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 My Low Mass tunable setup

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tjbhuler




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PostSubject: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeSun Dec 15, 2019 6:07 am

My Low Mass tunable setup Tjthread7

Hi there Michael and my fellow Tunees

It's been a long time since I have posted up here in TuneLand. So many things have creeped up since last year that I never realized it is already the end of 2019 lol!.

No matter how busy I am the tunes in me has never died, infact it has gotten much stronger than ever. After having lengthy conversations with Michael over the past 1 year on this hobby and ways for me to move forward I have finally moved myself to a low mass system. Now if you're wondering on how this current setup came about for me it's all about understanding the tunes.

My Low Mass tunable setup Tjthread2

As I started to dwell deeper into the tunes I started to realise what blockage in a system is all about. Initially Michael has been telling me that my system which consist of full loom of ARC's is holding up what im looking for. Well to be honest I was not so eager to look at it seriously on what Michael was telling me about blockage. But over a period of time after listening to my system and listening to Michael's advice I decided to get hold of what Michael was using on his system, which is a simple low mass amp known as SMSL-98. Price wise there's no complaint about it as it is as cheap as you can get. Using it to drive the Rev 6 Signature was not an issue at all as the speaker itself is very easy to drive. The first time I heard this little low mass class d amp hooked up to my Arc Ref 9 Cd Player my jaw almost dropped. Never did I realized how much of music I was missing before. The stage was larger than what ARC Ref6 Pre-amp and ARC GS150 Amp combo was giving me. Tone wise the Arc's was hitting top marks but 98's was not far behind, after Michael telling me on how to tune by applying cable grounds/LTR under them I managed to narrowed that aspect between them.

My Low Mass tunable setup Tjthread5

My Low Mass tunable setup Tjthread6

My Low Mass tunable setup Tjthread4

For me looking at this picture itself is a game changer as it got me thinking on how much of money I have spent for good tunes, when in reality I was paying more for a system full of blockage than anything else lol. Eversince early this year I have been paying serious attention towards a low mass setup and finally with Michael's help I have managed to accuire Maggie (Magnavox) Cd Player from Michael, Smsl 98's and another cheap class d amp transformer base with tone controls. This combo by far has been the best investment I have ever made period! Not even 5% the price of my previous system, I'm now getting more listening pleasure than ever. It is such a game changer for me since I discovered tuning (Tunes), this is going from swapping out my Transparent Audio cables to Michael's Bare Essence and later to BE "Whites" and Picasso Interconnects. Then last year from swapping out my Sonus Faber Guarneri Evo to Rev6 Signature speakers and now from a full loom of ARC's to a complete low mass setup. This itself is self explanatory on how big the tunes is in this hobby!


From the beginning itself on the first note I heard something that clicked to me immediately and that is a blockage has been freed. This system sounds so agile, musical, holographic and better bass as in comparison to my previous Arc setup. This is without any settling period nor any kind of tuning done. The only thing I did was to remove the top case of maggie cd player. Not only it has already surpassed my Arc's on every aspect but it has brought me into a new level of listening and tuning experience. After a good 2 days of settling in I decided to loosen up by slight the speaker cables from speaker end binding post side. With immidiate effect the sound grew bigger with more resolution and better imaging. Never did I actually heard such profound changes on my previous system when I tuned them. Going low mass makes tuning so much more easier, fun and extremely effective when you trying to chase what you want. So far the low mass system is by far the best sounding system I have ever heard in my room. With increased soundstage, bigger scale of instruments and better bass responce. My only gripe is I should have moved to a low mass setup earlier.

It has already been 1 week since I made this total transformation to a low mass setup. I still have a lot to do before I can bring this system up to another level. Starting this new low mass setup journey has brought up a new chapter in this hobby. I will be bringing in more updates and pictures as I start to deconstruct the Maggie's and tune them in
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Michael Green
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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeMon Dec 16, 2019 6:47 am

Hi Tj

It's a wonderful journey going from a high mass to a low mass system. I'm glad you have the Magnavox CDP for your source. I find so much magic in this unit vs other front ends that I have used.

My Low Mass tunable setup Mag5

What's equally remarkable is the best sounding high end audio CD front end is a player originally costing under $40.00 US.

