Carver is a name I haven't heard for a long time...Bob made some great audio equipment
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Carver is a name I haven't heard for a long time...Bob made some great audio equipment
I remember going to the Hard Rock cafe in Amsterdam in the late 80s and seeing their 2 floor to ceiling racks of Phase Linear amps Bob Carver designed all hooked up to a couple dozen JBL 4312s all around the place. And the owner had a private collection of concert videos from Montreux that played through it. That was sweet.Carver is a name I haven't heard for a long time...Bob made some great audio equipment
I had 4312's...back in the day...I had quite a few in the JBL line...ah yes the 80's...I was into video then...especially Laser Disc
Yeah, I had JBL Century 100’s back in the early 70’s and, much, much later, a Pioneer laser disc player.I had 4312's...back in the day...I had quite a few in the JBL line...ah yes the 80's...I was into video then...especially Laser Disc
It was a simpler time back then...you just bought a Laser Disc player and used it...not an endless procession of firmware updates followed your purchase...but unfortunately the software didn't live up to the hardware and my Laser Disc collection suffered from Laser Rot
My first post. I completely agree about how high headrests interfere with the audio from the back channels. I also noticed if my head is resting against the cushion, that too interferes with the audio in the front when it comes to the imaging along with how it changes the characteristics of the audio. When I move my head forward (just a little bit more in front of the head cushions) the audio up front does improve a little bit. I really do believe the head cushions do interfere characteristically with the audio when I'm in a very relaxed position.
One day I'd like to replace my current leather couch to some type of home theatre type furniture, but I might be better off getting a firm leather couch with headrests that are not as high (or plush) as it is with my current piece of furniture.
Yes, I got rid of the love seat with a high headrest and bought one with a back that is only 33" high. It was the only low-back love seat in the entire inventory of that rather large furniture company. Fortunately they had a color that matched the decor. More importantly, it definitely yielded an improvement in overall audio performance.
P.S. Congratulations on your first post barnman. We are all looking forward to your future contributions, questions, funny stories, etc.
I still have a working Pioneer LD player that sounds great with CDs (analog out). It is my go-to CD player and I have several supposedly-better options.It was a simpler time back then...you just bought a Laser Disc player and used it...not an endless procession of firmware updates followed your purchase...but unfortunately the software didn't live up to the hardware and my Laser Disc collection suffered from Laser Rot
Welcome! Nice first post!
Just completed a little update with my system about two months ago. Replaced two bookshelf type speakers (I had for about 20 years) in the rears with four new on-wall speakers to upgrade from 5.1 to 7.1; replaced an older receiver and Blu-ray player of about 10 years with newer ones, also added a dedicated multi-disc player for things like DVD-A and SACD. I also brought out an older dedicated amp to power the three mains up front to help take some of the load off the new receiver (the receiver now only powers the surrounds.) Brought out my old center speaker that I haven't used in years because it sounds good ONLY when I was sitting directly in front of it. Re-discovering the benefits of a center channel, I decided to work with it to see if I could improve upon it's very poor off axis dispersion. A suggestion from a well known audio video forum to set the center speaker from horizontal to vertical actually solved the problem (now I really like my center channel!) Now no matter where I sit, I can still clearly hear the dialog and can still tell it's coming from the center. Plugged all the ports to reduce or eliminate any type of phase errors. Distance adjustments, bass time adjustments, bass phase adjustments, some on-wall sound treatments...along with a visit from my favorite professional audio/video calibrator about two months ago completes this update for now.
This update took about five months. From thinking about what new equipment to add, to scheduling electrical people (for all the in-wall in-ceiling wiring) and making sure my favorite drywall contractor was available on one of my days off. This upgrade was to only include two new subs to replace the one sub I had that stopped working about four years ago, but as you now know...it ended up being more than that.
Next year I'll be adding four (in ceiling) Atmos speakers (which by the way have already been pre-wired in the ceiling) along with another visit from my favorite professional audio/video calibrator to get the new Atmos speakers to work well with the rest of the system.
This update took about five months. From thinking about what new equipment to add, to scheduling electrical people (for all the in-wall in-ceiling wiring) and making sure my favorite drywall contractor was available on one of my days off. This upgrade was to only include two new subs to replace the one sub I had that stopped working about four years ago, but as you now know...it ended up being more than that.
Next year I'll be adding four (in ceiling) Atmos speakers (which by the way have already been pre-wired in the ceiling) along with another visit from my favorite professional audio/video calibrator to get the new Atmos speakers to work well with the rest of the system.
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Really nice digs! No basements in Scottsdale (right?) So no chance of being banished to the basement like me and others.
