Michael's System

Hi Guys

Been busy with the show stuff https://tuneland.forumotion.com/t278-ces-2015-las-vegas

Probably will get back to normal in a few days.

WOW, did that 2 weeks just happen

Now that the show is over I've put back on



which I used during the CES.

Here's what I'm listening with.








Last night I got up, going oh no somethings wrong. It wasn't until I got to the hall before I realized it was the string harmonically resonating from the stand up bass body. I could actually hear and feel the enegy that was happening from the back of the string and the instrument wood in it's own space creating this wonderful vibration. I sat there and thought "man how many harmonics in the structure am I up to"?

I think this pair is now 2 weeks old. Oh my my my.

You think it's easy? It's not

You can never ever assume. Outside of room 1 is an open area and everytime I have someone over something changes slightly and I try to over look it until it slaps me in the face. Things have been sounding great until tonight when I put on



and staring me right in the ears was this odd inverted wave that was causing this weird shape happening in the slight left of center stage and just inside of both speakers. I was thinking, maybe I don't like this Cap as much as I thought I did (I'm at that stage of choosing Caps). I looked out in the hall and saw the speakers sitting there, but kept listening on like an idiot until I started to think about how much I use the hall and doors and other rooms in my listening. I listened on, getting the volume right and was sitting wondering when I was either going to change out caps or loosen the tweeters, or adjust the wall outlet, or....about a million things  then I finally got my butt up, walked out into the hall, move the speakers into the other room and came back in to listen  what  you've done it before . Sure enough everything came back and it made me think how much of a student I am  and how important it is to let my evironment be my teacher  instead of me acting like I'm the boss.

Can there ever be a better friend than our rooms? So many musical secrets sitting there waiting for us to catch on to, and many times we walk right by them cause we won't take the time to let our space speak to us. Our minds go off in all these different directions and reasonings and the answers are right there begging us, tempting us, to explore. If I wasn't me, I would have certainly blamed something else instead of walking out there and making that move. Then I sit there and listen to the recording all the way through, learning all over again that everything, and I mean everything, makes a difference.

The only way I'm ever going to know is to Do It:!:  Can't waste my listening years walking around it like it has to stay. The only thing that has to stay is my desire to let my music teach me. There is an answer, a combination, to every piece of music and my greatest joy as a listener is to let this music be my guide. Let this music open up my mind and learn to listen with a wisdom that goes past the rules.  The rules are man made, but the music is made to transend. The music is based on a moment that we can either be a part of by opening that door or merely listen with our minds and not our hearts.

Tonight, I started with my mind, but the music spoke and I obeyed with my heart.

happy listening my friends

How do you spell "happy man"

The last couple of days I've been so busy that I've let Hall and Oates play. I kept telling myself to get with it and change the music but something would come up and off I would go. This night though I made up my mind so I went in for one last quick listen, and could hardly believe my ears. The stage on this recording was completely wrapped around me and every movement small or big spoke with perfect precision.

The low strings on "lady rain" ripped through the room and right into my chest. Yes, I had to listen to the whole CD again start to finish.

One thing I must say to vinyl lovers. If you compare first passes many times the vinyl might win, but if you hit repeat on a maggie CD system that is settling well, vinyl hasn't a prayer. A CD will just keep get better and better and if a person doesn't mind the wait (I don't) there are things that will come out of the stage that transports you way inside the recording.

I still haven't put something else on, it's a musical monster in there.

As the hobby part of this goes on for me and with going deeper into free resonance I'm becoming much less of an instant coffee listener. I have far less DJ in me and more of the evolving recording experience. First passes are almost repulsive to me anymore. All of the edges stick out poking me. When I listen to vinyl now since it's not able to settle, it's like a plastic experience to me. The same involvement level I many years ago would compare CD's vs Vinyl has now reversed. Vinyl to me now sounds like parts and pieces whereas a well settled CD is a whole.

Hiend1 a while back talked about "Hell Freezes Over" in a way that hit the nail for me. Letting a recording grow to maturity is now what I enjoy about listening when it's me as a listener and not a designer. As a designer I always am on the look for the "What If's". When I hear someone talk in if's there's a part of me that wants to redesign the music world all over again. that's kind of what I have done with all the parts of the tune through the audio chain, still though in my mind I try to travel down as many different roads as possible to cover "that" sound. I'm not sure that will ever end for me, but when I'm in the private of my tunable world I'm simply at awe with the close to perfection of recordings. There really is much more on them than we play.

