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Re: External Amp on it's way....
tomtuttle #267928 08/02/09 07:53 PM
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Micah Offline OP
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I totally agree with 'to each his own'. And if you keep your music between 70 - 80 db's and enjoy it there more power to you, and an external amp would truely be a waste of money for you. Also I would never try to insinuate that you need to 'turn it up' if you enjoy it where it's at now. Some people have more sensitive hearing than others and enjoy the experience just as much at lower volumes as us power freaks enjoy knocking the shingles off of the roof when we have control of the volume knob.

I am really enjoying the way my M80's pound out musical notes crisp, clean & smooth while the volume is cranked with my XPA-3 running the show. And certainly a distorted signal at 120 db's is no more or less damaging to our ears than a clean signal at 120 db's. Shear volume alone is the enemy when it comes to hearing impairment, the quality of that volume has little impact if any. What audible distortion usually accomplishes in a regular setting anyway, is that it clues you in that you're listening too loud and should turn it down. Without any distortion it becomes a lot harder to even be able to tell how loud it is playing. So indeed an external amplifier may well be damaging to my ears, I have excepted that risk I

Of course I also ride a motorcycle & don't currently have health insurance, so I suppose I'm just one who likes to live on the wild side ;\)


My Stuff :

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Re: External Amp on it's way....
Micah #267933 08/02/09 08:29 PM
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As far as hearing damage, I'm hoping that with some sound isolation measures I won't have to turn my system up quite as loud to hear all of the details. It would be nice to preserve my hearing and retain some headroom on my amp. I wonder how much quieter I can actually make my room without spending gobs of cash, though. Has anyone else here done this with meaningful results, as far as not having to turn the system up so much?

Re: External Amp on it's way....
CV #267969 08/03/09 02:57 AM
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 Originally Posted By: CV
Has anyone else here done this with meaningful results, as far as not having to turn the system up so much?



What is causing the background noise that you need to control.


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Re: External Amp on it's way....
CV #267970 08/03/09 03:17 AM
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Yes, Charles; as Dean asks, what is causing a high noise floor in your room? I haven't done anything unusual here, but I estimate a floor of about 40dB and can hear musical content below 50dB quite clearly during low level passages. So, I have no problem using levels varying from roughly 45dB to 105dB on the most dynamic recordings, which cause neither hearing nor power problems.


-----------------------------------

Enjoy the music, not the equipment.


Re: External Amp on it's way....
JohnK #267971 08/03/09 03:28 AM
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There are always sounds bothering me, even if they're not constant. In my current room, I can hear stuff outside regularly, and when the central air kicks on, that's a big annoyance that requires quite an increase in volume. Then there's the refrigerator and freezer in the next room. The outside noises and central air are nearly muted in the basement, where my system will end up, but I also plan on getting a projector, which will bring its own noise. Because of the open layout of the basement, I will still have the refrigerator's noise, and it will be in the same room, not the next room. I don't really know what to do about that. I also need to do what I can to isolate the noise from the rest of my equipment (especially when I'm using the Xbox 360 or PS3. It just seems that with each of these contributors, I have to raise the volume that much more to get all of the details.

Re: External Amp on it's way....
CV #267973 08/03/09 04:35 AM
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Not what you want to here but the cheapest and easiest way to deal with the various noise you have is circumaural closed headphones at least when alone.

If by outside you mean out of doors figure out where the noise is getting through. If it’s the walls you’re screwed unless you want do some major work. If it’s windows you can do a couple things. Most expensive would be to replace them with double pane if they aren’t already. Double cell blinds will also help cut down on noise but these can also be pricy. Blackout/thermal curtains will help cut down a little noise. If you want really cheap and don’t you can do what I did in my apartment. I just cut some foam insulation panels to fit inside the window frame. I blocked out some noise and all the light.

Some of the noise is probably sneaking by the door. Some foam or rubber weather stripping can help here. Will also block light trying to get by.

No easy fix for the central air that I know of.

For the refrigerator about all I think you can do is make sure it’s not touching the wall. If it’s vibration rubber sound isolation feet might help a little. You could also try throwing a piece of foam insulation behind it between it and the wall. Not sure how safe that would be though.

Depending on the layout of the basement you might be able to use some heavy curtains to cut down on the refrigerator noise. I’m curious about it making so much noise. I hardly notice the one in my house and it’s just around the corner in the kitchen. Even in the apartment the only time it was an issue was when running the auto-setup on the Denon, I would unplug it just for piece of mind.

For the equipment you either need to put it in another room or in a closet/cabinet to dampen the sound especially the Xbox cause that sucker is loud. However, ventilation will be an issue if you use a closet/cabinet.

Again the easiest cheapest solution for your present room is headphones.


3M80 2M22 6QS8 2M2 1EP500 Sony BDP-S590 Panny-7000 Onkyo-3007 Carada-134 Xbox Buttkicker AS-EQ1
Re: External Amp on it's way....
grunt #267974 08/03/09 05:03 AM
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Hey, thanks for all of those tips. It's really not bad enough that I'd be tempted to go with closed headphones, and I will be doing what I can in the basement. It's just one of those things I want to do so I can get that little bit more out of what I have.

I had actually considered heavy curtains to be pulled in front of the kitchen area in the basement when it's movie/music time. I was already going to use a heavy curtain to block off the stairwell, which is going to be the only real source for outside noise. I would have liked double-paned windows in the stairwell, but my dad had already installed some others before I knew it. If I can still hear the yapping dog on that side of the house, I may have to redo those windows and that wall.

I have double-cell blinds (Bali) in the rest of the house. I can't say I notice whether or not they cut down on noise, but I know they tout it.

Anyway, I'm not going to be doing anything major in my present room, but I'll post about what happens in the basement and probably get further advice. In the meantime, I should probably let this thread get back to where it was.

Thanks again, Dean!

Re: External Amp on it's way....
CV #267977 08/03/09 05:17 AM
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If you have a 60 GB PS3, it's probably louder now than when it was new. The problem is Sony used a cheap heat sink compound which remelts each time the temperature rises. With the clamping pressure of the heat sink to the CPU it migrates out from between them.

I took my PS3 apart, cleaned all the old compound out with ArctiClean, and then used a little ArcticSilver to replace it. After the AS cured, the fan hardly runs at all anymore, and when it does it is at a lower speed than before.


Pioneer PDP-5020FD, Marantz SR6011
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Re: External Amp on it's way....
ClubNeon #267978 08/03/09 05:42 AM
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That’s nice information Chris, thanks!

 Originally Posted By: CV

I have double-cell blinds (Bali) in the rest of the house. I can't say I notice whether or not they cut down on noise, but I know they tout it.

I measured and they don’t do much for anything but the high frequencies. OTOH1
the double cell blinds are doing a great job keeping my house cool and blocking out the light.

The double pane windows seem to help quite a bit. I have more sound leakage through my solid wood front door than through the arcadia door.

However, I can still here the neighbors dog barking when it’s on the side of their yard near my house. Luckily I’ve only heard it a couple of times in 4 months as it only barks when strangers walk near their house.


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Re: External Amp on it's way....
ClubNeon #267979 08/03/09 05:48 AM
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I mentioned the PS3 (and yes, you remember right about it being one of the launch 60 GB ones), but I actually gave mine away. I had only been using it to watch Blu-rays for the last several months, and someone I knew had just bought an HDTV. Since I got an OPPO, it made sense for me to pass it along to someone who would get some real use out of it. I'll get another PS3 at some point, though, as I'm sure there will be games I'll want to play. We'll see how the slim PS3s look.

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