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quadanasaziland

500 Club - QQ All-Star
Since 2002/2003
Joined
Mar 13, 2002
Messages
579
Location
never never land
Have a good tweak or tip, post it here.
I'll start this thread with a couple easy ones.

Record mat- Why spend big $ on an audiophile mat when this probably is just as good. Here is a pic of my 1900 that came with this mat. Here is a link to one of the ebay sellers that list these.
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Non-Felt-Hi...goryZ306QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

But I bought the same stuff in a 10' roll at WalMart for $7.00 to put on some speaker stands. Non slip, anti static, works well for both apps.
 

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Speaking of speaker stands, spikes or cones will help get your speakers up out of the carpet and there by, the theory is tighten up the bass. One thing is sure they anchor your speaks or stands very well, like a rock!
 

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I tweaked a little my turntable adding a second thinner mat over the original, which lifted up the record.
I read Thorens did something to lift up or down the tonearm to give a better vertical tracking, I thought I could lift the record.
I tested it with some cd4 records and believe it or not it sounded great, no more highest frequency blending (sometimes you hear a front hi-hat sound in the rears too), resulting in a cd4 nirvana :banana:
 

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I decided to try plugging the sub-out from the analog 5.1 outputs of my dvd player directly into the low level line in of my powered sub. Boy was I ever glad I did. My subwoofer never sounded close to the way it sounds now - not by a long shot. This wouldn't be for everyone because it means that you have to manually adjust your sub settings for each disc and each time you change the system volume. For me, the payoff out weighs the hassle - no question.

I'm adding this edit...
I was concerned initially whether this was safe to do. I wrote to the sub manufacturer and got the following response:
"It would be best to ask the manufacturer of the DVD player this question but
connecting the subwoofer directly isn't a good idea unless the player has
variable outputs rather than fixed."
That seemed pretty open-ended to me. The weren't saying my warranty would be jeopardized. For me it finally came down to how does the sub sound. Does it sound like damage is being done or does it sound better than before.
 
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Have a good tweak or tip, post it here.
I'll start this thread with a couple easy ones.

Record mat- Why spend big $ on an audiophile mat when this probably is just as good. Here is a pic of my 1900 that came with this mat. Here is a link to one of the ebay sellers that list these.
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Non-Felt-Hi...goryZ306QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

But I bought the same stuff in a 10' roll at WalMart for $7.00 to put on some speaker stands. Non slip, anti static, works well for both apps.


What is that stuff called ?

Is it felt or rubber ?

That might just be dandy on my SL-D1.
 
Here's a good one which is kind of embarassing....

For over four years I thought I had my speaker outputs balanced until I got 'L.A. Woman' DVD-A.

I was listening to the whirlwind 'Mr. Mojo rising' mix and couldn't understand why the rears would have been mixed at a lower volume.

Duh. I did not allow for a 1dB difference in sensitivity between my fronts of the same series and the additional speaker cable length.

I thought I could 'earball' the settings, but I guess not.

Get an SPL meter... or a copy of 'L.A. Woman'.
 
If I were you I'd try to figure out why there is such a difference between

DVDP-->sub

vs

DVDP-->AVR-->Sub
Don't know if there's much to figure out other than my receiver does a poor job of handling the LFE signal. I wonder how many other setups would benefit from a direct feed from player to sub? My point is that if you can do it then why not try it. If nothing else it's a good test of your receiver (which mine obviously failed).
 
I also prefer to adjust the Low frequency RCA analog out from my DVDA/SACD player independently of the main L/R channels, but I pass it through a power amp with volume control first and then to the sub. When the Low fequency channel has little or no content as on some 5.1 disc s (The moody blues discs are a good example), I connect either the R or L main channel out to the sub power amp and get that great low bass the sounds so good. Your player must have double R/L front channel RCA outs to do this (you must be using analog RCA 5.1 outs in your system).
 
If you have a Metrotec EV/SQ decoder, you can use the "Synthesized Quad" position to get the EV Universal decoder parameters. And with a small modification, the "unused" set of switch positions can be made to give the 4 primary SQ modulations without any blends.

Note that the EV position does NOT give the original EV decoding values. The back channels are the SQ back modulations blended 80 percent.
 
heres an oldie - i used to put a penny or nickel - depending on how beat up the LP was - to put more weight on the cartridge to keep it from skipping.
funny how my vinyl never held up.

cheers all

w.a.r.
 
heres an oldie - i used to put a penny or nickel - depending on how beat up the LP was - to put more weight on the cartridge to keep it from skipping.
funny how my vinyl never held up.

cheers all

w.a.r.

W.A.

I used to do the same thing whenever I acquired an old, beatup vinyl album. I would do this to record the album to tape.

