I own the following equipment:
Naim 82 with hicap, 180, epos es12's, teac trans & cambridge dac magic.
I have recently moved house & when I eventually got round to setting up my kit in the new lounge, it sounded very different. The changes were extended bass, broader soundstage & much improved clarity. I can hear into the recording & follow the instruments with more ease.
Now what the hells going on man!!
My initial thoughts are the following variables could infuence the sound:
1) The size & shape of the room
2) The type of floor constuction
3) The quality of the mains supply
The previous listening room was open plan,but the new room is approx the same size but the more conventional type i.e enclosed with one door opening into it. Previous floor was solid concrete compared with a suspended wooden floor of the new room.
Now the interesting bit, the mains power is currently supplied via an old consumer unit (fuse wire carrier type)the kit is connected to a standard non hifi 6-way trailing socket this in turn is connected to one of the double switched sockets on the ring main for the rest of the house.
In my previous house i had a new MK consumer unit installed with a separate spur feeding 3 unswitched sockets for the kit!!
Thoughts on how this is happening would be appricated.
Cheers for now mad mat 
Posted on: 13 July 2001 by Tony L
quote:
I have recently moved house & when I eventually got round to setting up my kit in the new lounge, it sounded very different. The changes were extended bass, broader soundstage & much improved clarity. I can hear into the recording & follow the instruments with more ease.
My bet is that you are just benefiting from better acoustics. The room seems to be the most underrated part of a hi-fi, but IMHO it is probably more important than the choice of equipment. I have often heard many very expensive and well chosen systems sound radically worse than much cheaper ones in better rooms - you do not always get what you pay for. Open plan rooms bring their own problems with them, as they can suffer from a very live sound unless you have a lot of soft furnishing. Conventional walled rooms have their own issues too, but can normally be controlled easier.
I too have recently moved, and have still not completely finalised the setup, though now seem to have the room / system working rather well - I still have a couple of reflections to loose, but I suspect I know where they are coming from, so should be able to damp them out. My system certainly sounds quite radically different to how it did in my last flat, but I feel after much tweaking that its now better in most areas.
Tony.
Posted on: 13 July 2001 by Team Reeves
What about the effect of unplugging/replugging everything ? Is cleaning the contacts a possibility ?
Talking about rooms, has anybody tried listening in a conservatory ? I am about to move house and would like to listen in the big glass room. I imagine that it could be tricky, any experience out there ?
Sounds good to me.
Posted on: 13 July 2001 by Matt worlock
MR Reeves what ever next!!!!!!
Fa ting ting ca ching ching ching ....This is the sound of all those sound waves as they reflect from your glass room!
If you insist on the conservatory as your chosen listening venue then I would suggest serious dampening i.e heavy curtains all round & several blankets super glued to the inside of the ceiling....bit of an eyesore when you think about it....eh?
Cheers mad matt.
Posted on: 13 July 2001 by Steve B
I've been having problems with room acoustics for a while now.
My dealer suggested clapping my hands and listening for any echo. He also suggested that filling the room with various bits and pieces (pictures on the wall etc.) will help reduce any ringing.
I tried this the other day while standing just in front of the speakers. A high pitch ring lasted for about 1/2 second after the clap and seemed to come from one side of the room more than the other.
I went out the room to find anything I could bring in to put against the walls. The first thing I found was an aluminium step ladder, which I leant against one of the side walls. I didn't think this alone would make the slightest difference but believe it or not I clapped and there was no ringing! To make sure I wasn't hallucinating, I moved it back out of the room and tried again, and the 1/2 second ring was back again.
This experiment suggests to me that room acoustics is a very complicated and unpredictable subject that requires a lot of trial and error to eradicate problem areas.
I'm off to build some bass traps!
Steve B
