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Spends all this money to listen to the highest quality vinyl crackle. Builds his own speaker cabinets with no thought of acoustics. Spends thousands trying to

Spends all this money to listen to the highest quality vinyl crackle. Builds his own speaker cabinets with no thought of acoustics. Spends thousands trying to get “clean” power. Doesn’t treat his room. Classic audiophile. Few 00$ on acoustic foam, some good room EQ (there is software to do this for you) and some non chinesium speakers is all you need.

ElongatedMusket 3y ago
Link to sample software? The only room EQ I ever used was built into an Onkyo receiver and it was terrible at balancing the sound. Also, obligatory paywall archive link: https://archive.is/nR1VQ https://archive.is/nR1VQ
- plg 3y ago
  https://housecurve.com/ https://housecurve.com/
- juancn 3y ago
  https://mathaudio.com/room-eq.htm https://mathaudio.com/room-eq.htm
- karmakaze 3y ago
  My desktop setup uses the KRK GoAux 4 which have built-in EQ. Room EQ Wizard[0] was quite easy to use for other speakers. [0] https://www.roomeqwizard.com/ https://www.roomeqwizard.com/
- roblh 3y ago
  People have linked some cheap app things, which may work, but the real deal stuff is something like a Trinnov rack unit, or Neumanns DSP room correction system, which is what I use. Both are somewhat pricey, but this stuff isn’t audiophile junk, it’s meant for studios that really need the room to get out of the way, and it’s usually paired with quite a bit of treatment. The difference is insane. It’s not like a “this one has a tiny bit more sparkle” difference, it’s a +-15db at a couple of points in the low end kind of difference. Someone also linked RoomEQWizard, which is an awesome tool, but dialling in a flat sound with it using just an EQ is going to send you to phase hell, and you’ll also need a halfway decent measurement microphone to get the most of it.
  - NGRhodes 3y ago
    Been many years since I used REQ (as I've not changed my setup in a long time). Don't forget a decent soundcard (does not have to be expensive). I use a USB (can't remember the brand/chipset) and an old Audessy calibration mic (+-1db) which is good enough and works well with REQ.
  - ariendj 3y ago
    A cheap app that will provide results comparable to Neumann, Trinnov or Lyngdorf is drc-fir [0]. It will correct frequency response and phase while correcting the reverberation in your listening room. It's free software and quite well documented. [0] https://drc-fir.sourceforge.net/ https://drc-fir.sourceforge.net/
- ariendj 3y ago
  https://drc-fir.sourceforge.net/ https://drc-fir.sourceforge.net/
  - hedgehog 3y ago
    There was a period where my listening setup used BruteFIR running filters generated by this DRC program. To my ear it sounded really good, especially managing some of the quirks having large speakers in a small space. It was sort of an anti-audiophile setup though, the only way to play anything on it was via AirPlay and everything but the speakers was pretty boring and hidden.
    - ariendj 3y ago
      I love the 'boring and hidden' aspect. I used to have a huge stereo system. Nowadays I have a PC with a good sound card. It runs Kodi and is hooked up to two active speakers. Everything my old rack would do has been replicated in software at state of the art quality with free software. Any old desktop PC is powerful enough.
- auxym 3y ago
  REW (free, but not FOSS): https://www.roomeqwizard.com/ https://www.roomeqwizard.com/ A calibrated measurement microphone can be bought for 79$: https://www.minidsp.com/products/acoustic-measurement/umik-1 https://www.minidsp.com/products/acoustic-measurement/umik-1 or https://cross-spectrum.com/measurement/calibrated_umik.html https://cross-spectrum.com/measurement/calibrated_umik.html
  - kristofferR 3y ago
    Housecurve is the same, let's you use the iPhone microphone. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/housecurve/id1470695018 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/housecurve/id1470695018
michaelbuckbee 3y ago
There's the apocryphal story of the audiophile who when asked what the biggest upgrade to their system was replied with "getting the impacted earwax out of my head"
- brianwawok 3y ago
  People will spend $10,000 to upgrade to a carbon fiber bike and save 4 pounds of weight while having a giant beer gut
  - jancsika 3y ago
    It's not the 4 pound savings they are paying a premium for. It's the ironclad guarantee that the carbon fiber bike won't gain that 4 pounds back in the coming weeks and months. :)
scrlk 3y ago
> Doesn’t treat his room. From the article, it sounds like he did have some room treatment: > In the 1980s, Fritz launched his project by blowing up the living room into a listening room, a 1,650-square-foot bump-out based on the same shoe box ratio, just under 2 to 1, that worked magic in concert halls from the Musikverein in Vienna to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The idea was that the acoustic waves would similarly roll off Fritz’s long, cement-filled walls and 17-foot-high, wood-paneled ceiling to bathe the listener in music. > He got his older son, Kurt, to help pour the concrete floors. Then he worked alongside a construction crew to put up the 12-inch-thick walls and the sound panels to line them.
- TheOtherHobbes 3y ago
  Wood-panelled concrete sounds like the opposite of treatment. You may get a nice reverberant mess off that, but it's not going to be controlled. If the walls are parallel you will absolutely get standing waves at the room modes. This doesn't happen so much in concert halls because the walls aren't usually parallel and orchestras aren't loud enough to excite the modes for long. But if you put a big PA in a large concert hall and kick it with sine waves, there are always a few frequencies that make the room ring.
  - scrlk 3y ago
    Doing a bit of searching led me to: https://darklantern.proboards.com/post/16119 https://darklantern.proboards.com/post/16119 https://acousticsfirst.info/tag/ken-fritz https://acousticsfirst.info/tag/ken-fritz > The general thoughts that went into the overall plan in designing this room was to accommodate not only audio but video. The acoustic plan was to eliminate as many parallel surfaces as possible. The side walls are skewed out by 2” from front to back to help reduce slap echos. Both the front and the back of the room incorporate a curve design that would help scatter sound. I replicated the ceiling design from a concert hall in Osaka, Japan. The ceiling to floor dimension at the front of the room, 11.5 feet, expanded in five different planes to 17.5 feet at the rear of the room. > Acoustic testing was then done by a Richmond company, “Acoustics First”. ETF measurements were taken and sound panels were then designed according to a patented algorithm. The panels were then built by Owens Corning according to prescribed specification.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
adrianmonk 3y ago
> Doesn’t treat his room. He definitely did treat his room! There's a documentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b2IOOhJmxw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b2IOOhJmxw . He starts talking about the room about 7:00 and then again about 8:50. It is a custom-built room. It has cinder block walls, but inside them are 2x6 studs spaced 12 inches apart with purlins for extra bracing, then two layers of 5/8-inch drywall. From the video, you can see that the ceiling of the room is sloped. The front and back walls are curved and have curtains hanging on them. Although the side walls seem to be parallel, there are a lot of irregular surfaces that should break up the sound, including a big fireplace that juts out. The floor is wood but is mostly covered in rugs. And as far as acoustic treatment, he had a local manufacturer of acoustics products come out and measure the room's acoustics, and then they installed sound panels. The company's blog talks about working with him on it: https://acousticsfirst.info/tag/ken-fritz/ https://acousticsfirst.info/tag/ken-fritz/
lancesells 3y ago
It's the journey, not the destination.

