Topic: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

I love the PianoTeq sound I am getting out of my headphones, but when I go to studio monitors, it is just horrible. Right now the piano sound out of my Casio PX-320 built in speakers sounds better in my small 10 x 10 bedroom studio than my monitor setup. I know I need new monitors, right now I have a pair of Hercules XPS 2.8.0  5" DJ Monitors. When I go from headphones to monitors is just loses that majestic grand piano sound and everything I want from Pianoteq. I find myself just going back to the keyboard built in speakers and grand piano, which isn't bad. I watch video of the Clavinova and Pianoteq demos and am awed by the rich, deep, sounds. Then I play Pianoteq through my setup and blahhhhhhh. I know the subject of studio monitors and setup is a whole topic in itself beyond a forum post, so I am just looking for some assurance that the sound can be had in a small home studio and maybe a few tips. What have you found works well for you in terms of getting the most out of Pianoteq in other than a headphone environment? Which monitors work for you and what other tips can you provide to get that sound out of Pianoteq that I know is there? I don't mind buying some new monitors but if that is not going to help, why waste the money?

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

Tom Maxwell wrote:

I love the PianoTeq sound I am getting out of my headphones, but when I go to studio monitors, it is just horrible. Right now the piano sound out of my Casio PX-320 built in speakers sounds better in my small 10 x 10 bedroom studio than my monitor setup. I know I need new monitors, right now I have a pair of Hercules XPS 2.8.0  5" DJ Monitors. When I go from headphones to monitors is just loses that majestic grand piano sound and everything I want from Pianoteq. I find myself just going back to the keyboard built in speakers and grand piano, which isn't bad. I watch video of the Clavinova and Pianoteq demos and am awed by the rich, deep, sounds. Then I play Pianoteq through my setup and blahhhhhhh. I know the subject of studio monitors and setup is a whole topic in itself beyond a forum post, so I am just looking for some assurance that the sound can be had in a small home studio and maybe a few tips. What have you found works well for you in terms of getting the most out of Pianoteq in other than a headphone environment? Which monitors work for you and what other tips can you provide to get that sound out of Pianoteq that I know is there? I don't mind buying some new monitors but if that is not going to help, why waste the money?

Hello Tom,

I am having the same issue with cheap monitors (about 150€ both) I bought on amazon; I thought they would do the job, but no! not at all.
Now I am in the same situation than you, need buy new monitors. But I am more confident that the sound will actually be good because I tested listening to Pianoteq sound on my Hi-Fi system and it sounds really fantastic, even better than with headphones.
Just need to put the right amount of money in good monitors.
I was thinking of buying two PIONEER VM-70 (250€ each), but I am also open to any advice on what is best for Pianoteq.

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

Try before you buy.
I know, it's an old fashioned and probably not very helpful advice in this online shopping world.
But it still is as true as it ever was.

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

m.tarenskeen wrote:

Try before you buy.
I know, it's an old fashioned and probably not very helpful advice in this online shopping world.
But it still is as true as it ever was.

Yes, good advice, but from what I read, the monitors are only a small part of the equation far behind room size, acoustic treatment of the room, and placement of the monitors. You can listen all you want at the stores, but they will most likely sound entirely different when taken home. I've gone to the music store and listened to what they have but to be honest, discerning significance differences that can be quantified is quite difficult. Listening in the big store space is going to sound quite different from a bedroom or apartment room. Considering monitors are supposed to be "neutral" there is quite a bit of difference between the brands and sizes. Obviously, bass suffers with smaller sized monitors and larger monitors appear physically much smaller in a big setting. With or without subwoofer? I've watched a lot of videos and the subject is quite technical with dozens of variables dependent upon the room and layout. I'm beginning to understand better why mixing is such a challenging and subjective activity. Trying to get a song that sounds good in headphones, in any room of the house, and in the car takes some skills. Throw in equipment variables and it gets a whole lot more challenging. And yet it is done, everyday by those expert in the field.

But to your original point, yes listening is very important even though it is colored by your own physiology and preferences. From what I gather the best way to set up a listening environment is with a calibrated reference mic and expensive audio software. But that ain't gonna happen in my case. Luckily, most vendors on Amazon allow free returns - as long as one doesn't abuse the privilege. At this second, I'm leaning towards the Yamaha HS7 or Kali LP6.

