Ye of little faith....
Dusters are a Korean car are they not? Quentin Crisp was right!
PS: If that Valor Homeflame is in good nick my old man would probably have that off you, it looks *cough* unused.
Harbeths and walls - how near or how far?
- Thread starter Peter Keen
- Start date
PS: If that Valor Homeflame is in good nick my old man would probably have that off you, it looks *cough* unused.
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
I'm glad you noticed that important point! A diffuse reflected sound field is the aim of the calculated placing and density of all the objects... and if you believe that....
But obviously it does actually have that effect!Edit: Spot the Stereo 20.... actually in use at the moment though not switched on when pic taken.
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
It is *cough* unused... probably for the reasons you assume... too close to hi-fi/electronic equipment and too inaccessible due to erm... see above
Tony L
Administrator
Yes, I spotted that, and that it seems to have a lovely GZ34 plugged in just as it should, which surprised me!
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
Indeed yes... I did say this in various posts... it was a mates St20 that got the full regulated PSU's (several) and SS rectifiers etc. It's an Edicron branded one and the only one of 5 of these NOS Edicron GZ34's not to have blown in internal fireworks fashion in between 1 minute and 1 day! This one (touch wood) seems to be reliable... My own Mullard went to a guitarist who needed a GZ34 to get his amp going for a gig in about 2 hours time.... I didn't trust the Edicrons (rightly it turned out!) and when I said I had a single Mullard but it was in my own amp he offered me £60 cash for it and I bit his hand off...
Output valves are same as yours and ECC83's are Sovtek cause Mullard one's sound too soft and valvey...
I'm thinking of putting the feedback back to standard so I can switch to 4, 8, 16R at will once more. You may recall I set it permanently to 4R internally with feedback optimised for 4R... but this was for my KEF R105.3's so into the largely > 8R Spendor's I'm hoping for a better sound... time will tell...
Stunsworth
pfm Member
Ye of little faith....
Dusters are a Korean car are they not? Quentin Crisp was right!
Surely the speaker in the TV spoils the sound staging (assuming you’ve not removed it).
Tony L
Administrator
Edicron just stuck their name on all kinds of stuff, so chances are its Russian or Chinese. No idea what to recommend as modern GZ34s don’t have a particularly good reputation. I’ve got a nice stash of Mullard GZ34s, 2 boxed NOS (I’ve very lightly used them), one ancient but still working and one that was in the possibly NOS boxed S20, that’s the one I’m listening to right now, its a yellow-print ‘65. If I ever find a nice matching friend for my lone TL12+ the stash will come in useful!
You really can’t generalise Mullard ECC83s IMO as they changed the design so many times over the years. I agree the late-60s through ‘70s ones with short-plates and nickel rods are a bit soft sounding, but ‘65 or so backwards are just superb, and the ‘50s long-plates are very forceful and dynamic things (too much so for me in my current system). I suspect we are both tuning for different things though as I’m driving little sealed-box mini-monitors that crave a little warmth and heft and you have the Spendors that need a very good tight grip to control the slightly wayward bottom to my ears (I’m basing that on BC1s, I don’t know the IIs, but I assume they are much the same).
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
You've not gone overboard on the TV front have you
It hardly ever gets used...
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
Yep they're short anode ones. Probably about right on us tuning for different speakers to an extent but the BCII's are rather tighter in the bass than BC1's... but lose a smidgen of the midrange magic... 1's, II's and first type SP1's whilst having slightly different blends of compromises still sound more similar to each other than different...if you know what I mean...
Peter Keen
pfm Member
Folks, thanks for all the replies, and indeed images of ideal speaker placement options. I'm desperately resisting the temptation to make a rug recommendation for Jez' lounge configuration
The consensus is clearly Harbeths need a reasonable amount of space to really sing, even the smaller ones. It has led me to wonder if it would be a crime to explore the notion of suitable castors instead of traditional spikes on speaker stands, thus permitting quickly being able to re-position speakers for optimal listening when required. The new setup is going to be on a solid oak floor, so I'm wondering whether suitably hard wheel castors would give sufficient rigidity to achieve the level of mechanical coupling that I assume is intended by spikes. has anyone done this, and if so, how did it work out? I know that some of the Shahinian range have castors fitted and receive glowing reviews so it must be possible at least with some speaker designs.
The consensus is clearly Harbeths need a reasonable amount of space to really sing, even the smaller ones. It has led me to wonder if it would be a crime to explore the notion of suitable castors instead of traditional spikes on speaker stands, thus permitting quickly being able to re-position speakers for optimal listening when required. The new setup is going to be on a solid oak floor, so I'm wondering whether suitably hard wheel castors would give sufficient rigidity to achieve the level of mechanical coupling that I assume is intended by spikes. has anyone done this, and if so, how did it work out? I know that some of the Shahinian range have castors fitted and receive glowing reviews so it must be possible at least with some speaker designs.
TimF
pfm Member
Nah, one of these evenings after a nice little nip, he will more than likely trip over something in that mess and fall into some live, open faced gear and electrocute himself. What a way to go, up in flames!
foxwelljsly
Me too, I ate one sour too.
So many hi fi's spoiled by people giving a toss about interior decor.... My Spendor BCII's are about a metre from the back wall and 1.5 from side walls, as they (and many other speakers) should be. I can only get from one end of the room to the other with great difficulty due to prototype power amps X 5 laid out all over the floor and not in cases so transformers, heatsinks etc on carpet... prototype pres and phono stages, boxes of cables, an oscilloscope, a spare PC and monitor, and 7 guitars crammed behind the TV... I can't get to my bay window to open the curtains or window due to more prototypes, text books, PSU's blocking access so they remain permanently closed...
People have the wrong attitude altogether to this and need to find some dedication to the cause
You're wrong, put all your electronics in an annex and only have only a pair of ESLs in the middle of your 4m x 8m listening room. And a sofa. Maybe.
Re the OP: Harbeth P3 ESRs will not sound their best 30cm from the wall, but I'd wager no speaker will sound as good 30cm from the wall. I used them for a long time firing across a large room and had them maybe 30cm from a supporting wall and they sounded fabulous.