More Metronome Musings

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simon
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#46

Post by simon »

Nice. Would be very interesting to test my speakers, must get around to it sometime (adds another job to the long list...)
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#47

Post by Cressy Snr »

Was just renewing the blu tak rings around the centre dust caps of the FF225WK drivers this morning as they were starting to look a bit tatty.
So after rolling out some new ones I thought for curiosity's sake, I would put some music through without the rings in place.
The measurements I had taken a couple of months earlier, had, told me that the rings were very effective at getting me the neutrality across the midrange, I had been craving for years.
Now sometimes we think we have made an improvement when actually the improvement is nothing of the sort, and we go back to the original.
So trying the speakers without the rings was a revelation!

FOOKING 'ELL! WOT A PAIR OF FOGHORNS!

Yep! this time the rings definitely had been the right way to go and it was nice to have some correlation with the pink noise responses in terms of what the graphs said and what was heard.
I've sent for some black tak off Amazon, for a better aesthetic experience, but my my, those rings certainly do their job.
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#48

Post by IslandPink »

V. interesting -
Have you got a picture of that ?
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#49

Post by Cressy Snr »

IslandPink wrote:V. interesting -
Have you got a picture of that ?
Blu Tak ring:
Image


Black Tak:
Image

Link to Amazon:
Cressy Snr
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#50

Post by Cressy Snr »

Now then!

Got home from work today to find a package containing black-tack.

Image

That looks a bit better than blu tack methinks.

Better than that, the sound put out by these 8" Fostexes is now quite extraordinary.

I think black tack is a nice little discovery. It is different to blu tack in that it is a lot softer and stickier, but for £4.99, it is dirt cheap for the benefits it might bring to peaky full range drivers; whizzerless ones anyway.
Black tack is certainly worth trying, if you suffer from Fostex screech. The difference it makes is worth much more than the asking price.
Last edited by Cressy Snr on Wed Jun 17, 2015 9:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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#51

Post by Cressy Snr »

I'll give a report on the sound later this week, when things have settled down.
initial impressions are very positive indeed.

The fact that I've probably killed the top end of the Fostex and definitely reduced its overall sensitivity, is immaterial as the big 8 incher needs a tweeter anyway. It is however the midband that is the chief beneficiary of this treatment, becoming a great deal more transparent than was the case with the untreated driver.

It is quite surprising the amount of muddle and opaqueness introduced by midband peaking if left unchecked. Once this peaking is dealt with at source rather than eq'ing the hell out of the driver, the result is quite breathtaking.

Can't wait to try some classical.
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#52

Post by simon »

It certainly looks the business Steve, you'd never guess it wasn't part of the driver.
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Paul Barker
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#53

Post by Paul Barker »

The beauty of it is, you don't ruin the driver finding out. You could experiment with little blobs of it anywhere you like.
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#54 Re: More Metronome Musings

Post by Cressy Snr »

Yes it certainly lends itself to driver "modification" without any irreversible effects.

The sound of the big Mets is now characterised by a wonderful ability to reproduce the 1970s ideal of neutrality, but with up to date dynamics. The speakers certainly show me that the work put into the pentode pp amp was worth it. The neutrality of the speakers complements the neutrality of the amplifier setup.

So what does that mean then?
Well....it means that the quality that had started finally to become fully realised (after a good few years of work) of the system being able to play just about anything, regardless of the recording quality, has now been consolidated into a solid, unflappable characteristic that really does, now, play everything. There's no false emphasis anywhere really. The amp/speaker combo just gets on with it, without fuss or favour. It's everything that hi-fi should be and nothing that it shouldn't be. Not the best in the world, but it'll do me. :D
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Paul Barker
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#55 Re: More Metronome Musings

Post by Paul Barker »

I am doing my BG work in Donny right now and it may go on for 3 months, so if you want to plan in a listening session an evening Monday to Thursday any week I can pop over. I get my meal paid for so would eat here first.
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#56 Re: More Metronome Musings

Post by Cressy Snr »

No problem Paul.
How about next Thursday evening?
Shoot me a PM and we can sort something.
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Paul Barker
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#57 Re: More Metronome Musings

Post by Paul Barker »

That sounds good. Excuse the pun.
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#58 Re: More Metronome Musings

Post by Cressy Snr »

PM sent.

I've now got a week to get my story straight and my excuses sorted :lol:
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#59 Re: More Metronome Musings

Post by simon »

If you're going to be in Donny for maybe 3 months you're welcome to come round here for a listen too Paul. I can't provide fit and finish like Steve, nor sound for that matter, but a second opinion is always welcome.
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#60 Re: More Metronome Musings

Post by Paul Barker »

Great, can you pm your details or text oh seven eight nine one nine six seven four five nine.
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