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

Tom Maxwell wrote:
m.tarenskeen wrote:

Try before you buy.
I know, it's an old fashioned and probably not very helpful advice in this online shopping world.
But it still is as true as it ever was.

Yes, good advice, but from what I read, the monitors are only a small part of the equation far behind room size, acoustic treatment of the room, and placement of the monitors. You can listen all you want at the stores, but they will most likely sound entirely different when taken home. I've gone to the music store and listened to what they have but to be honest, discerning significance differences that can be quantified is quite difficult. Listening in the big store space is going to sound quite different from a bedroom or apartment room. Considering monitors are supposed to be "neutral" there is quite a bit of difference between the brands and sizes. Obviously, bass suffers with smaller sized monitors and larger monitors appear physically much smaller in a big setting. With or without subwoofer? I've watched a lot of videos and the subject is quite technical with dozens of variables dependent upon the room and layout. I'm beginning to understand better why mixing is such a challenging and subjective activity. Trying to get a song that sounds good in headphones, in any room of the house, and in the car takes some skills. Throw in equipment variables and it gets a whole lot more challenging. And yet it is done, everyday by those expert in the field.

But to your original point, yes listening is very important even though it is colored by your own physiology and preferences. From what I gather the best way to set up a listening environment is with a calibrated reference mic and expensive audio software. But that ain't gonna happen in my case. Luckily, most vendors on Amazon allow free returns - as long as one doesn't abuse the privilege. At this second, I'm leaning towards the Yamaha HS7 or Kali LP6.

Hello Tom,

As I said before,

The final choice of speakers should always be made at home.

And the listening room is very important.
In other words, we may even hear more room than the sound produced directly by the speaker. Most of the sound we hear can be the “sound of the room,” that is, the sound reflected from its interfaces and the sum of the reflections of the speaker’s own sound and the listening room.
The result is that you feel the sound is better with headphones (there is no room acoustics with headphones)
Almost everyone I know forget to do something about the acustics of the room, people only moving speakers.
The more sound-absorbing surfaces and materials in the room, the less sound is reflected to the listening position.
I had a "music room" in another apartment and used very thick curtains, moved in a large soft sofa, a large soft bed, tapestry on the wall, thick carpets on the floor …… suddenly the sound of the speakers became fuller, softer - 
a clear change for the better .

And, I could choose Yamaha HS 7 (but it is my subjective opinion of course

Best wishes,

Stig

Pianoteqenthusiast, Organteqenthusiast, Harpteqenthusiast, Harpsichordteqenthusiast, CP-80teqenthusiast and experimenter

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

There is simply no substitute for good room treatment and good monitors. Brand wise, the common big names in 5 inch bass size I have been impressed with are Adam, Focal, and Eve. I currently use Focal EVO 50s in a partially treated room (acoustic panels) and Pianoteq sounds fantastic.

For your situation, EQ (if you have a good ear and experience) can help a great deal, but nothing compared to the room and the monitors.

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

I think Jeremie, you have probably found the answer with Hi-Fi.

I have in the past used studio monitors (Yamaha HS7 and ESI 05), but prefer my current setup using a Technics Hi-Fi amp and some Akai speakers, the speakers were from an 80s boom box that I bought from a charity shop for about £5 (ish), I have a lot of speakers but these are the most musical and natural.

I'm not saying studio monitors aren't worth considering but they are designed to be flat in character, not very inspiring (in my opinion).

Nick

Last edited by MeDorian (16-05-2022 20:12)

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

Many of us have been on this quest. I solved mine when I found the ART RM5 powered monitors. It's been several years and I have not looked back Here is a link to more details from a previous post.:
https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php...52#p975552

PT 7.3 with Steinway B and D, U4 upright, YC5, Bechstein DG, Steingraeber, Ant. Petrov, Kremsegg Collection #2, Electric Pianos and Hohner Collection. http://antoinewcaron.com

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

Pianoteq produces the sound of a real piano, but the quest of this sound is long. I give you my experience. I was helped by the principal of the conservatory, the director (a violinist) and the music composition teacher.

