Playground for practical listening exercises

[beck]

It is just a step by step proces trying to “level” vibrations effecting the cd player using whatever possible. All one can do is to try anything and everything in my case using felt, rubber and more. Speakers moved slightly further away from the back wall too.

And felt is not just felt. Lately I have been using pieces from an old car mat! :-)

[Charlie1]

I think these two clips better illustrate the issue I'm having with the serviced Kans. It's either better music or better HiFi, but defo not both.

The new beige ones have the same drive units so a bit fairer now - bought them from Mr Kan (his Dad's pair) but not sure if he painted them or someone at Linn did it but they were done properly (i.e. removing grills, etc.)

Serviced: https://www.dropbox.com/s/laamczrnyu1ln ... 3.mp4?dl=0
Unserviced: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p4mnjp5rxg7wa ... 4.mp4?dl=0

I could get the Solen caps swapped over for Alcaps in the serviced pair but I'm thinking it would be a waste of time and money.

EDIT: perhaps my fav ELO track...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/i5m0038tnla9l ... 9.mp4?dl=0

[beck]

We all have to choose and here the unserviced pair shows a natural flow and the bass fills the music.

….. and yes, I do like that ELO track too. :-)

[lejonklou]

I think these two clips better illustrate the issue I'm having with the serviced Kans. It's either better music or better HiFi, but defo not both.

I disagree.

I find the unserviced pair better in every aspect.

[Charlie1]

I find the unserviced pair better in every aspect.

Fair enough and thanks for listening.

[Charlie1]

Keen to get thoughts on original KAN 1 (B110/SP1003) vs revised KAN 1 (B110B/SP1057) - both unserviced.

Apparently the original ones with Bextrene cones and hand applied dope compound led to variable results but these should be good ones. And my regular pair should be good too having compared to several others.

CLIP #1
Revised KAN 1 (regular pair): https://www.dropbox.com/s/cu34xiuthyvsk ... 8.mp4?dl=0
Original KAN 1 (new pair): https://www.dropbox.com/s/5iaiqlvlxhf00 ... 4.mp4?dl=0

CLIP #2
Revised KAN 1 (regular pair): https://www.dropbox.com/s/hwehxbsxpc18k ... 5.mp4?dl=0
Original KAN 1 (new pair): https://www.dropbox.com/s/cjfbajbcvudy1 ... 3.mp4?dl=0

[beck]

Your original Kan1 clips are really good. :-)

[tokenbrit]

Keen to get thoughts on original KAN 1 (B110/SP1003) vs revised KAN 1 (B110B/SP1057) - both unserviced...

Are they the same volume? Original (beige) come across as a little louder... also come across as (more than) a little better.

[Charlie1]

defo same volumes

Thanks both!

[ThomasOK]

I prefer the original versions on both tracks. I didn't think it was all that subtle.

[Spannko]

Here’s a quick update on my diy speaker project.

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0R5nhQSTGlmrxz

I’ve still only got one speaker working, so it’s half stereo, not mono. The speaker is fully passive, with the crossover connected with electricians wire clips and cheapo crocodile clips. The drive units are only held in with two screws, the enclosure is glued and taped together and it hasn’t been positioned for best sound!

Thank you for listening. Enjoy!

[David Neel]

I started listening to your speaker, and finished by listening to the music. Who was it?

[Spannko]

Arne Domnérus

https://open.spotify.com/track/4fiRHyO ... fxAVtvA0RQ


I’ve been playing jazz all afternoon and my wife hasn’t told me to turn it off once. That’s a record in our house!

[ThomasOK]

I'm with David. I was listening to it and cursed the phone when I had to pause twice to take phone calls. It is certainly coming along.

[Charlie1]

Yeah, I really enjoyed that too, and had a similar experience. Winner winner chicken dinner

[beck]

I started listening to your speaker, and finished by listening to the music………..

Me too. :-)

[Spannko]

Thanks everyone. For me, it’s only an incremental improvement on the last vid I posted. I use a traffic light system to assess the quality of reproduction and I seem to be stuck on amber! It’s quite a bit more tuneful than the previous speaker I video’d but I’d still only give it 8-9/10. Despite this though, they’re more enjoyable to listen to, on most music, than some commercial speakers I’ve heard - warts n all!

