Re: The New Other Bench Audiophile Thread, astonishing arrogance edition

**Iago** Mon Feb 02, 2015 3:15 am

We have had to put the cone back on her for the last week as she is scratching it with her hind leg and ended up bloody. She got a nearly perfect clean bill of health from the vet on Saturday -- lost two pounds (which is good, in her case!) and there are no signs of any infection in her eye or the surrounding area. X-rays came up clean, with perfect healing and the screw is still in position. He thinks that the scratching is just due to normal healing; in all likelihood some of the muscles that were severed from the eye are twitching randomly and that is irritating her. But as far as personality goes, she is nearly back to her old crazy self. She is a bit out of shape, though, despite the weight loss. She does not have the same energy. Hopefully winter will just get over with quickly this year and we can get her out for walks again.

**Seamaster** Fri Feb 06, 2015 2:13 pm

After a brutal December, we've been having unseasonably high temperatures, and it's been mild most days. I take it you've been having it worse in the Mid-West?

**Iago** Thu Feb 12, 2015 2:57 am

Not at all. It has been cold off and on (cold right now!) but there has been little snow. We actually hit the low fifties in December before it plunged a bit in January. But it is just easier to take the dogs out when there is no snow, ice or slush around. Especially for the other dogs -- our cockapoo in particular gets snow and ice built up in the pads of her feet and she hates that. Plus, since we leave for work far too early in the mornings to take them out, it is pretty difficult to motivate ourselves to take them out after work, especially if it is cold or blustery in even the slightest form.

**Seamaster** Fri Feb 13, 2015 10:59 am

I've seen some owners put booties on their dogs, although I always thinks it looks odd and I imagine that most dogs don't cooperate when it comes to putting something restrictive around their paws. It will be spring soon.

**Iago** Tue Feb 24, 2015 3:48 am

When Sydney was trying to scratch the healing eye, we had a cone for her, but we hated doing that to her so we put a sock on the hind leg in the hopes of keeping her from scratching the scar. It never stayed on for more than a couple of minutes no matter what we did. I suppose that you could eventually acclimate a dog to wearing booties, but it would be too much work to get to that point. We are still struggling to get the new puppy potty-trained, after all!

Took all three in for their annual exams and shots ($400 down the drain.) Sydney continues to heal well, and the puppy has no issues, other than her underbite, which is common to the breed. Something just to watch out for. Our cockapoo, though, has a swollen lymph node on one side of her neck. She also has significant tartar buildup and early gingivitis, so it could well simply be infected due to that. No other swollen nodes anywhere else. Worst case, of course, it could be lymphoma. So we have a day scheduled for her to go under and get the teeth cleaned as well as a biopsy. It could go away gradually after the cleaning, but if it did not we would have to do the biopsy anyway, and that would mean putting her under again. So might as well just spend the money now ($600) and get it done just to be safe. Eve is already in full-on panic mode, assuming the worst.

**Seamaster** Tue Feb 24, 2015 10:34 am

That was not $400 down the drain; that was $400 of love!

My fingers are crossed for you that it is not the worst. I have been down that road and it is no fun. I think you're doing the right thing by scheduling a biopsy. At least then you'll know what you're dealing with. But let's hope that it is nothing.

**Iago** Fri Feb 27, 2015 3:31 pm

The procedure went well and she seems to be doing fine, but the worst part is that we have to wait at least three days for the results, and the weekend does not count, so it will be early next week. She did have some elevated blood levels that are likely due to the tartar. In a way, that makes me hopeful that all of it is due to the tartar.

**Seamaster** Fri Mar 06, 2015 10:04 am

Did you get the results yet? Good news (fingers crossed)?

**Iago** Sun Mar 08, 2015 6:44 am

She has a non-cancerous enlarged salivary gland. So yes, good news. Eve brought her a hamburger from McDonalds on Friday to celebrate. (Caviar for a dog.)

**Seamaster** Tue Mar 10, 2015 4:07 pm

Bravo!!!

**Iago** Tue Mar 10, 2015 4:30 pm

Now we get the next major expenditure: a full-blown fence. We are no longer going to trust in Invisible Fence. I have been taking them out each and every time to keep an eye on them, and it is getting wearisome. Plus, there is a new house going up next door, which is going to drive the dogs bonkers. So we are fencing off the back yard, preferably with something dense that they cannot see through. They will still bark at noises, but that should help. And I no longer have to stand outside watching them for nearly an hour a day! Approximately 225 linear feet, plus a gate, so we shall see what estimate that we get.

**Seamaster** Thu Mar 12, 2015 10:27 am

My guess is not cheap. Are you sticking with a wooden fence? Mind you, factor in your time at an hour per day, and the expense won't seem so bad. Maybe.

