Tuning My Musical Journey

Greetings Zonees

Some observations and thoughts from Sonic:

The Abbey Road Sun King Cricket Test – Rogers LS3/5As

Sonic ran the test on my own Roger’s LS3/5As – these are models dating from the late 1970s and are the earlier 15 ohm non-biwirable version.  They are powered by a 60W Japanese integrated amp with a DVD player from Sony.  Interconnect is Michael Green Picasso. Speaker cables are some stuff that is reputedly used in the Harbeth loudspeakers. The LS3/5A sit on 2 foot high Linn Kan stands.

The Rogers are about 4 feet apart, not toed in and are listened to nearfield.

The LS3/5As acquitted themselves very well with good resemblance to how the Harbeth HL-5 plus performed.  Just somewhat in miniature.

The frogs were clear and positioned at the inside edge of the RH speaker.  The crickets start about a foot outside the RH speaker and move in a straight line about 6 inches above the tops of the cabinets to fade off over and a little beyond the LH speaker. No huge atmospheric crickets which I only heard once briefly on my Magneplanars but could not repeat on them or anywhere again since.

The sound is very listenable with a musical ease about them. Voices being particularly natural. The bass is not accurate but bumped up to give the illusion of more extension than there really is. That bass hump was also craftily chosen to compensate for the aircon noise in the BBC outside broadcast vans where the LS3/5As were used.  While the Rogers LS3/5As are beautiful little things, we must face the fact that the BBC used them for speech monitoring not music. From what Sonic understands the 5 in the model number indicate speech monitoring for broadcast.  Sepakers with a 9 designation eg: LS3/9, LS5/9 could be used for music balancing and monitoring.    

Good show by the Rogers LS3/5As      

What this adds up to

Sonic will try the Test on a few more systems but it appears that there are some differences to how the Abbey Road Sun King Crickets play back on various systems.  However it appears that room acoustics is not a major determinant in how the Crickets reproduce and move now that I have heard them in what would be a quasi-tuned room (Sonic's) and in settings that include a room with lots of glass windows and a room that is over-furnished therefore too damped.

More thoughts

Sonic may be disappointed by the failures of recent Tune experiments but I have learnt:

a.     the only good thing the Ikea pine boards did in my room was give off a nice pine aroma.  They sounded “sour” and caused prominence in the midrange. However as I was resetting the system, Sonic tried the two Brazilian Pine boards mounted as I did the Ikea pine boards in the DT feet, in the same positions on top of the BookCase wall.

The Brazilian Pine boards in this application also did not release more bass and also added some emphasis to the midrange though not with the “sour” colouration of the Ikea pine. This is an unexpected result.

Is the pressure at the upper reaches of my room primarily midrange in tone?

b.    a full reset has restored the sound.

After this Sonic is now attempting to apply some new thinking to my system and room.  

Sonic

Greetings Zonees

A new thinking from Sonic!

I found this gem of a device:



This is the venerable JVC (Victor Company of Japan Ltd) SEA-10, a 5-band graphic equalizer with centre frequencies of 40/60 hz, 250 hz, 1 khz, 5 khz, 10/15 khz with the end frequencies selectable by push switches.

SEA is short for Sound Effect Amplifier – the Japanese term for equalizers.

The construction is lightweight and simple but a bit cramped inside the chassis.

Sonic wired it up between the Quicksilver preamp and the main amp using genuine Michael Green Picasso interconnects.  There are rubber feet under the SEA-10.  Sonic placed the JVC on a small Chinese rosewood table taken from another part of my dwelling.



Oh, the outcries! “Sonic you have ruined your system!  You have betrayed all you stood for!”

Wired up, found the better mains polarity and powered up. All sliders set to neutral.

Played my familiar baroque recorder sonatas.  

After three hours of music play of familiar CDs, I had a listen.  It was not bad.  The sound had a slightly internal muddiness, a small loss of width and depth, nothing worse this will with the tone control sliders at neutral. I think Sonic can tune this to sound decent  

This is the closest thing Sonic can get to tone controls without changing preamp or the whole amplifier system I use.

Looking at the circuit the JVC SEA-10, Sonic sees there is not an Op-Amp in sight.  This device employs inductors not gyrators.  Not that gyrators are in themselves are bad (gyrators are op-amp+capacitor+resistor active networks used in modern equalizers for more accuracy and repeatability) but they add complexity and unless you get to the state-of-the-art Klark Tecniks and pay the costs involved, cheap applications of gyrators are more likely to go wrong and sound bad.

Sonic will test for the right amount of cut and boost which will be small and I might assure Zonees not at all the available control frequencies. If there are any weaknesses in the Magneplanar MG1.5QRs they would be in the low bass and perhaps the mids.

Sonic found this SEA-10 to be in remarkably good condition, the slider pots had no noise, the wood casing was fresh and unscratched, the terminals clean     This JVC SEA-10 may be some 45 years old but it looks and feels new and at a giveaway price  

Years ago musick lovers used the tone controls in their hi-fi systems freely (even the Loudness switches) and SEAs like this were the mark of a sophisticated audio system.  I am told in the 70s every serious system had an equalizer.  Then somewhere in the late 1970s it all changed.  Tone controls were now sources of colouration and distortion, records had to be listened flat and so on. You didn’t even have balance controls either on a lot of preamps and amps. What tone controls there were had to now have a bypass switch.

Who started this madness? Sonic got a few names in mind -- some manufacturers, some golden-earned reviewers of that period. Sonic doesn't judge them or accuse them of evil conspiratorial agendas.  It is just that once an idea catches on as "novel" it takes on a momentum of its own and can take decades to reverse. I might do some research into this and post my findings on this thread or the Classic Audio thread in the Techno Zone forum.

Didn’t anyone realize that every LP and tape (now CD) recorded, made and mixed with different equipment and in different places are sure to sound different? That even our systems at flat are not flat.  Our rooms are not flat.  We have to tune our rooms and equipment and use sensible amounts of correction for recordings to sound their best.