This discovery for me has a history going back to the 80's when CDs first came out. It might surprise folks that the first notable HEA players that came out were based on Magnavox players as well. I still have some of those players. My preference at that time was to use the stock Maggie tweaked my way with more of a stripped down approach vs the high end guys (we were so young) adding mass. By the time Krell and some of the other big boys came out with their players they had already robbed CD performance of it's magic, which to me was hard to shake. Why did HEA make stuff that sounded worse? It was obviously a money/looks thing. At that time I raised my hand and asked why, but my opinion fell on deaf ears. Fortunately there were enough mainstream players out there to choose from at first.

It was also interesting to me that HEA in general started making products claiming to be "state of the art" but that was not the case at all sonically. I had my own stereo stores at the time and brought in many players with the same results. Going to the CESs as a dealer I made friends with designers and quickly realized they were not making players for the sound but instead so they could finish out their line of componentry.

Rotel and Parasound came out with simple models that allowed me to say "High End" to my clients, a wipe my brow moment. Still I knew something was missing for my own personal listening. I had many turntables going all the way up the money scale, but that left me empty too. Maybe if I hadn't worked in the studios I would not have cared what transferred from the live room to the control room and me standing in the way saying "we must get closer to the source sound" never would have carried through my years of thought, but I couldn't shake reality.

Reality is, there's a simple truth about recording that holds true from the very early mono recordings up through stereo and multi-channel and that is "real space". Real space/real size is my specialty. As much as I frustrated the recording engineers I worked with being true to the space of a recording was always something I strived for, even though certain engineers could care less as long as they got their stereo image. I knew that every recording made had real space even if at times the recording engineers I would be working with had no clue. There's a big difference between a stereo image and a 360 soundstage. Fortunately all recordings have been recorded in 360 and if the playback setup is done to reveal this 360 stage It Is Huge!

There were a few CDPs that I used that made me happy with the space but there was still something missing for me that I always had to work on, until the Maggie came along. A freak accident I don't know, but when I found the particular version of the Magnavox player everything changed for me. Space, tone and the sense of balance was all there when I started to use this one design. It was the front end I was looking for and to this day nothing has come close for me.
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tjbhuler




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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeTue Dec 17, 2019 8:13 am

" It was the front end I was looking for and to this day nothing has come close for me."

Agreed

Im just simply amazed with the maggies (magnavox) they just dont restrict any sound and the best part is im able to configure a particular sound just by moving those LTR's around. Its sensitive for sure and very easily heard when you tune in. To some this may not be desirable but to a tunee this is truly a gold mine!!! Im still letting them sit as it is and settle in but im so eager to start deconstructing them and spread them apart. When would you suggest me to start dismanteling them Michael ?

My Low Mass tunable setup Tjthread9

My Low Mass tunable setup Tjthread10

My Low Mass tunable setup Tjthread11

As I have mentioned previously I have been using 2 different type of amplifier one is a class D from smsl with its smps power supply and the other is a cheap class D amp with tone control and transformer base. After few days with the 98 I was to eager to try this amp out. So I have replaced them to this current transformer base amplifier. Wow this is an amp that has big and bold sound. Very musical and amazing clarity, dynamics is off the charts and very tune friendly. Initially it came attached with a particle board which can be seen under the LTR. I later removed them used the particle board as a base and applied LTR to support amp pcb. As for the transformer I used one of Michael's cable ground. The transformer as you can see has been spaced slightly away from the amp pcb board. After moving the transformer i found this is the best placement.

It is now 5 hours running in and my god what a huge sounding setup im getting. Much bigger soundstage than my Arc's and smsl 98 with more resolution and fantastic realism a very nice improvement coming from this amp with maggie combo. Now with all this im currently hearing some sibliance im sure this will be able to be worked on but for now I will let them settle in. Also the bass as in comparison to previous is slightly leaner now and not as plump as with my Arc's in. One thing for sure settling in period is very important and letting them run in continiously will do some justice. So until then I will give them a good solid 2 days of run in period before I start to making more changes.
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Michael Green
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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeWed Dec 18, 2019 2:32 am

Tj said

"When would you suggest me to start dismanteling them Michael ?" (meaning the Maggie CDP)

I usually go slow so I can take in all the burnin cues, incase I want to back up and see where I am or was. After I listen to the LTR transfers with the cover off I move to the screws on the circuit boards. Note: at this same time I start voicing more blocks that I think I will want to use as tonal tools. This is something that for me happens organically. The more we experience the mechanics of fundamentals and harmonics the easier it is to relate these properties to sound and the creating of note formations.

