My listening room is small, so I am limited in what I can do with it. Have been working on improving the sound for a few years.
I have recently added the Lumin A-1 music streamer, and it has changed my opinion about digital music. Listening to my collection of ripped CDs via my network server and the Lumin is finally enjoyable on the scale of listening to vinyl; It is that good. I have had a many DAC and CDPs in my system over the years, and none has been as good as the Lumin.
Thanks Bearotti. The Sopra(s) are the most transparent speakers I have had in my system, and sound sublime. The knock on them by some critics was their anemic bass. Not a problem for my room. I get a lot of bass, and it is very focused and tight. So much so, I removed my JL Audio fathom f110 subwoofer.
Those new Focal's look SHARP! I have been interested in their new stuff and excited to get a chance to give some of it a listen! What do you think of them in your system?
I thought about two subs, but my dealer told me there was no need. For now I agree with him. My reason: I believe the bass support achieved by the sub is well integrated because I am connecting my sub directly to the RCA outputs on my preamp. The mono blocks are connected via the balanced output.
Haven't measured the sound frequency in my room. Don't have the equipment. I have thought about doing measurements, but just haven't got around to it.
My speakers and listening position is based on a principle I read in one of my audio books. Forget the name, but will look it up. It all sounds good with a rather large and deep soundstage. The JL Audio sub has a built in calibration option, which made it easy to place in my room. It added more top and bottom to the soundstage. I image you achieved the same effect.
I too have a small room, actually smaller than yours. I just added a single sub and like you absolutely love what it added. I am surprised how much low freq information I was missing, considering I listen mainly to acoustic and folk. I am much more engaged now. The improvement has been so good that I am now toying with the idea of adding another sub. Have you considered this? Also curious if you have thought about measuring the freq response of your room? I did it quickly using an SPL meter and some test tones. This helped me tremendously in terms of positioning my speakers. Even in my tiny room where my options are limited, I got huge improvement by changing my speaker position.
Thanks Spencer for the compliment and recommendation. I attached a Velodyne from my 5.1 HT system, but didn't particularly like the synergy. The bass it produced seemed outer place to me. Although I didn't spend much time trying to get it to sound better.
Do you know of a subwoofer that might work better with my system?
One suggestion, before changing speakers, have you tried borrowing a subwoofer from a friend or dealer? You might be better able to dial in to your sized/shaped room, avoid taking over the room, etc. You'd keep the benefit of point sources and could even free up your woofers from having to try to do the heavy lifting at low frequencies. That often results in clearer mids & highs. Just a thought...Cheers,
Toudou, room size is 15', 11' and 9' ceiling. I was thinking of getting larger speakers, but I so know my room is probably at peak performance with the current ones.
Placing the RealTraps in the rear the way I have has really expanded the soundstage. I have been thinking of upgrading the Acoustic Zens, but not sure what to replace them with, if anything. The Zens fill the small room, so maybe I should stay pat. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Don't want to go through the hassle of modding the Zens as suggested by a member. Too much trouble.
This is a very well thought out use of space, and a system to be very proud of. I bet is sounds far more musical than some peoples far more expensive so called 1st system. Enjoy!
Nice system! The cross-overs on my Adagio's were modded by Bill Baker of Response Audio. Significant upgrade. Huge improvement in reproducing micro-detail while maintaining the speakers' voicing.
Hi Nice system - Looks like you are using old Vinyls to protect the platter from dust particles. Found a product on Amazon called dust-o-disc that does the trick but looks better than old Vinyl. Take a look and search on google.