Reggae music and high fidelity

[Rob Strictly-Rockers]

Hi Antonin,

I just took a look at the Corelli & Carlton III on the KEF Site museum pages. That looks a good combination. How do you position them? Do you have the Corelli closer to the listening position?

I'm running Reference 105s

Regards

Rob

[Rob Strictly-Rockers]

Hi Leggo

Has anyone used a high end hi-fi (NOT AV) sub woofer with and reggae?

By "NOT AV" did you mean not active or not average? I have a friend who runs a coffee table sized B & W sub with his system and he gets good results with Reggae.

Regards

Rob

[ton1]

Hi Antonin,

I just took a look at the Corelli & Carlton III on the KEF Site museum pages. That looks a good combination. How do you position them? Do you have the Corelli closer to the listening position?

I'm running Reference 105s

Regards

Rob

They are not in the same room, the Corelli are in the living room, in two corners close to my desk so close to me and the Carlton are in my bedroom but they are really far too big for it as the bedroom size is 2m x 3m but i can't place them correctly in the living room so i'll wait to have a bigger flat to have a better sound (i found them few months ago, it was cheap so i bought them but my flat is not adapted to it). Actually, as i'm often at my desk, i mainly used the Correli and i use the Carlton only when i got to bed so at low level (i switch on my amp).

[Nefta]

hi, as i remember the sound of my stepfather system was a thecnics turntable.infinity speakers and unknown reciver.The thing is that he have a top notch needdle.I believe this capture the sound of the vinyl better.Good luck

[leggo rocker]

Hi Leggo

leggo rocker wrote :Has anyone used a high end hi-fi (NOT AV) sub woofer with and reggae?

By "NOT AV" did you mean not active or not average? I have a friend who runs a coffee table sized B & W sub with his system and he gets good results with Reggae.

Regards

Rob

AV = Aidio Visual. AV subs don't resolve music weel as they are not generally fast enough. They are made to go 'boom' every now and then and don't do music well. So the best results come from Subs made for music (hi-fi) set ups.

[leggo rocker]

hi, as i remember the sound of my stepfather system was a thecnics turntable.infinity speakers and unknown reciver.The thing is that he have a top notch needdle.I believe this capture the sound of the vinyl better.Good luck

Absolutely no doubt that the quality of the cartridge and stylus are really important.

But also, especially for reggae, is isolation. Even CD players need to be well isolated otherwise sonic interference from the speakers feeding vibes back to the hi-fi - even footsteps in the room - will create problems.

Record decks are best wall mounted or placed on really solid tables (you don't need fancy expensive kit, Dali - the hi-end Danish speaker co. - use a 'table' made from concrete blocks and heavy MDF for their demo room at the factory!)

[Rob Strictly-Rockers]

Hi Leggo,

Sorry, I worked out you meant audio visual after I had posted. His B&W is certainly not AV and was one of the biggest B&W ever made (I think). You could probably demolish the house with it but it fitted in very well because the rest of his system was powerful.

Regards

Rob

[leggo rocker]

Actually it is the B&W ASW610XP sub I have considered to go with my B&W 683s (which are great reggae speakers).

But I wonder if I need it as the 683s alone are quite literally loosening my window glass in their old Victorian frames and resonating the long floorboards like guitar strings!

[dubunion]

Hi,

When shopping for speakers with serious low end, make sure you can try them out in your listening room. The room you're in actually acts like a speaker box of it's own.
Very low bass is impossible to reproduce in small rooms and may interfere with the bass sounds you're actually able to hear in your room, actually leading to an unfocused "flabby" bass sound, where you reduce the musical quality of the heavy but supertight bass line which is essential in reggae.

If you have very a big room (> 50 square meters), just get the biggest bass speakers you like but play around with where you put them (e.g. speakers in corners adds lots of reflections and bass boom... more bass but less bassline). If you have smaller rooms (like the 10 square meter room where I am sitting now), less bass can actually sound like much more bassline.

Best thing is to buy in a shop where the people know you and you're allowed to try the equipment (especially speakers) at home. These shops are typically not the very cheapest, but the difference is worth it.

If you're interested in frequency response of your room and want some tools to check it out this is a good article:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov06/a ... n_1106.htm

dubunion.

[Rob Strictly-Rockers]

Hi Leggo,

It may only be perception, but I always felt that the sub added something to what you feel. I wondered whether it might be that the bass from the speakers is largely "heard" bass and the sub is "felt" bass that you feel through the air. In other words the same as the big Jamaican 20,000 watt Sound System sets which usually played outdoors and you feel the air move. Some people say that if you stand too close you can get internal damage such as bruised kidneys from the air pressure.

Regards

Rob