- Do not be tired when you test or set the sound. When tired, the sound easily looks bad or wrong.
- Listen when you play and also your recording at 5 meters far.
- A room at the first floor gives a better sound then at the second or third floor.
- 4 meters height is better than 3.
- A big room is much more better than a small.
- A carpet or/and curtains improves the sound.
- Pianoteq using headphone, even high-end headphone, is not very good, looks very artificial. The same when listening a record of a real grand piano.
- It needs to set the equalizer to match your room with your speaker. For that it needs to have a strong experience with real pianos.
- The volume, to low, Pianoteq sounds like a digital piano, to high, it sounds like an amplified digital piano. At the good volume, you will listen easily a strong difference between the different pianos sound and you will play easily and naturally.
- Respect the velocity, P, MP, MF, F when you play.
- Use a decent digital or analog amplifier, Class A or AB for the analog and D for the digital. (to verify). And a good pair of speakers.
- Compare your Pianoteq with real good grand pianos.
- Compare different amplifier and speaker with a recording of your music.

Hope that help you.

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

Hi Yangyang,
Class D doesn't really mean a digital amplifier, it is a misnomer. Though this is common in advertising literature.
Class D amplifiers are electrically highly efficient and switch at very high speeds. They are another form of analogue amplifier. They need high quality filters to sound as good as classic class AB amplification.

Hypex make some good class D amplification.

The least efficient class of amplification is class A.
Class A is the least efficient and because the output devices are running all the time whether there is a signal or not, hence they waste a lot of electricity when you're not playing music and produce heat instead.

Class B added switching to the equation making amplifiers run cooler, however this added switching distortion to the signal.

Class AB was created to get the sound quality benefits of Class A at modest power levels with the efficiency of B. The vast majority of amplifiers are class AB, and can be exceptional quality or very ordinary.

Class D takes this switching to a very high speed and requires filtering to make a nice sound. Top quality class D can have distortion figures comparable to AB. A lot of the cheap stuff does not.

Most amplifiers have far lower distortion than loudspeakers. Speakers are the most important part of the equipment. The room is the most important element of all, assuming the loudspeakers are suitable for the room and setup correctly.

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

Hi Key Flumber,

Thank you for your explanation. You made it very well. A friend who has a Hi-Fi shop explained me but I did not understand well. Now it is clear. I have two amplifiers, an analog class AB, I like it, it sounds nice but it is too heavy for a woman, about 30 kg. I bought a digital amplifier, it is small and lightweight. I take it because it is the only one digital amplifier I think sound good.

What kind of amplifier and speaker do you use ? Do you success to have the 'magic' sound of a real grand piano ?

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

Yangyang wrote:

Hi Key Flumber,

Thank you for your explanation. You made it very well. A friend who has a Hi-Fi shop explained me but I did not understand well. Now it is clear. I have two amplifiers, an analog class AB, I like it, it sounds nice but it is too heavy for a woman, about 30 kg. I bought a digital amplifier, it is small and lightweight. I take it because it is the only one digital amplifier I think sound good.

What kind of amplifier and speaker do you use ? Do you success to have the 'magic' sound of a real grand piano ?

Glad that helped.

I use DIY hi-fi gear built some years ago so it's difficult to make a recommendation around that. I don't think pointing users at the Seas.no website is going to be of much help here. In answer to the question am I satisfied with the sound I will say very much so.

Your amplifier - 30KG is an absolute beast!!!

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

If it's any help, I drive Pianoteq with a Casiotone CT-S300 keyboard through a behringer UMC-222 USB audio adaptor into an 18 year old Denon AVR-4306 amp driving a pair of 18 year old Monitor Audio RS-12 speakers and the sound is magnificent.

I use it for casual practise, once I think I'm ready to try to play seriously I move over onto my new Yamaha P-515.

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

Tom Maxwell wrote:

I love the PianoTeq sound I am getting out of my headphones, but when I go to studio monitors, it is just horrible. Right now the piano sound out of my Casio PX-320 built in speakers sounds better in my small 10 x 10 bedroom studio than my monitor setup. I know I need new monitors, right now I have a pair of Hercules XPS 2.8.0  5" DJ Monitors. When I go from headphones to monitors is just loses that majestic grand piano sound and everything I want from Pianoteq. I find myself just going back to the keyboard built in speakers and grand piano, which isn't bad. I watch video of the Clavinova and Pianoteq demos and am awed by the rich, deep, sounds. Then I play Pianoteq through my setup and blahhhhhhh. I know the subject of studio monitors and setup is a whole topic in itself beyond a forum post, so I am just looking for some assurance that the sound can be had in a small home studio and maybe a few tips. What have you found works well for you in terms of getting the most out of Pianoteq in other than a headphone environment? Which monitors work for you and what other tips can you provide to get that sound out of Pianoteq that I know is there? I don't mind buying some new monitors but if that is not going to help, why waste the money?

