Something to Talk About

Something to Talk About

Written by Jim Smith

Recently, I was thinking about the many topics that my Get Better Sound audio seminar attendees have liked most over the years.  The list is fairly long, but there has been a general pattern.

It took a while, but I managed to narrow that list down to those that have proven to be the most popular.  It occurred to me that instead of just submitting a topic, perhaps you could choose from those topics that interest you most and post a reply below.  That way we can discuss your favorite.

Here is my list – in no particular order:

If different loudspeaker manufacturers use fundamentally different set-up guides, who is right?

 Could your chair or sofa be damaging your music reproduction?  

 Why an equilateral loudspeaker setup can detract from your musical experience

 Precise Imaging vs. Tone?

 Depth vs. Presence?

 When exotic speaker feet, spikes, isolation devices, etc. can negatively affect your sound.

 Why you should remove unused speakers from your listening or short/cover them  

 Why wide dispersion for loudspeakers might be a bad idea for home audio  

 The one thing that your system must have to be musically satisfying  

 What are audiophile “sound effects” – and how do they affect our listening?  

 Why you shouldn’t place equipment or furniture between your speakers  

 The “around-the-corner” test  

 How to determine the acoustic transparency of a material to be used for room treatments or speaker grille cloths  

 How to know when you’ve gone too far with room treatments  

 The Top Three most important places for room treatments  

 How to avoid the ­worst sounding location for your system electronics and sources

 Fine-tuning your system’s tonal balance and stereo imaging with speaker placement

 How to use toe-in (speaker angle) to make your speakers seem to “disappear” sonically, as well as to affect their tonal balance  

 What happens when you listen at different seating heights ?

 Why you shouldn’t consider speaker placement final until you’ve discovered the correct AC polarity for all components  

 When you should consider trying an asymmetrical speaker/listening positioning for the best bass response  

 When you should consider a 45-degree placement for difficult rooms  

 Why you need to have an audio system “road map”

 The one thing you must do to make sure your vacuum tube electronics perform at or near their peak

 Vertical vs. horizontal bi-amplification  

 Bi-amping with similar amps vs specialized/different amps 

 Can you adjust spectral balance to +/- .5 dB with your electronic crossover?  

 When adjusting bass levels with a bi-amplified system, can you shift the crossover point to compensate for the lower or higher level you just selected?  

 Looking forward to seeing what interests you!

Note: These potential Copper articles will be excerpted and edited from existing Get Better Sound topics, as well as from their accompanying Quarter Notes newsletters.

Back to Copper home page