Discovering Limitations in Our Systems

Doug wrote:
Last night though, for the first time ever, my beloved Mastons started to show their limitations.


I know the feeling and I have continued to experience this as my system matures and my tuning knowledge increases. Actually, this process never stops. You will continue to find limitations in everything even when you think things are perfect. Along will come that one recording or experience through which you will hear that something just does not sound as natural as it should as in real life. But, let me explain this.

I remember when I got my first expensive line conditioner for my system which was after my daughter graduated from college. I had actually been on a sabbatical from my audio system while she was in college due to the expense of getting her through. Her mother had passed away, so I had to do this by myself. Well, after her graduation, I started getting my system back in gear again. I went through speakers, interconnects, speaker cables, CDPs, transports, and DACs to find the Holy Grail in sound. And, I tried entire systems of resonance control. I would implement an entire manufacturer’s line of products such as the commercially made flotation devices, the commercially made sand boxes, cones, Navcom, Sorbothane, and other dampening products to find what worked and what didn’t. Well, I tried them all, fully implemented throughout my entire system and none of them worked and I knew it. I had acoustical traps in my listening room and all I got was bass boom and needed to use two subwoofers to get to try to get the bass I wanted. And, the soundstage always leaned to the right in the room.

Then, around 1997, I discovered a sale at Audio Advisor where they had Michael’s RoomTune floor standing panels on a warehouse close-out sale and I purchased them. I quickly went to PZCs which had not even been announced to the general marketplace yet. I also bought my first JustaRacks which is when I discovered the limitations of my components and all the other resonance control systems. Because of life circumstances, I was never able to afford a good rack prior to this, but now I had good racks and I could hear what my system was doing. Back around 1998, I got my first pair of tunable speakers – the prototypes for Michael’s Studio 5’s. Along with the 5’s, I then got a tunable SW 10 sub and Michael selected and modded some components for me by Monarchy Audio and I put in my order for my pair of Chameleons. Michael told me I should get his cables also, but based on the price of the Chameleons and how much cable manufacturers have gouged the market with their prices, I was honestly too afraid to ask Michael what his speaker cables cost. I could just see 4 digit figures just based on what I was hearing with his racks and his tunable speakers. One day though, I got brave enough to ask Chris (he manned Michael’s hotline) how much his speaker cable costs and he said $1.99 per foot (at that time). Well, I almost fell off my chair and almost dropped the phone. Based on what I heard, I bought enough speaker cable not only to do my audio system, but to also do my entire bedroom home theater. Below are pictures of these components. As you can see, all of these components are in dark cherry finish. Also, in my bedroom home theater, all my PZCs, front and surround speakers, and tunable sub are finished in custom dark cherry:

Monarchy Audio SE 100 Delux Mono Block Amps with Solid Cherry
Face Plates Designed by Michael


Monarchy Audio 10A Silver Preamp with Solid Cherry Face Plates Designed by Michael


Rear Channel Studio 5 in Home Theater Bedroom


Now things were beginning to happen sonically, I had PZCs and my front end was starting to come around. And, that’s when I started hearing the limitations. As your system opens up more, the more you will start to hear where the limitations are. I am emotionally attached to the Monarchy components and would not sell them. They are like works of art with those face plates. But, they eventually had to give way to Marantz MA-700 amps. Don’t misunderstand. These Monarchies really sound good; especially the preamp, but I could hear the limitations on certain recordings.

But, prior to this discovery, I discovered what negative effects line conditioners can have on a system’s sound. They (either series or parallel) will have a tendency to clip the harmonics around musical notes. A well known parallel line conditioner I used basically took the entire under-structure of harmonics right out of the bass region. Most systems would not even notice this with this parallel line conditioner. As a matter of fact, this particular conditioner got rave reviews from the audio press and is still on the market. Believe it or not, the line conditioner which I found sounds best was a $40, 10 outlet, all metal chassis industrial series line conditioner from Home Depot which I use in my home theater because I need that many outlets!

The point is you will continue to discover “limitations”. I remember when my Chameleons “became of age” and all of a sudden I started hearing what sounded like phase shift in my soundstage. Well, that’s exactly what it was. For the first time, in 15 years of listening in this same room, I had never heard this phenomenon before until the Chameleons pointed this out to me. The solution? Two Floor Standing PZCs facing each other, on opposite walls, about ⅓ of the distance from the front wall to the listening position. What was causing this phase shift were the walkways in and out of the room and I was just hearing it for the first time and it took the Chameleons two years before they had aged sufficiently to point this out to me.

So, as we continue to move forward with our tuning, we will discover new “limitations” along the way. That’s just the way it is. The more we learn and progress with our tuning, the more we realize that even more can be done. The tuning process is infinite. Where we stop is an individual choice and solely up to each of us. We all have our emotional ties to certain pieces of equipment we own, so I know he feeling, Doug. I’ve been there too, with many components and speakers.

(This post is in response to TuneLand member Doug's post here.)
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Jim Bookhard