Here is the MWD200GA with removed cover. For those stripping the mass.

My Low Mass tunable setup Maggiestrip2

My Low Mass tunable setup Maggiestrip3

My Low Mass tunable setup Maggiestrip4

My Low Mass tunable setup Maggiestrip5

The mechanical parts on the Maggie tune very nice by adjusting the screws. Tap on the chassis and you will hear a low tone. You can adjust the screws to get that same tone when tapping on the boards. You might find this to be far enough but there's much more you can do. Try one screw at a time and get use to the tone and stage changes. I recommend when making an adjustment that you let it settle so the fundamentals and harmonics can gel.

Removing the Faceplate

My Low Mass tunable setup Maggiestrip6
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tjbhuler




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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeWed Dec 18, 2019 7:13 pm

Thank you Michael on the pictures and how to dismantle them. So what I should do for now is to start loosening one screw at a time and let them settle in. If I find the tone is slightly off then I will work on the LTR side am I correct ?

Which screw would you work on first chip board or main board ? Perhaps the Chip Board?
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Michael Green
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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeThu Dec 19, 2019 6:26 am

Tj

Thank you Michael on the pictures and how to dismantle them. So what I should do for now is to start loosening one screw at a time and let them settle in. If I find the tone is slightly off then I will work on the LTR side am I correct ?

mg

Your system should be at the point where small adjustments should give big returns. Try just a small loosening adjustment on any of the screws (don't have to turn much) and let it settle a couple minutes and you should hear everything open up even more. If it doesn't let me know so I can take a look at the pathway, but I believe it will.

Which screw would you work on first chip board or main board ?

Anyone you wish. They will all sound a little different but you will hear the same type of gelling. Pay attention to size and midrange tone.

pretty exciting

Tj

Currently this setup is crazy good I truly have something that many people have been chasing for the past 20-30yrs lol!


Last edited by Michael Green on Thu Dec 19, 2019 7:07 am; edited 1 time in total
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tjbhuler




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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeThu Dec 19, 2019 6:38 am

I did a listening session this morning wow solid imaging huge huge stage almost surrounding me 360°  now. I did loosen the chip board screw just 1/2 turn and my god what a difference.

My Low Mass tunable setup Maggiestrip7

Michael you are 100% spot on!!! Today I couldn't wait and started to loosen 1 screw and that was on the chip board side. I did about 1/2 turn maybe slightly lesser and left them to run in for about 2 hours. When I got back to listen, my god what a transformation everything snapped into focus, an increased wrap around with almost 360° soundstage and that sibilance is now lesser. Alan Taylor voice was focussed coherant and perfectly balanced. Guitar snap and strumming was so real, crisp and that low extensions was amazing. Not only that but details like his finger strumming I could discern that easily from a pick which he was using on the next song. Nothing sounds awkward just beautiful sounding setup and amazing wrap around sound stage. Where I find lacking now is only on the midrange side which I find them sounding slightly lean. Maybe I'm bias towards more midrange presence but as of now I cant complain on what im hearing.

Michael you said "gel".

This is exactly what I heard that imaging snapped in everything sounded coherent and nothing sounds off. The whole recording is working together.
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tjbhuler




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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeThu Dec 19, 2019 6:59 am

Some of what I am listening to.

Alan Taylor was singing around my head and the choirs was surrounding me. Guitar sounded perfect fantastic snap and nice size too.

My Low Mass tunable setup Tjthread12

And another album I was listening today morning was this. Fantastic clarity and amazing resolution.

My Low Mass tunable setup Tjthread13


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tjbhuler




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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeFri Jan 10, 2020 6:11 am

Hi Michael and my fellow tunees,

First of all Happy new year 2020!!

The tunes within me is getting stronger, bigger and livelier than before since I expereinced fisrt hand on what a low mass setup can do. It has been a big step up from my previous system and it is getting better. After my last tuning done towards the screw located on Maggie floating board, I decided to now work on the main board screw. Previously I got the floating board loosen enough just to keep the board slightly mobile and the improvements I noticed was profund. Bigger soundstage, more coherant sounding notes with better imaging and presence.

