Finding the Sweet-spot

As a do it yourself in audio system, finding the sweet-spot is more exciting and challenging at the same time. This is because you can do by yourself, to match between the components and upgrade the audio system based on what you think they will be improve.

There almost no limit in this action, only self-satisfaction and at one point, enough is the finish line.

I have made many DAC before. I know how to make a DAC that will be sound marvelous, or just right.

And I have them all.

The problem now is the other chain in my audio system need to maximized like what I did with the DAC.

So, in this post, I shared my listening session activity, changing and replacing DAC, set up the room, and tuning speaker cross-over (again), which all of them are the culprits to finding the sweet-spot.

My listening room is far from ideal. I am trying to make this room far from a sacred place. It should be homey, accessible to the others parties in house to enjoy and appreciate the music together. I placed my audio setup in our living room where the most activity are happen in here.

This living room as listening spot has some benefit for the room acoustic because of the high ceiling and spacious room. Probably around 4 meter x 6 meter x 4.5 meter in size. The large and tall buffet made from plywood, thick and double layer curtain with large carpet makes all of those items works for the room acoustic treatment.

The only drawback is the wall behind the sofa. The plain wall reflects the sound coming from the speaker that makes it bounce back to the listener, creating resonance that alter the sound. The solution I made is not put scary acoustic wood panel, instead I bought a tall bookshelf and drawers made from MDF to put shoes and bags inside. Surprisingly they make the room quiet and hold out the sound reflection better. Two bird shoot with one bullet.

Adding painting and photo in canvas that fill up the wall makes the room ideal as living room and as listening room as well.

For the amplifier, this 300B amplifier already meets my childhood dream. Building high voltage amplifier using expensive 300B tubes are always on my wish list. Slowly but sure, I reach this stages already and immerse with this beautiful sound amplifier, built by myself.

Same like DAC which I have many of them right now. All of them with different sound signature which are not to comparing each other's, but to enjoy them differently.

I remember in the past, I was built the audio system that use the tone control to adjust the sound via bass and treble knob. This to suit the sound to the speakers and listener. This is the easy way and nothing wrong with them.

But as the purist audio, finding the sweet-spot to make the sound balance in tone need special attention with the cross-over module for each speakers driver. This including modification of the cross-over circuit and recalculating the cross-over point to suit to overall sound. Which this process is a pain.

The result?

It is so much better than only rely on the tone control.

Active tone control and setting up the cross-over manually has the same principal. They are adjusting the mid-point of the frequency and the slope to make it flat. But the active colorized the sound and thrown some signal away, while in the speaker cross-over setup, it adjusts the sound naturally, to the limit of each speaker driver's parameter.

The result?

It is hard to do and if we do it, it is hard to get it right.

We loved to hear the difference from what we think it is better.

We bored when only dial up and down the tone control and preferably pass the direct signal though the speaker and make it optimal in the cross-over network.

Because it sounds different.

Even when it is hard to do and time consuming.

Finding the sweet-spot.

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