I don't think this hobby will ever become instant. There's too many parts involved in the chain to calm down and let the music do it's thing. My goal is to keep focused on what it takes and will take to make the chain happen with the least amount of stress possible. A system must be a musical instrument or it takes on a Hi Fi character that sticks out no matter how we shape it. I understand the constant plug and play, but it's not for me. I don't want to wakeup some day and realize I really don't love her. I need my love of the recording to be secure. I've got to at least once as I have said hear the recording at least get close to all the way before it enters my heart as something that will make me come back. The magic to this is (taste dependent) I find this with every recording I go the extra settling mile with.

This is not one of those recordings to use for voicing speaker designs , but I took a break from sanity and put on



Their use of effects was something I was in the mood for. Grungy, a little dark and a blend of fuzz mixed in with moments of clarity, like on "medicine hat" when the two drum beats hit in the middle of the static. I can't imagine the audiophile purist would understand this recording but in some weird way it reminds me of "mountain climbing" by mountain and the way they challenged the rugged rocks. This time around though it's a mixture of effect and compression.

Son Volt is not something for my regular diet, but when I'm in the mood, it's that bitter sweet taste that hits me right, at the time.

Where I had to struggle through Son Volt a little, Wilco "Summerteeth" hit almost every one of my Pop buttons. I swear at times I'm looking to see if the Fab 4 snuck into the studio.



Sometimes I admit, I wonder if the youger guys get it, then I hear a recording like Summerteeth and think "at least some of them do".

With this recording I sit here listening and think back to when I discovered pop/rock and what it meant to me growing up, and picture kids today listening to music like this with every bit of the same discovering excitement.

You know you read about how today's audiophile can't stomach the newer generation of music. They associate it with compression or distortion and I can't help to think "their nuts". "let the music figure itself out" I say. Music has always had a will to live and even if it takes weird turns now and then, it will find it's way home. This recording is proof.

I can picture a lot of high end audio systems that will never be able to play this recording, especially ones with metal tweeters and stuck electronics, but that's their fault. With a little tuning in the top end this CD is pretty darn nice.

Wow the Viola FS looks awesome

Thanks Drewster

great to see you

Today we're enjoying the heck out of



This is just what I needed to fine tune the highs with on the Viola Mini.



I'm burning in caps trying to decide the flavor I like the best. Also playing with tweeter plates.

Ok, my mind is made up.

Out Go The Stock Tweeter Plates.

When you see the final speaker pictures you will see something gone, the tweeter plates.

We have taken the D-27 to a place where if you saw it from any direction you would not recognize it. The back chamber, gone. The filler, gone. The plate foam, gone. And now the plates, gone.

What's left?

A speaker that doesn't know it's a speaker. It thinks it's a musical instrument.

Will there every be another "safety zone", no of course not, but listening to "I couldn't hear nobody pray" still brings me to that place the Fairfield Four and The Bind Boys often do.



This recording has some outsiders, but I didn't mind it as much as some do. I can understand why some are bothered by others joining the team but time marches on and if they never did they never would have. For me the songs rise above any disappointment others may have had. I don't look at it like one vs the other but one being an extention of the others.

Either way this is darn good

It's exciting watching people listening.

I've been having lots of fun of my own as well.



Hearts and bones (one of my all time favs) is moving front to back like someone has put me in the middle of a 3D video game

I would have to describe this staging as playful yet spot on the point. When something of impact hits I almost jump, or at least reach for my 3D goggles . quite entertaining

how can anyone not have tunable speakers





I can't imagine going from Hearts and Bones to Still Crazy without them.





look at that song list

Making that slight, I mean slight, adjustment between the three recordings I sat there and said how could someone go from Hearts and Bones to Negotiations to Still Crazy and listen to them with the speakers at one setting?

Each of these called out exactly how they wanted played. Is it me, am I weird to want to have a system that wants to play the music, or should I say "let the music play it"?

I'm sitting here with the Viola's at the stage they are (now with the MGA Tweeter mod) and I hardly know what to say. The new speakers more than ever are helping me understand why recordings sound different, and not different through the eyes of one system setting, but through the oscillations of timbre calling out to me. How could I possibly want to set the system up to sound one way after hearing this, after getting this close to the recordings? Even though I'm somewhat the father of variable tuning in stereo, have I been sitting still too long. Limiting myself through still being too close to "stock" audio? The separation between real and Hi Fi has widened for this listener. Sometimes I wonder if I can truly ever really return to the sound of a system?

Hello TuneLand Members,

The server is doing maintenance on the site. Some pictures may be down briefly. Pardon us for any interruptions.


thank you for your patience

MGA

Hi Guys

Spent all night reloading pictures . Hopefully I got them all. If you happen to be reading and see one missing please let me know

That my friends was 3 looooonnnnnngggggggg! days

You either get it, or your out of it

Timeless, relevant and rhythmically backward and forward, side to side, the Dan is it's own country, maybe continent, shoot maybe the Dan is a Mars moon. But one thing for sure, these guys have been and always will be in the groove.