ElongatedMusket 3y ago

Link to sample software? The only room EQ I ever used was built into an Onkyo receiver and it was terrible at balancing the sound. Also, obligatory paywall archive link: https://archive.is/nR1VQ https://archive.is/nR1VQ

plg 3y ago
https://housecurve.com/ https://housecurve.com/
juancn 3y ago
https://mathaudio.com/room-eq.htm https://mathaudio.com/room-eq.htm
karmakaze 3y ago
My desktop setup uses the KRK GoAux 4 which have built-in EQ. Room EQ Wizard[0] was quite easy to use for other speakers. [0] https://www.roomeqwizard.com/ https://www.roomeqwizard.com/
roblh 3y ago
People have linked some cheap app things, which may work, but the real deal stuff is something like a Trinnov rack unit, or Neumanns DSP room correction system, which is what I use. Both are somewhat pricey, but this stuff isn’t audiophile junk, it’s meant for studios that really need the room to get out of the way, and it’s usually paired with quite a bit of treatment. The difference is insane. It’s not like a “this one has a tiny bit more sparkle” difference, it’s a +-15db at a couple of points in the low end kind of difference. Someone also linked RoomEQWizard, which is an awesome tool, but dialling in a flat sound with it using just an EQ is going to send you to phase hell, and you’ll also need a halfway decent measurement microphone to get the most of it.
- NGRhodes 3y ago
  Been many years since I used REQ (as I've not changed my setup in a long time). Don't forget a decent soundcard (does not have to be expensive). I use a USB (can't remember the brand/chipset) and an old Audessy calibration mic (+-1db) which is good enough and works well with REQ.
- ariendj 3y ago
  A cheap app that will provide results comparable to Neumann, Trinnov or Lyngdorf is drc-fir [0]. It will correct frequency response and phase while correcting the reverberation in your listening room. It's free software and quite well documented. [0] https://drc-fir.sourceforge.net/ https://drc-fir.sourceforge.net/
ariendj 3y ago
https://drc-fir.sourceforge.net/ https://drc-fir.sourceforge.net/
- hedgehog 3y ago
  There was a period where my listening setup used BruteFIR running filters generated by this DRC program. To my ear it sounded really good, especially managing some of the quirks having large speakers in a small space. It was sort of an anti-audiophile setup though, the only way to play anything on it was via AirPlay and everything but the speakers was pretty boring and hidden.
  - ariendj 3y ago
    I love the 'boring and hidden' aspect. I used to have a huge stereo system. Nowadays I have a PC with a good sound card. It runs Kodi and is hooked up to two active speakers. Everything my old rack would do has been replicated in software at state of the art quality with free software. Any old desktop PC is powerful enough.
auxym 3y ago
REW (free, but not FOSS): https://www.roomeqwizard.com/ https://www.roomeqwizard.com/ A calibrated measurement microphone can be bought for 79$: https://www.minidsp.com/products/acoustic-measurement/umik-1 https://www.minidsp.com/products/acoustic-measurement/umik-1 or https://cross-spectrum.com/measurement/calibrated_umik.html https://cross-spectrum.com/measurement/calibrated_umik.html
- kristofferR 3y ago
  Housecurve is the same, let's you use the iPhone microphone. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/housecurve/id1470695018 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/housecurve/id1470695018

