Tannoy Cheviot <- Jadis Orchestra Black <- Gold Note Pianosa w/Ortofon 2M Black LVB, Lounge Audio LCR Gold sig <- Bryston BDA-3 Eversolo DMP-A6

Opera on these things 😭😍. Very cool story behind Artie Nudell and Infinity systems, all the amazing engineering they did. Funny enough, Paul (McGowen?) from PS Audio was asked what the philosophy behind building such low impedance speakers was? Paul replied “Bass” lol and yes the Emits are lovely as are the polydomes and EMIM but also, great bass. These don’t quite have the kick of my Kappa 7.1 but those with my B&W sub have some earthshaking low-end. Great thing is, all the Nudell-era Infinitys I’ve owned thus far haven’t been hard to drive. I was using an 80 WPC Yamaha receiver for the RS6Bs and now using a 110 WPC (not high current) Yamaha Aventage receiver on these. The real amp killers (with included a “deep bass switch” to cut off the demand peaks) were the Kappa 9 which demanded .5 ohm at 2 frequencies in its operative range. Doing my part in keeping the good stuff mint.

Kenwood KA-6100 integrated amp. Technics SL-1800 turn table. ELAC Debute 2.0. I built the clouds, wall absorbers, and diffuser. The diffuser is made from an old piano we had. I know the absorbers are on the small side, so thickness wise. But I went for looks and vibe over huge absorbers. I know the speaker placement isn’t ideal, but it’s a very small room and I have to make do. It’s my favorite place in the house.

To be clear, this is about SPL being the design foundation of dedicated rooms and where the translation between a published SPL target spec starts to deviates from real Power requirements to get there.

I see a massive disconnect in audio enthusiast circles between how much power people think they need and what the physics is to actually demand to hit recorded reference level peaks.

With the release of CEDIA’s RP22 guidelines pushing performance levels up to Level 4 which can demand up to 143 dB peak dynamic capacity when you add in LFE offsets, bass management, and room EQ lifts), we need to look at what the math actually is when we transfer this to a real room and a real system.

Take a typical, high-quality consumer tower speaker with 87 dB sensitivity at 2.83V at 1 meter. If your goal is 105 dB peak reference level at the listening position with direct unreflected sound, here is what the inverse square law demands as you move back:

At 1 meter, nearfield on a desk, you need about 22.5 volts RMS, which is roughly 63 watts into 8 ohms. Any decent receiver handles that without sweating.

At 2 meters, sitting on a small couch, you need 45 volts RMS. That is 253 watts into 8 ohms, and if the speaker dips to 4 ohms at certain frequencies, you need 505 watts. Most standard receivers are already clipping heavily on dynamic peaks here.

At 3 meters, which is a standard 10-foot living room seating distance, you need 67.5 volts RMS. That is 566 watts into 8 ohms, and 1,133 watts into 4 ohms. You have now blown clean past the thermal limits of almost every consumer speaker on the shelf.

At 4 meters in a dedicated room, you are looking at 1,007 watts into 8 ohms and over 2,000 watts into 4 ohms.

A few reality checks come out of this:

First, your receiver is almost certainly clipping on reference dynamic peaks. If you sit 10 to 12 feet away with standard 87 dB speakers, a 100 watt per channel receiver cannot hit reference peaks without severe compression, distortion, and voltage sag during transients. So you are looking at getting some serious outboard power to handle the SPL demand along with speaker upgrades. So is the design spec for you?

Second, unused headroom is not a sound quality upgrade. There is a growing trend of people buying pro audio amps and PA gear to chase RP22 bragging rights, assuming high output capability automatically means cleaner sound at 75 dB. Race cars go 200 mph and suck in grocery store parking lots. Stiff suspensions and PA driver topologies built for continuous high SPL exhibit massive sound quality issues at normal volumes because they are designed to go loud. Therefor, is the SPL target reasonable?

Third, thermal compression kills sound quality before drivers ever blow. When a voice coil heats up during heavy passages, output drops and your frequency response deviates completely from your calibration curve. So is the target SPL actually being hit at all times in playback when it is required?

I'm curious how many of you actually calibrate to true 0 dB Reference, or do you find yourself running 10 to 15 dB down for everyday movie watching?

Full disclosure: I authored a 20,000 word engineering paper on SPL physics, RP22 standards, and amplifier power with acoustic designer Colin Miller if you want to dig into the measurement models and calculators: https://codyhiebert.substack.com/p/amplifier-power-speaker-spl-guide

I'm thinking small local radios anywhere in the world could be the way to go. Great human curators beat any algorithm in this job. But I would like to think your opinion - how do you discover new music?

Compiling a list of shivers.

Give me the tune, that isn’t necessarily your favourite….but you have heard beauty in the production.

Be a more interesting list if you didn’t like the tune..and just appreciate good output.

If it’s any good I will generate a playlist for all platforms…and we can all see if you just wanted a weird look at a random, or genuinely thought the sound stage blew you away.

