Jump to content
2024-StereoNET-Logo-20-Years
stickeyLogo

Queensland Audio Club April Meeting

naveb

By naveb
in Australia & New Zealand

 Share

Recommended Posts

naveb Explorer

naveb

Posted
Posted

Hi all.

I'm a fairly new member of the Queensland Audio Club. They have monthly meeting at members houses to listen to systems, drink beer, and talk all things audio, and this month it happens to be at my house in Indooroopilly Brisbane.

Being a sometimes contributer on this site(though I ask more questions than I answer) I thought I'd extend the invitation to everyone here.

Meeting is Saturday 28th, and my modest system for those who might be interested in hearing it is

Denon 2200

Monica2 nos DAC

Red Wine Audio Signate 30 tripath battery-powered amp

Visaton B200 open baffles (with bsc filter)

Critical Q subwoofer (Peerless 12")

Behringer BFD1124 on the sub

DIY bass traps, of a sort

send me a pm or email for further details. cheers,

Bevan

Link to comment
Share on other sites


obiwan Proficient

obiwan

Posted
Posted

Me too Bevan. I have the Bel Canto eVo2i and now the Rotel RMB1077 class D amps, so would be interested to hear the Red Wine Audio amp. I have your details in David Aiken's email.

Thanks

Trevor

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • 3 weeks later...
coemaudio Proficient

coemaudio

Posted
Posted

Just got home from the meeting.....

Would like to thank Bevan (naveb) for welcoming everyone into his home and sharing his music. I enjoyed it a lot and loved his open baffle speakers! The subwoofer demonstration at the end has encouraged me to build myself a sub, along with a pair of open baffle speakers :)

John.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


obiwan Proficient

obiwan

Posted
Posted

God you were quick John to get that post in. You must have sped home!

Yes Bevan, thanks for the afternoon. Of course I came back home and as soon as practical played some of the same music you played. The only way I could get the soundstage even beginning to approach what you have under that "sinker" (yes he has a sinker hanging down from the ceiling to mark the sweet spot) was to bring my speakers even more forward into the room, in face almost half way into the room. I have no choice but to sit against the rear wall. Yeah, so speakers half way into the room and dragging out and putting up acoustic foam behind me along the couch.

Even though the imaging I get is quite reasonable via my DEQX crossing the woofer and tweeter at 300dB per octave, yours was definitely a level above that again, so I guess something really has to be said for a single driver covering almost the entire audio range (other than your subs at the bottom end). And I also couldnt believe how extended the treble was, I thought for sure they'd sound rolled off, but not at all.

I also think, though I didn't say at the time, that your amp did sound better than the other amp that was swapped in. On the copy of that $200US Johnny Cash CD, your Red Wine Audio gave a warmer voice which I preferred. I just didn't say at the time as the guy who designed the other amp was right in the room waiting for favourable comments and instead the few that responded said "no difference" or "you can't really hear differences in amps". I don't think they realised Greg was the designer and that he sells the modules as kits and that he was standing right in the room, oops. Mind you, I did change where I was between amps and that may have contributed to the sound getting a little harder with Greg's amp, so perhaps my comments weren't fair.

So yes, very happy with the sound of your system, almost feel too embarrassed to let you hear mine, but like I said, you're welcome to come around.

Trevor.

PS I do hope your system survived that big bad noise during that power incident. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
coemaudio Proficient

coemaudio

Posted
Posted

I actually arrived at Bevan's place at around 1.30pm and I was able to listen to his system when no one else was there, so it was quiet and not over populated :)

Bevan's setup definitely had very good sound-staging and I noticed this especially when I was listening to Joe Hisaishi's Princess Mononoke CD. There is a track that has a main female singer and a choir behind her, and I was very impressed with imaging and position when they were singing.

And I was also surprised how well the treble was, really amazing for a full range driver! Not bright but highly detailed. I forget what it's frequency range was, all I remember is that it cuts off below 50hz.

The bit when we swapped amps was a bit awkward because Greg was there, but I don't think it was a suitable time to compare amplifiers anyway. Everyone was just standing around and not really trying to compare amplifiers, but I thought both amplifiers sounded good. I only wish I was able to put my TA-10 in.

Thanks to Bevan, I'm going to pressure my mate into helping me build a sub and some open baffle speakers! :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:

Anyways, I'm off to bed now. But I will return tomorrow with pictures of my new rear loaded horn speakers!!!! :biggrin:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Keith_W Grand Master

Keith_W

Posted
Posted

Hi naveb, good to see that your meeting was so succesful! Looks as if everyone enjoyed themselves. I suppose I could have come if I decided to hang around in Qld for a couple more days but I decided to come back to Vic instead :)

That Red Wine audio amp ... that's a Class D amp, yes? Seems as if quite a few members are using it now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jrisles Veteran

jrisles

Posted
Posted

Hi All

First off i'd like to thank Bevan for extending an invite to all & sundry who are interested in HiFi. This is the very first gtg i have ever attended & i must admit that there were alot more people here than i thought would be. :biggrin:

As i entered the music room what struck me first was the height of these baffle speakers. And when i saw the subs i was beginning to think that the whole speaker arrangement was a whole DIY job. Then after a couple of minutes & after asking a couple of questions & then actually looking at the speakers i realised that these were indeed a DIY arrangement. (More on the sound later). The other thing that was really obvious was the severity of the "toe-in" of these speakers. I'd say that they were toed-in at least 30-35 degrees (maybe more?). The listening position must have been no more than 2meters from the speakers. The speakers themselves had alot of clearance from the front wall but not alot of clearance from the side walls with only the position of the "detached" subs seperating the speakers from the side walls.