Yes, and didn’t anyone realize how much equalization boost and cut is involved in the NAB, CCIR and RIAA recording and playback standards for tape and records? Far in excess of any room EQ and tone control for sure -- and where's the colouration and distortion?

Sonic is going to give this SEA-10 a run and see where it takes me.

Next you will see Sonic trying some of Michael’s Tuning methods on this interesting device  

Sonic

THE SEA-10 ADVENTURE – DAY 2

Sonic has now got the system with the JVC SEA-10 and the cables playing music for 24 hours. Sonic thinks the system is still settling to the change but at least everything is fully warmed up.

The “inner opacity” from SEA-10 is slight now less than on power-up but still a feature of the untuned SEA-10. Some tuning will start in a few hours and will be reported in Sonic’s Friday post

A Discrepancy Explained
I know that the late Harry Pearson and the Abso!ute Sound crew have used SPL meters to measure sound levels during concerts at Carnegie Hall and found orchestras rarely going much over 78dB even on crescendos. On the other hand, I got higher volumes when I measured our national orchestra playing large scale works when seated in Row H roughly the distance where Pearson’s measures were done. And on the biggest crescendo I got 105dB

And then listening to my system at 76 dB average is really not very loud, rather soft to the point that it is just “loud” background music, not a listening session. Sonic also been reading up on the early editions of the Abso!ute Sound (I have found these in the bins at record shops…what treasures are being disposed of!) and thinking of the comments may by Harry and his merrie band of reviewers of blowing fuses in loudspeakers, panels flapping, fears of disturbing neighbours and such, Sonic surmises the listening testers were playing back their records at much higher levels than I do. Finally after my hearing the volume my friend with the Focal loudspeakers played music, the came on.

The discrepancy in the observation is likely due to Pearson and co using dBA (frequency weighted for hearing sensitivity) and Sonic using dBC (unweighted). In the instances this was mentioned in the issues I read, no mention was made of which weighting was used.

When Sonic switched my SPL meter to measure dBA the reading of my playback level dropped into the high 60 dBs. Maybe this is the explanation.

Sonic

THE SEA-10 ADVENTURE -- DAY 3

Started some rudimentary tunes after applying a small boost at 40 hz, a slight cut at 250 hz and a tiny boost at 5 khz.

What Tunes did Sonic do

The time tested actions of Tune that Michael advises. Here they are:

a. Picasso RCA jacks (input and output) just pushed into their sockets to make contact and no more.

b. wood casing and the rubber feet removed, SEA-10 sits on genuine Michael Green MW with four matt Harmonic Springs under, tried three but the end with the single Harmonic Spring dipped and the device was out of level.

c. cracked all screws in the chassis and the circuit boards, removed all cable ties, opened all bundles of cables and let cables that were tucked round the chassis for neatness now "be free standing". The pix that Sonic will shortly post will show what this means but Zonees will know.

Sonic finds the initial result to be pleasant. The inner dullness I wrote about is much reduced and while it may slightly dull some recordings, on some others that are midrange forward, the system sounds spot on with a realistic midrange and a deeper bass

Now to let this device run in with the rest of the system. Sonic thinks this is the only time in its history that it is running free with all vibrations released. The sound may change progressively.

Sonic can now make small changes to LPs and CDs whenever necessary.

The only drawback of this Tuning Move in terms of Michael’s Tune Theory is the overall system complexity has increased. Yet what Sonic is doing is consistent with the discussion I had with Michael on this thread lamenting the loss of tone controls in audio systems.

And there are several more tunes Sonic can think of to make the SEA-10 better (I think). One of the most obvious is to use T1/T1 for the mains feed which I expect can address the slight transistor hardness from the unity gain amp. There are AAB1x1 cones and more loosening of the chassis. Of course Sonic had the soldering skills and sufficient T1 around, the whole unit could be rewired and the transformer tuned -- then who knows, this thing might give some mega buck equalisers a run for their money including one named after an orchestral string instrument that is lower than the Viola....and I not referring to Mr Green's new floor standing loudspeaker.

Sonic is still working on the setting of the Sound Effect Amplifier and learning what boosting or cutting one frequency does to the rest of the sound. This is educational for certain.

Sonic

If there's one thing that points to the decline in the high end audio hobby, it would be going discrete without a plan to replace the equalizer.

When that push began, there was no consideration given to the fact that 95% of the Stereophile/TAS audiophiles out there didn't know how to do a stereo setup, or even been taught the differences from one recording to the next.

The industry went from control to discrete separates without even thinking.

Regardless how your testing comes out using the some what limited EQ you have there, the post you have made is on point. It's such a common sense issue that I don't think the average audiophile male ego can handle the shock of admitting something so obvious.

The fact is, we must have something in our systems that allows us to adjust from one recording to the next. It's a fundamental rule in listening to recordings. We can get ok results listening to system signatures, but it's only a matter of time before we put a recording on and hear it sound horrible. I've never heard a system that was discrete play it all. No way, no how. And that's really the audiophile chase and I would even say some what of a deception. This hobby in reality shouldn't be so difficult, but we have made it into a monster. The average audiophile spends way too much time trying to make complicated equations work. That's probably that engineering mind getting in the way of practical for most.

So for myself, I'm happy to see the experiment. If I didn't have the tools and conditions to tune to my liking I would be the first in line for an EQ. I've seen EQ masters do miracles.

Think about it, at your finger-tips right now, you have a variable 5-way crossover to shape with. I'm not saying this particular EQ, cause I don't know, but with your room being such a challenge and with Maggies in there to boot, no doubt fighting the walls, an EQ approach might be a whole new ball game.

If there's one extra component I would make an exception for, it would be an equalizer in the hands of someone gifted in the art.

Also, something else I wanted to mention is, I would like to know how your EQ setting is different from CD vs vinyl.

If you start having fun with this, I would be very tempted to explore these components with you.

