Sonic's System

Hi fellow Zonees

After going back to using the harder Harmonic Springs in some of my equipment, Sonic took the heavy Rotel toroidal transformer out of the miniclamp rack and placed it 3 Harmonic Feet. I think the heavy toroid may have been too much for the lightweight mini rack. This got me slightly better dynamics and more sparkle to the sound.

Lesson here (to Sonic) -- heavy components work better on Harmonic Feet or MTDs --heavier the device, the larger the foot/cone to be used. A large rack can work but not a small, lightweight clamprack with MW and resitone rods and small MTDs. These may not be able to ground the mass effectively and it actually felt a bit top heavy and unstable.

Sonic

Hello fellow Zonees

The music has been good but last evening Sonic played Beethoven's 7th symphony (John Elliot Gardiner/Archiv) and the opening chords did not have the jump factor. I just heard notes (a chord actually) not a mid-sized period orchestra making an impact. Then the rest of the symphony sounded restrained.

Aha said Sonic....I think I know this signature...something is loose. I checked not the racks but went thru the electrical mains connections in the system. Sonic had set them just finger tight which gave a better sound than fully tightened. And I found that three connections to the gear had loosened to the point that the screws in the plugs were so loose the cable could be pulled out easily if I tried. That is 3 out of 14 connections in the system. So I tightened them up more than finger tight for sure but not with great force.

Then played the 7th again at the smae preamp level...and this time, I got startled at the opening chords, the music sounded more deft and it felt like I had increased the preamp volume setting by at least 2 to 3 clicks on the volume control.

For sure we must not over tighten (Sonic's conclusion) because that shuts down the sound but once we go too loose which can happen with time, the dynamics and volume goes...

Sonic

I find that every recording has it's own signature as well and needs (if desiring perfection) a little tuning to set the specifics right for that recording.

Like your demonstrating it doesn't take much once you get to know what does what in your system.

Hi Michael and fellow Zonees

Sonic had on-and-off listening sessions this week which gave good music but somewhere between Beethoven's Eroica symphony and Copland's pieces for solo piano, I had one of those "what if" moments.

The sound was good but I had three Harmonic Feet in hand...and in Sonic's last Tune move, I found the main amp (Rega) didn't do that good with a change from Michael's Crazy Springs to the nice plated ones....so I placed the three Harmonic Springs under the Rega. One in the front under the row of power transistors and two at the rear corners.

What I got was a lot more harmonic richness in the midrange and upper bass The treble was there but a bit less prominent. I got a lot more dimensionality in the mids and this is good. Listened also to the soundtrack for the Henry VIII feature by the great and late David Munrow and when I got to track 2 -- Le Bon Vouloir -- this was right.

How do I describe the change? Like what I heard when a pentode amp was swapped for a single-ended triode amp, both operated at equivalent SPLs but without driving the SET amp into clipping. That slight midrange prominence (or is it the slightly rolled off treble and bass?) with a warmth and harmonic richness that covers a multitude of shortcomings particularly in recordings of voice.

The Harmonic Feet from Michael and the MTDs (which Sonic also uses) are keys to unlock wonderful harmonic richness.

Sonic has also been listening in other spots round my room and though the surround and width and girth is good, I am getting the feeling the limitation to my system lies not in the bookcases behind my head but with the Magneplanars. They may be distorting the pressure zones in the middle of the room and preventing the soundstage to fully open up. This could be a function of their size or the way they are vibrating at different rates from top to bottom.

From what Sonic reads in Tuneland, I should be able to stand in front of one speaker and see/hear a full soundstage across the room over to the other speaker and round to the rear of the room. I don't get this, the stage is disjointed and mostly from the near speaker. This is a serious limitation because it explains much of what I am dissatisfied (slightly) about my system now that so much else has been tuned and sounding right.

Sonic

Hi Michael and fellow Zonees

Sonic had more time listening to live piano musick, with pieces from J S Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier played competently. I really like listening to music like this played well in a home. And this on a baby-grand piano. Of course after a while I'll think of audio and where things can be improved to sound more like the real thing.

