Soundwise: Exakt Espek / 2 x AV5125 / Akurate DSM

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RonnyO.
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Soundwise: Exakt Espek / 2 x AV5125 / Akurate DSM

Post by RonnyO. »

Dear All,

I recently exakted my system now comprising of Espeks, 2 x AV5125, Akurate DSM and Akurate Exaktbox 10, attenuation is -24 in the settings, HDMI circuit is turned off, newest software is installed. Each of the amps is driving on Espek (bass, mid, treble).

Now don't get me wrong, it sounds dramatically musical and I really love it... but I am missing the bass...

I always listen to the same songs to evaluate any upgrades.

Firstly I always start with "Turin Brakes - Bye Pod". This time my 6 year old son started to cry while I was playing the song (he was sitting next to me in the living room playing with his Legos) as it was so overwhelmingly involving and the song itself is on the emotional side of the spectrum anyways.

However, I have the feeling that the bass is almost gone now. Where the Espeks are prone to heavy bass normally, I do not hear a lot of it anymore and I am not sure if I really like it.

For bass testing I secondly always listen to"Moby - Honey" which is a good indicator for me. Bass is not booming anymore as it was before at some occasions, but is almost gone?

Thirdly I finish my tests always with another bass heavy song "Muse - Madness". This time I heard good really accentuated unbelievably dry bass there, but a little bit on the light side for my taste; again extremely exakt without any muddiness or booming. At volumes around 70 to 80 you could also start to feel the bass.

Did anyone of you experience the same? From my point of view I would like to have a little more punch in my stomach while listening ;)

I also tried with SO deactivated which brings back the bass a little bit but not enough for my taste. Also tried it with and without plugged rear port and with moving the speakers closer to the rear wall.

In some songs it sounds as if the attenuation of mids and treble was turned off and the bass attenuation is over exaggerated, especially when the volume goes to around 80, then the bass is starting to fall behind.

br,
RonnyO.
Think, it's not illegal yet!
tokenbrit
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Re: Soundwise: Exakt Espek / 2 x AV5125 / Akurate DSM

Post by tokenbrit »

No experience with exaktboxes but, since that's the recent change to your system, did you wire them correctly to the AV5125s, and/or change the wiring from the amps to the Espeks? Surprised that they'd cause the bass to disappear even with SO off... With SO on (default calculations) it has been reported that the bass can be attenuated too much - see post to pidge22's recent topic.

Is it possible that you've wired something out of phase?
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Re: Soundwise: Exakt Espek / 2 x AV5125 / Akurate DSM

Post by sunbeamgls »

Tokenbrit is wise to question the wiring as there's a lot of chances to get it wrong with the number there are to consider. You can't get the Exaktbox to amps phase wrong, but it is easy to get one or two speaker connections out of phase. Double check that the correct drivers are being driven by the correct Exaktbox outputs. Did you go through the standard approach to starting up an active system, only connecting the bass to start with to check it is producing bass only, then mids, then treble?

You could post up some photos of the back of the Exaktbox, back of amps and back of speakers if you wish.

Given the additonal control that Exakt brings, I would suggest turning SO off and go back to re-positioning your speakers physically in the room. Use Tune Dem to find their best position. Only then is it worth considering SO.

You don't have any active cards in the AV5125s do you?
KSH/0; KEBox/2; 3x Tundra Stereo 2.5; PMC fact.12. Blogger. Exakt Design. SO measuring.
RonnyO.
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Re: Soundwise: Exakt Espek / 2 x AV5125 / Akurate DSM

Post by RonnyO. »

Checked all the cables again and found a phase error (exchanged +/-) on the bass of my left speaker. Also replaced all banana plugs with new ones and.... I am in heaven :)

I never had a similar listening experience. If I ever would have been asked what the perfect sound experience should be like it would be easily surpassed by the sound of my current system... it definitely is better than I ever would have expected; easily the best upgrade ever.

I recorded three tracks with my smartphone while listening, maybe this gives you an impression of how it sounds:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cPFms ... N3OLmK3MqA

https://drive.google.com/open?id=17qvrq ... qWTBd11A-Q

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rv308 ... OiB7NsrCVw

br,
RonnyO.
Think, it's not illegal yet!
beck
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Re: Soundwise: Exakt Espek / 2 x AV5125 / Akurate DSM

Post by beck »

I am glad you got it right and are enjoying the ride! :-) Thank you for the clips. There is really something going on in your room.

This is some fantastic forum. I have never in my life listened to so many different setups. It is so interesting to discover the many different ways music can be played at home.
Get the fundamentals right with your favorite system and enjoy. Music is life.
Playing cd’s…………
sunbeamgls
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Re: Soundwise: Exakt Espek / 2 x AV5125 / Akurate DSM

Post by sunbeamgls »

beck wrote: 2019-02-23 22:53
This is some fantastic forum. I have never in my life listened to so many different setups. It is so interesting to discover the many different ways music can be played at home.
Try to get the The Wam show in March - 35+ systems in one day, and pretty much every one of them will be unique :)
Last edited by sunbeamgls on 2019-02-24 01:13, edited 1 time in total.
KSH/0; KEBox/2; 3x Tundra Stereo 2.5; PMC fact.12. Blogger. Exakt Design. SO measuring.
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Re: Soundwise: Exakt Espek / 2 x AV5125 / Akurate DSM

Post by Spannko »

Your recording sounds great. What did you use to make it?
tokenbrit
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Re: Soundwise: Exakt Espek / 2 x AV5125 / Akurate DSM

Post by tokenbrit »

RonnyO. wrote: 2019-02-23 21:19 Checked all the cables again and found a phase error (exchanged +/-) on the bass of my left speaker. Also replaced all banana plugs with new ones and.... I am in heaven :)
Cool - glad it was something simple. Congrats.
RonnyO.
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Re: Soundwise: Exakt Espek / 2 x AV5125 / Akurate DSM

Post by RonnyO. »

The recording is just done on my smartphone, nothing special, that is why it is only mono.

Br,
RonnyO.
Think, it's not illegal yet!
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