THE SEA-10 ADVENTURE – DAY 4

Another of settling and Sonic getting to understand the sound of my system and what Sound Effect Amplifier correction I should apply.  With CD it appears to be a Neutral setting for 15khz, 5khz, 1khz and 250 hz with the 40hz + 4db.  So this seems the equivalent of turning up the bass control and leaving everything else flat if I had tone controls  

Along the way I learned that small adjustments can make differences in to the sound that may not be apparent.  For instance, push the 10kHz up by 2 db and you get a bright sound, right? Yes but pushing up 10khz affects all way down to the upper bass making it lean and does things in the voice range that is an off projection    So with each adjustment of the sliders Sonic hears everything affecting everything else octaves away.

Sonic will be testing the SEA-10 with LPs but I haven’t been playing analog for about a week now since Singapore has been shrouded in haze blown in from Indonesia.  Unpleasant but much, much worse in places like Kalimantan.

I might get to play some LPs this weekend as we are expecting rain.

Back to the sound:    

Roscoe Holcomb is the traditional American folk artist of whom Bob Dylan said “Roscoe Holcomb has a certain untamed sense of control, which makes him one of the best.”

Eric Clapton called Holcomb “my favourite [country] musician.”  Smithsonian Folkways released this CD of his works:



Holcomb has a highly projected voice which was recorded in such a way and mastered on this CD that makes for hard listening.  Sonic could play portions of this CD to get inspiration for my folk music sessions but never could Sonic listen to it through.  The voice as presented on the CD is edgy, the guitars, violin and banjo have more string than body. Not pleasant – till I got the Sound Effect Amplifier.

With the JVC SEA-10 all Sonic did (from my new starting point of +4dB at 40hz with 250hz, 1khz, 5khz and 15khz  at Neutral) was to drop the 5khz by 2 db and Holcomb’s voice sounded like it came from a weather beaten mountain labourer of America. The instruments sounded real enough, for instance the low strings of the violin and banjo sounded like the low strings of these instruments like I hear them when performed.  It was like Sonic had a new recording in my collection.

Think about it….from a CD that audiophiles might say is “unlistenable” to something that I listened through for the first time and liked. I can also hear Holcomb’s foot taps and Sonic even can understand what he is saying in that accent of his (is it Kentucky or is it Appalachian?).  What then is the value of “Flat/Discrete Audio”  

Then there is this druggy album by David Crosby which sounds very good on LP but the CD is one poorly mastered thing.



Decent and extended bass but with a lifted midrange that makes it a little painful to listen to at anything more than the modest levels that Sonic uses for string quartets.  

With the same EQ setting applied as the Holcomb CD the Crosby disk is transformed, the bass was HUGE and with -2dB at 5khz the CD became listenable played loud and had a similar satisfying musical impact as the analog.  I could hear the interplay of the instruments and voices of Crosby, Graham Nash and Neil Young and co.  

Again what then is the value of “Flat/Discrete Audio”      

Sonic

THE SEA-10 ADVENTURE – DAY 5

Tonight is the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival where children parade with lanterns, a thing called “Moon Cakes” are consumed with tea (though over here there are those whom I know who substitute Chateauneuf du Pape for tea…) and there are nice ice cream Mooncakes.



It is a nice festival.

After more listening Sonic thinks that a base setting for the SEA-10 of +4dB at 40Hz and the other frequencies of 250hz, 1khz, 5khz and 15 khz at Neutral might be the right one for CD.

Then Sonic started playing LPs and some oddities I experienced!

With nothing changed except the inclusion of the SEA-10 and with this setting you might think I would get a warm big sound that is possibly too rounded off given the Sound Effect Amplifier setting am I right?  

Wrong! The midrange was projected and sounded harder, a bit irritating and edgy. True the bass went deeper and upper bass was fatter which is the logical expectation yet even with the too forward midrange record noise was reduced even more!

Presentation of details in LPs were unusual due to the projected midrange. Another oddity was Sonic had to increase the playback volume to get the treble/mids/bass to integrate as one sound.

Sonic needs to get to tuning.  So I started at a logical place -- pushed the RCA jacks of the Picasso T2 interconnects linking the phono stage to the preamp a touch further into the Preamp jacks and turning them slightly.

This more like it!

The hard projection is cut.  Things are getting right -- Sonic may have to check that all the RCA jacks in the system are just so, tuned a bit given now that the Sound Effect Amplifier is in circuit.  

Played this LP, got some good depth and chest tones from Dylan’s voice.



I'll have to hear more analog before Sonic can opine appropriately if the Turntable needs a different EQ from CD and in what direction.  

Sonic

Greetings Sonic,

How is the haze scene over at your place

I was reading through your report with the SEA-10 and Sonic mentioned something that intrigued me.

Sonic said :

"Sonic needs to get to tuning. So I started at a logical place -- pushed the RCA jacks of the Picasso T2 interconnects linking the phono stage to the preamp a touch further into the Preamp jacks and turning them slightly."

Can Sonic please describe what are the changes or impression of sound you get when placing your RCA jack slightly into the socket in comparison to pushing it more or fully in

I have read previously that Michael did mentioned to keep the RCA loose and not tightly secured into those socket. Unfortunately I do not have the liberty to do so as I am using a fully balanced system and the Ref 150 only accepts XLR's.

Regards

Tj

Hi tjbhuler

The haze was pretty bad through today but this evening it rained heavily so we got some relief. Thank God for this!

Now about your question:

When the RCA pin is just in the tiniest contact with the socket, Sonic finds the sound thin sounding and dimensionally flat. Artificial sounding. Then as the RCA plug goes further in the socket the sound gets fuller and girth develops. Images become more dimensional. But go more than this and the sound starts to close down.

Sonic has learnt to recognized the sound of a jack pin that is too far in or too far out. Turning the jack to my ears has less effect on the sound but it balances out the tension from the weight of the cable.

Also remember that any setting of the RCA jack other than fully seated has its dangers. If you have your RCA pin just in contact and if the jack should detach when your equipment is on, the resultant thump can damage your speakers. So awas here. My jacks always set just right then a bit more for safety.