**Iago** Sun Mar 15, 2015 5:34 pm

No, not cheap. We asked for an estimate for both cedar and PVC, knowing that the PVC would be more expensive, and the guys who we went to -- an older couple of brothers who are about as cheap as there is out there, while still doing good work -- estimated about $12,000 for that length. They included pouring concrete for the posts, but even skimping on that will not make enough of a difference. Eve does not want chain link, and I do not blame her, so we are back to square one. I spent some quality time thinking about it while on the treadmill this morning, and decided that we will just have to go with the Invisible Fence after all; but not only will we be ordering a collar for the new dog, but I want new ones for the other two as well, plus I want IF to come out here and check out the system to make sure that everything is tip-top. That will set us back around a thousand dollars, but it is certainly cheaper. It also looks like when you order new collars, IF will come out for a free training session. So at least we can get Raimi off on the right foot. We are also going to spend the money on training sessions for the dogs, to hopefully help get the barking and aggression under better control. (Sydney, the ChiPom, is the worst offender.)

So, I guess that we are back on track for new carpeting after all. Assuming, of course, that we can ever get Raimi potty trained!

**Seamaster** Tue Mar 17, 2015 11:15 am

Ouch.

I don't like chain link either, although I have seen some decent examples when integrated with a nice hedge.

At least you have a plan, a much more affordable plan.

**Iago** Sat Mar 21, 2015 5:19 am

Looks like it will be $1000 for three new collars with the "shock" modules, including the flags and three training sessions for Raimi. They said that three is all that it takes, so it looks like there will be minimal effort on our parts. I may still end up going outside with them quite a bit, as I will never feel perfectly confident in the system. Granted, Sydney was not wearing her collar when she got hit by the car, but there is still no 100% guarantee that a dog cannot cross the fence line. It may be 99.99%, but that still leaves doubt in my mind.

**Seamaster** Mon Mar 30, 2015 10:25 am

That last statement makes me wonder how you're able to bet at card games. BAG

**Iago** Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:23 pm

Oh, I tend to be a bit more methodical and cautious in poker games. That is why I prefer straight play to tournament play -- I can usually ride out the dry spells over the course of hours in a regular game, but in tournament play you are force to be aggressive whether you have the cards or not. And since other people are doing the same thing, ultimately luck will win out.

But there is a world of difference, of course, between a small-stakes bet and a bet on the life of your dog!

**Seamaster** Thu Apr 02, 2015 1:39 pm

Oh, I hear you. Maybe I needed two BAGs?

**Iago** Fri Apr 10, 2015 3:23 am

Oh, hey, you were gone from the forums when I bought my new computer speakers, so I never bothered posting a review. Any interest? I can pretty much guarantee that you will never guess what brand that I went with. I was surprised too, but I am quite happy with them.

**Seamaster** Fri Apr 10, 2015 9:31 am

By the way you've worded it, I probably can't guess. I can't even recall the name, but I do remember those $1000 speakers you found several years back. I'm thinking you didn't go that route. I would have defaulted to something from M-Audio, Klipsch or Logitech, but, again, your wording suggests otherwise. Maybe you went Bose?

I am interested in reading your review.

**Iago** Fri Apr 10, 2015 4:20 pm

Will do. Ran out of time again as Eve and I are going out for dinner, but I will post something later.

**Iago** Fri Apr 10, 2015 7:08 pm

O.K., just got back, so here you go.

No, you definitely could not guess what I bought. You may not even have heard of the brand. I was reading some kind of a desktop speaker comparison, and one of the set of speakers that they compared came from Edifier. Edifier is a Chinese company, which does not necessarily inspire confidence as a high-end audio brand, but they make some interesting products. I believe that the ones that they reviewed were the Exclaim E10s, which could be had for under $100 and appeared to perform pretty well at that price point. That got me looking at their whole product line, and I started checking other reviews. The one that really caught my eye was the under $200 E25 Luna Eclipse. That is a REALLY interesting design. While many reviews were positive but hardly ecstatic, this rave really caught my eye:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/pc-speaker-reviews/edifier-e25-luna-eclipse-review/

When reading something written by a reviewer with whom you are unfamiliar, it can be hard to judge, but sometimes you can read between the lines and sense a kindred spirit in some regards. Some of the other reviews complained that the bass was weak, but reading his review, he said pretty much the opposite. It appears that the difference is one of taste and judgment, and in this case, this reviewer likes tight, accurate, "fast" bass, which happens to be what I like as well. I suspect that the other reviewers were looking for that bloated sound that appeals to far too many people. The major negative that he noted was that they were voiced a bit bright, which is usually a negative for me as well. However, thinking about it, I realized that there was a pretty simple tool in the arsenal to solve that, and one that he likely did not try. (It is a bit counter-intuitive when dealing with desktop speakers.) I decided to take my chances and order a pair. I got them for $160 from Amazon. I ordered the red ones, even though I would have preferred the black, but at that point the black ones on Amazon were $20 more and I did not feel strongly enough about it to pay the difference.

