Achieving much better sound could be just one component away :)

[randyrlee2]

GirgleMirt,

I have to say THANK YOU for the shits and giggles tonight. Seriously Dude, you made my evening. There is soooo much twaddle out there about stereo stuff that it becomes like voodoo. That's actually one of the reasons I ended up with Ascend RAAL Towers, because I could see the measurements and wasn't being sold mumbo-jumbo.

Anyway, thanx again. Just damn glad I wasn't drinking anything when I read your post.

randy

[markie]

+1 for the lol
From henceforth you shall be called Darth GiggleMirth

[bkdc]

I can just see it now. Pretty soon, some snake-oil salesmen will sell an 'audiophile hard drive' complete with high quality toroidal transformer power supply and high quality silver-conductor USB cable with gold plated foofoo with a standard seagate or hitachi or western digital drive within the casing for 10000% mark-up. On the outside will be some big overpriced audiophile label. LOL

To the audio novice, it is so so so easy to buy into the lies. A fool and his money are easily parted. There are plenty of ethical audio and psychoacoustics experts trying to save you from wasting your money. Listen to them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYTlN6wjcvQ

[Too_Blue]

I suspect that GiggleMirt's secret identity is Gordon Ramsey.

Love it!

[luisv]

Excellent and I too almost lost it when I was reading the post. Way too funny. I'm sure folks have heard of Andrew Robinson, so maybe this will help... maybe...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AAs-4bnZpE

[markie]

I like Andrew Robinson, straight shooter. His personal experience that cables sound the same to him (except for db's?) is different from mine and many others. No biggie. The differences I heard between three different cables from the same company (Onda), playing exactly the same music portion, in the same room and the same very nice equipment (like Vandersteen speakers) were quite obvious. What I thought was, wow, they were different, but was one really much better than the other (despite their price differentials)? One cable might be preferred for a certain type of music or song but not for another. I would much rather buy a generic cheaper cable and equalize each song (such as one can do in iTunes) as I see fit. (Actually if I was serious about sound I wouldn't be using iTunes but something like JRiver hehe!) I'm assuming the differences in the cables amounted to mere frequency response differences, but maybe there was more to it, don't know.

I may post soon on something interesting I read recently regarding a way of experiencing one's music that goes beyond what is directly measurable, like frequency response. It could come in handy in evaluating one's equipment if one was doing some swapping and listening for differences.

Mark

[GirgleMirt]

Haha thanks guys! I had to edit the post due to complaints to Ascend though... Removed the 2 images which I thought made the post.. oh well!

Genuine question, for the average person, how much of an improvement would a thorough (professional?) ear cleaning do? My guess would be... Not much for most people? Hard to tell without ever have tried it, but I'd think the average dirt in the ear canal doesn't have a serious impact? I think for some people with issues it might be significant, others, not so much. Anyway, no idea... Ear canals aren't easy to 'clean', maybe I'll look up if there's some technique to do so... Could anything 'amass' on the ear drum and reduce hearing of your average individual?

Also, I also find it amazing how your own hearing seems to change from one day or another... Even with headphones, who's sound is much more 'stable' than speakers, it seems that their perceived sound changes over time; never exactly the same...

So that said, for audio, I think it's ridiculous that subjective testing is so widespread and the norm. Given the significant effect of the room, the positioning of the listener and the speakers, and human error, I find it silly that some people think they can perceive changes in say amp, cables, cd player, etc... I've seen people in shows, walk in an untreated demo room, listen to a system for a few minutes, and then comment on the amp. Or the cd player... It's borderline mental. And these people seem to have no notion about how your listening position affects sound. (they'll sit non-centered, in the rear of the room, etc.). It's the norm.

Btw, am I the only person in the world with 'Carbon fiber' Sierras?



I thought about making a post about them, but never actually did so... I think I might be the only person i the world with C.F Sierras... Heh! (not really )

[luisv]

Btw, am I the only person in the world with 'Carbon fiber' Sierras?


I thought about making a post about them, but never actually did so... I think I might be the only person i the world... Heh! (not really )

Nice indeed! I for one would be interested in reading what you did, so if you can create the post, I would appreciate it. I agree with you as I'm not sure how someone can listen to something in a demo room for a few moments and say, yup that sounds better / worse and that's what my system is missing. smh

[GirgleMirt]

Hehe well I used a similar technique as seen here with a DIY cabinet for the remains of a NrT upgrade. But it really does help incredibly though for the sound, CF being one of the strongest and lightest material around, it's a huge sound improvement vs non CF'd MDF cabinet!

Strength, Stiffness, and Comparisons With Other Materials
Carbon fiber is extremely strong. It is typical in engineering to measure the benefit of a material in terms of strength to weight ratio and stiffness to weight ratio, particularly in structural design, where added weight may translate into increased lifecycle costs or unsatisfactory performance. The stiffness of a material is measured by its modulus of elasticity. The modulus of carbon fiber is typically 20 msi (138 Gpa) and its ultimate tensile strength is typically 500 ksi (3.5 Gpa). High stiffness and strength carbon fiber materials are also available through specialized heat treatment processes with much higher values. Compare this with 2024-T3 Aluminum, which has a modulus of only 10 msi and ultimate tensile strength of 65 ksi, and 4130 Steel, which has a modulus of 30 msi and ultimate tensile strength of 125 ksi.

As an example, a plain-weave carbon fiber reinforced laminate has an elastic modulus of approximately 6 msi and a volumetric density of about 83 lbs/ft3. Thus the stiffness to weight for this material is 107 ft. By comparison, the density of aluminum is 169 lbs/ft3, which yields a stiffness to weight of 8.5 x 106 ft, and the density of 4130 steel is 489 lbs/ft3, which yields a stiffness to weight of 8.8 x 106 ft. Hence even a basic plain-weave carbon fiber panel has a stiffness to weight ratio 18% greater than aluminum and 14% greater than steel. When one considers the possibility of customized carbon fiber panel stiffness through strategic laminate placement, as well as the potentially massive increase in both strength and stiffness possible with lightweight core materials, is it obvious the impact advanced carbon fiber composites can make on a wide variety of applications

With that much science behind it, how can it not improve sound?! Speakers definitely fit in the "if it's got CF it's better" category, so I couldn't not consider not going with Carbon fiber. These took literally hours to make, and dozens of minutes of internet research to design. Not your typical Ascend speaker! Also completely hand made, which makes it better, using high performance tools, such as a table saw, a router, a sander, and human hands. Although no blood was involved, there was definitely some blood sweat and tears involved... Ok no tears either.. But some sweat though probably got in there... Helps with imaging I'm told! Can get hot here...

Oh and the glue... High tech glue. High quality... Wood... Glue. I went with the good stuff, I went totally crazy, I think it was $2.49 instead of normal $1.99 wood glue... Brand name, shit, don't remember the brand... Should have written it down, as brand names helps performance. The superior quality glue helps to keep the sound tight and cohesive. Which is great for C.F. And it glued so well, much better than normal glue, you can easily hear the differences between glues. Oh and the MDF wood was personally selected by me. 1st sheet of the pile. Always the best! Some people don't go with the best. I do. Only hand selected MDF wood. It's high tech too, they didn't have that in medieval times... High tech MDF, hand crafted, selected, glued, with high tech and quality glue, CF'd, hand made, with sweat, amazing.

Here are my original impressions upon hearing the Carbon Fiber Sierras for the first time:

Color me impressed. Compared to the already excellent Ascend Sierra, Carbon Fiber Sierra seemed to turn up the detail level, gut-punching PRAT, and harmonic density a notch. I never thought Ascend Sierra was not great in these departments before, but the Carbon Fiber Sierra definitely had more of these qualities. Increased detail resolution is most apparent in female vocals and upper midrange, where another light appeared to be shining on this region, making it easier to hear and see. A byproduct of this was improved imaging and placement in the soundstage. Each performer occupied solid, precise space on the stage, with life and sparkle projecting forward.

The next thing that hits you is the more impactful, solid basslines, which had more pitch definition and punch. Ascend Sierra has fabulous bass richness and definition already, but it just became tighter, with more solidity in growl and attack. The midrange had plenty of richness and girth, which made the whole sound balanced by holding together the more forward detailing and forceful bass into a coherent, colorful whole. When reading how the Carbon Fiber Sierra was designed with digital components in mind, I expected a softer, warmer type of sound to smooth over digititis, but almost the opposite has happened for some reason. This means that those audiophiles with digital front end that may be a bit long in the tooth, overly "hot" or "digital" sounding, may not necessarily find the Digital HP cord to be all that forgiving despite all its virtues described above. Those who own great, smooth digital gear but hope to extract a bit more air, sparkle, resolution, and punch, the Digital HP is the cord for the job.

(the above is totally not ripped off!!) Just amazing what adding Carbon Fiber to Sierra will do for you.. Really amazing...! Those nuances..

Though I'm thinking of replacing it with a normal wood finish.. C.F. is supposed to come off really easily without leaving residue, so I think I'll eventually go this route.. I'm quite hesitant to lose all the CF benefits though...

[Mag_Neato]

I like Andrew Robinson, straight shooter. His personal experience that cables sound the same to him (except for db's?) is different from mine and many others. No biggie. The differences I heard between three different cables from the same company (Onda), playing exactly the same music portion, in the same room and the same very nice equipment (like Vandersteen speakers) were quite obvious. What I thought was, wow, they were different, but was one really much better than the other (despite their price differentials)? One cable might be preferred for a certain type of music or song but not for another. I would much rather buy a generic cheaper cable and equalize each song (such as one can do in iTunes) as I see fit. (Actually if I was serious about sound I wouldn't be using iTunes but something like JRiver hehe!) I'm assuming the differences in the cables amounted to mere frequency response differences, but maybe there was more to it, don't know.

I may post soon on something interesting I read recently regarding a way of experiencing one's music that goes beyond what is directly measurable, like frequency response. It could come in handy in evaluating one's equipment if one was doing some swapping and listening for differences.

Mark

Ok, here's a thought from the dark side of my brain: You auditioned (3) different cables that had noticeably different sonic signatures, presumably at (3) different price points. BUT.......they are all from the same company. Consider this; If you could not differentiate the least expensive cable from the most expensive then how could the company justify the price difference? I believe that these companies selling multi-tiered products engineer these differences into the products so that there is an audible difference, justifying the price levels in the consumer's mind.

Ok, conspiracy theory rant over!