Sonic

THE SEA-10 ADVENTURE – DAY 7

Sonic learned three, maybe four, things working with the Sound Effect Amplifier:

1. An EQ setting may take some time to settle. Even if the setting made is right, it may not sound 100% immediately! There is a CD of country folk that Sonic always felt could do with a dab more upper mids and treble but without tone controls there was nothing I could do about it.

Now Sonic got the power I moved the 5khz and 15khz up 2dB. At first play the sound was brittle and hi-fi bright, yet part of Sonic’s brain said it was right. A few tracks on and it was sound it was pretty good. At the end of the CD, I played Track 1 again -- and it was spot on! Then I played a few tracks again and the sound was great.

2. If a audio system has an elevated 5khz to 15 khz range, an “over-transparency” develops. The sound becomes TOO transparent and you know real music is never this transparent. This observation of “over-transparency” has been raised in relation to some American designed electrostatics – not the Sound Labs (so go figure who Sonic might be referring to) -- and certainly not the British Quads.

When this range is raised the bass changes too and it can tighten up and the emphasis of different notes being played changes.

3. Sonic has about got the SEA-10 setting for the Turntable yet. It is very close to the setting I arrived at with CD. Now CDs are more lean in the bass and crisper in the midrange and treble, while analog LPs are warmer in the bass and as extended subjectively although CD theoretically can have bass all the way flat to 1 hz.

The upper mids and treble of the LPs played on this system may be a touch soft like needing +0.5dB to +1dB or something like that at 3khz which is beyond the resolution of this Sound Effects Amplifier repeatably. When the phono RCA jacks were not set far enough into the sockets I had too much treble and upper mids so I know how this sounds. Sonic tuned the turntable sound by adjusting the RCA jacks but I got to be careful – playing with RCA jacks can lead to accidents as I cautioned in Sonic’s reply to honourable tunee tjbhuler!

Maybe Learning Nr. 4: Sonic played an LP of Violin concertos op.VII,3 op.VII,5 and op.X,6 by Jean-Marie Leclair (Jaap Schroder and Concerto Amsterdam, Telefunken).

The balance was perfect with all sliders (250hz, 1khz, 5khz, 15khz) at neutral and 40hz raised 4dB. So spot on in terms of tonality and soundstage balance was the ensemble playing the musick that Sonic asked if my setting described in 3. is actually perfect for LP and that CDs need a slightly different setting to sound like analog?

Meaning this setting of 250hz, 1khz, 5khz, 15khz at Neutral and 40hz +4dB is the correct baseline setting for LPs and that digital (CD and SACD) needed the 5khz and 10khz to have small -1dB cuts with 1khz and 250hz set to Neutral and 40hz boosted 4dB/3 dB?

Sonic will be testing this approach reversal.

Michael – your comments?

Sonic

Greetings Zonees

Sonic has noticed my system is getting more responsive to tune moves, even the smallish ones.

Also the with the SEA-10 setting as I am utilizing now, Sonic is surprised how big and deep the bass produced by the Magneplanar MG1.5QRs can be in this room And very deep certainly, so much so that yesterday after settling the sound got somewhat slow and plodding.

Then after musing a little, Sonic could hear the Tune Instinct tell me what to do -- change the angle of two Sound Shutters (from Michael Green) from flat against the front wall to 45 degrees. I went back to listen and within minutes Sonic heard that the plodding effect was gone, the pace of the music had picked yet without any loss of bass weight.

Also I had a couple of guests in my dwelling one of whom is a violinist. Played them some music of 15th century vocal musick. Their faces lit up when the CD played and one of them said to Sonic, "this sounds so good and you got surround sound in here!"

She was even more amazed when I pointed out that the envelop of sound we were listening to was produced by just two loudspeakers

Now this is a validation of what Michael and his products have done. Sonic means I hear this sound nearly every day. Here are musically literate people who are not audiophiles coming in to listen to my system without any expectations and they describe the sound this way

Sonic

THE SEA-10 ADVENTURE – DAY 10

In my post of 24 September Sonic discussed Harry Pearson’s measurement of orchestra playing levels in a concert hall and discovery that the average level observed on his sound level meter was around 76 dB with peaks at most 90 dB but I pointed out that HP did not say if this was “A weighting” or “C weighting”.

Which weighting used was not specified in the issues of The Abso!ute Sound that I read but since then Sonic since chanced upon Pearson’s review of the Beveridge electrostatic loudspeakers in Issue 11, Winter 1978 reproduced in the magazines April/May 2003 issue.

Here he said that the orchestra he was listening to was sounding loud playing at 75dBA and the peaks observed in loud musical works rarely measured over 90dBA.  HP also mentioned that this was true with both A weighting and C weighting.  I find this strange as Sonic finds a fairly large difference between what I measure using A weighting and C weighting – for instance the I measured the sound of a bus passing close to me and read 78 dBA but some 7 dB more in C weighting but that is dependent on  frequency spectrum of the sound being measured.  Too he was using an Ivie 10 and Sonic a Radio Shack meter which is not the most precise of tools.

So that answers my finding Sonic’s system sounds rather quiet at 75 dBC.  It is really a tad under 70 dBA.

Now more of Sonic’s adventures with the Sound Effect Amplifier from JVC, Victor Company of Japan.

Here are pix of the SEA-10 tuned:

This is the innards of the Sound Effects Amplifier of where Sonic got as many cables I could loosened up.



Here is are three views of the SEA-10 where it is placed on MW and four matt Harmonic Springs:



Sonic may try the SEA-10 without the Chinese rosewood table but place it on Low Tone Redwood blocks in some arrangement. Sonic had tried using the genuine Michael Green hand-wound soft Harmonic Springs (x4) but the sound was too rounded.