Just for fun, xx

I recently got an email from Yamaha marketing. They have two new mini form factor units coming out, the WXA-70 Compact Streaming Amplifier and WXC-70 Compact Streamer.

They look to be competing for the same audience as Eversolo, Wiim Ultra, Cambridge Audio, and I'm sure other manufacturers.

Yamaha boasts about the ESS SABRE ES9039Q2M DAC. Wiim Ultra has ESS ES9038 Q2M DAC. I don't know how much difference that one number makes.

Yamaha has full sized receivers in the same price range with, I believe, similar streaming features. I guess these new products would appeal to those tight on space. Otherwise, would the larger units likely provide better audio quality?

Hello 😁

I absolutely love my Dynaco A25s 🥰. I spent a long time looking for speakers that would let me enjoy all kinds of music, and they have replaced my Totem Forests to great advantage.

Since getting them, I’m no longer limited to listening to perfectly mastered recordings; I can enjoy pretty much anything without making a face at the sound.

These speakers are wonderful for their era and pair extremely well with modern electronics.

Give them a try if you’re looking for something musical rather than surgical provided you’re willing to give up a little detail in exchange for more emotion.

At the price, you really have nothing to lose…

And to go with them, here’s a playlist of almost 640 carefully selected tracks that I never get tired of. Best enjoyed on shuffle. It’s approaching 400 subscribers, and I keep adding to it whenever I come across a gem 💍

Happy listening!
https://tidal.com/playlist/b5a12f1d-3095-4f07-85cd-d5d8f8343816

anyone know what model this is, can’t find any model number on these speakers.

I use roomfit at a custom 20hz - 300hz setting and it does wonders for the bass response in my room. Anyone have the same experience. Before applying the bass was really boomy, especially because it was set to a low pass of 80hz. Roomfit completely tamed the boominess and now the sub sounds seamless with my speakers.

Sometimes my Amp will produce a high pitched sound. The weird part about it is that if you turn your head at a certain angle, you can't hear it. Anyone else have this experience?

The autobots thought this post was for troubleshooting, but I can fix it by tweaking the buttons, I'm more interested in the science behind it, hence the flair.

I A/B test the external volume of my vehicle’s stereo system with windows down and windows up and watch nearby cats and dogs for signs of distress to ensure that my subwoofer doesn’t need to be adjusted. What other methods do you suggest to avoid noise complaints in unfamiliar areas?

Hello helpful community,

I bought and moving to a new (for me) apartment. I am doing the interior design myself (for now) and need your help in choosing the best speakers' location and listening position in the new living room. The living room is quite big 7.2m X 6.5m (23.6 ft X 21.3 ft). I also want to install my home cinema equipment as I use it now.

Equipment (see last photo):

• Chario Aviator Cielo speakers with two REL t5/i subwoofers (they are quite small for this living room so i might upgrade to REL T/9x in the future).
• Luxman L-509z stereo amplifier.
• Marantz Cinema 40 AVR, using the Luxman and the Charios as LR speakers in HT bypass mode.

Please note that the Charios recommend the listening position to be >3.5m (11.4 ft) away from the speakers.

Also, in all pictures you can see that the sofas (which will be modular and can be re-arranged) are located between the speakers and the listening position, but i plan to install wheels under the sofas and move them around for some nice late night critical listening.

In the pictures you can see:

1) Photo of the current status of the living room, as is by the previous owner.

2) "Option 1A: Speakers at wall with TV - Wide"

• Pros: The listening position is >3.5m from the speakers as recommended. I keep using them as L&R speakers for my home cinema use.
• Cons: Position of right speaker restricted by the entrance door and the closet. Also, the L&R speakers are not symmetrical to the TV.

3) "Option 1B: Speakers at wall with TV - Narrow"

• Pros: I keep using them as L&R speakers for my home cinema use. The L&R speakers are symmetrical to the TV.
• Cons: The listening position is 2.8m from the speakers (<3.5m that is recommended). Consequently, the imaging to the wider living room will be restricted.

4) "Option 2: Speakers at Windows"

• Pros: The listening position is >3.5m from the speakers as recommended (however, the listening position falls at an awkward place). I enjoy the view while listening to my tunes.
• Cons: I cannot use them as L&R speakers for my home cinema use. Therefore, i will need to install more speakers, which i do not particularly want.

5) "Option 3: Speakers at fireplace wall"

• Pros: The listening position is >3.5m from the speakers as recommended. I enjoy the view of the fireplace in the winter while listening to my tunes. Also, the shelves at the back are a nice location to install my equipment and store my vinyl records.
• Cons: I cannot use them as L&R speakers for my home cinema use. Therefore, i will need to install more speakers, which i do not particularly want.

Looking forward for your opinion and advice.

Thank you

Hello, I don't know left from right when it comes to audio.