Information I found on those loudspeakers suggested they have mere 4 inch bass driver units. They are dirt cheap scraping the absolute bottom the market DJ speakers. Most headphones (even fairly bad ones) will sound better.
I suggest you may also need to carefully set up the velocity curve for your MIDI keyboard/digital piano in Pianoteq.

If you are trying to save money buy an old second-hand stereo amplifier and stereo passive loudspeakers off eBay or physical shops (if you've still got them close to you).
I'm thinking a couple of hundred pounds worth total here. Making sure that the drive units are in fully working condition. No crushed in tweeters, no damaged bass mid units.

Hi-fi models from a hi-fi manufacturers not a small class D Chinese amplifiers (which will be very hit and miss). 
I mean the kind of loudspeakers you will find old reviews from the likes of What Hi-fi, Hi-fi World etc. 

There are good class D amplifiers but the internet is awash with dirt cheap rubbish at the bottom of the market claiming to be good equipment. That's another lottery.

With a bit more money saved get some decent quality active loudspeakers for a few hundred more instead. Behringer Truth can be decent at the bottom of the market.

It is vital that your speakers are placed correctly. Make sure that you're not operating in a near empty room. You want curtains and carpet, furniture all sorts of household stuff in the listening room.

Last edited by Key Fumbler (21-05-2022 12:05)

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

Key Fumbler wrote:
Tom Maxwell wrote:

I love the PianoTeq sound I am getting out of my headphones, but when I go to studio monitors, it is just horrible. Right now the piano sound out of my Casio PX-320 built in speakers sounds better in my small 10 x 10 bedroom studio than my monitor setup. I know I need new monitors, right now I have a pair of Hercules XPS 2.8.0  5" DJ Monitors. When I go from headphones to monitors is just loses that majestic grand piano sound and everything I want from Pianoteq. I find myself just going back to the keyboard built in speakers and grand piano, which isn't bad. I watch video of the Clavinova and Pianoteq demos and am awed by the rich, deep, sounds. Then I play Pianoteq through my setup and blahhhhhhh. I know the subject of studio monitors and setup is a whole topic in itself beyond a forum post, so I am just looking for some assurance that the sound can be had in a small home studio and maybe a few tips. What have you found works well for you in terms of getting the most out of Pianoteq in other than a headphone environment? Which monitors work for you and what other tips can you provide to get that sound out of Pianoteq that I know is there? I don't mind buying some new monitors but if that is not going to help, why waste the money?

Information I found on those loudspeakers suggested they have mere 4 inch bass driver units. They are dirt cheap scraping the absolute bottom the market DJ speakers. Most headphones (even fairly bad ones) will sound better.
I suggest you may also need to carefully set up the velocity curve for your MIDI keyboard/digital piano in Pianoteq.

If you are trying to save money buy an old second-hand stereo amplifier and stereo passive loudspeakers off eBay or physical shops (if you've still got them close to you).
I'm thinking a couple of hundred pounds worth total here. Making sure that the drive units are in fully working condition. No crushed in tweeters, no damaged bass mid units.

Hi-fi models from a hi-fi manufacturers not a small class D Chinese amplifiers (which will be very hit and miss). 
I mean the kind of loudspeakers you will find old reviews from the likes of What Hi-fi, Hi-fi World etc. 

There are good class D amplifiers but the internet is awash with dirt cheap rubbish at the bottom of the market claiming to be good equipment. That's another lottery.

With a bit more money saved get some decent quality active loudspeakers for a few hundred more instead. Behringer Truth can be decent at the bottom of the market.

It is vital that your speakers are placed correctly. Make sure that you're not operating in a near empty room. You want curtains and carpet, furniture all sorts of household stuff in the listening room.