After this last session, Sonic feels much is down to two things -- the mid-bass and the transient response.

Compared to live music, most hifi mid-bass is too lean or sucked out. Now the real thing has BIG mid-bass but it is also controlled and there is no muddiness or overhang. Hifi systems with elevated midbass tends to be fat and plodding (overhang) and when combined with poor transient response, it gets worse than if the system was conventionally lean sounding.

Transient response is the other half of the equation. If systems are underpowered, you get slow transients. Some tube set ups do this too which some listeners like. I remember a system with EL34s (p-p) with Mullard tubes and though it was sweet, the slowness was soporific. But power is not the only thing. I know of an Apogee Duetta system with huge Krell amps which should theoretically blow out the windows but it doesn't...it is has a heavy feeling in the music it plays. CDs (redbook) have an added limitation -- the steep filteration at just over 20kHz limits transient response. Research I read seems to show that you need a treble response past 50kHz to get any realistic rise times.

The high efficiency speaker systems have an edge because their light cones and big magnets do give the feeling of speed and impact. Of course transient response is not the only thing. Sonic recalls the fastest, most startling transients came from a system using Cerwin Vega drivers. Lost of slam and snap but it sounded coloured and tiring after a few tracks.

I've been listening to Debussy's Chamber Works and some Takemitsu on my system and though slightly lean in the midbass, the Tune allows the soundstage to project forward and hang in the listening space so that I do get a sense that there are people involved in the making of the music. Also the scaling of the ensemble is pretty good.

Sonic is getting more aware of the limitations of the Magneplanars (see my last post). A bit troubling.

Michael, will wings help build the efficiency of the MG1.5QRs? For Zonees who may not be familiar with wings, these wings are wooden panels bolted to the edges of Magneplanars (or any planar speaker) to increase its baffle area and lessen any premature mixing of the front and rear waves. Typically for a 6 foot Magnaplanar, the wings are anything between 12" to 18" either side.

Also how can I use 2 Aeroplanes behind my Magneplanars to build the pressure zone behind them. I certainly need some pressure building -- when I fold the Shutters behind the MG1.5QRs flat, the dimensionality in the soundstage behind the speakers and the beyond the wall width reduces a lot, the soundstage goes hazy and artificial .

Sonic

Hi Michael and fellow Zonees

Sonic tried this and it works great -- more presence and projection on the sound images, better air but without any exaggerated echo.







I've mounted two Shutters on each side of the Bookcase Wall at ear level, and angled them out by about 45 degrees and I got a more stable soundfield front to back. When this pix was taken there was a third Shutter at the top but I soon took it down because it did things that I didn;t think were right with the impression of height.

Sonic

Hi Sonic

Shutters and AeroPlanes are in the same family. They direct and shape the sound as well as add support to the waves that vibrate them. Because you have found many of the key pressure areas of your room you may not use the Shutters and Planes in a typical setup. You will probably use them like gates opening and closing areas around the room that hold pockets of pressure. You can find those pockets by getting your eyes and ears to work together as you move the Planes around the room. You went through this when you shaped the sound along the walls with the Shutters so imagine the same thing happening in the open spaces of the room with the floor being the connection point instead of the walls.

The thing that I like is, you are now using the parts and pieces of the room and have realized how everything in the room is part of the equation.

Wings on the speakers themselves have a good and possibly negative effect depending on how revealing the room's acoustics are.

Hi Michael and fellow Zonees

Sonic took Michael's advice and started to tune with ears and eyes, to see what more could be done in my room.

I felt uncomfortable with the Shutters on the floor -- actually never quite liked them there where I often tripped over them. But they did work, which is why i kept them there.

Using Michael's idea to invert the sides of the room mentally, I transferred the two floor Shutters up to a spot just ahead of the Magneplanars:







I had tried this when I first got the Shutters and it didn't work but now it does and it is good At first, Sonic had them pointing forward but over the next few days played with the angling and arrived at the setting you see here.

