More Audiophile Musings

no i took a shot in the dark

That was not directed at you.

I have been saving it as a reward for once I've completed the course I'm taking. I sit my exam this coming Wednesday. If I feel that all has gone well, I will watch it then; if not, I will probably feel sorry for myself and watch it anyway.

good luck on your exam - after the test go for a nice drive in the rockies to clear your head i would

Thanks.

. . . and the course is?

Iago, question; RE: The Vandersteens, ...so if the speaker placement is back on track for you now, what happens to a person with 6" + longer/ shorter torso sitting next to you?

Iago wrote: . . . and the course is?

Organizational behaviour. It's part of an MBA program I'm taking.

Soon you`ll be the big boss man Mr. MBA

Mr. Moderately Big Ass?


PO:

I am rather old-school when it comes to speakers, so I feel that anyone sitting outside the sweet spot is automatically getting compromised sound. Even with good off-axis response and wide dispersion, the imaging characteristics of a pair of speakers will always suffer if you are not in the sweet spot. My system is calibrated for optimal sound at the sweet spot. People sitting off to the side will receive less coherent sound whether they are the same height as me or not. From that standpoint, they may not even notice the difference in the treble that is audible at the main listening position. (And my primary movie-viewing partner is my wife, who would likely not notice if I swapped the Vandersteens out for Bose!)

Bottom line: Don't go to Iago's for a night at the movies. You will get screwed out of good sound since he's unlikely to share the sweet spot.

I don't aspire to have a big ass or to be one. I merely want a change. I've had enough of editing and technical writing and I'd like to move on to new challenges, as I've become increasingly bored and unmotivated with my current gig. Unfortunately, the editing and writing field has few transitional options. I've been managing people for some time and I've always enjoyed the strategic side of business, so I figured an MBA would offer an interesting challenge.

Nothing wrong with that!



. . . and never fear; friends with good ears get to try out the prime position!

Yes, but what happens when those friends don't want to get up? I have visions of Christian Bale moon walking while Huey Lewis is playing . . .

It all actually works out fine for me. Most of the people who watch movies down there with me, like my wife or our current "ward," do not care. If I have someone over who really cares about how it sounds, I will have to figure out what I want to do.

The reality is that in a room that small, there is no way to get really good sound outside the sweet spot. Even if I had gone with bipolar speakers in the front and bipolar or dipolar surrounds (a la THX) the sound would be severely compromised outside a narrow window.

Ah, the things we worry ourselves with!

Acually, I do not -- I was just responding to the question!

Yes you do! Otherwise you would not have worried about adding washers to the bottom of your speakers to adjust height. Incidentally, I don't think there is anything wrong with worrying about achieving the best sound possible.

Absolutely. I mean that I really do not care about anything off-axis. When it comes to my audio/video setup, it is all about me.

Fair one.

(And my primary movie-viewing partner is my wife, who would likely not notice if I swapped the Vandersteens out for Bose.

Well that is someone I can certainly identify with. I upgraded my system 2 years ago to 7.1 surround, but it just wasn't worth the effort to change out the rear surround speakers (Bose 201's). I'm not sure my hearing nor my knowledge of music would ever have made me a candidate for the level of sophistication you have. Besides, I occasionally enjoy reclining in my La Z Boy while watching a movie and wouldn't want to have to choose between a sweet spot and a prone postition.

The value of home entertainment products is in their utility. There are plenty of things on which I am unwilling to spend money that others would not hesitate doing so.

Well I got around to checking out that complete Yamaha YP-211 I came upon for free about half a month ago. It works great and cleaned up nice. Somebody wants $60 for a broken one on ebay. Mine is missing the inside force canceler weight but it did not seem to affect playback.


Not mine but that's what it looks like.

I was going to ask $50 for it but recently one sold on ebay for $175. http://www.ebay.com/itm/VTG-70S-YAMAHA-YP-211-TURNTABLE-RECORD-PLAYER-JAPAN-/330599068392

I think I am going to put it up with a low starting bid and see what I can get out of it.

Force canceller weight? You mean the anti-skate?

It looks to be an anti-skate weight to me. The official yamaha term for it is inside force canceler

http://www2.yamaha.co.jp/manual/pdf/av/english/zot/YP211.pdf

Despite being belt drive it seems to be a nice table.

"Despite"? You computer people really do not spend time in the world of audio esoterica! Nearly all quality turntables are belt-driven, even the ones that tens of thousands of dollars. Direct drive is generally frowned upon due to increased noise. (I had one direct drive turntable, and I regretted the purchase.)