It seems strange that your center channel speaker wouldn't perform properly in its intended orientation. I got a kick with the decorations you added to plug the ports on it.
Really nice digs! No basements in Scottsdale (right?) So no chance of being banished to the basement like me and others.
It seems strange that your center channel speaker wouldn't perform properly in its intended orientation. I got a kick with the decorations you added to plug the ports on it.
That's correct, no basements in Scottsdale and most of the surrounding areas! Although I have to say there are a few homes with basements, but they are very rare and/or are very expensive. I actually know three people who have basements in this surrounding area, and all of them are filled with pinball machines!
About the center channel, I knew for years I couldn't hardly hear any dialog even when just sitting in the seat next to me, let alone towards the end of the couch. I was really pissed, I spent a hell of a lot of money on that center channel. So I stored it away for many years. It was only recently one of the people at my local audio shop (during my recent upgrade) reminded me again about the importance the center channel plays in movies and multi-channel music, so I thought I'd give it another try. I had been fine with setting in the system's receiver that there was no center speaker to simply enjoy the phantom center imaging. The benefit of course was no matter where one sat on the couch, the dialog was always perfectly clear (even if it did not always seem to come from the center unless I was sitting directly in front of it.)
I did a little research about the design of my center speaker. Even though there are many center channel speakers with the same type of orientation mine has (small woofers or large midrange drivers on the sides, and one tweeter in the center) there must be something about those two drivers on the edges that's blocking or canceling out the audio from the high frequency driver when sitting even just a little bit off axis. That's the only thing I can think of...unless something is internally wired out of phase, but if that was the case, I don't think it would work the way it does while sitting vertically.
When I brought out my center speaker along with the stand that it used to sit on, I was very happy with it for the first time in years...but again ONLY if I was sitting directly in front of it. I knew that it still had it's issues when it came to not not hearing much of anything, when sitting even one cushion over. The big revolution from me however is when I (just a couple weeks ago) put in a test CD from the CD Doctor, played a test tone through the center speaker and moved around the room. I was shocked at how much audio was lost by moving even just a little bit to the left or right. It was at that moment I knew I had to do something about my center channel.
I first started by placing one of my older Linn bookshelf speakers (that were originally used as my surround speakers) on top of my center channel to see if it would make a difference. It did, and the difference was huge. No matter where I sat, I could still clearly hear the dialog and tell that it was still coming from the center. I then considered using that bookshelf speaker as the "new" center channel, but I could tell the audio had a slightly different characteristic and I really wanted to use my original center speaker since it was already calibrated to match in audio characteristics with the mains. Also, as I mentioned in the above post, it was recommended (in another forum) to place the center speaker vertically, so I did that and it worked! I was very happy about that since that center channel speaker had already been calibrated with the rest of the system and so now I get clear dialog from that speaker (no matter where I sit on the couch!) Though the volume does drop off a little bit as I get further away from the center of that speaker, but that's probably par for the course.
The decorations by the way are simply pool balls. Since I don't use a smart phone, I didn't know they were emojis. I had a friend come over and the first thing he said is "You've got emojis in your speakers?" That's when I got a kick out of it myself. I was just looking for a way to plug the ports and was just looking for anything to simply fill those holes! Since they are not black, they are a little bit distracting, but when I'm watching a movie or listening to music with the lights out, it doesn't matter anyway. You can see there's also ports on the back of my mains. In all I've had to use 6 pool balls to fill up all the holes! And that's what I ended up with, a bag of six balls.
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Over the weekend I made space for the Technics 4 Channel AFD Color Scope 2019, it is a real joy to see this thing in action while listening to music in surround.
More on this unit at Technics 4 Channel AFD 17" Color Scope & Scope in Action-Low Res
More on this unit at Technics 4 Channel AFD 17" Color Scope & Scope in Action-Low Res
Readers Digest Q8 player - NICE!
One of those thrift store finds years ago. Needed an amp to drive the scope thru the speaker outputs. I was surprised when I ran across it as I had never seen one. I guess I should have been reading Readers Digest back then.Readers Digest Q8 player - NICE!
Maybe I should hook up one of the Panasonic units, I think that would be more fitting
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What I'd like to know is if Reader's Digest ever released any quad material? If they put out a quad8 deck, surely they musy have been thinking about it.
Heck Mark, they all look great!
I remember that Readers Digest unit in print ads. Don't remember much else, but it looks to be in nice shape and I bet it's damn rare. Great find.
I remember that Readers Digest unit in print ads. Don't remember much else, but it looks to be in nice shape and I bet it's damn rare. Great find.
workmeistr
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