There is a possibility that a switch to AAB1x1 cones resting on MW thins, a solid cone front and two shallow bell cones at the rear or the other way round may be beneficial but the sound is already so good that unless a Tune is a big stride ahead Sonic just drifts away to the musick at the end of a working day.

A big stride I know that will work is to change the power feed cable to T1 so that is coming next. Sonic also knows what to do with the rest of my stash of T1.  

One thing that Sonic is running into is what I experienced with my Paradigm x-30 crossover, monoblock amp and Janis W-1 subwoofer set up.  Sonic may be unused to this much bass from my system.  But while I might regard my present sound as bassy, Sonic tells myself that the amount of bass we think is right in a hifi system is often a matter of conditioning.  Sonic perseveres.

No comments from Mr Green  

Sonic

Sonic said

"Now Sonic got the power I moved the 5khz and 15khz up 2dB. At first play the sound was brittle and hi-fi bright, yet part of Sonic’s brain said it was right. A few tracks on and it was sound it was pretty good. At the end of the CD, I played Track 1 again -- and it was spot on! Then I played a few tracks again and the sound was great. "

mg

hope our fellow listeners out there in audiophileland are reading

This is one of the areas where audiophiles get confused with the use of EQ's. EQ's are like any other component, part or piece, there's always going to be settling. In the past we have seen the typical A/B testing done with discrete vs EQed signal using the By-pass button on a pre component and usually the listeners jump to the conclusion that discrete is better than the varied settings. What they fail to do though in these tests are taking into account the harmonic alignment that needs to take place whenever the signal is run through different parts.

Now, you talk with a "discrete only" person and they start to roll their eyes and make jestures of technical superiority without ever taking the time to go past these settling necessities, in order to make true and fair judgements. It's something that has always made me realize how far behind the curve the audiophile hobbyist and even designers are in the reproduction of music. Signal technoloy itself is bigger than the parts passing that signal. Yet this hobby has managed to turn this thought backward and turned a system of constant moving parts & signal into a series of non-moving boxes put in line, hoping that the signal will somehow comply or conform. Never going to happen and has never happened previously.

it comes down to this

This hobby has a very hard time with the idea of a signal being "flow" generated and produced vs a "fixed" math equation. Audio math is different from fixed equations used for snap shot measuring or "point" theories. This is what "should" happen according to fixed thinking is completely different from this is what "is" happening.  Anytime we engage in something that is practical application and don't add the varying flow into the equation we put ourselves in the un-moving audio box, and to put it simply "this is not what audio is". Audio is all about a flowing variable. Nice to see Sonic show this in practicle terms.

it's good to see

It's all about a hobby of variables, and as much as high end audio has tried to paint a plug & play "fixed" picture of recording playback, it's simply not what this technology is about. There is nothing about this hobby that is not in motion and when high end audio took the adjustments out of the end user's hands they tied a failure sign around their neck and pretty much threw the high end audio hobbyist over board with discrete boat anchors chained to their ankles.

Again I want to state that there is nothing wrong with the components themselves necessarily. What's wrong is they are not a final product. The final product of this hobby is a method of tuning, not a component. That method of tuning is all about adjustable products that allow the listener to be a part of the "activity" of listening.

I'm constantly surprised how the hobbyist has somehow not figured out the hobby they are participating in. We would think that a hobby about music would be deeping involved with the variables and would spend the time we have on the actual "event" of these variables as the fun part. High end audio however has missed this very big boat in the attempt to make themselves superior to the common listener. Hopefully Sonic's adventure will bring reality more into focus

THE SEA-10 ADVENTURE – DAY 12

T1 wiring for the mains installed for the SEA-10:



The sound became more relaxed after a few hours of music play but as I listened to familiar CDs Sonic was hearing the sound of the foam on the walls or at the least the effect of sound of some of it. This presented itself as an excessive warmth that darkened the upper bass and lower midrange which in turn made the sound les involving.

Sonic removed the lower pieces of foam from the front wall, the two pieces on either side of the central FS-PZC and FS-DRT cluster. See my earlier pictures of the front of Sonic’s room to show where these foam pieces were.

The effect came fast.  By the second CD being played after the removal of the foam, Sonic heard more life and impact in the zone that was earlier dulled.  However the sound now was thin, the dimensionality of the images between the speakers were reduced (less girth) and a banana soundstage was audible. A slight upshift in pitch occurred too.  By contrast, the images and sound around the speaker positions stood out thereby making the panels identifiable as sources of sound along with the reduction of a sense of curtain of sound across Sonic’s room.  

The foam had to go back.

But I could do some tuning to get more energy in the dulled frequency range!

Sonic can tune the sound with…(guess?).….genuine Michael Green Cable Grounds!

One tune principle from Mr Green is you get a warmer sound by supporting your speaker cables with fewer Cable Grounds along their length.  If a more forward and clearer sound is needed, then support your speaker cables along their length with more Cable Grounds.  Sonic added one more pair of Cable Grounds under my speaker cables and I have another pair ready if I need them.

Why does Sonic keep saying “Genuine Michael Green”?

Reason is there are many products out there that appear the same on the surface to items from MGA.  There are dozens of cable support products but they are designed to different ideas and none Sonic knows work the way Michael
s products work and respond the way they do.  So buyers should remember that only Michael’s products do what Michael says they do. Sonic can attest to this.  

The Sound Effect Amplifier setting is the same: neutral for 250hz, 1khz, 5khz and 15khz while the 40hz is raised 4dB.

The sound of my system is heading in a good direction again.

Sonic

THE SEA-10 ADVENTURE – DAY 13

Sonic experimented with the optimal Sound Effect Amplifier settings for CDs and SACDs. I cannot say Sonic found the right setting yet but the broadly applicable setting is very close (if not the same) as that for LPs – neutral 250hz, 1khz, 5 khz and 15khz with 40hz boosted +4dB.

