How to bring ELX Raal to life at low volume levels?

[MCat1967]

It helps, thank you Dave and everyone else who replied. I'll figure out which direction I want to go and see what next steps are. To be clear, the speakers are fantastic, I understand the problem I am having is not a defect on their end. I'm off to purchase that SPL meter you linked and start from there.

One other question...in my room, the Raal tweeters are a good 12 to 14" below my ears. Should I be pointing the front of the ELX upwards toward my ears and if that answer is yes, any ideas on what to use to accomplish that?

[merrymaid520]

I’d raise the front of the speakers a bit (lower the rear) to angle them up a bit. I use these on my ELX towers.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_892GAI...-GAIA-III.html

[davef]

It helps, thank you Dave and everyone else who replied. I'll figure out which direction I want to go and see what next steps are. To be clear, the speakers are fantastic, I understand the problem I am having is not a defect on their end. I'm off to purchase that SPL meter you linked and start from there.

One other question...in my room, the Raal tweeters are a good 12 to 14" below my ears. Should I be pointing the front of the ELX upwards toward my ears and if that answer is yes, any ideas on what to use to accomplish that?

At a 6 foot listening distance, your ideal vertical listening window to the center of the ribbon would be +/- 19". At 12" below , you are at a vertical angle of ~ 9 degrees. Nothing wrong with experimenting on angling the speakers upward just a bit, but it isn't necessary.

[MCat1967]

Thank you Dave and merrymaid! I'll play around a bit with angling and see what happens.

[theophile]

...One other question...in my room, the Raal tweeters are a good 12 to 14" below my ears. Should I be pointing the front of the ELX upwards toward my ears and if that answer is yes, any ideas on what to use to accomplish that?

Mike,

FWIW, my Sierra RAAL V2 Towers (with spikes installed) sat flat on my carpeted flooring, with the tweeters about 7" below my listening position. While trying to get the soundstage and imaging to improve (I sit about 7ft away from the front baffles), discovered if I raised the speakers an extra inch and angled the baffles back, I heard Substantial sonic improvements in overall balance and soundstaging!

After much trial and error, invested in these speaker isolators from Stack Audio! On their 15mm spikes, the isolators raised my speakers an additional 1/2" and allowed me to incorporate an additional 4mm of baffle rake...WOW, what an overall Huge Sonic Improvement!!

The RAAL's presentation (and midrange prowess) came ALIVE, Open, and with Great Overall Clarity...low listening levels are superbly bandwidth balanced and overall dynamics are breathtaking! Between the additional cabinet height and the Isolator vibration reduction properties, Soft or Cranked, the music is ALL THERE!!

For an on-the-cheap trial experiment, 4 of THESE (2 per speaker) could get those RAALs much closer to Your ear levels and IMHO, create the sonic balance that you seek!?!

Just my .03 cents...(inflation)!

Ted

[DavidD]

There have been a couple of interesting ideas for tower footer mods. What is the threading spec on the base of the original RAAL towers?

[theophile]

There have been a couple of interesting ideas for tower footer mods. What is the threading spec on the base of the original RAAL towers?

1/4"-20 bolt threads in my Sierra RAAL V2 Tower plinths! Piano finish plinth threads should be the same for the original V1 Towers and the new ELX Towers!?!

Ted

[davef]

There have been a couple of interesting ideas for tower footer mods. What is the threading spec on the base of the original RAAL towers?

Threaded insert size on the bottom of the towers and on the bottom of the tower plinth = 1/4-20

Hope this helps!

[MCat1967]

Thanks Ted! I read through your post over on the SH forum as well and thought a nice raise on the speaker could do well for me and my room as well so I got these coming today (and they were on sale!!):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBN0UWQ...t_details&th=1

I am going to try using all 4 to lift the entire speaker and then try with just using two on the front and compare results. They are adjustable so I may be able to get away with all 4 and just put a slight raise on the front two.

[theophile]

Thanks Ted! I read through your post over on the SH forum as well and thought a nice raise on the speaker could do well for me and my room as well so I got these coming today (and they were on sale!!):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBN0UWQ...t_details&th=1

I am going to try using all 4 to lift the entire speaker and then try with just using two on the front and compare results. They are adjustable so I may be able to get away with all 4 and just put a slight raise on the front two.

You are welcome, Mike! With your EX Towers + Plinth weight (right at 70#), are you getting the Gaia II or I? My slight baffle raise was created in the front isolators by adding the 4mm top lock nut (rears only have the bottom isolator lock nut-fronts have both bottom and top lock nuts). Which ever, I'm confident you'll find what works best for you in your room!!

Ted