Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

Anyone heard the Arcaydis Range - the EB1 and EB2 that were all hyped up a couple of years back?

I'm after a pair of big "bookshelf" speakers to replace my Castle Knight 2s... Only the Castle's sound really really good - so I'm a little apprehensive about 'upgrading'

Consider running cat6 instead of speaker cable and using Chromecast ultra/active speakers or keeping the amps near the speakers. Streaming audio is super reliable over wired ethernet, so no matter whether you use Chromecast or Sonos it will be solid.

All chromecasts would be wired up via cat6 whatever happens. and there are multiple data points in every room as well.

I have been told in no uncertain terms that I have to minimise the number of little black boxes in every room, hence running everything to a central location.

IFTTT

This sounds interesting as Im running multiple chromecasts.

How do i do this?

Streaming audio is super reliable over wired ethernet

The streaming is reliable, it's the initial connection from the app that isn't with Chromecasts.

I'm trying to read a book called Master Handbook of Acoustics, it's pretty dense but it does give a lot of information about speaker positioning, room modes etc. It's complicated but one thing they do warn about is having the woofer at the same distance from the wall and the floor, apparently that's the axis of evil! Another aspect of the wall bass is a deep notch at 100hz which is hard to fix digitally.

I'd not had any problems running the LB1's with a Cambridge A1 but had never noticed how weak the bass performance was until I tried the Hypex amps and suddenly the bass was overwhelming, almost painful after 10 minutes. I'm thinking of making a small butterworth resister/capacitor network to put on the output cables so that I can go back to an analog solution but I need to decide on the values. At the moment I'm using a shelf filter in the MOTU set at 98hz -4db and that is sorting them out. Next step is a calibrated mic to check the room responses.

the books get pretty treacle-like, really quickly, for me. i'll have a look at the one you have.

I am going to get one of the mikes and have a play with the software first, I think.

I've just ordered a mic from Amazon, Dayton EMM-6 and I'll try and use REW software which on the face of it is free. Just got to sort out which of the mic pre-amps I have that I trust to be linear.

Looking at various comments here and there I think the mic should be good enough to give me some improvements.

I'm already approaching audio nirvana if I put the LB1's on stands 3 foot into the room so fingers crossed I can get it sorted with them back at the walls. I've gone back to an analog signal chain and speakers in the room for the vinyl today, seems better to my ears but no specific idea why.

I've been dipping into this book for 4 years. I read a couple of pages and start moving stuff about for a few weeks but it sinks in over a long period of time. They have a whole section on building a studio control room which is mind-blowing, basically you need to have record company kind of money and lots of space.

diminishing returns...

If it's a decent size and shape, treating a room to be reasonably flat can be done for hundreds rather than thousands. Should be the first thing a serious listener does (or anyone working with audio) but it's not sexy and requires actual science rather than just splurging on the latest audiophile snake oil bullshit. It's also going to have much, much more effect than fancy cables or esoteric hardware - audible and measurable, which is a nice change in the audiophile world!

Acoustics - the law of diminishing reflections.

have you worked out your kitchen design yet?

If you're planning wall-mounted cabinets then there are quite a few sound bar options that will fit seamlessly / discretely under the overhangs.

Roughly worked out... and do have a couple of speaker points above cabinets so that sort of thing could work.

Like I said before, my main thought for most* kitchens is that it's such a noisy environment you don't need anything amazing and that systems designed to "create" a nice sound, rather than a perfectly paired up speaker/amp combo would be better.

Don't know if you read this guy's review of a mini-amp, but I saved it for future food for thought when we redo our kitchen/get an extension way down the line:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/RM2EOSX1SNSII/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00SATAEEA

*obvs if it's a multipurpose room ymmv

Hadn't read that review, but that is exactly what I am looking to do, cheap amp, chrome cast and whatever speakers I can get my hands on.
Also that is the amp I use in my office log cabin and have had no issues with it at all.

On the Tisbury pre you have, does it half the volume when you have both outputs connected?

good question - I don't know the answer, but I can try it for you.

Totally tubular bells - I guess my listening requirements don't reach those heights, my ears are even okay with 320 kbps!

Got a measuring mic and the free REW software. Unless you have a mic pre or sound card with phantom voltage then a cheap USB mic would do, REW have a recommended one on their site. It's very useful, I've only eq'd out the problem areas in my different setups so far but it's well worth doing. Not too expensive overall and scientific rather than poetic.

You can also compare different setups quite easily, like isolation mats under the speakers or different stands and see what difference it makes rather than a lot of beard stroking. Really worthwhile if you've got anything approaching a critical listening setup. It probably works wonders on cheaper systems but it does help if your equipment is delivering relatively flat responses to begin with, there's only so much you can do with eq.

tldr - Acoustic measurement works, it's cheap enough and it's worth doing.

I need to get some speaker stands for a fairly cheap set of microlab speakers (being used currently with a chromecast). I have a hard floor so spikes are not needed yet they all seem to come with spikes. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Or get spike shoes/feet.

Keep the spikes but apply a little bit of Blutack to 5p or 1p coins and stick the coins to the floor. Works a treat, brand name should be 'cheap cheat feet' or summat.

Cost = 8p or 40p per stereo pair. :)

There's a good chance that if they come with spikes they will also come with shoes/caps.

True. Even cheaper.

Thanks all, looks fairly straightforward. Thinking of something like the below, I imagine my speakers are going to be a bit larger than the plate - does that matter?

https://www.richersounds.com/product/speaker-stands/pixel/t80/pixe-t80-stand