I also expereimented with the angling of the other sidewall Shutters but eventually kept them as they were. The sound is improved with more detachment of images from the physical panels.

Sonic then "meditated" on the mentally inverted room...to image spots for Aeroplanes. Nope, my eyes/ears don't feel there is place where Aeroplanes behind the speaker panels could be beneficial.

But Sonic is a Tune novice -- so Michael do you agree or feel there are spots I could employ Aeroplanes to increase the pressure behind the Magneplanars?

Could you also elaborate on what you meant that Wings can have a good or negative effect --like briefly describe what the "good" and what the "negative" effects could be?

Sonic

Full length wings can make the speaker sound sluggish even fat if they are not tightened down tight to the frame. The panels can get a horn honk sound. On the other hand I have made some that are about the size of a 23" shutter and placed them so that the wings were centered with the height of the ear and the results were pretty nice. The panels were more dynamic and focused.

If you did do Aeroplanes, I bet they would not need to be much wider than 6" To 8". At your level of listening you want to start being careful not to add too much of a good thing.

Do you have command strips or a similar adhesive product over there? If so put up a couple pieces of finished Magic wood on your walls and tell me what you hear. I have been finishing off some excellent pieces of poplar lately that might sound really well on your walls. I might start recommending them to people who need to get a little more of that instrument sound in their rooms.

Hi Michael

Sonic tried what you suggested and got some fascinating results:

a. mounted two pieces of cherry-finished MW pieces (about 10" x 8" x 0.25") on the sidewalls near the front ceiling corners.

I was expecting more girth or something but what I got was slightly faster transients that defined instruments better particularly in the upper bass -- the range where celli and violas sound alike. The transient definition also helped harpsichords get more noise of the quills picking the wires. Bass weight wasn't changed. One way to describe the effect is that the musicians are now more sure of their parts and playing or singing with conviction. Very good.

b. tried the grey-finished MW pieces on the front and rear walls (two per wall). The effect was very small, I cannot even say I heard a difference for certain.

c. mounted another two cherry-finished MW pieces (about the same size as a.) at the top of the sidewalls about 2/3s back in the room, over where the doors are. A little more of the effect of a. but not as noticeable.

Sonic learnt that cherry-finished MW at the top of the side walls have a beneficial effect.
Wood on the front and rear walls have a much smaller effect on the sound.

What does this tell you and what should I try next?

Certainly wood pieces in the room do have an effect. I am starting to think that anything in the room will have an effect on the sound, just a matter of degree.

But I don't want to take this line of thinking to its logical conclusion like the Shun Mook people who cover their floors in wood squares, bring musical instruments like violins, acoustic basses, celli, violas and even a clarinet (made of ebony you see).

Also Michael, any views on my PM about the mini-wings for my Magneplanars? I think this could do wonders for my system.

Sonic

Hi fellow Zonees

Michael is so right about what wood can do in a room. After I started getting good results with finished MW in the room, Sonic decided to extend the idea further and see what happens.

Here is what I did with the MW at the upper walls (see my last post) -- this is the RH side of the room, the LH side has coresponding wood peices:



This is what Sonic just did on the lower wall, just next to the speakers and also on the doors.



Now conventional audio thinking will say this should never work because the area of the MW is small compared to the area of the walls but it made a big difference.

Marni Nixon's voice on her Reference Recordings CD of Kern songs sounded right for the first time where her head, throat and chest tones were integrated into a person. I could also hear differences in recording between tracks -- like on some tracks her voice is super clear and natural while on others, it is slightly veiled.

Sonic got the idea of putting MW on the doors because when the wood on the walls dilineated the ambience, I could hear the soundstage was weaker round the doors. Once the MW went on the doors, the soundstage/ambient field came into focus and I could hear the string sections of an orchestra tapering through the walls. And the soundfield became a circle rather than a figure 8, where the incurving sections are at the doors.