With some CDs, the 5khz may be taken down by 1dB. For a couple of rarities, I need to bring this frequency up by +1dB. That’s how similar the EQs for LPs and CD/SACDs are. But one thing Sonic finds is that with LPs, I have not yet had the desire to change the sound by boosting or cutting any frequency bands with the SEA-10 from the default setting while with CD the mental push to change the sound by adjusting the SEA-10 from CD to CD occurs very often. So far any adjustments involved a +1dB or -1dB at 5khz and sometimes a +1 dB at 10khz or 15khz. The 250hz and 1khz needed no adjustment while the 40hz may end up with a slight reduction of boost by 1dB (to +3dB at 40hz) to get a tonally balanced sound.

More on this as I experiment with Tuning. Sonic thinks this is fun because now I have more power, if not The Power!

Sonic

THE SEA-10 ADVENTURE – DAY 15

With the T1 power cord and the three Cable Grounds per channel speaker cable, Sonic been listening a lot plus learning the differences in recordings.

At the middle of this week before I launch into discussing the next tune, Sonic has been experimenting with the right feet to support the Sound Effect Amplifier. Up till now Sonic has been using matt Harmonic Springs x4 under the MW pieces supporting the SEA-10 which are musical but slightly on the too warm side. I had tried earlier soft hand wound Harmonic Springs (x4) from Michael but found the sound far away too warm and thick. True it is I also tried three Harmonic Springs (Mr Green’s rule of 3s and 4s – if your rack/support has four feet, the equipment could be better served with three supporting devices) but the leveling of the SEA-10 was off as it was sloping so I didn’t get to listen because from what I learnt from Michael is leveling of equipment is important for best transfer as part of the Tune Trilogy – the need for leveling ain’t magick. Sonic also briefly attempted using AAB1x1 cones x3 (shallow-bells and solid) spiked on MW thins. In this case the sound became more emphasizing the metallic range. Then Sonic tested the value of using three small Harmonic Feet resting on MW thins, two in front and one at the rear. This appears to sound very similar to the AAB1x1 cones yet the musick was not entirely right and there was a loss in perceived volume. Not a good combination of signs. Then Sonic had an idea – go back to 4 units of matt Harmonic Springs but this time place MW thins under them and atop the surface of the rosewood table. After all Michael said that MW drains vibrations fast so if the over-warmth is a blockage, the MW will clear it, thinks Sonic. This was done and the sound is better in that the warmth is dialed down and the volume level is back. This might be promising.

After what Sonic posted on rotelguy’s site about the difference in recordings, with this Tune, I am finding that the setting for the Sound Effect Amplifier is converging to be the same for both LPs and CD/SACDs which is a neutral setting for 250hz, 1khz, 5khz and 15khz with 40hz +4dB. This is the best setting for analog (LPs and 45s) that conform to RIAA equalisation. For the 100-plus 78s, SPs which are pre-RIAA recordings that Sonic owns especially the broad-grooves, I cannot play these on the Rega P5/RB700, Ortofon 2M Blue, tuned and re-tubed Pro-Ject Tube Box S combination. They are played on another system in my dwelling. CDs and SACDs are emerging with either the same setting as analog LPs or with the 5khz at -1dB. Any setting beyond this is to deliberately correct for recordings that may be too bassy, too trebly, too midrangey and there are lots of them especially inept transfer of analog records to digital and CDs. Now as Sonic has returned to 4 matt Harmonic Springs on MW thins this might be all round best for analog and digital then Sonic can use the flexibility of the Sound Effect Amplifier to correct for wayward recordings whatever format they be on.

The adventure with T1 continues – more in a couple of days.

Sonic

THE SEA-10 ADVENTURE – DAY 16

Overnight and a day on of musick play Sonic is discomfited by the sound after placing the MW thins under the matt Harmonic Springs supporting the Sound Effect Amplifier. The thing is that it is not bad but not right either, midrangey now with both analog and digital. It is a kind of “wood midrangey” as opposed to a "metallic midrangey". Everything becomes slightly artificial where Sonic knows I am more keenly listening to a reproduction rather than real people singing and playing real instruments. This is a Reproduction as opposed to a Reproduction of Reality. Good readers might think Sonic is playing with words but I am trying to deliver a subtle distinction here. So what Sonic did was to remove the MW thins under the matt Harmonic Springs supporting the SEA-10 and the phono playback sounded excellent again rather quickly. For CD I retuned all the RCAs from the player to the preamp (Michael Green T2 Picasso) where I discovered the RCAs plugs at the output of the Sony blu ray player were inserted rather too much into the jacks which might explain the cause for the thickened sound if Tunees recall my observation of the effect of depth of insertion of the RCA jack into the plug as Sonic wrote the fellow-tunee tjbhuler. Now the CD/SACD playback is sounding correct.

Sonic

THE SEA-10 ADVENTURE – DAY 17

TA-DA    Sonic has used up my last lengths of T1 wire from Michael Green by doing this:



With help of my soldering artisan, the mains wire feeding the Quicksilver preamplifier is now T1 as are the cables linking the circuit board to and from the potentiometer.  There is a big improvement in clarity, bass definition and overall relaxing of the sound was heard within an hour of power up.  The soundstage sounded less constrained by the dimensions of the room.

Why good readers might ask Sonic did not change the cables linking the transformers to the circuit board to T1 instead of leaving them twisted T2  



The reason is the transformers where originally wired with twisted cables.  Sonic have had to open up the transformers, de-solder and extend T1 all the way to the transformer taps.  Too big a job and there was not enough T1 at hand.

Now all that is left is a single 7 inch piece of T1 (black insulation). Sonic knows what I can do with it, that is to bypass the fuses in the Magneplanar MG1.5QRs but that might verge on the madly riskily suicidal  

On to musick    

Among the recordings Sonic played is this:



These are quirky pieces for solo piano by quirky composer Erik Satie. Thinks people that Sonic is quirky for liking this musick but I rather. The recorded piano sounds balanced in the sense that regardless if a high or low note is played, the sound is full as a real grand piano would with a representation of its dynamics too.  Often pianos sound clangy or hollow as the pitch rises.