Thanks Key! Yes you are correct, the monitors I have are cheap as they come. They don't sound bad for YouTube videos but I do have to crank them up to get anything out of them. You are correct, they have 4 inch drivers, but then again, the highly regarded Presonus Eris 3.5 monitors only have 3.5 inch drivers. Anyway, I know they are junk. To be honest, I struggle with this whole "studio monitor" thing. I guess there is something to it with flat responses and all, but as far as pure listening pleasure, I haven't found a set that I really like. My comparison is to an old 1970's era Kenwood solid state receiver, Sony Reel to Reel, BIC turntable, and huge Kenwood floor speakers I had. That was top of the line in the mid 70's, They took up half the living room wall! I sold them and purchased a Bose Lifestyle System 12 system. That was a mistake, but the appeal of the Bose system was a smaller footprint and Bose was considered "the best" back then. I don't recall how many drivers the speakers had (I want to say 4) but I do remember the base drivers were 12 inches. That combo of speaker and amp could blow the roof off. I now wish I had those speakers and amp back. If I recall properly, I sold the whole system for $300. At the time I was happy to get all of that stuff out of the house and gain back some footprint. Anyway, thanks for the information. I'm not sure what I'll do. Onward, into the fog!

Last edited by Tom Maxwell (21-05-2022 13:53)

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

https://www.thomann.de/gb/behringer_b20...E6EALw_wcB
Behringer Truth are about £300 a pair new. Check to see if you have space for those.

I've seen used ones on eBay too. Perhaps proceed with caution with reputable sellers.

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

Wow, lots of good info here! - I won't add much more, but here's some things as I 'logic' them..

Small rooms are generally not great with big sounds. Small spaces are probably best with near-field monitoring (relatively close to speakers, less room disruption triggered).

So if we established that near-field is the likely way forward, then..

Big speakers are not ideal for close proximity - so you may find near-field monitors better than a stereo system.

If small speakers (under 10inch) are the goal..

Small stereos are not always ideal for close proximity listening IMHO (often designed to push various 'acoustic trickery' out into a room, not a good likelihood of solid honest stereo up close).

I think much better resolution overall is more likely to be achieved with good small-ish monitors by comparison, rather than a small stereo system. But having said that..

Either monitors or a stereo system, like Nick mentions - it's always worth looking for used equipment, for the occasions you may find excellent old stereos and speakers.. no harm buying/trying for often very little expense, if wanting your own sound in your own space.

I prefer over 5inch speakers personally (feeling that 8 is about as small as to begin to lose the sense of true 'heft' of pushing enough air to give a nearer to complete sense of reality inre piano) but others love their 5s.

Lastly, in the end it can come down to what we get used to - as it's about enjoying playing as much as hearing, or chasing some kind of absolute perfection If you're recording and hope to do that well for a long time, it may pay you well to dive into monitors and a fairly conventional setup.

Hope you get your sound the way you want Tom.

Pianoteq Studio Bundle (Pro plus all instruments)  - Kawai MP11 digital piano - Yamaha HS8 monitors

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

Thanks Qexl, some great points there.

I think the style of ones playing, and the choice of instrument is also part of the speaker situation, I only really play the Pianoteq Karsten Collection at the moment, these instruments are sometimes only three and a half octaves, so bass is not an issue here. The big grands though will require more bass, I would use a sub woofer in this case along with small optimally placed speakers.

The VPC1 curved top has always been an issue for my speaker setup. I tried studio monitors on stands, but this gave no vibration to the actual keyboard, and monitors placed on the keyboard (surface top) were too close and difficult to position. I eventually settled for small speakers on the keyboard with a slight up turn, similar to PC speakers in direction (up, towards the listener).

I have looked into surface mount speakers, the best, and most interesting is the Pioneer TS-X9 vintage car speakers, these look to be ideal on Youtube vids, but, they are highly collectable and very expensive. The Wharfedale Atmos speakers also look interesting (although too big for my requirements), these are designed to project the sound up to the ceiling, this might be good in simulating the grand piano lid sound?

I will keep with the Akai speakers, I really like them, but I like to look at different solutions, even if it gives just 1% improvement on the sound.

Nick

Last edited by MeDorian (23-05-2022 14:59)

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

To add to my last comment, for anyone using hi-fi, then the amplifier should be a good one, 2x45 watt 8 ohms or more I think, regardless of the speaker size you are using....more power, less distortion. Also, I prefer listening levels when playing to be on the low volume side.

Nick

Last edited by MeDorian (23-05-2022 15:54)

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

MeDorian wrote:

To add to my last comment, for anyone using hi-fi, then the amplifier should be a good one, 2x45 watt 8 ohms or more I think, regardless of the speaker size you are using....more power, less distortion. Also, I prefer listening levels when playing to be on the low volume side.

