Satanica

It's actually both, but we the end consumers can only change one of those variables.

How far are your speakers from the side walls? If you want to improve the soundstage width then try turning your speakers so they are not firing directly at you but rather more towards the side walls.

You can also run this as like some of the other SVS subs with 2 ports open and 1 closed in what is known as "extended mode". https://www.svsound.com/products/pc-4000

Not to mention who wants silence added to the start of every track they rip? There goes your artists intent when one track leads into another.

LOGIC

So, you are claiming that FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is not lossless and has fooled millions of people except yourself, hmmm. This is fascinating, seemingly delusional but fascinating nonetheless.

Some of you guys have the patience of saints. I don't know how you do it.

It may be better, it may be worse, but most likely the two options will sound the same, especially under level matched & conditions.

REW is software that runs on a PC so it is not related to any particular hardware. In the case of miniDSP which is quite commonly used hardware for subwoofer integration, then yes pretty much all models have USB and SPDIF inputs. I don't think any miniDSP hardware products have HDMI inputs or output but I'm not 100% sure.

No need to be sad about it Andy! This is a method using REW's Acoustic Timing Reference. https://www.minidsp.com/applications/rew/speaker-time-alignment Be sure to turn off all Bass Management i.e. no filters on the speakers and subwoofer(s).

Of course I watched it. Just remember this was a fun experiment, not a test. There's very little that one can draw from it. At best, it's an experiment that could be the instigator of future testing. I think you're trying to conclude from it that people hear substantially different from each other. Sorry not sorry, there's no consensus here.

I don't think the opinion was that varied, where did you get that impression from? Regardless, you're drawing the wrong conclusion. To be a more appropriate test in the manner you're trying to conclude the test would need to ask the test subjects to preference score A, B and C rather than just giving their opinion on each one. And those scores would need to be recorded and analysed. And let's not forget people are using different headphones, that's a variable that would need controlling to get the best and most meaningful results.

What's your point? A and C sounded similar to me, sighted. Did you easily tell A and C apart sighted or blind?

Such as? Make and Model?

The Guitar Hero version I think is actually well produced with good dynamics. I think the biggest problem with Death Magnetic is the thin sounding guitar tone. Metallica were still in a bit of a period where they felt they wanted something to sound different to standout. Like that crazy drum snare from the previous St. Anger.

This one for sure.

You make it out like that thread, your thread unless I'm mistaken is some kind of universally accepted authority on DBT's. It's not.

A hypothetical question. This really is the crux of why the audiophile hobby in regard to exotic equipment has so many question marks over it. That is, there are no established universally accepted reasons for buying or doing XYZ, other than, what if?

Hi Grant, yes I'm with you on the first point. It's taken me while to be disciplined enough with Dirac Live to just leave the top end of whatever speakers I own alone and just let them do their thing as was designed. Regarding the third point thanks for pointing out that I was misrepresenting Toole's advice regarding Tone Control EQ. I've played around with voicing my speakers with their inbuilit voicing EQ but have just settled on just anechoically flat. That's good summarised advice on how to dial out the brightness of one's audio system. I'm using a pair of subwoofers and can get down to about 12Hz in room with them. I use a miniDSP with Dirac Live as an 80Hz crossover and room correction to about 240Hz. I have multiple profiles which I can switch between with a remote with different levels of Harman like bass curves depending on the content. Speakers are pointed straight at me.

I may have this wrong, but the main benefit I see of true constant directivity designs is for non-sweet spot listeners, especially with the speakers heavily toed-in to produce time intensity trading.

Yes I agree we all hear close enough to each other to be considered the same in regard to designing a speaker. I was under the impression you use EQ to provide something along the lines of a B&K curve with your constant directivity PSE-144 horns. If this is incorrect, then you can pretty much ignore my comment. If this is correct, my comment was just along the lines is that most audiophiles don't want to and/or don't know how to do this and do it well. By the way I'm not fully convinced either way of constant directivity vs controlled directivity with one having an advantage over the other. At the moment I see there are somewhat pros and cons of either approach when compared to each other.

The only problem I can think of is one has to know what to do and how to do it. I'd bet that most audiophiles don't know what constant directivity means let alone what the implications are of it in room. So perhaps it could be argued that strong constant directivity designs are not so suitable for the masses compared to more controlled directivity designs. But, for someone like yourself, it suits your knowledge and abilities and ends up being exactly what you're looking for.

And I've found that video I mentioned above here: It's about 47 minutes and 15 seconds in and only goes for a few minutes. Although watching it again it refers to constant directivity designs with a fairly narrow dispersion. I'm not sure the PSE-144's could be referred to as that.

I have the Dutch & Dutch 8C and was under the impression that they are at least somewhat a constant directivity design. From the website: "It is a unique acoustic concept, because its revolutionary design provides constant directivity from 100 Hz upwards." https://dutchdutch.com/8c/ But, I think I can see from the polar map that you provided of the PSE-144 horn is that it has more tighter constant directivity. Perhaps it's a stretch to call the 8C a constant directivity design but rather a it should be referred to as a cardiod controlled directivity design. I'm pretty sure KII refer to the THREE's as such. I know of a guy on Audioholics (Matthew Poes?) who uses Geddes horns and referred to contant directivity designs having a tendancy to be percieved bright in room and that one would quite likely want to balance that out with a downwards sloping treble using EQ. And this was backed up by Geddes who he has direct contact with. I think you've mentioned you are using something along the lines of a B&K Curve for you PSE-144's. I've tried a B&K kind of curve with my 8C's and it made them sound too dark to my ears. I think Dutch & Dutch and KII probably go along with the philosophy of "good sound for eveyone" and that means you can plonk them down in a room and they shouldn't need EQ (other than below the transition zone). And unless I'm mistaken this is a Toole rule/recommendation i.e. don't room correct EQ above the transition zone, but it is OK to EQ/Voice for taste (tone controls). Below are the manufacturer measurements of the 8C.

All I'm reading is an informative conversation done in an assertive but respectful manner. I'm learning from it. If you're bored, perhaps find something else to do, like kick a ball around the backyard or something.