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[sludgeogre]

This seems more of a source issue than anything else, maybe electronics, but not outlet power. I don't think a power conditioner will be a remedy.

How loud do listen to material?

To eliminate a possible issue either Horizon, swap the connection with one of your mains, and see if the problem persists.

Yeah, I agree, was just something I was going to try.

I listen to material all over the place from rather quiet to really loud. The distortion happens at medium to high volume. Can't really tell if it is happening at low volume.

I had planned on swapping the connections tonight. Just didn't think of it until I was at work. Looking forward to trying that out.

[sludgeogre]

Tried the two movies I was having problems with on my PS4 and a Samsung Blu-Ray player, with different XLR cables, and on different channels of my amp. Also tried it with and without my amp plugged into my Furman M-8X2 power conditioner. No difference at all with any of them, everything sounds exactly the same.

I'm really starting to think that some movies just have weird sounds in them. The Blues Brothers, Star Trek (the new movies) Venture Brothers, DareDevil, etc.. sound fantastic. All of them. Don't hear a single hint of anything going weird on any of them, but then Black Mass and There Will Be Blood have certain scenes that just sound distorted from time to time.

I even went as far as to read reviews of the Blu-Ray discs for these movies and while people said that they didn't sound fantastic, none of them mentioned artifacts like this, and I don't recall any review stating that, but how many people have systems as resolving as the Sierra Towers with proper amplification?

I emailed Ascend tech support, but I think Dave is extremely busy right now so I'll give him some time to reply.

Sorry for derailing this thread, back to the photos!

[justthinking]

Tried the two movies I was having problems with on my PS4 and a Samsung Blu-Ray player, with different XLR cables, and on different channels of my amp. Also tried it with and without my amp plugged into my Furman M-8X2 power conditioner. No difference at all with any of them, everything sounds exactly the same.

I'm really starting to think that some movies just have weird sounds in them. The Blues Brothers, Star Trek (the new movies) Venture Brothers, DareDevil, etc.. sound fantastic. All of them. Don't hear a single hint of anything going weird on any of them, but then Black Mass and There Will Be Blood have certain scenes that just sound distorted from time to time.

I am 99% confident it is not an issue with the Sierra Towers/Horizon but with your amplification

What receiver or external amp are you using? It sounds like the receiver or amp can't handle the dynamic peak and is causing distortion,

[davef]

I am 99% confident it is not an issue with the Sierra Towers/Horizon but with your amplification

What receiver or external amp are you using? It sounds like the receiver or amp can't handle the dynamic peak and is causing distortion,

I am 100% confident this is simply the source material. Isn't it obvious? Same exact part of each of these 2 movies distorts regardless of the volume level. If it was the speaker, it would continually distort and would not be source specific, if it was the amp, the distortion heard would decrease relative to other sounds as volume is lowered.

Guys -- it's the source. It is often the case that in the mastering processes, a dynamic peak -- especially with shouty vocals, is recorded too hot and thus results in errors. With a speaker like the Horizon, you will hear it.

If you are using Blu Ray's -- try the DVD version or vice versa as sometimes the audio tracks are mastered differently.

It is no different than a poorly mastered CD.... Please don't waste your time on this, changing amps, power conditioners, BD players is not going to get rid of it - your system is doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing - accurately reproducing the source material.

I have attached a picture detailing what you are hearing. This is a visual representation of the waveforms from a rather notoriously recorded CD. Notice the waveform in the middle is squared off on the top, otherwise known as clipped. This occurs when a source is recorded at an amplitude that is higher than the mastering equipment can handle or above the maximum dynamic range of the medium itself. It is highly distorted.

With the advanced analysis tools available these days, there is really no excuse for this, but many engineers will accept a small amount. If the clipping occurred during the recording process itself, the only way to correct it would be to redo the dialogue and that can be time consuming and very expensive. For example, the mic was too close to the actor and/or the actor shouted thus over-driving the mic/mic electronics -- (microphone elements can easily be overdriven)

Hope this helps!!!

[sludgeogre]

Dave is right, after all of the diagnosing I did, it has to be clipping. I just didn't think that Hollywood would be that lazy with mastering. I have heard a few albums with audible clipping in them, but I've never been able to hear it with movies before. Now that I have such a resolving system, it's really insane what kinds of things you hear. I never thought it would take this long to wrap my head around those RAAL tweeters, but they're so honest it just floors you.

[billy p]

One recording that comes to mind for me was Leonard Cohen "Suzanne"...I heard this subtle but present cracking one evening ...I thought mid range... again with my ear up close I heard it...panic started to set in. After several attempts to hear this again with other source material...nothing....perfectly clear vocals and mid range. Yea...I still love the song but I'm not so fond of the recording ...

[Johnny_Mac_III]

I know a lot of people worry about that with sealed subwoofers, but with Rythmik I don't think there's a problem. They go down so deep and accurately it's scary. They feel like they're punching you in the chest at super high volumes, it's amazing, it'll really put a smile on your face, I guarantee it. It'll scare people, cats, dogs, the neighbors, etc, while still being tactile and accurate. You'll hear things in bass notes you've never heard before and you'll be launched out of your chair during high LFE scenes in movies. Go for it, you'll be glad you did, I know I am.

Nice! I love the skull towers by the way. Watching a concert pitch black with the skulls on would be sweet! What is the realative volume for you to feel like you are getting punched in the chest? I mean do you need to run them hot, listen at reference volume, ect? Thx.

[sludgeogre]

Nice! I love the skull towers by the way. Watching a concert pitch black with the skulls on would be sweet! What is the realative volume for you to feel like you are getting punched in the chest? I mean do you need to run them hot, listen at reference volume, ect? Thx.

Thanks! I got the skull towers at Costco for 75 bucks each, best purchase ever.

I set my subwoofers up with the recommended settings from Rythmik and turned the volume dial to 12 o'clock exactly, then ran Audyssey. They are perfectly integrated in this manner. If I really want to get that visceral bass feeling, then I turn the knob up on each sub by 3 clicks, and you get much deeper and intense bass energy at modest volumes. If I run the subs at 12 o'clock as normal, I have to have the sound up at pretty loud to get bass that rattles me, but this makes sense and it is rather balanced.

I tend to prefer the more balanced bass presentation, and my girlfriend goes nuts if I turn the subs up as it rattles the whole house, but it is really fun to crank the subs once in a while for sure.

[freesole]

Thank you Dave and Dina! We'll be in touch again I'm sure but hopefully just to see how things are going on your end and not me itching to buy more

[sludgeogre]

Thank you Dave and Dina! We'll be in touch again I'm sure but hopefully just to see how things are going on your end and not me itching to buy more

Looks beautiful! How are you liking the Horizon Center versus the Aperion one?