Feeling confident and having the urge of wanting more that effect I decided to work on the screw on the main board 2 days ago. On my initial hearing after loosening the screw it sounded slightly dull, imaging was slightly blurry and notes were less detailed but after a day of settling that gelling kicked in and focus was better but not as great as what I experienced from the floating board. Also this time it sounded slightly less holographic than before. Thinking hard on why is it as such I then remembered Michael telling me previously about the boards once the screw is loosened and board is all relaxed he would turned them tighter by a tad. So that's what I did today and wow things snapped back into focus more and that holographic feel came back in spades!! Today is day 2 and after about 1 hour into listening that 3D and presence has improved this time even more than before. Bass sounded tighter controlled and detailed. Although I got the screw on the main board tighter but it is still slightly loosened then it was originally. Maybe my mistake was I loosened them too much ?

Questions to Michael :

1) Could this effect of loosening the screw on the main board
be due to the clips that is attached to the same board was
not addressed together ? That it may have caused the
screw to give a somewhat negative effect ?

2) If I removed the clips should I do it 1 by 1 or do them all at
one time ?

Regards

Tj
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Sonic Voyager




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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeFri Jan 10, 2020 11:08 am


Happy New Year TJ, Michael and all at Tuneland!

Congratulations on the progress you are making with your low-mass tunable setup.

How is the bass? Does it fill the room, shake the floor, anchor the music, how low do those mini mods go?

You are getting holographic images, yet do you get ambience/reverb effects behind your head and to the sides of you?

Sonic  



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Michael Green
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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeSat Jan 11, 2020 1:48 am

Questions to Michael :

1) Could this effect of loosening the screw on the main board
be due to the clips that is attached to the same board was
not addressed together ? That it may have caused the
screw to give a somewhat negative effect ?

mg

Because I have lived with the Maggie so long I have seen the flexibility of this unit and have been able to take it anywhere. No other player has ever done that for me. The Magnavox is able to find info that isn't there from other players. Both of these PCB carry a full range and with just barely adjusting them "big" effects happen. That's not really an answer but an encouragement to let the Maggie show you what it wants.

2) If I removed the clips should I do it 1 by 1 or do them all at
one time ?

mg

Since you have 3 units don't be shy about going too far and too fast, but also be aware that the Maggie is a settling master. For example lets say you make an adjustment but in doing so you slightly move the unit on the blocks, changing the transfer amounts and values. Because the Maggie gives so much it might sound like you made a mistake (negative effect) by making an adjustment only to find after things settle this beautiful floating stage appears. A stage that feels like surround sound on steroids.

The way I have my Maggie set right now the clips are intact. However I've done these units all the way down to no chassis at all and with the unit only having the top removed. The Maggie is also a great unit for Top Tuning, sending some of the energy up and out to mingle differently than just going down. The clips can be used to send the energy up as well, but personally when Top Tuning I prefer no clips.

Another thing you can do is slide slivers in-between the clip and board which gives a whole new dimension.

Since you are in discovery mode go ahead and remove each clip one at a time or wait till you have a wider selection of Blocks to do a lot of the work for you.

the really big shocker will be when you are using the Platforms, then it's a new ball game all over again
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Michael Green
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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeSat Jan 11, 2020 1:56 am

Hi Sonic

Just a note. Tj Has the Rev6 Signature not the mini mod.
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tjbhuler




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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeSat Jan 11, 2020 1:58 am

Hi Sonic,

Thanks for the new year wish, and happy new year to you too.

Sonic said
How is the bass? Does it fill the room, shake the floor, anchor the music, how low do those mini mods go?

Tj

Bass is much more stronger as in comparison to my Arc's setup. With tuning the screws on floating and main board maggie it has brought out more bass extensions, details and a flow of bass sweeping me front to back. On certain notes I can feel a pressure gain in my ear. My chair is now vibrating more when those deep notes kicking in as in comparison to before. I like the feel under my feet when the floor gives that "pulse" like vibration everytime I listen to Pete Alderton's Evil Was Her Name heavy bass album. I did a sine sweep from 20hz to 20Khz frequency, the lows are much more now especially from 60hz-100hz. 50 hz is now better but not as great as my Sonus which can take me down to 40hz easily. No doubt Rev 6 signature needs a sub but as of now with low mass it is giving me more bass than before.
Cant wait to get Michaels sub in, once it is here that will be another chapter of it's own Smile

Sonic said:

You are getting holographic images, yet do you get ambience/reverb effects behind your head and to the sides of you?