Then a CD of Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Good tonal balance – bass extended, midrange natural and treble extended yet not bright. Good imaging beyond the outer edges of the Magneplanar MG1.5QR panels by 3 feet or more and the space between the speakers and the side wall sound like they are extension of the panels.  The motorcycle sound on Baby Driver and the ethereal choir of Only Living Boy in New York go far out beyond the edges of the MG1.5QRs. Excellent percussive bass too.  Not to mention that this is musically a work of art!  With the full frequency this album this is more enjoyable than before.  I like “So Long Frank Lloyd Wright”.  Here is some background to this curious song from wikipedia:

“Simon has stated that he wrote the song despite not knowing who Frank Lloyd Wright was.  The lyrics of So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright have multiple meanings. On one level, the song praises the famous architect, who died in 1959. However, the lyrics also refer to the upcoming breakup of the Simon and Garfunkel duo. Art Garfunkel had studied to become an architect, so on this level the lyrics can be taken as a farewell from Paul Simon to his friend and partner Garfunkel like another song on Bridge over Troubled Water, "The Only Living Boy in New York." While Garfunkel sings the song's fadeout to the words "so long," producer Roy Halee is heard on the recording calling out "So long already Artie!" Other lyrics of the song refer to the creative process, such as referring to the singer not having learned the tune and to the nights when the singer and Frank Lloyd Wright would "harmonize 'til dawn." The lyrics also refer to the singer thinking of Wright when looking for inspiration.”

Then this LP was played:



This is Heinrich Schutz’s Easter Oratorio – Historia der Auferstehung Jesu Christi (The Account of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ). Beautiful and uplifting music and an excellent recording on this 1968 Turnabout LP. This is an interesting composition and orchestration by Schutz in that the orchestra plays a very subdued role.  The voices singing lines from the New Testament predominate and the orchestra is very secondary unlike other oratorios of the Baroque era  like those of J S Bach.

Sonic

THE SEA-10 ADVENTURE – DAY 19

The thing to answer a questions Michael asked Sonic about what different SEA-10 settings I use for analog and for digital. They are the same – 250hz, 1khz, 5khz and 15khz at neutral and 40hz +4dB at the Sound Effect Amplifier but analog and digital require different tuning. What is Sonic talking about?

The bass now is big and deep and this might be just new excitement of lots of bass that is coherent from the MG1.5QRs in a way Sonic could not achieve properly with the Janis W-1 subwoofer system. The bass at times is “fluffy” and “sits” too much on the lowest notes but this reproduction has resemblance to what Sonic has heard in live music! Sonic may not rule away that in time the +4dB boost at 40dB may be reduced a little.

The thing Sonic needs to add that the settings for analog and digital are different and the way I compensate might surprise the minds of conventional audiophiles but probably not the great mind of Michael and the minds of fellow-Tunees.  This Equaliser setting and system set up it is just right for analog but with digital it can sound a little over warm so when I hear this over-warmth on CDs/SACDs Sonic adjusts not the settings at the Sound Effect Amplifier. Instead  I remove the two Low Tone Redwood blocks that sit on top of the main amplifier’s toroidal transformers and the system tone is back in balance.  

Michael – you must add your thoughts to this before people think Sonic has gone crazy!

Sonic is now listening to the orchestral Mussorgsky-Stokowski Pictures at an Exhibition - New Philharmonia Orch, Leopold Stokowski conducting (Decca London Phase 4 LP). Next up on the 'table will be J Haydn’s Piano Trios – Beaux Arts Trio (Philips LP).

Sonic

Crazy No, Brilliant Yes

It's all equalizing and listeners should take note that our hobby is "variable".

I could not be happier that Sonic is combining EQ by adjusting faders with EQ of the physical of vibratory fundamental forces. What I'm saying is physics is all inclusive.

Lets take a serious look here

I have to run out today in a little bit but I will be back to jump on this. In the meantime, lets take a look at the audio system and high end audio in particular.

If we were to look at audio we would see two things. The first view is what I call the "audio code". The audio code is the physics of what happens when the language of an audio signal meets the mechical (analog) process of passing that signal. The basics of practical application here is based on motion and placement of the path of that motion (motion being a continuum). An audio signal path conduit is everything that has influence as well as the passing of the audio language. In other words the "everything affects everything else" takes place when Language meets analog (movement). If we get our minds around this truth we can move on to the next chapter. If not we need to back up till we understand what the audio code actually is and picture how it works.

When the high end audio created the myth of discrete they put a death wish on this part of the hobby. The question is and always was "discrete what?"

let me show you guys something

In physics, discrete is a variable. There are two types, Discrete and Continuous Variables.

In statistics, a variable is an attribute that describes an entity such as a unit, place or a thing and the value that variable may vary from one entity to another. A value within a range. Let me repeat that "a value within a range".

There are two types of variables, quantitative and qualitative depending on whether the domain of the variable is numeric with normal arithmetic operations possible or not. Those quantitative variables are of two types: discrete variables and continuous variables.

What is a discrete variable?

If the quantitative variable can take only an at most countable number of values, then such data is called discrete data. In other words, the domain of the variable should be at most countable. An at most countable number is either finite or countable. Discrete variables are made of limits. A fixed performance height or bottom.

Discrete variables are often defined as counts.

What is a continuous variable?

The quantitative variable that can take all the possible values within a range is called continuous data. Therefore, the domain of a continuous variable is based on varying intervals of a continuum.

A continuous variable is defined as a measurement.

What is the difference between discrete variable and continuous variable?

• The domain of a discrete variable is at most countable, while the domain of a continuous variable consists of all the real values within a range.

• Usually discrete variables are defined as counts (values), but continuous variables are defined as varying measurements.

