Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Sub proximity to mains

Hi all,

I recenty got a pair of M22s (love 'em). My sub is awfully close to the right one, though, with the stand base touching the sub. First, will this damage my speaker of sub? I know the M22 has some magnetic shielding. Second, will it alter the sound?

I have already discovered that my right speaker doesn't sound quite as loud, so I used my receiver's balance to bias to the right. Is this because magnetic resistance from the sub is interfering?

Picture below:


thanks,
Cooper

that's a nice rack!! Did you make that? Can you make me one but wider?

curtis

...and if you didn't make it, where did you get it? I could use one myself.

Mark

as far as magnetic interference i have never heard of speakers interfering with each other. televisions yes. but speakers no. i think its pretty safe to say that the sub is not making the right speaker quieter. there isint really anyting wrong with your sub being places soo close to the speakers except that it might not be the best place in the room for it. i would want to make sure that the stand and sub werent touching though, just so that when the sub vibrates it isint rubbing up aginst the stand and stuff. is the right speaker significantly quieter than the left?


I built my rack and it uses that same design. its not as big though. You can make then any size you want. just as long as its big enough to be stable of course.

Are these kits of some kind or did you go completely from scratch?

mark

Nice setup, Cooper. As Brandon commented, there shouldn't be any electrical interaction between the sub and the M22 and unless the sub is physically touching and audibly vibrating the stand there shoudn't be any mechanical interaction either. As to a difference in level between the M22s, speakers of the same model can vary about a db in sensitivity, amp channels can vary slightly and acoustics between the two positions can vary, although looking at your picture doesn't show any reason for that factor. Probably no cause for concern unless you're talking about more than a couple db.

Nope, no kits. from scratch. You can buy that type of rack though. Salamander makes they they are the Archetype series like this one:

http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/productdetail.asp?Variant=1&AttribNum=1&pf_id=1205&sku=SALA5B%2FX&selAttribute_1=Natural+Cherry

but the thing about building them yourself is that its ALOT cheaper and you can design it to meet your needs. But unless youve got the right tools like a table saw,power drill i dont know if i would want to try it. because all the cuts and holes need to be perfect for it to all line up right.

Thanks for the link!

Mark

sorry you're thread got hijacked...but i'll post anyways. I used a DIY audio rack like this for a few years with my last home theatre setup. Got tons of compliments, and it worked great. It was under $100 too.

check this link out:
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/flexye.html

I would high suggest this to use as your rack...and its a good weekend project too.

Enjoy!

That is a very nice equipment rack! What kind of wood did you use? Is that a natural finish, or paint?

Thanks for the compliments, guys. And the input. I guess my amp must have a bias to the left channel. I'll take a better picture when I get home tonight so you can see the finish better. The whole thing came from a 4'x8' sheet of MDF, 6 3/4" threaded rods, cut to 30", 2 coats of mahogany stain, and 5 coats of polyurethane on top, with fine sanding done between each coat (2 coats on underside). I used a small routing bit on the edges, and all the side surfaces were very well sanded.

This was my project while I was looking for a job from home, and my dad has some great woodworking tools. Sorry Curtis, I won't be making another one anytime soon, even if I had the tools. It took quite awhile, though it's very satisfying to take on a DIY project. And you have endless options. Home Theater Forum has a forum dedicated to DIY-type projects.

-Cooper

Could the levels be off on your receivers set-up menu ? And I know this is a reach, but it appears the right speaker is in a corner, and the left is on the open side of the room ? This may be adding some unwanted color do to the slight horn loading effect caused by the corner.. Just a thought..

In reply to:

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that's a nice rack!!

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Wow! This was uttered, and nobody got their face slapped!

I thought about making a comment, but then again, I don't notice "racks" all that often.

So when your M60s showed up, did the delivery guy say, "Nice package!" ??

The mystery is solved. My receiver is a simple stereo unit (HK 3470), so I pulled out the jumper pins from preout to main in. I replaced the pins with interconnect cable, but crossed the channels: left preout to right main in, and vice versa. This resulted in a right-channel bias, so the problem is actually the preamp section of my Harman Kardon.

I verified this on multiple inputs, including the tuner. This means that the Axioms are so sensitive that they revealed a slight L/R imbalance. I never got an inkling of this problem with my Paradigm Mini Monitors.

This same thing happened to me with my headphone amp: the Headroom Little. My Grado SR60 headphones are also very sensitive, and so at low volumes it sounded like the sound faded to one channel. I sent the amp back to Headroom and they kindly replaced the op-amps with a better matched pair.

By the way, my SR60s, which cost $70 new, are far superior to my Mini Monitors. This was one of the reference points that gave me the itch to upgrade speakers! While I haven't listened closely to my headphones much on my main system, I wouldn't be surprised if it's still a tossup between SR60's and the M22's. There's a powerful immediacy to good headphones, and I actually find the imaging very enveloping.

-Cooper

Good quality headphones are great. they present the audio in a much differnet way than speakers, and you really feel emersed in it.

good quality headphones ARE great. but even the best headphones dont give you the sensation of a good 2 channel system.

Headphones are a completely different way of listening to music. Believe it or not, you can easily spend as much money on a good headphone system as on a good 2-channel stereo system. Of course, there are as many snake-oil products available for headphone enthusiasts (headphiles) as there are for speaker enthusiasts. One product that I have yet to see (but am expecting any minute) is a specially shaped q-tip that contours your ear wax just so....

Sounds like a new product for you to develop and sell

Yeah, you could shape it so that it makes a gorilla port in your ear!

Are you trying to call the people that sell and/or use these types of products ***holes with that gorilla comment coming up again?

No sirree! Peter's brother would kill me!

You're just jealous cause you haven't had a good listen to my headphone rig, Ken.

And actually, q-tips are frowned upon...though Murine ear drops are quite the rage. A low cost tweak, if you will.

Hey, who let you in here?

You're not the only one who enjoys your Axioms, you know. Plus Ken's post just begged for a reply.

Aw crap, no fair! Soon our wives will be reading it!

Welcome on board, Adam.