This recording gets my "cool smooth award".

Now Playing



need I say more

"Sublime" is a very comfortable recording for me to relax with.



When I read the 2 reviews on Amazon, while hunting for the picture to post, I was surprised to find a 5 star rating and a 1 star. I personally thought telarc did a nice job of spreading the stage and put a solid foundation to the keys. The weight has an enjoyable touch with nothing that stops your mind from floating away into the piano clouds.

Hi Guys

If you want to see how your cymbal halos are doing, here is a recording that will help you hear the front to back 360 dispersion. Almost a tribute to Jorge Rossy, really.



highly recommended

Hi Guys

Got tuning going on all over the place

I love it when the Tunees, both on the forum and around the world get their groove on

While working behind the scenes, threw on some "James Gang" to keep me tappin the toes.

Will be up on TuneLand a little later tonight to get caught up.

have fun

David Byrne is nothing shy of genius

If your exposure is listening to the popular CD's and MTV videos back in the day, yes you do get a taste, but only a taste. To complete the picture of Talking Heads you need to watch "stop making sense". After you do David moves way up the charts and allows you to see why so many (such as Brain Eno) have wanted to do creative projects of the extreme kind.

One Transfer Away

If there is one thing I have learned over these many years of "doing" music, it is that every recording is completely different from the next, and all the info is waiting for me to uncover. It's not just a matter of finding the "absolutes" of a recording, but having the ability to shape the parameters.

How much is there?

Will we ever understand the amount of info that is on a recording?

While listening to "Stop Making Sense" I found myself wanting the investigate the lower sides of the notes. I was listening to the recording on top of the notes and exploring the edges of the detail, but something inside of me wanted to lower the timbre of everything and spread things out even further. For example during the clapping, I wanted to hear not just the smacking of the hands but the lower tone of the cupping as well. I also wanted to hear David's voice come from the chest instead of the head and throat, same with the girl's vocals.

My choices were, make the changes in the room, making the changes with the power/speaker/interconnect cables, or play with the blocks (oh those magical transfers). Being lazy, I went for the LTR Blocks . I went downstairs and picked out two super dried out Blocks, brought them into the room and took out the middle Block from the Reciever and replaced it with these two LTR Blocks, one in each of the 2 front corners. The change, as always , was as big as changing out an entire system (I love my simple systems). A little too dry at first, but after 10 or so minutes the spread of the stage started to happen along with that lower tone in the notes I was hunting for. Completely prepared to go for a full tune-up, I was so overwhelmed by the amount of change that I couldn't go any further. I had to stop and listen to this live recording/studio mix in this particular flavor.

Moving from the world of rights and wrongs to the adventure of an old recording becoming new, never fails to amaze me. I would describe this flavor as listening from the mid-range out with both ends in a sort of tube like roll-off. It's still reaching the extremes, but doing so with a cushion attached to them, like turning on a soft light, with the spot lights glowing in a smokey club. The hall sound dissipates the voices way outside of the room. The drums explode from the middle out as well and the hit on them is not the fast skin attack but more the hollow of the air after a deep stick hit. When David play's "psycho killer" it's all inner body of the acoustic with the richness of the strings to almost follow. Clearly not strings then body, but the other way around, till he gets to the last strum, and then the strings and body all play out together in this lush formation that trails as it harmonizes. The recording (in this setting) has tons of these full body moments. When I go into my other room and watch the video version I can see him making these motions and delivery, then sitting back in the listening room feeling the amount of warmth, I can justify this setting.

one more note

Hearing "burning down the house" like this is a trip

A simple transfer, that gives a major transformation.

You can go anywhere you wish to go

I couldn't help myself . Someone reel me back in

The mid-range was so good I had to see how things were going to go, so I lost my head and am playing



SNAP!

Against everything audiophile within me, I needed to visit the dance floor.

Trust me, this is not "I got the power".

As disco died "club music" was put on the spot to reinvent itself. Spacious effects laid ontop the fake drum beat got the young ready for the turn of the century. Underground clubs began the new era called "trance". The culture of trance was about stepping into the creation of future, now. Did everyone follow? Certainly not, but "Welcome To Tomorrow" paints the picture of change that we all, knowingly or not in someway became a part of. A future that can only visit the past. A step that once made, is never reversed. The breaking ground of the 21st century.

Oh and I forgot, ONE HUGE SOUNDSTAGE

After 4 days of "UP" I could have used another 4 days, but work calls and I've got to get back on track with my voicing.



talk about body