches, but that's more for when final positioning is determined - fixing them with Blue Tac works well and is easier for experimenting!

There's more adhoc playing to do with the bits and bobs of Woolly Widgets that I currently have, and of course the bespoke items for my new speakers should be arriving soon, as well!

Nice one, Jim - there's definitely strong merit in your approach imo - and as has been said, at the price (and £/$ rate !) it's a bit of a no-brainer for the tweaker. Very easy to use as well.

[Alan]

Well, I've enjoyed getting to know these wooly wonders a lot. I think my earlier observations are more or less right, but on-off comparisons have been interesting.
I feel the effect of these additions as opposed to playing the same music with them off is more profound than even speaker placement, though I'm sure everyones experience will be unique and peculiarly their own. I am using small standmounts as you can see, in a room with heavily compromised acoustics and setup possibilities; my bass drivers are also odd, I dont really know much about this design (any info will be greeted with interest)*.
I mentioned earlier in a discussion about different passive pre amps that I like listening mostly at lower volumes, and only ever really up to medium. I had found the bass (although clean and defined) to be weaker at low volume: It is now in proportion, strong when required, soft when appropriate. This, coupled with the quite delicious mid range produced by Richards finest makes for an utterly involving, even captivating experience which defies me to not pay attention or to even try walking past when it is singing.
Ive just been on - offing to Ray Lamontagne's 'empty' from his 'Until the Sun Turns Black' album, and the contrasts were greater than I imagined they were, even being quite stark. Notably the cello timbre was warmer with the 'wonders' on, I enjoyed hearing the wood resonate, the air inside really moving about which was sucked into the mic in all its glory. With the 'wonders' off, it was harder, two dimensional and distant again, although I previously had no issue with it. It also became harder to distinguish between the 'attack' of strummed acoustic guitar strings and more delicate drumming work (he may have used nylon tipped sticks which would have contributed to this). When they went back on, everything seperated out again in terms of definition and timbre: Guitars were warm, even lush, drumming intricate, loose (his style really, but it was almost lost in the mix before) and Ray's vocals warm, powerful, and about six feet in front of me. I have also noticed the gorgeous singing tone of a decent ride cymbal that is well mic'd (yes I was a drummer, once).
Things have become so real, life like. The emotions the artist tries to convey are so much more readily apparent because of the detail now here.
Detail - that is not to refer to digital detail or harshness of any sort. These make music so easy to listen to, involving not because each detail is in stark seperation/relief but because it isnt. Yet you can still follow the detail if you want, but what is being accomplished here allows each detail of each musicians playing to contribute to the layers, the whole. Well done Jim.
Perhaps his new slogan should be: Try it. What's the worst that could happen? Oh wait , that one is already taken, but nontheless I urge everyone to have a go. They work out about £28 now through paypal - chicken feed! You wouldn't think twice if they were interconnects or isolation pads now, would you?
You may be more suprised than I was. Thanks Jim, have this: