Premier Rock Forum

there is an active discussion on pink fish media about active speakers. in case anyone is interested.
https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads ... rs.262784/

pfm is a very british audiophile forum. I find that they are generally knowledgeable and respectful, even if many of them are stone deaf.

^ Lot's of fun stuff here. thanks for sharing.

motorbike guy wrote: Mon Dec 27, 2021 12:23 pm there is an active discussion on pink fish media about active speakers. in case anyone is interested.
https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads ... rs.262784/

pfm is a very british audiophile forum. I find that they are generally knowledgeable and respectful, even if many of them are stone deaf.

This is a cool discussion and I would have thought folks who have invested a lot of time into separates would be more resistant to active speakers.

My own opinion of active speakers changed when I heard a pair of JBL PRX speakers at an outdoor wedding reception in Jamaica. I usually don’t expect much from a situation like that but they were remarkably clear and focused. Within a year I sold my old passive PA speakers and got a couple EONs. Obviously this isn’t hi-fi, but I do think matching amps to the driver and enclosure is a worthy effort.

What would be appealing to me is an open active design, where you could tinker with xover points, add some corrective EQ or apply broader “to taste” tone control.

One thing that’s a bummer about the active speakers I’ve heard (which albeit have been budget pieces) is they sound rather dull. I’m thinking it’s cheap class D amps I don’t like, as my passive speakers sound dull with my little NAD amp (which I think is class D? It’s about the size of a large paperback book) but are a lot better with a traditional receiver? I hear class D can be good though, so maybe I’m not hearing the good shit.

twelvepoint wrote: Sat Jan 01, 2022 6:20 am

What would be appealing to me is an open active design, where you could tinker with xover points, add some corrective EQ or apply broader “to taste” tone control.

Broh,

Yeah its a Behringer, but i bet it works, and I bet it sounds better than it should for the price.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... ydu-zb2TAQ

motorbike guy wrote: Sat Jan 01, 2022 8:05 am

twelvepoint wrote: Sat Jan 01, 2022 6:20 am

What would be appealing to me is an open active design, where you could tinker with xover points, add some corrective EQ or apply broader “to taste” tone control.

Broh,

Yeah its a Behringer, but i bet it works, and I bet it sounds better than it should for the price.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... ydu-zb2TAQ

Sorry, I deleted that last paragraph you quoted here because it was getting a bit too “highdeas” but yes, it would be fun to have some box with tunable DSP stuff like that!

Anyway, I took a closer look at that and it’s basically their version of a DBX Drive Rack, which I am familiar with, having set up a small club in Boston a decade ago with one. If I recall correctly, the DBX version had presets for the speakers, and our JBL SR mains and subs were easy to dial in and get going.

And yeah, I bet the Behringer sounds totally fine.

twelvepoint wrote: Sat Jan 01, 2022 6:20 am I hear class D can be good though, so maybe I’m not hearing the good shit.

I use Hypex Class D amps in the studio and they are incredible. Absolutely blazing fast, super detailed. Previously I'd been using a Rotel RB1080, which worked great and I had no complaints, but when I switched to the Hypex I noticed the difference right away. Better in every way.

Not cheap (~$1600 for the pair) but not insane either.

What do you audiophiles recommend for making a turntable less susceptible to vibration from footfalls?

My family members are very heavy footed and any of them walking through the room seriously detracts from the listening experience.

depending on the turntable, putting it on a heavy piece of furniture may not work. The top of a cabinet will sway when the floor deflects. Most TTs do not work well on top of a stack of equipment on a flexible floor. If you have wooden floors that flex, the solution is to either put the TT on the floor, so when the floor flexes, the TT doesn't move as much OR the preferred solution is to mount the TT on a wall shelf.

They can get expensive, and you need to mount the shelf to studs, which is not always easy, but they do work to stop foot fall skipping. You can imagine several cheaper DIY approaches, but this is a not too expensive one that looks pretty good.

adding mass does nothing but move the resonant frequency downwards. adding mass also does not "decouple". The extra mass actually couples the strucure that you are adding mass to to whatever it is sitting on. Isolation is what you want for a TT.

Don't use paving slabs. If you must, use two pieces of light plywood with cut-in-half tennis balls between them.

this will not stop the turntable from swaying if it is on top of a 3 foot high rack of gear on a bendy floor. That's why the wall works better if you can swing it.

I DJ ed once at the Channel in Boston for an afternoon hardcore show. At the DJ booth, they had the turntables suspended from the ceiling. They were reasonably isolated from the bass bins, but it was a bitch doing a good slip cue.....