Tj :

Indeed Sonic on to ambiance this is the biggest and most pronounced aspect that I have experienced from a low mass setup as in comparison to my previous Arc setup. Everything is hanging in the air, notes tend to float around clearly. Today in my room theres no space left untouched by a musical note. It is now easier to follow what the recordings are describing with the ability to follow each passages without getting all mixed up and confused. It is like im actually sitting in the middle of the soundstage and all instruments are surrounding me. Depending on recordings some vocals and instruments are placed directly in front of my face giving you that sense "you can touch it" and some are behind me or in my head. On the extreme ends some Instruments can be heard far out left or right side back of me like 8'-10' away behind me and on some recordings part of the music is not even heard on front stage lol. Low mass has given me better clarity, increase instrument girth and bigger spaced out soundstage. Some may call it like a headphone effect which I know not all like that feel. But to me this is what makes the whole ambiance, presence and involvement so pronounced.
So many ways to describe such effects each to its own but what make this whole journey amazing is getting that ability to have that flexibility to tune further and dig deeper into any recordings.

There are still areas that I want to work on more like tone and centre stage spacing but this is more of my personal taste and affection towards certain aspect of my listening ways, all in all im getting closer to what I'm wanting to hear all this while. However my biggest problem that I'm facing here now is the room has become too sensitive even a small amount of movement on the equipments, Michael's PZC's and some wooden blocks/cardboard that I have incorporated to my room will have a very noticable effect towards my sound stage, bass response and presence.


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Sonic Voyager




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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeFri Jan 17, 2020 10:58 am


Hi TJ

reading your description it appears that your system is astounding! Thank you for replying and giving that description of how you are getting an immersive soundfield -- "Everything is hanging in the air, notes tend to float around clearly. Today in my room theres no space left untouched by a musical note."

Makes me want to go back to Tuning and striving for the Tune again.

What is that class-D amp you are using now? It has two inputs of which you are using one for the Magnavox, yes?

Your system will be really something when the MG subwoofer arrives!

Sonic



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Michael Green
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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeFri Jan 17, 2020 6:19 pm

Jump back in Sonic. There are several Tunees getting their systems tuned up as we speak, the more the merrier. And, it's always helpful for others reading.
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Sonic Voyager




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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeSun Jan 19, 2020 3:26 am



Hi Michael and TJ!

MG said:
Jump back in Sonic

Sonic:
A possibility I won't rule out. Though for now, Sonic is happy with my system just playing my LPs and FLACs, I being a happy customer of Michael's products.

More Questions for TJ:

a. your Class D amp has two inputs connected -- one is from the Magnavox, what is the other source you are running?

b. what are the dimensions of your room? My room is 21 feet (L) x 14 feet (W) x 10 feet (H) and is, as I understand, too large for mini-monitors even with subwoofer reinforcement.

Sonic



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tjbhuler




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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeSun Jan 19, 2020 5:19 am

Hi Sonic,

My amp has only 1 pair of RCA input and I have only Magnavox cd player hooked up to the amp. Room size is 21.6'(L) × 8.5'(H) × 12' (W). My ceiling height is sloped like 'V' highest point is the front side which is 9.25' and lowest peak is 7.8' l, so 8.5'is the average height. Yes the room is a bit big for the Rev 6 signature, the bass is there but it is just not as impactful like my Sonus was. But now with low mass setup there's definitely more bass heard. Im pretty sure with the subs in it is going to be awesome Smile .
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Sonic Voyager




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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeSun Jan 19, 2020 11:59 pm




Hi TJ

And what's that amp you are now powering your system with? The one with the toroidal transformer and and the big heat sink.

I might just try it and oh oh...what if it drives my Magneplanars and blows away my tube preamp and the Parasound....?

If it would, Sonic is not afraid to face the truth, and then it will be a whole new audio game.