The Harmonia Mundi recording of F Couperin's Royal Concerts was beautiful with flutes and the strings nicely placed and larger than the room. On Kenneth Gilbert's recording of J S Bach's Inventions (Archiv), the harpsichord was large (may be too large) but I could hear occasional infra-bass signals -- could be traffic of something. Deep pressure bass below the point of audibility. Really good.

This is the best my system has ever sounded. Thank you Michael for suggesting the MW on the wall.

It has opened another door to a whole world of things the Tune can do. Sonic most thrilled.

Sonic is looking forward to investigating MW wings on the speakers. Comments, Michael?

Sonic

Hi Sonic

One of the tricks that I do in tuning that I don't believe any one else does is everything I make I make full range. Other companies have wall products but they focus on groups of frequencies instead of musical notes and their harmonics. Big difference in my book.

I've been looking into the wood for your wings. The key for me is to be able to find the pieces that will hold up to the drying without warping. 4" seems to be the most stable in this regard and should be big enough to not over power the energy coming from the speaker.

Hi Michael and fellow Zonees

Sonic is very happy with my system listening over this weekend after using the MW pieces on the walls and doors. They work. I also learnt that after a point, the use of more MW starts to give the sound a bit of mid-bass bloat and the volume and soundstage begins to feel restricted.

I am not surprised that Michael is recommending wings 4 inches wide. A thing Sonic has learnt about the Tune is "less is more". I been bringing up the idea of wings + Magneplanars because not too long ago I listened to a pair of "winged" Maggies -- one of the bigger models. And this audiophile built them out of 1/2 thick plywood and 14 inches wide. I know one who tried 18 inch wings (only on one edge). Those became seriously big pieces of wood on each side of the panels. I think the owner was modelling them after the big Altec Voice of the Theater with their bass reinforcement wings -- those where 2" thick, very wide hardwood panels that bolted onto each side of the Altect bass cabinets.

The result with the Magneplanars was a different sound. In my most recent exposure to 18 inch wings the sound was odd -- the images were attracted to the panels and around the wings, the soundstage became patchy, deep in the centre but flat at the speaker positions but gave good outside speaker images. There was more output in the 70 to 120 hz range to the point of being muddy with a suckout in the mids around 1 khz. The wings should not have effect on the treble and they didn't.

Up till now, Sonic has been sceptical about wings for Maggies. On the surface, they are a good idea -- as the function to keep the front and backwaves separate longer and after I got into the Tune, I can see they are working to strengthen the pressure zones behind the panel speakers but the results in practice have not been convincing.

But with MW and 4" wings from Michael, we might get somewhere.

Sonic

Oh yes, forgot to say -- conventional thinking among Magneplanar fans is that the wings are the full height of the speaker -- so for a 6 ft tall MG 3.6R, the wings are that tall, anything between 12 to 18 inches wide and an inch or so thick. They end up seriously large pieces of wood on both sides of the panels.

The wings that Michael and Sonic are discussing are only 26" by 4" (dunno how thick Michael will make them but it won't be 2" thick I am sure). So these are more like winglets than wings. The Tune -- less is a lot more!

Sonic

Hi fellow Zonees

Sonic had another one of those "what if" moments. What if I tried MW on the blades of the ceiling fan? An indication that tuning is needed -- when I tap the blades they vibrate and give a metallic twang-g-g sound.

So Sonic stuck a square of gunmetal gray MW on each blade near the tips. The sound was affected. The images of the soundstage was more locked in place but the tonal characteristic was where some big changes were. The system became mid-bass forward. Pace and articulation was good but the bass seemed to be separated from the rest of the music. If anyone heard the mid-bass of the Linn Isobarik DMS and the Spendor BC-1, this is the sort of thing I got. Not unpleasant but a different tone from what I am used to. But the ambience around the listening chair and to the rear of the room was lessened. So no go.

Was I imagining things? But if Sonic was dreaming, this is the last sort of sound I would have dreamt up.

Shall I try other types of wood on the fan? Think I shall. Sonic got lots of MW blocks around though no more treated 1/4", 1/8" and 1/16" pieces left.

Any other Zonees had experiences with tuning a ceiling fan?