The Luna Eclipse is indeed an interesting design. The cabinet is plastic, but it is very solid, and the egg-shaped design (no parallel surfaces) eliminates any internal standing waves, much like Orb Audio speakers. The really interesting part of the design is that in addition to the 3" main midrange/woofer, there is a slot in the rear with two 3" passive radiators, which face towards each other, and therefore are 180 degrees out-of-phase with each other. It seems to work like gangbusters to keep the bass tight -- there is not much audible overhang. When the note stops, so do the drivers. The bass is obviously not as deep as that which could be provided by a separate subwoofer, but the quality of the bass is so good that I would rather lose a few hertz than lose the responsiveness. I tried all of my favorite bass torture tests, and they passed with flying colours. I know that you are not a fan of jazz, but an upright string bass remains one of the best bass tests out there, and they do a fantastic job with that. Each note is clearly delineated up and down the range. Electric bass sounds great as well. Plus, they are plenty punchy, so drums sound very good as well. Techno really shines -- the soundtracks to The Social Network and Tron: Legacy sound fantastic.

They definitely are voiced brighter than I normally like. I would describe the treble as forward, not just bright. I would also describe the midrange as slightly recessed, though otherwise pretty neutral. But there is one non-electronic solution to help tame that forward/bright treble, and one that I am willing to bet that very few people think of when setting up desktop speakers: toe out. Most people toe the speakers in, or have them pointing straight ahead. I took a chance on the fact that if I toed them out, it would make the treble acceptable to me. The gamble paid off. I would still not describe the sound as perfectly neutral, which is usually my preference, but for multimedia speakers to be used for both music and gaming, they strike a pretty good balance between neutrality and the "liveliness" that works better with games. But the quality of the bass alone makes me willing to forgive any remaining lack of perfection in the treble. I have not heard speakers that small which could give bass that was not just fairly deep (within reason, given their size) but also taught and detailed. Usually, the compromise to get more bass out of a smaller cabinet results in muddy bass. Not so here.

I struggled getting a decent picture without better lighting in my office, but here you go, showing the toe out:

The New Other Bench Audiophile Thread, astonishing arrogance edition - Page 10 IMAG2686

**Seamaster** Mon Apr 13, 2015 9:56 am

Nice find. I have never heard of the maker, but your review definitely has me interested. I'd be looking at these if I were in the market for new speakers. The red works. Reminds me a bit of the paintjobs Voodoo used to do.

Not only did the maker surprise me, but I'm surprised that you went with a simple stereo setup. For some reason, I assumed you'd go for a 5.1 setup when it comes to gaming.

I like the design, which is a bit funky, but acceptable in a gaming laptop setup, and your review speaks highly of the sound. I don't mind a little extra treble, and I prefer tight bass over bloat. The only thing that might nibble at me is the slightly recessed midrange. I like a solid midrange. However, given your standards, I'm guessing most people wouldn't even notice.

**Iago** Mon Apr 13, 2015 10:48 am

I would love a 5.1 setup for gaming like I used to have, but it is really not practical in my office to wall-mount surround speakers, and with the three dogs, stands are even less practical. I have been gaming for a while with just headphones, so that prepped me to accept two channel much better. I was still planning on doing something 2.1, since I like the extra bass that a subwoofer can provide, but in that class (and at a price point that I was willing to shell out) I am skeptical that I could find a sub that would be anything other than bloated. These also had the advantage of size; some of the higher-end desktop stereo speakers have a larger footprint -- to say nothing of costing substantially more. At the $150 price range, I doubt that I could find anything that would make me happier.

The midrange is less than perfect to my ears, but I should note that nearly all of the reviews that I read described it as neutral (which it is, aside from that nebulous recessed quality that I hear.) So your mileage may vary. But that bass. . . My oh my, am I happy with that. I would not expect any small desktop speaker with 3" drivers to provide that kind of quality. Not as deep as larger speakers, but that kind of pitch definition is uncommon. (That precision is one of the reasons why I own Vandersteens for my main setup.) Again, though, since these are multimedia speakers, and I use them for both music and games, they fit the bill about as well as could be expected. A speaker that was a bit more pronounced in the midrange and a bit softer on top might be better for music, but not so much for games.

**Seamaster** Tue Apr 14, 2015 11:08 am

I quite enjoy gaming with headphones, but speakers are nice too. It sounds like you found a nice balance between cost and meeting your needs. I'd be interesting in hearing your long-term thoughts, say in a few months, once you've had more time with the speakers.

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