[Spannko]

Here’s something a little different for a a change. It’s a series of recordings made using different microphone techniques: X-Y, Blumlein, ORTF and Mid-Side. I thought it would be interesting to see if there’s any consensus of opinion on the forum.

https://www.thirdcirclerecordings.co.u ... es-on-test

Which microphone technique, if any, do you prefer?

[tokenbrit]

...
Which microphone technique, if any, do you prefer?

I find XY to be the cleaner, more straightforward, intelligible... The others seem to add echo or resonance that bloats or confuses what I hear, adding 'outside' influences that change the music or instrument(s) for the worse to my ears, like you're hearing too much of the room at the expense of the performance.

[markiteight]

Microphones, and by extension mic configurations, are tools. It's not so much a matter of what's good/better/best, but what works or what doesn't work for a given situation and desired outcome. What works for one scenario likely won't for another. These comparisons are fascinating and cool, but they only reveal which are the right tools for those particular situations captured in the recordings.

What I find really interesting is what happens when each configuration is collapsed into mono. You can easily hear what sounds are lost from cancellation and what remains, and that with some configurations more is lost than with others. Which begs the question: will the human brain be affected by such cancellations while processing sound? Will it have to work harder to interpolate what's missing? In other words, are the mic configurations which lose more when summed to mono less tuneful?

[Spannko]

...
Which microphone technique, if any, do you prefer?

I find XY to be the cleaner, more straightforward, intelligible... The others seem to add echo or resonance that bloats or confuses what I hear, adding 'outside' influences that change the music or instrument(s) for the worse to my ears, like you're hearing too much of the room at the expense of the performance.

I preferred X-Y too, which surprised me, having read the author’s opinion that he thought X-Y was the worst. So much for cognitive bias, eh! I didn’t find it easy to hear differences in their ability to record a tune, but I think X-Y may have been better in this respect. On the drum track, the X-Y arrangement was the only one which sounded like a real drummer playing real drums to me. With the speech tracks, only the X-Y arrangement managed to maintain a constant vocal timbre as the author walked around the room too. So, overall, I felt that the X-Y arrangement produced the most coherent and realistic recording.

[tokenbrit]

...

What I find really interesting is what happens when each configuration is collapsed into mono... Which begs the question: ... are the mic configurations which lose more when summed to mono less tuneful?

Interesting perspective. I listened to the mono clips with your question in mind... Is there a configuration you feel loses least when summed to mono? And do you think it's the more tuneful when not summed to mono? For me, some definitely seem to lose more in mono; I believe it correlates to tunefulness, but could be fooling myself ;) Fool myself once, shame on me. Fool myself twice, who else can I blame?!? :/

[markiteight]

Interesting perspective. I listened to the mono clips with your question in mind... Is there a configuration you feel loses least when summed to mono? And do you think it's the more tuneful when not summed to mono? For me, some definitely seem to lose more in mono; I believe it correlates to tunefulness, but could be fooling myself ;) Fool myself once, shame on me. Fool myself twice, who else can I blame?!? :/

I think MS sounds most like a drum kit in mono. On the original recordings it's a tossup between XY, ORTIF, and MS. Even Blumlein has its place if that's the sound the engineer is looking for, but for a straight up presentation of a drum kit it's too phasey and weird...in that application.

I'm doing a quick comparison, playing just a few seconds before switching, using headphones.

[Charlie1]

I preferred X-Y too, which surprised me, having read the author’s opinion that he thought X-Y was the worst. So much for cognitive bias, eh! I didn’t find it easy to hear differences in their ability to record a tune, but I think X-Y may have been better in this respect. On the drum track, the X-Y arrangement was the only one which sounded like a real drummer playing real drums to me. With the speech tracks, only the X-Y arrangement managed to maintain a constant vocal timbre as the author walked around the room too. So, overall, I felt that the X-Y arrangement produced the most coherent and realistic recording.

I'm very much on the same page and I formed an opinion before reading posts. Same as you, didn't really notice a musical preference, the stereo drum tracks were the most useful, and I also preferred X Y. Not sure that's cos it's closer to my room experience or cos it's closer to how my phone records.

[beck]

X-Y.