Nick

Actually that very much depends on the listening distance and volume requirements. Even in large rooms most of your listening is done in the first watt!
It also depends on how efficient the loudspeaker model is. Efficiency doesn't equal quality - those are separate things.

Dynamic peaks at high volume with loudspeakers in the mid and far-field require substantially more power.

There are online calculators to work out amplification requirements for given distance and expected sound pressure levels.  In the near-field it's not much for an average sensitivity system.

OTOH there are also high quality low efficiency systems that can benefit from substantially more power.

The range really is very substantial.

Try this.
Scroll down to "amplifier power required":
https://www.crownaudio.com/en/tools/calculators

For our typical needs for higher levels (when you have the home to yourself)  I suggest this is going to be typically 86 dB for 1w sensitivity speakers with say 85 dB (high average) listening volume  with generous 10 dB headroom.
1 metre listening distance.

In practice that would be high levels. 85 dB + 10 dB headroom is serious domestic playback levels.

So 8 watts for peaks of 95 dB at 1 metre.

I dare say most play substantially quieter and the speakers are closer than a single metre. It's nice to have the headroom.

Last edited by Key Fumbler (23-05-2022 16:25)

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

Hi Key Fumbler, yes I keep the volume low, and my position as a player/listener is close. This low volume I find creates much less room sound.

My choice in fairly high powered amplifiers is really influenced by how impressed I was many years ago with a Kenwood 3060r (?) amp.

As for measurements, I don't really use them, mathematics is not my strong point, I try to go on the sound alone, by ear as much as possible.

Nick

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

MeDorian wrote:

Hi Key Fumbler, yes I keep the volume low, and my position as a player/listener is close. This low volume I find creates much less room sound.

My choice in fairly high powered amplifiers is really influenced by how impressed I was many years ago with a Kenwood 3060r (?) amp.

As for measurements, I don't really use them, mathematics is not my strong point, I try to go on the sound alone, by ear as much as possible.

Nick

There are some  exotic and very high quality ultra low powered amplifiers out there for audiophiles. Generally those require very sensitive extremely large speakers if people are going to play at high volumes in typical lounge.

Equally there are amplifiers with hundreds of watts that are also high quality solutions. Typically in the studio tradition.

Amplifier power requirements went up as loudspeakers have got smaller. However in the near-field we don't require much power.

Small speakers are typically limited in terms of absolute power handling too.  There is only so far that you can throw a tiny cone in a linear fashion to make up for it's lack of air shifting diaphragm space.
Quality difference between the worst and the best can be quite dramatic.

There are some very high quality small bass mid drive units with surprising bass performance. 5.25" +.
You wont find these quality ones on entry level small monitors or hi-fi loudspeakers though.

Last edited by Key Fumbler (23-05-2022 16:39)

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

I really like the idea there Key Fumbler, low power and large speakers. I think sometimes experimenting with different components is not only fun, but the results can be paradoxical, in that one would say, 'this won't work', but sometimes it does.

I just ordered a new Denon amp, it's nothing remarkable, but this will be 'different' than my previous Technics amp that needs replacing (faulty switch). This is why I am taking another look at my setup, and taking a week off counterpoint study, 'a busman's holiday' thing. I'm looking at speakers, not just hi fi, but many types, to see if I might have missed something good that I've not yet considered.

Nick

Last edited by MeDorian (23-05-2022 17:01)

Re: My sound is horrible, suggestions please!

MeDorian wrote:

I really like the idea there Key Fumbler, low power and large speakers. I think sometimes experimenting with different components is not only fun, but the results can be paradoxical, in that one would say, 'this won't work', but sometimes it does.

I just ordered a new Denon amp, it's nothing remarkable, but this will be 'different' than my previous Technics amp that needs replacing (faulty switch). This is why I am taking another look at my setup, and taking a week off counterpoint study, 'a busman's holiday' thing. I'm looking at speakers, not just hi fi, but many types, to see if I might have missed something good that I've not yet considered.

Nick

Loudspeakers amplifier matching can be a complex thing for the general public to get their heads around.
People who expect tiny discreet loudspeakers in large rooms and expect these things to handle the odd party volumes are asking for trouble.

There are large loudspeakers designed to handle large amounts of power to fill large spaces. However there are also high sensitivity models that only require a few watts to go loud. Such designs need lots of cabinet space and lots of diaphragm space - whether that's lots of medium size drivers or big cones.  Generally these are not popular today.