GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Audio Discussions
In the Thread: A quest for a better monitor.

Post Subject: My reasons for considering DSET/hornsPosted by manisandher on: 12/1/2009

Firstly, thank you to Montepilot, Paul S, KLegind, zanon and Romy for all your thoughts on the Zu Druids.
I recently tried high-passing the Druids at various frequencies and using a pair of Wilson-Benesch Chimeras and various amps for LF and upper-LF duties. The results were certainly not to my satisfaction. Although the Druids seemed happy being high-passed >150Hz (or at least happier than normal), I just couldn’t get any decent integration below this. It was a bit of a mess really, with the other equipment I was using.
So, I currently have the Berning Siegfried driving the Druids FR for now. At low-to-moderate volumes, the sound is very listenable – not particularly engaging, but listenable nevertheless. I’ve tried a number of different 300Bs (EAT, KR and WE) with the Siegfried and have settled for the WEs, as I feel they have the best tone and depth in the mid-range.

Romy the Cat wrote:
You need to categorize those very well-defined shortcomings in your current setup that might make your audio-practice uncomfortable and to ask yourself if the DSET/multi-horn idea will address those very specific shortcomings. Otherwise the whole idea of “better audio” in my view has no sensible meaning and become just eternal chasing of own tail.

Yes, I agree. There are two main shortcomings I have with my current setup (Siegfried and Druids):

1. There’s a lack of low-end weight to the sound. The LF is not extended or particularly tuneful. My reference here is my old, bottom-of-the-range Stax headphones. If I could get the bass to sound more like this, I would be very happy. Indeed, although not particularly extended, my SL600s driven by my Rotel RHB-10 are incredibly tuneful in the LF.
2. The sound is a bit flat across the whole spectrum, but especially low down. I’ve bought ‘Eversest & Pohlmann’ with the hope of improving the acoustics of my room, but I suspect the culprit is really the Siegfried not being able to drive the Druids adequately.

They’re the shortcomings I have right now. Does this necessarily mean that DSET/horns are the only way forward? Well, maybe not. Certainly, I’d like to try the Druids with my Aleph4, which I should be able to do later this week. I’d also like to play around with the room acoustics to see if I could liven that bottom-end up a bit.

But ultimately, I suppose my objective is to emulate my headphones... in their tone, LF extension, tunefullness, dynamics and overall coherence.

Possible without considering a DSET/horn setup?

Mani.

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