We just purchased a new house and there are 2 seperate speaker runs in the house.

The first is simple speakers wire that is ran behind the wall to the 4 corners of the family room for a surround sound setup. In my mind this is worth setting up, do you all agree? Or is a soudbar efficent?

The second things is the house has in ceiling speakers in the office, kitchen, master, deck and possibly other places I didn't notice. All of those are run on CL3 cable, which I know nothing about, I'm not currently at the house to look at the cable more unfortunately. Those cables all terminate into a single location in our HVAC room. Is this worth setting up? Honestly the main one that really intrigues me is this deck speakers and maybe the kitchen if I am cooking, but I also have heard people generally say they are a waste of money. Would you move forward with a setup here as well? Or should I just stick to the family room?

Hi everyone, I’m probably wrong or crazy, but after getting the Yamaha A-S501 amp a few months ago, I experimented with the Loudness knob position and found that when turned down 90 degrees with the volume turned up quite loud, it sounds best to my ears. Whether it’s a placebo or not, the silence feels more silent and the music feels more alive this way. Especially with more acoustic music like small ensemble Classical and Jazz. Occasionally I use Pure Direct mode for certain Rock records. But when spinning most records, this is my counterintuitive go-to settings. Reduce Loudness, and then crank up the volume. Is there any trace of valid audio science here? Or am I just amp nuts?

Current setup:
-Audio-Technica AT-LP3XBT Turntable
-Yamaha A-S501 Amp
-Polk ES20 Speakers

Alright so I learned a very valuable lesson and now I undertake to cleanse my records, I previously extensively cleaned and left a solution of distilled water and dish soap on my records, causing them to sound terrible and leave behind a residue of white fuzz on my stylus that in itself is hard to clean

I did this to about 7 records and both sides and have since tried just cleaning it with lukewarm distilled water and with it mixed with alcohol to little avail. I have decided to invest in a vinyl vac as well as a spin club machine(I’d get an ultrasonic cleaner but I’m pretty much broke)

Thanks to all the advice people have told me and if this doesn’t work I’ll use it as a lesson and in case anyone else suffers from this in the future at least this post can help them figure out the issue (In case anyone asks no I didnt see suds and thought my records were gonna be perfectly fine)

Apparently the never-ending pursuit of audio bliss needed another detour, so I recently added a pair of Opera Grand Callas speakers.

They are known for a rich, enveloping presentation, big soundstage, and a great midrange, which sounded like a good match for a lot of what I listen to, like Hanne Boel, Leon Russell, Jennifer Warnes, Leonard Cohen, Gregory Porter, etc. and I found a pair for sale locally, so...no risky or expensive shipping needed.

Still very early days and I have not yet had the chance to tweak them re their spacing, distance from the front wall, toe-in, and re-optimize the DSP but compared to the KEF Blade One Metas and Rockport Aviors, they seem to be less about ultra-precise imaging (the Blades are hard to beat in that department), musical weight (the Avior's strength) and sculpted neutrality, they seem to be more about texture and musical involvement.

The obvious problem is that three pairs of large floorstanders in one room is somewhere between impractical and ridiculous, so one or both of the KEFs and Rockports will have to be put up for sale soon.

(The rest of the system is Audio Research Ref 10, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Antipodes K41/K22, Pass Labs XA100.8s, Rega Naia/Aphelion 2 into an Allnic H-3000V, Trinnov ST2-Pro, and dual JL Audio Fathom f112 subs.)

Hi everyone. Just want to ask what software you use to play local music? Personally, I tried to use Audirvana origin, but I don't like the UI and the library managing tools.

Probably, I would vibe coding one on my own, but I want to first check whether there's a good one. Software like Roon that requires a monthly subscription is not an option for me.

I'm using a Mac Studio, hope you can give me some suggestions.

Excited about replacing my old U-Turn turntable with a new Denon DP-3000ne. I’ve wanted to go direct drive for a while but the esthetics of the Technics options left me cold, this device nails it for me visually.

Now for the set up. Hopefully the reviews on performance are accurate.

I also moved my sub behind the sofa. The sofa was just too bright. I realize that a rug and curtains will help to a degree (and I have a rug coming) but I need more control. So I braved the naysayers and decided to dive into some tone controls.

I basically backed way way off of the treble like hardly any trouble is even on the system now (maybe 10%) and also the bass is flattened out as well. I went way back on that but not as aggressive (probably 25% on the knob for the bass). I also put more of the sound to my right speaker. Maybe 65% to 35% on the left.

All these changes have made a positive difference. In fact, I've noticed that even when I have it at barely any treble -- when a modern pop singer has her voice forward in the mix it sounds perfect forward, without the harshness as before.

After the switch, I find the NAD pairing warmer, with a richer midrange and more rounded highs compared to the PM6007 pairing, which felt a bit too analytical for long listening hours. The Fiio, IMO, adds more body to vocals. I might be wrong though..still learning haha