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I had the speakers on sandboxes to overcome the boomy bass from my trampoline floors. They worked well and also cleaned up the muddiness in the mids. I moved the whole set-up from the long wall to the short a few months ago, in the corners at exactly 45 degrees and firing out the 30 foot length. I liked the image breadth and depth but as amplification improved I detected things I didn't like: missing 'presence'. Spent some time with Speakerman on Sathurday and he had a set-up going that was truly awesome. 902's on Edgars over PiPro type 2226's. It occured to me that part of the success was due to his narrow room and sitting against the long wall. There's a sense of 'air' and performers in the room that you don't get on the short wall. Thinking back, I noticed the same thing at ColinHesters house for the same reasons. His room is bigger but you sit against the wall. So I got up early Sunday morning and moved furniture. Even trashed some stuff. Now the Speakers are 12" out from the wall and eight feet apart. 45 degree placement makes the 902 drivers on-axis beaming shrill so thye're now toed in about 10 degrees.You get all the detail of the 902's without the over emphasised treble. The 'air' and performer-in-the-room is there in spades. The wall they're on now is a fire-wall and the adjacent townhouse has a concrete floor. Good chance the trampoline situation is gone, says I. I tried without the sandboxes and got a great bass and mid-range. Put the sandboxes in the mix and the sound went dead. I thought maybe the 3" rise was the culprit but I sat up on an extra cushion and no good. Took'm away and the sparkle and deep, articulate bass was back. This is really good sound. The AudioNote amp just wants to sing and the 902's are the best horn drivers I've yet heard. There are so many variables. It get's frustrating at times but then the reward is even better. Speakerman comes through once again. Been listening for hours.
Re: No more sandboxes, no more 45 degrees
Sounds like the "near-field" listening postion works well for you. I myself would love to have a large room to work with(only if I win the lotto). I am also using a 1st order crossover on my horns, Yamamoto 45 SET provides 2 wpc so is fairly safe. My JBL is a E130 reconed with 2225 cone kit. I used a 1.2 mh coil in series. I paralleled 3 caps for the HF horn section(2 ufd oil/12 ufd MPT/.68 ufd MPP)into a 8 ohm L-pad. One other point, in the short range, nothing beams like a round horn. However as I showed Bill, the secret is to be off axis with them and imaging comes through in spades. Downfall on that is only 1 person sits in the "sweet-spot"! Thanks for the kind words Bill! Ron
Sounds like you're having fun. That's the point! I hope to see you guys soon. It's been too long since we all got together!
I know what you mean about the 902 sound when on axis. If you haven't already, you might also try toeing them in untill the on axis lines cross in front of the listening position. Sort of extreme toe in, but that's the way I get the largest image in my funky room. I don't know if I could use my long wall, I would have to be up against the wall, and not all that far from the speakers. How close are you sitting? As I move my seat position further back, and begin to approach the rear wall the bass starts to be re-enforced, but the image gets flatter than when I'm seated a little further from the rear wall. I also have trampoline floors, but where the speakers are located, like yours, the effect isn't too extreme. Regards, Russellc