Sonic



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tjbhuler




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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeMon Jan 20, 2020 4:15 am

Hi Sonic,

Sonic said :

And what's that amp you are now powering your system with?  The one with the toroidal transformer and and the big heat sink.

Tj:

Yes that is correct that amp is powering Rev 6 sig speaker. That amp has 3 knobs (vol,treble and bass) it is rated at 2x 100w 4ohms but looking at its circuit i doubt it has that much of power. Rev 6 sig speaker has high sensitivity so that amp has no issues driving it. This amp seriously caught me by surprise it sounded fantastic right out of the box. After removing from its board and applying LTR on the pcb side and cable grounds for transformer they performed to another level of amazing fidelity.

Im not sure if this amp will be able to drive your magneplanar speaker up to good levels and handle those demanding notes but there are more class d amps with bigger power ratings and power supply that will most definitely be able to drive your speakers easily. Check out Shure amplifier boards website they have everything you need to get it done. If you are into diy then ice power modules, purifi or hypex modules will most definitely be able to give you some serious power but they cost a bit more. Latest Class d amps are taking this hobby to another level at a very affordable price.

Tj
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Michael Green
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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeSat Jan 25, 2020 6:22 am

more Tj Pics

My Low Mass tunable setup 0d497a_cdb438aa70704780b280c366475d267a~mv2

My Low Mass tunable setup 0d497a_38d7c26d6b3f483bb0205cd27733f1aa~mv2

My Low Mass tunable setup 0d497a_c9962f9f54554574bc7c9809c5e338dd~mv2

My Low Mass tunable setup 0d497a_77bfcdb06d6b447dadc8136382056051~mv2

My Low Mass tunable setup 0d497a_2d8de27e05654737af2c41b19d9e8e88~mv2
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Sonic Voyager




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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeSun Jan 26, 2020 5:45 am



Greetings TJ!

Your Tuning is charging ahead. Fascinating pictures but what are these?

How do they relate to your low mass system in placement? They appear to be in a different space outside your system room except for Pix 4 where I see what looks like your listening chair and a FS-PZC.

What do these do for your sound?

Sonic




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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeSun Jan 26, 2020 8:49 pm

Greetings to  Michael, Sonic and my fellow tunees,

Eversince I got a taste on what the tunes is all about I have been very impressed and amazed with the results. Going deeper in to the tunes has thought me something very important and that is everything and anything placed in your room affects what you hear. From tuning speaker to room, speaker to listening spot and listening spot to room interaction, cable management and rack/platform placement can bring your whole system to another level of listening experience.

I have asked Michael to post some pictures on the back portion of my room. Pic 1,2,3 and 5 is located behind my SAM (selective audionic membrane) wall and pic 4 is in front of my SAM wall. As you can see there are a lot of things going on which I have been working on for almost 2.5 years since I did my dedicated room up. The idea of what is shown from these pictures is to get all those lovely PZ (pressure zone) redirected and placed towards my listening space. One may wonder why not just place bigger stands or larger wooden blocks behind there? The idea is to move them towards your listening spot and yet keep the overall presentation as balanced as you can. For my room using larger blocks of wood or cardboard will result to a much more dull sounding setup which is not what we want. So for me this was a slow and steady process working up a placement for each and every piece of wood, resonators and boards being placed behind my SAM wall.

Sonic asked what did it do with all of that effort for the sound. My answer is everything Smile ! I have noticed this before and did mention this on my previous threads the effects heard from tuning the back part of your room is equally and sometimes more important than tuning your front part of the room. Working on them gives me a very big advantage on bringing the soundstage forward and filling up my whole room with music. Presence was one of the biggest improvements I got when tuning the floor on the back part of my room. Moving them in cm's gave such big effect that it could make or break my sound stage. As it can be seen on pic num 3, I have placed Pzc (mec) over the floor and moved them in cm's and kept them in that placed which is now marked. I could literally hear my soundstage expanding in all directions with instruments sounding very real in its own space and yet collapsing if I go too far. Pretty cool to hear such effect !! I start to wonder is this part of what Michael previously mentioned on breaking down those recordings codes that we hear. Taking advantage of incorporating bits and pieces that I have (seen in pic 2) which is actually some un-used stuffs(schuman freq generator, level ruler and resonator), I managed to fine tune my soundstage by moving them around on that small table and got them to sound very defined and realistic. Now all these are of course placed temporary once I start to get more of Michael's goodies, I will start the process of replacing them.