Then as i glanced around the room something else caught my eye. In the middle of the room pretty much directly above the "sinker" was positioned two pillows what appeared to be suspended in mid-air. Closer inspection revealed two lines of nylon string strewn from one end of the room to the other with the pillows suspended across the two pieces of string. Then there was the big rug hung at the front of the room and at the back of the room was two sheets of thin ply wood i believe (or they could of just been two white sheets of cardboard??) shaped and attached to the back of the wall to form a curved surface. Also Bevan's hifi rack looked like something else he had made himself. This guy has a very "hands on" approach when it comes to hifi. Of course the ancillary equipment (player, amp, eq etc) was not handmade. (I should have asked Bevan if it was ok to take some pics? Maybe he might upload a couple in this thread?)

I am 5'11" the top of the baffles were a little shorter than me. So i am thinking they stood about 5'6" to 5'8" tall? With only the one driver (Visatron B200) sitting pretty much in the centre of the baffle. I have not heard "Open Baffle" speakers before & this type of design really makes you re-think about speaker design. I mean why have closures at all when music can sound this good?

Now to my interpretation of the sound. (Please note that this is my interpretation only. I don't in any way pretend that i am an expert on sound & i ask for your forgiveness in advance if some of my descriptions are not entirely accurate).

As others have hinted soundstaging was excellent on all sorts of music - both width & depth was very impressive. The mid range vocals was also a real ear opener. The raspy tones of Johnny Cash were impressive through this system. Transparency is also something that comes to mind. (I would love to sit in the sweet spot in the middle of the night in a pitch black room when the eye is not distracted this would be really something. I always believe that this type of listening is preferable). The highs were quite silky & i couldn't really detect roll off but i am sure it was there. I am not too sure of the imaging. Some music i thought the imaging was really "blurrY" whilst others it was excellent but the problem with imaging in music i think comes back to the actual recording. Were there any weaknesses?? Well of course there is .. there must have been ... there are weaknesses with any system - isn't there? If i had to pick a weakness i guess i would want to listen to the bass a bit more .. not from the point of view that it didn't exist but the balance or integration of the bass units. A part of me felt that it was slightly "detached" ... but i would need to listen a little bit more before i am fully convinced.

Finally if there is one real test of the merits of Bevan's audio system was when i got home & began listening to my own system. When i started listening to my system again i was trying to listen for things that i heard in Bevan's system that i couldn't hear in mine. I have decided that a good sound system is like a professional sports player. Like professional sports players they make any game they play look so darn easy ... but when you go to emulate their game you realise just how hard the game really is & just how much practice & talent the professional sports person must have. This is the conclusion i had come too once i got home & listened to my system again. It wasn't until i got home just what a good sound i was privileged to listen to. Bevan's system made the music sound so "effortless" ... that my system "struggled" to emulate the holographic nature & soundstage of this system.

I find the physics of sound to be a fascinating subject & alot of what i believed to be "true" was turned on its head yesterday. These experiences are great & they make this hobby a wonderful thing.

All the best

cheers j

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Keith_W Grand Master

Keith_W

Posted
Posted

jrisles, thanks for posting your impressions on what sounds like a very intriguing system. Having pillows suspended by nylon is a very original idea but maybe not the most WAF-friendly. Maybe I should pester naveb for a listen the next time i'm in town :) And yes, definitely curious to see some pictures of the system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Grumpy Life Member

Grumpy

Posted
Posted

Thanks Fellas for a very informative report. If I ever get to a GTG I doubt I could be so descriptive of the event. Reading how you realised how good the opened baffle system was by playing your own systems when you got home is, I suppose, the real way to judge these things.

Can't wait to see the pics of the pillow and the sinker :wink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
naveb Explorer

naveb

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Glad you guys enjoyed it. Was nice having you all.

What I find most amazing about my system is that the mains come in at under $500, pair of dipole subs $800, and dac $150. The amp (class d yes) was a splurge, though the B200's sound great with cheap t-amps like the Sonic Impact and Trends etc.

I'll try attach a photo of the listening room with the sealed sub, before I'd made the H-baffle subs.

Anyone interested in hearing the system is welcome to come round. my wife's away another 3 months so plenty so no worries :) actually she wouldnt mind in the slightest so i take that back (incase she's reading these forums checking up on me haha)

I've got phase plugs and some ribbon tweeters(to be rear mounted at 10k) arriving this week so will be interested to see what they add.

cheers

b.

seems the system survived the pop, but strange thing is the amp would hum when i touched it for the rest of the day. gone away now. i suspected it might have been static build up due to all the people on a carpeted floor but the maker reckons only AC can cause hum (amp is battery powered and this is with all IC's and charger lead disconnected). any ideas?

Link to comment
Share on other sites


damohpi Mentor

damohpi

Posted
Posted

Damn, I forgot all about this meeting, I was very keen to hear the open baffles as I have been thinking about heading down that direction (in particular the Bastanis Prometheus). If you end up having another gtg please let me know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.




×
×
  • Create New...
To Top