Scott's System

Figured out the channel balance problem. Moving the left speaker in about 2 inches seems to have fixed it. Could be due to the fact that the left wall is uneven. Switched cables, same problem. Different amp, same problem. Move the speaker in, problem gone.

Back to looking into the right channel issues now.

Nice to be back reading the forum again and your thread. This last week I've been getting ready the wood curing storage area. Soon as the weather breaks I'll be over there baking and flipping choice pieces of wood. While moving things I saw a few equipment platforms and started thinking about your platform and room. I believe your stage will open up more once you get some more of the wood tone and transfer in action.

Scott sent me this email

"I've been having some difficulty with the Sherwood. I decided to get
another unit since the first one was distorting badly on non cd inputs.
I was using a cd player that has a 3.5v output, so I was thinking it
could be over modulating, but it doesn't make sense to me that the
inputs behave differently.

The second unit has a similar distortion problem, although less severe.
The other problem with the second one is a high pitched sound coming
from the speakers. It is not affected by volume. I started messing with
the interconnects and speaker wire and a few times the unit just shut
itself off. I re-torqued the screws inside the unit and ever so
slightly de-torqued them. So I ended up with no high pitched sound.  I
was getting some fuzz when moving the interconnects and speaker wires a
bit.  After looking around, I discovered that the unit wants at least 8
ohm speakers, so I swapped the Betsy speakers for the celestion 3's
which are rated at 8 ohms.

So, I am wondering if I have two bad units. I'm worried that these may
not be fully tunable.  Do you have a source for them? I have just been
looking on ebay.  Is there another similar receiver that I could buy
new that is tunable to the extent of the Sherwood? I'm sort of stuck
right now."

Hi Scott, hope it's ok to post this on your thread.

"I decided to get
another unit since the first one was distorting badly on non cd inputs."

mg

So the CD input sounds fine?

Hi Michael, sure no problem posting this.


I did some more testing. With Sherwood unit #2 I'm getting distortion on all input sources. I'm not sure why I thought the cd was ok. Could be I was using two different units then. With the Alpha at 3.5 volt output, I'm thinking it's just overloading the Sherwood. Listening to the maggie on VCR input and I'm not hearing any distortions. The Alpha unit on my tube amp did not exhibit any distortions, so I suppose the Sherwood and Alpha are just a bad pair.

Regarding the other fuzziness and the unit shutting off, I think I'll dissassemble it, clean it up and see if that helps. Nice to have two of them.

So, you've got some wood for me????

Would an equipment platform be the best next step or should I tackle speaker wire and interconnects first? Can I put the Sherwood and maggie on one platform or would I need two for best results.

I moved the speakers a bit closer to the back wall. They are about 2.5' in front of the listening position. I'll let it settle and see how it sounds in a few days.

Hi Scott

Wood curing season has taken over as well production and writing. Sorry for the delays. Seems like when spring gets close all heck breaks loose. Yes, I have some very nice wood curing over in the dry house that I'm slow cooking.

Which to go with first I would say the wood because of what you have things on now are restrictive.

again sorry for the late replies

Your timing is great. I was thinking just last night about the platforms some more. Still trying to decide whether to go with an 18x18 for the maggie and 23x23 for the Sherwood or one larger one for both. The 23x36 would be just big enough. Seems like I might get better sound from the 23x48 unit, no? And then, basic pine or BPLTR? Decisions decisions......

23x48 sounds like the way to go. I'm ready when you are. Or I have some 19" curing.

So I ordered an equipment platform from Michael a little while ago. Should be here maybe June/July. Getting pretty excited about it!

In the meantime I've been doing some tinkering. I went to see my sister last weekend to swap my metal stands for her wood ones. Hers are about 3 inches shorter than mine. I've also been wanting to try her turntable - a Music Hall 2.1, about 30 years old. She mentioned that she hasn't used the table in a long time and wondered if I could use it. What luck!!

Got the wood stands in place and they brought out more bass, more detail and a bit more focused soundstage. I was hoping for an improvement, but didn't expect this much of a difference. Over to the office supply store a few days later to pick up a couple bamboo chair mats to put under the stands. Brought out even more bass and I'd say even went deeper. This is with the Celestion 3 mkii's. These are budget speakers. I didn't know they were this capable.

Now on to the table. It worked. Checked the VTF and increased it to 1.7g from about 1.4. Cymbals started sounding better. Checked the pivot to spindle and printed a template to check the alignment. Measured wrong the first time and re did it a day later. I think I got it very close now. Listening to Peter Gabriel's So and it sounds very good. Sledgehammer's bass is real easy to follow. The sibilance on In Your Eyes is almost gone. Seems like more fundamentals are there. My copy of Houses of the Holy is just terribly noisy, but it still sounds great. John Paul Jones actually played on all the tracks. I never realized that before. Reminding myself these are budget speakers, with probably 4" woofers. I'm hearing music. Oh, by the way, this is also a budget turntable, weighing in at around $300 USD today. Would some cones help this turntable reach even higher?

Michael, I have followed your guidance as best I could and I'm getting better sound than ever. Thank you.

If I could get the soundstage bigger and not have the sound stuck in the speakers so much, I'd be almost "there". I'm sure the platform will help on these two items.

More to come as things settle even further.

Sanding on the Platform today. Going to sound great!