Justin
 
i have used several variations on speaker placement - but first - are you using 4 of the exact same speaker - this is a must.

second - do you have a listening chair or sofa or..i dunno...beanbag? this is going to be your focal point. unlike 5.1 theater mode - where you want bullets buzzing by your head or objects whizzing around you - i dont see the need for a set of speakers to be behind you - called the rear channel, i know but i have always thought it misleading to call the rear channels...well, REAR. rather - right "one" and right "two" - and left "one" and left "two".

for quad QS and quad SQ - i am no expert - Doug g is the cd-4 go-to guy - i use sansui qs synth - and i have said this before - and i dont mind repeating myself - i like it. it decodes a stereo input into quad - it somehow takes frequencies out of the original signal and amps it up and sends that information to the right "two" and left "two" speakers - so the same Black Sabbath "iron man" you have always heard in stereo - decoded through the sansui qs synth mode will find the sounds hidden in the original recording - and amp them up - so iron man now has sounds - nuances always there - but unable to get a grip on - so it sounds better than ever before - however, i have a quad slob rebuild qrx9001 with the blend resistor removed - and when i had my speakers spread throughout the room - unless i remained seated with all 4 speakers pointed right at me and balanced out (which sounds good) i would get up to boogie or air-guitar or chase a kid out of the room and i would hear the weirdest sound out of whatever speaker i was closest to - this got old real quick-like. so i use both 'A' and 'B' sets of speakers at one time ....'A' and 'B' right one/two on the right (4 speakers) -- and on the left - the same thing - 'A' and 'B' left one and two - i know it is eight speakers total - all pioneer cs99a's - so in effect - i have stereo - but with sansui quad qs synth sound...it is fearless in its attempt to bring more to the table.

however - from what i understand about qs and sq - the speakers were meant to be separated - the recordings are made with four tracks - so it was intentional to have the drummer here - the guitarist there and...you get the picture - the sounds were meant to be separate - so to position your speaks in a way that you get all those individual sounds to hit you right in the face is important. i dont see the need to ever have a speaker set behind you - god gave us ears pointing forward so you could look at what you are hearing - and so thats why i say keep all the speakers in front of you - but spaced apart in a way that they all have sound that collides perfectly...right in your face. since the rear channels, right two and left two, are weaker...usually - i do see the need for right one and left one to be more in front of you - lets call that - 12 o'clock - but further away from you - and left two and right two can be in a little closer and in positions i will call 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock. but then there is the balance control to help balance out what your wife will find impermissible - "youre not making a stonehenge of speakers around the room!" so the speakers often get pushed flat against a wall...so the balance controls are used. sometimes the right "one" and left "one" set of speakers will have an independent volume control and a volume control for left "two" and right "two" set of speakers - this will help to balance out perfect speaker placement over normal function and design of a normal living room versus a sound studio - or listening room. so if you got no kids and you got a tolerant wife - put the speakers where they are facing you and give you the spatial quality that YOU like - youre still going to monkey with the volume and independent balance controls - but if in a normal home life with the family - put the speakers as close to perfection as possible and really use the balance and different volume settings to iron out the issues with good, but not ideal, speaker placement.

here is 5.1 - http://www.bolo-digital.com/pages/Postproduction/post.html

here is quad by some standards - i disagree - http://tot.sat.qc.ca/down/nslam/doc/DOC_HTML/quad.jpg

here is what sq and qs prefers - http://www.wendycarlos.com/surround/10)srnd.jpg

wendy carlos agrees with me - this is the worst speaker placement - http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:16,s:59&biw=1360&bih=613

and this is a great video on how to set up everything you need to know - with a semi-naked woman giving the "how to" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOU8GIRUd_g

the wendy carlos sight has some insights

take care - and post what you find best

william a reid
 
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The original quad specs dictate that the four speakers be placed equalaterally in the four corners.

However, I have found that it really isn't all that critical for a good quad soundfield. Due to room restrictions, my back speakers are farther apart than the fronts and it works just fine.

And William is correct. They should all be the same model speaker.

Doug
 
Modern AVRs include speaker distance compensation (per channel delay) as a feature. So physical equidistance isn't as critical as it once was.
 
I decided to try plugging the sub-out from the analog 5.1 outputs of my dvd player directly into the low level line in of my powered sub. Boy was I ever glad I did. My subwoofer never sounded close to the way it sounds now - not by a long shot. This wouldn't be for everyone because it means that you have to manually adjust your sub settings for each disc and each time you change the system volume. For me, the payoff out weighs the hassle - no question.

I'm adding this edit...
I was concerned initially whether this was safe to do. I wrote to the sub manufacturer and got the following response:
"It would be best to ask the manufacturer of the DVD player this question but
connecting the subwoofer directly isn't a good idea unless the player has
variable outputs rather than fixed."
That seemed pretty open-ended to me. The weren't saying my warranty would be jeopardized. For me it finally came down to how does the sub sound. Does it sound like damage is being done or does it sound better than before.

NO!!! don't try this at home!!!!
 
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