huber909's room

Hoping for some suggestions for my room - dimensions are approximate 15x15 - with a bit of a nook in SE corner where door entrance is located. Stereo will sit on cabinet in center of East wall with speakers located on either side sitting a out 12 inches out from wall - bookshelf sits partially behind right speaker. The room has windows covered by blinds on three of the four walls (2 windows on each wall). 

I have ordered the room kit and have a pretty good idea where to put the pillows but am open to any suggestions - will send picture but not sure how to attach to this post. Interested to hear what you think.

Hi Huber

Welcome to TuneLand.

If you have any problems posting pics, just send them to me mgtune@yahoo.com and I'll be happy to post them for you.

I'm looking forward to your tuning adventures. Hope you have a great time on Tuneland    

 

Huber909 room pictures

A musician "right on"   

Are those old school NS 10's I see? The memories are flooding in. O my lord have I ever listened to a lot of them in my life.


  

Yes NS-10's - originally thought they would fit perfectly in this room - they're studio speakers (two way) very mid range - I got a pair of three way monitor audios because I,m looking for clean fluid bass the Yamahas can't give me. Now using Yamahas for home theater (works pretty good).

McIntosh tube mx-110 is in the shop - I guess you probably noticed the 85 pound MC-2205 sitting on the bottom shelf. I know that adds a lot of mass to my system.

I'm trying to get away from the rack and place my amp and preamp on the black counter you see in the middle -'hopefully be able to bring my speakers forward - not sure about affecting bass (there are vents in the back of each speaker). I'd like to place platforms under each component on top of the black counter.

Monitor Audios are 4 Ohm speakers - they enjoy feeding on McIntosh solid state amps - that's why I got the big amp.

Upgraded my phono cartridge and reallized there is a whole world of sonic bliss I have yet to tap into (as much as my tiny room will allow).

Enjoying your forums - great reading - lots to learn - look forward to reading more.

Thanks,
Kurt

Not much good at playing the music but sure enjoy listening to it.

Greetings Huber909

Welcome to Tuneland!

Your room has a nice lived-in feel.

Perhaps start with the triangular Corner Tunes in the four upper 90 degree corners, and then the Echo Tunes across the remaining corners (seems there is another 90 degree one and a broader corner). Of course keep the reflective sides facing into the room. Try this and see what you hear before tackling the mid wall vertical seams, because the furniture may be moving about as you optimize the room and I won't be surprised that Michael might suggest the exit of some or all of the carpets after the pillow products are installed.

What's your turntable and cartridge? How has the cartridge been aligned?

Sonic

Thanks Sonic - this room is a great place to hide - I've got a MusicHall turntable that I'm very happy with - it came with a stock Ortofon cartridge - I upgraded to a mid-level Ortofon blue cartridge and immediately noticed the difference especially with my 45 rpm albums - Costello's "Get Happy" is what brought me back to vinyl.

I aligned the cartridge myself with protractor provided by MusicHall - first time I've ever done that - could probably be tweaked - have yet to run a test record

I agree about the corners - room is a little flat - moved rug in for less bounce off floor - seems to add more bass I like smooth bass and I love distinctive drum sounds and separated clear vocals.

There's definitely too much furniture but unfortunately this is also my office - so compromises must be made.

Thanks for your input - I've been reading a lot of your posts and am very interested in your opinions

Greetings again Huber909!

Sonic uses the Ortofon 2M Blue too in a Rega P5 and its seems like the best cartridge I ever used. When it is properly aligned, I found that the Blue has an absence of ticks and pops while giving the a treble bandwidth that analog is capable of. Great choice! No can do better at the price Sonic thinks.

The Music Hall is a pretty good table too (which is it?).

Advance a little at a time and you'll get great musick in that room. Understand your room doubles as your office, the tune just has to be done around that reality, and you'll nevertheless emerge with a much better room/equipment set up.

What sort of music do you listen most to?

Sonic

I have the mmf 5.1 - rega is my dream table - one day. I have the same thoughts about the ortofon cartridge.

I like jazz on vinyl but the new cartridge has changed my opinion about listening to more rock - just got a 45 rpm fleetwood Mac (first one with buckingham/ nicks) very pleased with McVie bass and fleetwood drums - stuff you normally can't hear distinctly.

My brother bought one of the rega integrated amps and is raving about it - have yet to hear it myself

Hello Huber909

When would you be getting your RoomTune pack? Once you get the CornerTunes and EchoTunes up things will start to happen and you start a journey of understanding your room and equipment and the interface with your ears. The good thing is the Tune starts with something very fix, get the ceiling/upright wall tri-corners covered with one of Mr Green’s products.

Once that is done, enjoy the assured improvement for a while then (if you are hooked) move forward another step.

Some thoughts from Sonic if I may:

a. you should align your cartridge with a protractor device that takes into account the distance of the stylus to the pivot. I use a Dr Feikert Protractor. Dennesen made a good one – the protractor should always have an outrigger arm that can be set to the vertical pivot of the tone arm. Otherwise just setting parallel cartridge to two points is not enough – you might still get large error geometries between and outside the two zero error point. Once you bring in the stylus to pivot (more properly the effective length of the arm) you control the error outside the zero points.

b. if you have modded your Music Hall TT to have an Acrylic Platter, compare it with the original (what material is it). According to the teachings of Michael, acrylic can cause a shift upwards in tone which is not desirable. At the tune, we look for a shift down in tone (or at most flat). Sonic is told that Delrin might be different as a platter material. I am considering the Groovetracer machined alloy inner platter and the Delrin for my Rega.

c. when you walk round your room and loudly say BOO! does the Boo dip in pitch or rise in pitch or stay the same pitch. At the Tune the Gold Standard is a shift down in pitch.

d. do you use a good stylus force gauge? I got a digital one. And I set my tracking for to 1.8 gms spot on.

e. loading for the 2M Blue is 47k ohms and anything between 150pF to 250 pF. The 2M Blue is relatively insensitive in this range.

f. don’t worry too much about the relative distance of your speaker port to the front wall. It is not that important in the absolute scheme of things. But Sonic would suggest you work to get your speakers out from the wall, at least 3 ft. You’ll get benefits in depth of image and a smoother low range.

g. do you play your TT with the plastic cover attached (either open or closed?). Perhaps you might detach the cover, remove it completely from your room and just cover the platter mat with a cardboard disc. Those acrylic covers can affect the sound for the worse. Much worse. Sonic has tried this over and over and the results have been the same….best without the cover.

Sonic

Thanks Sonic for the great tips - great article in latest Stereophile about the exact points you mentioned in section a - although it sounds like you could have written the article if you wanted to.

Have been wanting to purchase digital meter - now you've talked me into it - currently set at 1.8 but would like to verify more accurately.

Still waiting to get my preamp out of the shop (currently using Yamaha AV for phono) before I move forward.

I listened to Fleetwood Mac "Then Play On" last night - suggested listening (vinyl)

Thanks,
huber909

good to see you guys having fun

I'm as well looking forward to the "tunes" getting there so I can start playing with a few other things in the system.