Macca's Lash Up 2: Lash Harder

[Macca]

Since the change of speaker cable sorted out the overall tonal balance of the system I am now much happier with it. So I decided to try my benchmark recording to see where I am at with it. At the NEBO before last we had a listen to Gordon's (Halfway Tree) 3 way digital active system with open baffles, dipole bass and a Benchmark DAC for each channel. This was a landmark for me in terms of fidelity and holographic imaging and has remained a marker for me to aim at. This was the recording that so impressed:



My copy arrived yesterday so I stuck it on eager to see how close I have got to the reference.

And the answer is... not very close. It does sound good, impressive even, but it is still short in terms of clarity, and as for the holographic imaging, where you can 'see' the venue and the performers, forget about it. Not there at all. I mean obviously there is a stereo soundstage, but it is not even close to holographic. Damn. Back to the drawing board.

The soundstage thing I could dismiss as the room and the placement. Room treatment and messing with speaker positioning might help here. Marco suggested having the speakers further apart with a bit more toe-in, might look at doing that. The clarity thing, that is where I think I might be up against a brick wall. I'm suspecting that getting rid of the passive crossover and having the amps directly connected to the drivers might be the key there, as I can't see how my current amplification combo could be realistically improved on otherwise.

I suppose I could just be happy with what I have, it is exceeding my expectations and is highly enjoyable, but where's the fun in that? Itches to scratch, what can you do?

[struth]

Got that album...tis very good..guitar work is extraordinary

[User211]

Most systems of any calibre just work with certain recordings, Martin. Just cos one album worked brilliantly on the day with one recording doesn't mean to say it is generically good with everything.

It may well be, and probably is the case, that yours will work better than your "reference" with other recordings.

Important to bear that in mind, as I am sure or would hope you are aware!

[walpurgis]

I'm assuming that album was a record Martin. Do you use CD?

If you have an itch to scratch, organising a good CD setup could be fun and there's never been a better time to buy (good) used CDs. I get great satisfaction from CD playback. It's different to the results I get from my damn decent turntable, but just as good. Sounds bloody marvelous!

[Macca]

It is a CD. I don't use vinyl for testing purposes, too many variables. I only have a TT set up so I can play my records, which I can't bring myself to sell.

Justin -we did listen to said system fairly extensively, not just this one album, I think with this being a quality live recording it made the most of what it could do in imaging terms, though. Also bear in mind the system was just lashed up in a pub function room, I suspect it is even better on its home ground.

[User211]

Also bear in mind the system was just lashed up in a pub function room, I suspect it is even better on its home ground.

Probably.

Sell everything and lash up something very similar (semi-serious only - but it would get you want you want you'd hope - or just live in denial).

[Macca]

Plan is to keep what I have now and build the active system in parallel. The only expensive part of that will be the speakers, but to sidestep that issue I intend to activate the pair of IMF TLS 50 I have lying around for starters and see what develops.

[User211]

On the subject of OBs, I like this design in the sense that it looks great. Needn't use a ribbon, but imagine say Ali Tait's OBs, which did sound great, built into something like a think slab of glass or some transparent polymer of some kind. Done well it would look fab.

You could get the baffle work done by some company somewhere so you needn't do anything challenging. And get some nice linished aluminium stands that bolt onto the baffle - again built by some small company. That's what we did for the stands on my Apogees.

Just food for thought for you or anyone, really.

[brian2957]

I was at that Nebo Martin , and Gordons system was indeed a bit special . Probably cost a lot of money though , and a lot of time to out together .

[Ali Tait]

On the subject of OBs, I like this design in the sense that it looks great. Needn't use a ribbon, but imagine say Ali Tait's OBs, which did sound great, built into something like a think slab of glass or some transparent polymer of some kind. Done well it would look fab.

You could get the baffle work done by some company somewhere so you needn't do anything challenging. And get some nice linished aluminium stands that bolt onto the baffle - again built by some small company. That's what we did for the stands on my Apogees.

Just food for thought for you or anyone, really.

I have a new design in mind which coincidentally will use 30mm acrylic as the baffle.