Michael, any comments and suggestions?

Sonic

Hi fellow Zonees

Through this week Sonic has been getting to grips with the effect of MW pieces in the room. Odd for sure, the area of the wood pieces are negligible compared to the surface area of the walls/ceiling and floor, yet they have an audible effect.

Too much MW and the sound gets over warm, leaden and the soundstage width and behind the listening chair is reduced.

So to get the sparkle and all-round soundfield Sonic is looking for, I took down the big MW pieces at the top of the ceiling front and rear.

Now the doors have 2 two gunmetal finished MW pieces per side. There is a small MW square between the the side wall shutters on both sidewalls.

Very pleasant this is getting to be.

I also tried 3 balsa wood pieces (cherry stained) on each blade of the ceiling fan. This is starting to work. Sonic is getting a nice forward imaged sound that is engaging.

Sonic also had the experience of hearing 2 systems that created good learnings -- a set up with WATTs (no subwoofer reinforcement!) and the use of an graphic equaliser (Sound Effect Amplifier -- S.E.A. -- in Japanese audiofan speak) in a system with a pair of old B&Ws.

Sonic will elaborate shortly after digesting the effects.

Sonic

Hi fellow Zonees

Michael's advice is often related to the stage our Tune is at. Often we may try something he recommends and find it doesn't work only to discover it really gives musick when we have reached another point in our Tuning.

For instance, Sonic has been a little critical about the use of stained balsa. But these couple of days I am introducing more balso into my room (especially after using some pieces on the fan baldes). Balsa gives an open sweet sound, somewhere between the old MW and brazilian pine. I'll be trying them on the doors instead of the gunmetal MW pieces which can thicken the sound somewhat.

I am also going back to trying thin MW slivers on the shelves carrying the CD player and the preamp, under the hex nuts. Sonic has no more MW in the closet but a fair bit of balsa. So we got an adventure ahead maybe?

Sonic

Hi friends at the Zones

This has been a fruitful weekend for Tuning. Sonic found that the doors on either side of my listening room are points where musick and soundstage leak out and weaken the soundfield in the room.

It seems that I can even hear the effect of the the two very different volumes behind the doors -- reason why some Zonees/Tunees hint that they also apply some tuning to the volumes beyond their immediate room.

Sonic now has four pieces of stained balsa on each pair of walls and I've added an extra piece per pair of doors so that makes 5 pieces per pair of doors. As a result Sonic got much better image specificity and impact. I am also noticing the difference in recorded level and dynamics between CDs -- while for sure I can listen to everything at my usual 10 o'clock preamp setting, for best realism, I find that I need to vary the listening level/setting more and not always louder. As in my post yesterday, there is only one finished MW piece on each side wall, all the larger pieces you see in the recent pix have come down and will be used for something else Sonic is planning.

So, Michael's suggestion on using treated wood on the walls is a something significant. Only in my room, the MW pieces that are gunmetal stained didn't give the best results, they sounded "thick"....

I also heard one of the first Magneplanar 1.7s in Singapore. This set up was driven by a big amp rated and the first couple of minutes was eye popping (I made sure this audiophile didn't turn the wick up to ear-popping levels as he normally does). First impression -- incredibly detailed with a midrange snap that was very real. But after a few minutes, it was clear the speaker was not run in yet. The trebles were bright, so bright that the owner could not toe them in towards the listening chair as recommended in the Owner's Manual. The bass was still uneven -- a CD I played had a bass guitar figure repeated twice an octave apart and the upper figure was weak and barely audible, while the lower one was loud but lacked a substantial low end. It was the mids that was something else -- voices were real in some aspects and transients fast but soon the sounds became irritating, I found myself cringing ahead of snare drum strikes that I knew were coming. And the soundstage was very narrow. It could be the set up and polarity of the system too.

