Not so gorgeous hi-f

[Sir_Franc]

Well I've seen some lovely looking systems on other threads from members of the big tent. I didn't feel mine was fit to join that so have created a new thread for all of us with ugly hi-fi's. Yes, the sort that has to be heard and not seen.

http://s54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/Sir_Franc/Ugly%20Hi-fi/?sc=1&multi=5&addtype=local&media=image

Where did the "i" go in the title?

 

[Guest]

stunning clock!!!!!!

why the Fraim, most buy for loyalty or looks? (and looks don't seem to be a priority

)

 

[Sir_Franc]

Thanks, the clock was an impusle purchase from Alders in Croydon. Last time I go for a walk round there when I'm bored, that was a very expensive lunch break.

Was going to buy the Clearlight rack, but got talked out of it by a guy from Audio T in Tunbridge Wells. I ended up getting the Frame for the same price as another customer had ordered too many shelves. Plus I used to have the Naim shoe boxes.

 

[Jezzer]

What speakers are they Sir_Franc?

Each speaker looks like two speakers with their baffles kinda stuck together. :Not Sure:

 

[Sir_Franc]

Jezzer wrote:

What speakers are they Sir_Franc?

Each speaker looks like two speakers with their baffles kinda stuck together. :Not Sure:

You're almost correct. It's two set's of Meridian M2's. They are active speakers so I thought I'd buy two sets and use both XLR outputs from my preamp. All I did was use some shelving rods to support the rear of each upper speaker and rest the front on the lower cabinet to keep the speakers as close as possible. I've aimed the speakers so that all the tweeters are aiming towards my ear level to keep the sound stage in tact. Still need to make a few more adjustments to get the set up correct, but its currently a work in progress

 

[Guest]

Jezzer wrote:

What speakers are they Sir_Franc?

Each speaker looks like two speakers with their baffles kinda stuck together. :Not Sure:

they are, two pair of meridian m2's (beat me to iT

Icidentally have you tried the uppermost pair upside down (tweeter to tweeter)

 

[Sir_Franc]

analoguekid wrote:

Jezzer wrote:

What speakers are they Sir_Franc?

Each speaker looks like two speakers with their baffles kinda stuck together. :Not Sure:

they are, two pair of meridian m2's (beat me to iT

Icidentally have you tried the uppermost pair upside down (tweeter to tweeter)

the tweeters are in the middle lol!:raoflmfao:

ok so they are slightly off centre. I can't really invert the upper pair as I'm using the stand fixing holes on the base to secure them in position. Also, I'm not sure if the amps would be happy with that arrangement. They are situated at the base of the rear with a gap aboveto allow to cool.

 

[Guest]

Sir_Franc wrote:

analoguekid wrote:

Jezzer wrote:

What speakers are they Sir_Franc?

Each speaker looks like two speakers with their baffles kinda stuck together. :Not Sure:

they are, two pair of meridian m2's (beat me to iT

Icidentally have you tried the uppermost pair upside down (tweeter to tweeter)

the tweeters are in the middle lol!:raoflmfao:

 

[Sir_Franc]

Just edited previous post, but you beat me to it this time. That's 1 -1 now

 

[Strider]

I have to Ask sir_franc, does the treble get a little overbearing or is this cancelled out due to the speakers being active?

I suppose that having four instead of two would make the image larger as each one is individually powered?...

 

[musicbox]

Have you tried running them with one set facing away from you, I.E. Bi-polar?

Or the same thing but one set wired out-of-phase I.E Di-polar.... could yield interesting results.

 

[Guest]

musicbox wrote:

Have you tried running them with one set facing away from you, I.E. Bi-polar? Or the same thing but one set wired out-of-phase I.E Di-polar.... could yield interesting results.

good idea, or have one pair with their rear panels parallel to back wall, and others toed in gretater than 45 degrees, lotsa fun to be had i guess, if one could be arsed.

 

[Sir_Franc]

I haven't tried anything like swapping phases yet. I did mess around a bit with the position of the speakers, and found best results where with both facing the same direction. Tended to blurr the soundstage otherwise.

I can't think what changing the phase of one set would do? Wouldn't it smear the sound?

 

[smu]

I think your system looks the dogs dangles !

Are they pulsar points under your amp ? Did they make much difference ?

 

[technobear]

Hmmm. Vertical arrays. Two (or more) speaker units in a vertical array will behave as a single line source up to the frequency where the wavelength equals the distance between the driver centres. Above this frequency, the drivers will act increasingly as individual point souces and their output waveforms will interfere. This is commonly called combe filtering. You can lessen the effect, as indeed you have done, by angling the baffles so that the tweeters both point straight at the listener. The sound will then be correct at the listening position.

Do the Meridians output midrange though both mid-woofers or just the top one? It is more normal to play the mids through just one mid-woofer in a d'Appolito design for the reason already given, to avoid combe filtering of the midange.

If the Meridians only use one unit for midrange, then you might get a better result by turning one speaker upside down so that the midranges are next to each other. Apologies if you have done this already.

 

[Sir_Franc]

Thanks SMU, they are indeed pulsar points. TBH I'm not really sure if they do make a difference. I'ev had them for some time and they are simply part of the system these days. Whenever its on, they are under the pre-amp. It's a lot of fuss to remove them, but I'll have to try sometime and see what happens.

TB, the Meridian's are two way, the B110's are wired in parallel so yes midrange and bass is the same from each unit.

Apart from algienment issues (which I'm still working on) I think the speakers need to be further a part as they now give a very large sound stage (top to bottom) and therefore I'm guessing the same will apply width ways when I get round to moving them.

Another problem is the wires linking them to the pre-amp. One set is using ok-ish cable which is balanced and the other set is VERY cheap rubbish which came with the second pair. As I was unemployed at the time I couldn't justify the expense of buying two sets of decent cable. Started work today so looks like the hi-fi found may soon begin to duild up again.

One interesting note to add, I recently swapped around the good and bad cables supplying each set. The top pair had the cheapy stuff which meant the sound had nice bass definition and poor treble. Once swapped so the good cable on supplying the top pair the treble and midrange imporved greatly, but to the cost of the bass! At least I know what effect the cables are having now!