My Low Mass tunable setup 0d497a_38d7c26d6b3f483bb0205cd27733f1aa~mv2
pic#2

On the back protion of my room height is equally important and tuning anything above 3 feet level in height seems to cause a hole in my soundstage and makes it sound 2D-ish. Seen on picture 1 I have used a small piece of BP from Michael's cable ground and a small piece of card board placed on the wooden blinds and a wooden stick which is angled on the right side of the room to bring in more spacing towards each instruments and get them to sound more surround and past more behind me. Thoughts that are running in my mind on why the back portion of the room is height sensitive could be due to my AC which is located on the back wall of my room and is centred top side where wall and celliling meets. I believe the air that is blowing from that AC is interacting with the back part of SAM wall PZ forming some kind of air turbulance that is giving me a lot of tuning effect and also causing it to be height sensitive.

Picture 4 shown above is located at the base of my SAM wall stand rollers, as you can see I have placed 2 small wooden bits (pine wood and ebony). I stumbled upon this magical area by accident while I was listening after doing some slight adjustment of toeing in my pzc-fs towards my listening spot. I went back for a listen and noticed it sounded very good I was getting a greater sense of float than before but my imaging was slightly skewed to the right. Thinking to myself that I overly adjusted the PZC so I got up and picked up my measuring tape that I left it on the roller stand as I did so I felt a slight increase of volume which caught my attention so I went back to listen just to make sure nothing was changed and now that imaging was centered, no more skewing but that float became slightly lesser. I was baffled over this and started to re-measure my pzc-fs distance just to make sure and it was still the same as before. Being suspicious over that SAM stand roller area where I kept that measuring tape I decided to place 1 pc of LTR on that side and listened. Once again that sense of float came back but in a diffrent manner and it affected the imaging again. Realising that I found another tuning port I went ballistic and came up with those 2 small wooden bits that I had leftover. By applying them as seen from the picture I managed to kick it up a notch on imaging and that sense of float more but in doing so I have now made some instruments over the left and right side sounding slightly more distant and slightly less enveloped. The tune instinct in me made me to revisit the back portion of my SAM wall seen inpic 5 which is at the center stand roller where previously I used 1 peice of wooden block. This time I added another 2 more making it a total of 3 wooden blocks on that roller stand which now brought back that slightly distant sounding instruments back to it's original state and enveloped more as what I was hearing previously.

Looking back at my tuning stages and what I have done from the beginning till now I am still discovering new areas in my room that can bring good effect. Im still configuring and working on all the things I have added previously. Eversince I removed my Arc's and introduced a simple low mass setup I have effectively cause a slight imbalance on all the PZ areas in my room especially the front area. Some areas of my room that had LTR wooden blocks placed have now been removed and at some areas that was not effective previously I have now added them. This aspect of tuning will never stop for me as I find it has brought on a new level of listening experience that is very hard to describe.

Untill then, more tuning for me and more areas to be rediscovered Smile .
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Sonic Voyager




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Join date : 2018-05-25

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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeFri Jan 31, 2020 9:02 am



Hi TJ!

Thanks for your reply and the detailed description of what you have Tuned.

Sonic is amazed at what you have done behind the SAM! What you have put on and in front of the small table in Pix 2 and 3 looks like some sort of eastern altar where you might see people meditating in front of!

While I understand the placement of the upright/slanted pieces of wood, are those items on the table - the briefcase in the centre flanked Right and Left by two green devices - plus the two cutting boards with the upright pole in front of it – placed there purposely? What do they do if they were positioned elsewhere? And what are the green plates with the capacitors and circuits?

Again congratulations on what you have achieved in the Tune!

Sonic




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Michael Green
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Michael Green


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Join date : 2009-09-12
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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitimeTue Feb 02, 2021 3:17 pm

Those following Tj's system can go here

https://tuneland.forumotion.com/t520-my-latest-setup-the-mg-way

enjoy!
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PostSubject: Re: My Low Mass tunable setup   My Low Mass tunable setup Icon_minitime

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