Is this a criticism? Mybe not -- another 50 to 100 hours might make a big difference. In fact Sonic may want to replace the Maggie 1.5QRs with the 1.7s if it weren't for the price here. In Singapore it is sold for something like a bit over US$3,000. For sure it could be shipping (cost of sending things over to this country is crazy given all sort of charges -- ever ordered stuff in from Michael?) or it could be something to do with the importers but though the speakers are potentially excellent and a steal at the advertised price of US$1,995, at US$3,000 they are fighting in another league where, though they hold their own, there starts to be better value for money.

Sonic's system has now reached some sort of a plateau. This is partly due to my being out of wood and things to tune with. But it is also because the sound has reached a point where I am deriving more satisfaction and less inclined to think about ways of improving the tune. Not that the system is perfect. I know the next step up is to make a significant change in speakers to something tuneable, maybe a tuneable sub, PZCs in the corners or platforms. It will be large steps for sure. At the same time, Sonic is in contact with some in the back-to-analog movement fans and there is a siren-call of reel decks and tapes somewhere in the distance. Exciting.

Sonic

Hi friends at the Zone!

Sonic is now trying out plywood wings onmy Magneplanar 1.5QRs. Size: 26" x 5" x 0.25" in four pieces.

The subjective volume has increased and thought I am getting a slightly narrower soundstage, Sonic is getting a much more transaprent and detailed soundstage. To lessen the reduction in the R-L width, Sonic has folded the Shutters mounted ahead of the Maggies to be parallel to the walls so the wings are to build up the pressure behind the panels and ahead of the front of the panels. The MWs will be wonderful.

Sonic may need a Musical Fidelity v-dac and I have prepared a miniclamp rack for the v-dac and I got some other ideas to make it a big generator of music when i get into tuning the sysrtem even more.

Sonic

Hi Michael and fellow Zonees

Sonic has had a new learning experience of the Tune that proves a lot of what Michael has been saying about the power of pressure znes and how everything affect everything else. This is what happened:

After the Wings went on the Maggies the sound got more detailed and after a day or so the soundstage width became pretty good. But it didn't stop there. Over the next few days, as the system settled, a bass heaviness crept in and a upper mid peak developed. At first, I felt it was good girth and great midrange detail but over the weekend, it all went overboard. Orchestral basses started to detach from the main body of the music and when I heard an old favourite -- Quincy Jones' Smackwater Jack -- it was a recording I could hardly recognise. Sounded like it was badly remixed by an amateur - thudding kickdrums that rattled round my head, basses that filled the room with a low frequency "whoomp", upper bass honking and an electronic sounding top end. At my normal preamp setting, it sounded I had added 3 more steps on the volume pot. I started to cringe ahead of loud passages and transients. There was a constant pressure on my eardrums any time music was playing even if it was recorder music.

It sounded to me that the pressure zones were now out of tune. I brought out my measuring kit and ran a frequency check with 1/3 octave pink noise. Sure enough...there was a 6 dB peak above reference at 50 hz that was not there before (on all my previous tests, within error limits of my test methodology, there is a small rise around 40 to 60 hz not higher than the reference 1 kHz tone).

Sonic realised that other tunees had experienced this before and I wondered if I wanted to take the effort to retune the room and fix this. I thought the better of it. There are other things I want to do with the system and to enjoy musick with.

So I took the Wings down, removed the pieces of MW that I had installed after the wings went up, played a CD and left the room.

An hour later, the sound was back to normal normal. I could breathe again.

Sonic

Hi fellow Zonees

Sonic is going through a reset of the system....the "wings" are gone and I have moved back to the last point in my tuning notes that indicated the bigness, girth and balance that Sonic is looking for. This point of balance seems to be after Michael recommended I try putting up finished MW (he is right, they make a noticeable difference) on the walls but before I started placing them on the doors.

