Ed.1553552749 Posted September 15, 2010 Posted September 15, 2010 OK, the system was bought squarely with home cinema in mind, Harmon Kardon AVR350, Audio Pro Image speakers and a polk sub left over from a previous flirtation with a sound projector. Works fine with the films, occassional grips from the wife about volume but no matter. Now after our little shake recently in chch, she has gone to stay with the outlaws so we can both get some sleep at night. While the wife's away, the tunes will play... And this is where it all went wrong. In fact everything sounded wrong, songs I'm familar with that should dance in the air between the speakers are flat an lifeless. Tracks with bass that used to knock the air out of my lungs are now wallowing around sounding like another aftershock. On paper this should be a significant step up from my old two channel rig, but the performance is not there, why not? is it the kit? (old first, then new) AMP : Denon PMA 250SE vs Harmon Kardpn AVR350 25 watts per channel vs about 60, both running on analouge inputd but with a shit tonne of current and power available from the HK this should be a no contest in dynamics CD spinner: NAD 510 vs NAD 512 Bit of a trademe special, I now have a remote. A bit tempremntal recognising disks but the sound quality over the PS3 is substansal. No different from what I used to have though. Speakers : B&W602 S2 with partingington stands filled with lead shot vs. Audio Pro Image 44 floor standers and polk asw100 sub Damn those B&W's were good, maybe I made a mistake in the speakers.... the 44's are nudging well into the lifestyle bracket, ut it sounded good in the shop! OK tracks I know and love and have used every time for auditioning kit (Massive attack - teardrop, Clapton - sunshine of my love, Prodigy - Diesel Power) just really aren't working, b Right, back to basics, grills off the speakers , sounding a little better. Next the amp, find the setting is 5 channel stereo, switch to 2 channel, now the imaging is starting to come together Its a little quiet though, ok wind it up a bit, and some more, and some more... like the cosworth dfv, the amp's got a bit of poke! Right, now we are getting somewhere with the vocal imaging, but the base... eugh... playing with the level and crossover on the sub, back and forth between nothing and flabby, not musical at all. Wise man say, place sub at node. Node...that would be where it sounds loud, maximum efficiency and all. Ooh, thats better, a lot tighter, but not quite there, still somewhat wooly. Funny that, seeing as how there is a couch in the way. Who ever said that base is onmi directional and you can put your sub behind the couch is wrong (namely the Bose marketing dept to blame here me thinks) OK for movies at low levels, but for some proper listening line of sight is good, oh yeah, I can take the grill off the sub as well So the couch is pushed back against the wall, the sub is half way into the middle of the room and the grills are in a pile in the corner. Wifey would go mad, but it sounds like it should. If I wind it up a bit more she might hear it in Dunedin! Open wine and enjoy Moral of the story - getting the sub placement right on a 2.1 system is key to getting good results musically (this is going to apply to films as well I imagine, but thats tomorrow nights fun) for imaging 5.1 is a waste of time. I hope this has been an vaugely interesting read of my self indulgent ramblings and is useful to anyone trying to improve the muscial performance of a home cinema setup - cheers!
yok1553552672 Posted September 17, 2010 Posted September 17, 2010 Interesting ... I've been considering trying the sub in my 2.1 desktop system in my main 2 channel system, but really I've got other tidying up I should really be doing instead. I'm not surprised the sub sounds better when not behind the couch. Even if bass is omni-directional, it's still going to be subject to absorption and reflection depending on what it interacts with before reaching the listener, isn't it? Mind you, Bose subs probably sound best behind as much furniture as possible! I always thought those 602s2's were very good speakers, especially with not-too-bright electronics.
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