Docfoster wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2019 12:48 pm
Well done for identifying the cause of the dissatisfaction. And for the having to hand the necessary gear.
I agree that DSP is a great way to quickly establish ways forward. Though once I've found the values I like with the shelf filters in JRivers DSP, I can't resist building physicla L-pads to meet those values.
The results I get to when subjectively balancing driver levels often baffle me. I think the effective sensitivity of my tweeters are about 5dB lower than the mids and 13dB lower than the woofers. "Trust your ears!" as they say.
(Mine must be very trebble sensitive! Other than my ears I don't have the necessary measuring equipment to assess respective driver levels, as you clearly have.)
Enjoying reading your updates on this!
Thanks for the kind words! I'm not using any measuring equipment apart from my ears and some music tracks that I know very well. The published Monacor frequency response charts seem pretty reliable. I also have a very basic understanding of mixing and which frequency areas have what effect and what I'm hearing is consistent with both the fr chart and mixing guidelines.
The high shelf filter had the desired effect of reducing the glassiness and glare I was hearing. I'm now running the full ranger with no attenuation, along with the high shelf filter. It's still running a fraction hot. It only seems to need very small adjustments to alter the overall sound quite significantly. I have no plans to fiddle around with much more in the way of EQ. However, I might try something different from a blanket high shelf filter. The nice thing about the miniDSP software is that I can see in chart form how the response curve changes.
I too am very treble sensitive. A friend's ATC SCM40 speakers tend to make my ears bleed (metaphorically speaking), and there's no soundstage worth talking about.
My overall impression is that the OB speakers are delivering a huge soundstage that is high, wide & deep. It's streets ahead of my semi-omnis in soundstage and openness. The room is loaded in a completely different way and probably the best word to describe the presentation is 'effortless'. Bass is cleaner and more extended than with any box speaker I've had. They are pig ugly and warrant something better in the way of baffle and supports, but that should be relatively easy to achieve once the final configuration is settled. MJK U frame seems the best to date.
On the amp front, the TPA3116 is a remarkable little class D unit. The boards were about £10 each if I remember correctly. The TPA3116 is certainly well regarded over at diyaudio. I do not have the knowledge to mod the boards, but some versions lend themselves very well to upgraded caps etc.