spintheblackestcircles.org

Good looking
Nicely done

thanks fellas!

Static I would be interested to know what differences you are hearing with the DS audio? I have been curious about it for awhile.

New place, sort of new setup. I have it in my office even though these HPM-100 are gigantic. My uncle gifted me an old Marantz SR-7000 which is a home theater receiver supposedly with good 2 channel musicality.

On this Grant Green the guitar and horns sound awesome, and the piano sounds like it's right there in the room. And the cymbals I hear fine. The drums and bass have more nuance and refinement vs the rokit but they really lack punch, they sound quiet in the mix and aren't supposed to.

I also gave Steely Dan Can't Buy a Thrill a spin. Same deal there "reelin in the tears" just explodes on the rokits through the mixer but it's too subtle on the Marantz + HPMs. The kids are in bed but tomorrow I will really crank it up and see if that helps. Maybe the Marantz needs something else in between to shine more. Needs more oomph.

In typical 1990s inscrutable technology user interfaces, this Marantz offers none of its settings unless you use the remote. I found a bunch of speaker setup options and a bass boost. It seems pretty dialed in now and sounding nice.

Set up looks good @tex. I used to sell those Marantz AVR's, I would agree it's one of the better surround receivers to use as a stereo set up but you may find it lacking compared to older gear. Those speakers look quite nice.

lookin good @Tex!

Very droolsome, Tex.

New cart due today, looking forward to some clean, virgin spins. I plan to give the latest Blow Out stuff a good hard listening.

Well gentlemen, the time has come, I am running out of space quickly. I have to develop a better solution to the living room listening area. I have drafted this up and need to do some math to figure out what the cost will be to build it. With 3/4" plywood close to $80 a sheet this is not going to be cheap at all.

inksb wrote: ↑Mon Feb 13, 2023 5:57 pm Well gentlemen, the time has come, I am running out of space quickly. I have to develop a better solution to the living room listening area. I have drafted this up and need to do some math to figure out what the cost will be to build it. With 3/4" plywood close to $80 a sheet this is not going to be cheap at all.



WhatsApp Image 2023-02-13 at 11.40.17.jpeg

I can do you a fifth dimensional tesseract for 200 Federation Units.

Looks very nice Inks, yeah that’s a lot of board.

inksb wrote: ↑Mon Feb 13, 2023 5:57 pm Well gentlemen, the time has come, I am running out of space quickly. I have to develop a better solution to the living room listening area. I have drafted this up and need to do some math to figure out what the cost will be to build it. With 3/4" plywood close to $80 a sheet this is not going to be cheap at all.



WhatsApp Image 2023-02-13 at 11.40.17.jpeg

That looks really cool! What program did you use to draw that?
Good luck building it. Seeing some of your other handy work I am sure it will look stellar when finished.

Bezulsqy wrote: ↑Mon Feb 13, 2023 7:02 pm

inksb wrote: ↑Mon Feb 13, 2023 5:57 pm Well gentlemen, the time has come, I am running out of space quickly. I have to develop a better solution to the living room listening area. I have drafted this up and need to do some math to figure out what the cost will be to build it. With 3/4" plywood close to $80 a sheet this is not going to be cheap at all.



WhatsApp Image 2023-02-13 at 11.40.17.jpeg

That looks really cool! What program did you use to draw that?
Good luck building it. Seeing some of your other handy work I am sure it will look stellar when finished.

AutoCAD. Although if I didn't have a license through work I probably would have used Sketchup which is free

inksb wrote: ↑Mon Feb 13, 2023 5:57 pm With 3/4" plywood close to $80 a sheet this is not going to be cheap at all.

$80/sheet, holy hell. I assume that cabinet/interior grade stuff, but still that is quite the price for a sheet of plywood.

Awesome design though, @inks. I want to wish this into reality for you.

deafmetal wrote: ↑Mon Feb 13, 2023 8:42 pm

inksb wrote: ↑Mon Feb 13, 2023 5:57 pm With 3/4" plywood close to $80 a sheet this is not going to be cheap at all.

$80/sheet, holy hell. I assume that cabinet/interior grade stuff, but still that is quite the price for a sheet of plywood.

Awesome design though, @inks. I want to wish this into reality for you.

Yeah it's 3/4" Maple used for cabinet's usually. I think Birch is $65 right now which I may have to do just to save money. I have a friend who occasionally buys wood from a local Mennonite who tends to be a little cheaper depending on the the time of year. So he's going to check with him once I know my actual material amount.

@inks, very nice design. Just a little reminder to keep weight in mind. I imagine all those cubbies will hold vinyl so make sure your floor will hold the weight of the unit and vinyl. If you're using maple or birch that is going to be on MF'ing unit! :) Can't wait to see it.

Since wood is so expensive right now and I have other financial obligations, the record wall is changed to a multiphase project. I built a section of it over the last few weeks. Had to use birch plywood bc maple ply was $92 a sheet (a week after I bought the birch, maple dropped to 75...). I used a natural wipe on poly. Pretty happy with how it came out and the most important thing, my wife loves it and is excited to see the whole project completed.

That turned out great @Inksb! Can't wait to see how you add on to it down the road.

That really looks terrific @inksb!
Great work. Love the proportions.

Had new flooring installed in the basement so the music setup was out of commission for a bit. Took the opportunity to make some small changes to how everything is arranged equipment wise, and also switched out the old expedits i was using to house the tt and amp to a new kallax with an actual metal base meant to be used on it. On the old expedits i had gorilla glued metal legs that (after many years) were starting to bend. :(

@static, very nice!

Corr!

Looks great @static very clean

Impressive @Static! Beautiful gear.

Saw a post on Facebook marketplace and decided to try out these paradigm studio 20v4 speakers on stands and see how they match up to the old hpm-100s. The quality is very different. The hpm get really loud, and they are giant wood cabinets so they throw a lot of low end. These paradigms have a ton more detail in the mid and high. They’re delivering adequate sound on the low end. They don’t sound as good to me at low volume. They also aren’t as loud. Maybe my amp isn’t good enough. Horns sound really good though. And the cymbals are far clearer.

I haven't listened to Paradigm speakers in almost a decade but they always seemed pretty neutral to me. I can't imagine that your amp is lacking in power for them, it's just that your other speakers just require less to get them going. Bookshelfs definitely need a sub to pair with them if you like low end though. According to their specs the "suitable amplifier range" is between 15-180watts so you are not lacking in that department.
Your HPM's have a frequency response of 30Hz-25kHz, while the 20v4's are 54Hz-20kHz.
I'm willing to bet that most people would prefer the HPM's as an all arounder to the Paradigm's.

I do have a sub out in the garage maybe need to pair it up and see how that sounds. Now I want a speaker with the warmth of the pioneer but with the detail and clarity of the paradigms!