In the context of audio, we have values of discrete only as guidelines until the act of analog (movement by fundamental force) takes place, then our quantitative and qualitative take on a new form, "signal". Signal is a continuous variable made up of discrete unit values. These unit values are set to vibratory motion (oscillative) which makes the discrete units into continuous variables of measureable units in "action".

you see Sonic your not crazy

Your not crazy sonic cause there is no such thing as "discrete audio", only once again a group of reviewers more than likely hunting for words to use as a means to start a marketing buzz, based on another myth created by this hobby which wants to make it's own rules for some reason, I would guess ego.

This particular industry is based on so much "buzz" it has lost it's way in many doctrines. Instead of developing truths based on experience this hobby and industry developed an audio religion which is mostly guilt based. You can't have an equalizer, but you can have line conditioners, more transformers and chassis and inductors.

Fact is, loosing the Equalizer and not gaining the understanding of the audio trilogy in equal parts has kept this hobby in stand still for some 25 years or so.

Funny thing to me is, you have these guys saying equalizers are of the devil while they have more ins and outs on their components than an opperators swithboard. if the industry was as smart as they claim to be they would be building units that had only the "used" inputs and outputs per user. Saying you can't use an equalizer while selling you a product with 6 different inputs and telling you to run 8 transformers is goofy when you get down to it.

very cool reading you sonic

great pics

THE SEA-10 ADVENTURE – DAY 22/THE SPACE CONE ADVENTURE – DAY 1

The Sound Effect Amplifier has been integrated into Sonic’s listening and my system. The sound is fuller than before and Sonic is enjoying the bass extension. The easily noticeable veiling of the sound in stock condition has been mitigated by Tuning. MW and matt Harmonic Springs, cracking of screws, releasing tied down cables and letting cables stand loose, changing power cable to T1 and adjustment of interconnects together have reduced the veiling to the point that the drawbacks, now small, is offset by the bass extension and the flexibility I have to adjust recordings so they sound very good.

So here Sonic shall stop The SEA-10 Adventure and venture that the Equaliser, so derided by audiophiles, is now a welcome part of my system.

But as one tuning Adventure concludes, another begins

While the sound of the system has been drawing Sonic into more and more listening, plus sleep deprivation, I mediated on the Space Cones. Sonic has tried them many times and their effect was Zero or they emphasized the upper midrange of the sound creating a signature exactly as you would expect from a hard concrete room. Zingy, ringy, swimmy and all that

My notes (copiously kept by Sonic) show that all the failed attempts with Space Cones were on or around the amplifier’s toriodal transformers, on the CD player, on the Turntable, on the preamp where they performed poorly, on the Bookcase Walls where they had some small effect OR they were on the ceiling in the corners or the doors where they had some effect like marginally better clarity or emphasized mids.

Earlier, I might have said this product was Michael on a Bad Hair Day. Now I respect Mr Green’s design skills so there must be merit in what the Space Cones do. However, meditation is required as Sonic notices that no other Tunee appears to use Space Cones (or if they do, no one reports about them).

Meditation: what are Space Cones?

Enlightenment: I remember Michael saying somewhere they are collectors and radiators. Space Cones are to be used wherever vibrations take place (from the Space Cone advertisement). Then what they do is collect the vibrations round them, process them through the Audio Alloy material and their “amazing space age shape” (says Tuneland product page) and re-radiate them into the room.

Hmm…..muses Sonic – “If I approach the Space Cones this way…..then I got an idea that could make them work! Maybe the Space Cones have been doing what Michael said they should after all….let’s try something….. ”

More in a couple of days.

Sonic

THE SPACE CONE ADVENTURE – DAY 3

Here is the elaboration of the Space Cone reasoning following meditation from Sonic:

Sonic recently pointed out that I noticed more bass energy along the side walls of my room at ear level and closer to the floor and less as I get closer to the middle of the room where the sound down the middle long axis of the room is more midrangey. I asked Michael what to do about this and Mr Green he suggest that I re-direct the flow with Shutters and suchlike. Sonic also found the sound up on a ladder within two feet of the ceiling also tends to slightly shift up in pitch with little of the increase of the bass weight towards the side walls.

In my previous applications of Space Cones, Sonic recalls they have been mostly placed in applications around or towards the middle long axis of the room, or high up the room     Only the use of the Space Cones on the doors do not fit this pattern of application.

The result of Sonic’s meditation is that Michael’s Space Cones work as advertised and their failure in Sonic’s system is because they were placed them in places where they picked up and re-radiated the frequency ranges/energy I didn’t want         By being placed in spots along the middle long axis of the room meant they picked up the room's hard midrangey signature and re-radiate it.  Now this is not the fault of the Space Cones, they were doing their job.

So given that I hear more bass weight along and low down on the side walls, the logical thing would be to place Space Cones at the junction of the floor and the side walls to pick up this low frequency energy, process it through the Audio Alloy and re-radiate it through the space age shape of the Space Cones.  On the product page Michael also said the Cones could be paired with MW to give a deeper sound. This is therefore what Sonic did a couple of days ago!

Sonic has six Space Cones so I did this along with six pieces of MW squares (2.5 inch x 2.5 inch x 0.25 inch) on the floor along the side walls:

One Space Cone/MW combo in each front corner (there is always maximum pressure in any tricorner):



One Space Cones/MW combo on either side just behind the Magneplanar MG1.5QRs:



And one Space Cone/MW combo near the half-way length of the room where some amplitudes are at their highest:



Sonic played musick.  In an hour there was more weight in the upper bass and low end. Yet this is not a frequency amplitude effect as Sonic does not need to change the SEA-10 setting.  The musick was playing in the room not played by the speakers. Whether LP or CD, the sense was one of “power”.  The instruments have acoustic power, not some antiseptic hi-fi stuff but people playing instruments and singing with force and confidence as opposed to whispering and noodling if Zonees knows what Sonic is attempting to say. Thus far, there was no sign of the hard sound that Sonic has associates with Space Cones after three days which is longer than when it takes for that hard sound to be noticed.

Now Sonic has on several occasions proclaimed I got Space Cones working but was proven to be wrong after settling so Sonic should not proclaim but say that this is a mere start and that I will report as this adventure progresses.

Sonic