The Tune is coming back but for sure settling is required so we'll knowif a recovery has been made in a few days time. Sonic is in contact with listeners who are in the analog revival. LPs and reel tapes, to lesser extent, are coming back. This is wonderful. But for Sonic, LPs may be too fiddlely, and playing time too short before I have to go to the next side but reel tapes are drawing me in....there is the Tape Project...and there are tapes about. But the machines are expensive. I heard an Ampex with 15 ips tapes and the sound was stunning. Better than Red Book CDs? Yes by far. Better than SACDs? Actually, in Sonic view perhaps by an equally large margin but in a different direction. SACDs have more apparent dynamic range and transparency and detail but something is odd in the treble. The excuse I heard from SACD owners is "it has not run in". Maybe so, but it is sure taking a long time.

Sonic been listening to Lester Young's "Laughing to Keep from Crying" (Verve) and the musick is nice again.

Sonic

Hi fellow Zonees

Sonic is getting the system back to normal and maybe a bit ahead in terms of musick reproduction. This pic explains some:







There are no more gunmetal MW pieces on the doors. Those pieces may work well as intended as part of Cable Grounds but on the doors they give a thick, heavy sound. To be fair they were not intended by Michael to be used in this application.

So it is brass washers on the doors again with no wood and the Shutters ahead of speakers are back in place and set at 90 degrees.

The plywood "wings" are removed from the speakers but Sonic is not going to give up so soon.

But the room is sounding nice again with girth but a bass that is again nicely controlled. The soundstage lacks some height and the sense of loudness is lessened. But these can be tuned back in.

Sonic

So at this point do you have any of the wood on the walls, and where?

Good to hear from you Michael!

Have a look at the pictures in my post at the top of Page 20 -- the two pix show something close to what seems to be working now sans wings.

Sonic has two MW pieces (about 7" x 5" each) at the top of each side wall near the front corners, just back of the corner tunes. That's all on the walls -- the other pieces over the doors you see in the first pix have been taken down.

I have remounted 2 gunmetal gray MW pieces per pair of doors -- as in the second pix. I used to have two small pieces of MW in line with the speaker plane on each side (you can see one in the second pix) but Sonic has taken that down too.

The MW on the walls do something and in many ways are an improvement but too many and the room's dimension-related bass boom at about 45 hz gets emphasized along with the harmonics. So the subwoofer is very clean and flat down to 20hz but for this cluster of notes that go "whommm" when there are too many MW pieces around and really awful with the wings.

On the other hand the wings do give better focus and wholeness to images particularly in the midrange. But the sound can sound also hard and electronic with them too.

Also when Sonic first bolts on the wings, the sound is pretty good compared to no wings. But let it run in for a record or too and that thrumming bass thickness comes back.

I can probably live OK without the wings but they do some good to the system potentially.

What does this state of affairs tell you about Sonic's system and what can I do about it?

Sonic

Hi Sonic

What happens when the wood is introduced is the pressure zones in the room are reacting to the burning in of the wood. This is why there is a movement toward the low frequencies when the wood is breaking in around the rooms natural or created resonance responses. This is happening with the mid and upper ends too, but is more noticeable with the lower waves.

The finished pieces of wood will eventually even out top to bottom as the softer pulp inside of the wood vibrates more letting the balance happen between the softer part of the wood and harder surface. This is a trick that I learned when working on instruments and is a good lesson for us as listeners. Wood is never too "thin" to react "full range". When we think of wood it's good to be mindful that we are talking about a structure of cells that are vibrating and burning perhaps faster than some of the other materials being used in our systems. Wood definitely makes it tough when we want to do A/B testing because it is in motion and changes as it is stimulated. My goal in everything I make is to make it as full range as possible so that in the long run it can be used as part of the balancing act of musical harmonic structures.

For me I find it fascinating listening through the ears of others and love it when you and others post blow by blow descriptions of the sound as things are in movement. The more we learn about the materials and the musical movement process as we create sound in our room the more we feel comfortable when shaping the performance. Think about it, your listening to cellulose and lignin in action. These little pieces of wood are shaping huge and delicate pressure zones.

I'm thinking about making wood kits similar to what I use for my listening available to others. People like yourself will love it but I wonder if it will be confusing to some.

Very good reading Sonic. One thing I would say to always do when you are playing with the wood is to when you make a wood on wall change, be thinking about how it is changing the whole zone.

nice