£1.00 tweak.........

Yes, I know this is nothing new.....

I was mooching around the town market Wed and saw these...........coming in at a massive £1 each.

They are small enough to fit ontop of cd players etc and rather more handy then my usual 6 foot affair.

Accuracy, obviously isn't going to be strong point but measured about the same in each direction.

It was quite good enough to check and establish that might speakers were miles out; the difference when this was corrected prompted this post


.


I've got a distance meter on its way, its just goes to comfirm that speaker set up (as others have said) is so important.

 

yes .....the big levels are a pain .....always had issues leveling tt suspensions till I got a small disc type that could sit on the platter without depressing the springs.

 

Yes, I know thats tuff is around but often costing £15/
20.

Gives the industry a bad name

 

I once borrowed the works Leica Disto to set up some speakers.

Can't say that it made a difference, but having the things within +/-2mm for distnace to boundaries, line, level and plumb made us feel good - or at least to have earned a beer.

Sad really.

 

For once I actually agree with the tweakers! Its pointless getting crossover components matched to better than 5%, and all the rest of the kit channel matched if you go an plonk ya speakers down inaccurately. Its the small differences between channels that makes the difference between good or great imaging, so measure up and get those speakers symmetrically placed, and get your listening position in the dead center. Of course your room and all in it need to be symmetrical too. Its not a massive effect, but for the sake of 30min with a tape measure...

P.S. It looks like you have it on your radiator there David, don't tell me that will really help the sound?

 

Radiator?!?!?!!

Thats a valve amp!!!

...and do you propose that I do that?!

Even I'm not going to start demolishing walls!

 

Oh... is that what it is? Still, in-door plumbing and valve amps were both invented by the Romans, right?

Not even a little one? You have to make sacrifices for good audio you know. Knock down a wall here, sacrifice a virgin there.

 

I wouldn't know i'm not that old!

steady on!








how come YOU are awake at 3.00a m in the morning??

 

Yep, I strap myself into an old electric chair complete with head restraint to make sure I don't inadvertently turn my head and spoil that imaging. I also insist on two cups of tea, one for each arm of the chair, lest the perfect symmetry be ruined.

Only kidding guys! But really, back in the real world, what normal person has a symmetrical bloody room? Oh hang on, we're all hifi crazies, so probably lots of us. I've not thought about my speakers being level before, but have just checked and I think they're close enough for me, but they're big heavy floorstanders and not held up by complicated slab/spike/inner tube/stand combo's. I've played around with the angle of the speakers and distance from the walls etc, that does make a difference, but it's not that difficult to get them approximately the same I think.

Dave

P.S. I splashed out £2.50 on my keyring level from the science museum

 

No.......

I did go so far as to remove a shelf over one speaker....maybe I shouldn't be admitting to that

I have stub walls in the midle of my lounge (part of an origional dividing wall) which I can't do much about. One stub is bigger than the other. I have behringer deq here but I think you loose a bit of precision if you start using more bits if kit.....

I have used sound absorbing material to try to sort our the first reflections though

 

I don't think I've got mine anymore, but they've been selling them at least 20 years!

 

The point about room symetry is key here I feel.

CARA has shown that I need non-symetrical placement in my L shaped room.

Fixtures/fittings/sofa's/bookcases placed un-evenly can mean you need a non-symetrical placement in a symetrical room too.

I know most people know this, but just pointing out for completeness.