michaelbuckbee 3y ago

There's the apocryphal story of the audiophile who when asked what the biggest upgrade to their system was replied with "getting the impacted earwax out of my head"

brianwawok 3y ago
People will spend $10,000 to upgrade to a carbon fiber bike and save 4 pounds of weight while having a giant beer gut
- jancsika 3y ago
  It's not the 4 pound savings they are paying a premium for. It's the ironclad guarantee that the carbon fiber bike won't gain that 4 pounds back in the coming weeks and months. :)

scrlk 3y ago

> Doesn’t treat his room. From the article, it sounds like he did have some room treatment: > In the 1980s, Fritz launched his project by blowing up the living room into a listening room, a 1,650-square-foot bump-out based on the same shoe box ratio, just under 2 to 1, that worked magic in concert halls from the Musikverein in Vienna to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The idea was that the acoustic waves would similarly roll off Fritz’s long, cement-filled walls and 17-foot-high, wood-paneled ceiling to bathe the listener in music. > He got his older son, Kurt, to help pour the concrete floors. Then he worked alongside a construction crew to put up the 12-inch-thick walls and the sound panels to line them.

TheOtherHobbes 3y ago
Wood-panelled concrete sounds like the opposite of treatment. You may get a nice reverberant mess off that, but it's not going to be controlled. If the walls are parallel you will absolutely get standing waves at the room modes. This doesn't happen so much in concert halls because the walls aren't usually parallel and orchestras aren't loud enough to excite the modes for long. But if you put a big PA in a large concert hall and kick it with sine waves, there are always a few frequencies that make the room ring.
- scrlk 3y ago
  Doing a bit of searching led me to: https://darklantern.proboards.com/post/16119 https://darklantern.proboards.com/post/16119 https://acousticsfirst.info/tag/ken-fritz https://acousticsfirst.info/tag/ken-fritz > The general thoughts that went into the overall plan in designing this room was to accommodate not only audio but video. The acoustic plan was to eliminate as many parallel surfaces as possible. The side walls are skewed out by 2” from front to back to help reduce slap echos. Both the front and the back of the room incorporate a curve design that would help scatter sound. I replicated the ceiling design from a concert hall in Osaka, Japan. The ceiling to floor dimension at the front of the room, 11.5 feet, expanded in five different planes to 17.5 feet at the rear of the room. > Acoustic testing was then done by a Richmond company, “Acoustics First”. ETF measurements were taken and sound panels were then designed according to a patented algorithm. The panels were then built by Owens Corning according to prescribed specification.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

adrianmonk 3y ago

> Doesn’t treat his room. He definitely did treat his room! There's a documentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b2IOOhJmxw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b2IOOhJmxw . He starts talking about the room about 7:00 and then again about 8:50. It is a custom-built room. It has cinder block walls, but inside them are 2x6 studs spaced 12 inches apart with purlins for extra bracing, then two layers of 5/8-inch drywall. From the video, you can see that the ceiling of the room is sloped. The front and back walls are curved and have curtains hanging on them. Although the side walls seem to be parallel, there are a lot of irregular surfaces that should break up the sound, including a big fireplace that juts out. The floor is wood but is mostly covered in rugs. And as far as acoustic treatment, he had a local manufacturer of acoustics products come out and measure the room's acoustics, and then they installed sound panels. The company's blog talks about working with him on it: https://acousticsfirst.info/tag/ken-fritz/ https://acousticsfirst.info/tag/ken-fritz/

lancesells 3y ago

It's the journey, not the destination.