System upgrade

[karimthedream]

Dear All,

I am new to the crew and have a question for the expert people around here. I have a system that I consider quiet efficient and simple : an Onkyo 9010 plugged to a pair of Audiovector QR1. I stream my music with qobuz through a Chromcast audio.

I would like to stick to a simple 2.0 system even though I am using my speakers for tv and I am a bit deceived By this type of use.
The musical part is pretty good but it would probably benefit from an improvement in the mid section.
The bass extension is enough for my 22 square meters living room.
I am ok with an amp or a speaker change but I would remain around (under) 1500 euros for it.
I received suggestions about adding the mini-dsp Flex to the system but since I don't need the cross-over I am not sure about the noticeable effect of the DSP.

Anyhow, if you have suggestion to allow an efficient (price/quality)upgrade to such a simple system. I am all ears


KTD

 

[notsodeadlizard]

"The musical part is pretty good"

You yourself have answered your own question.
You have a very nice reasonable balanced system, you will not achieve anything radical.
You can improve the amplifier a little (it's not entirely clear why), you can replace the Chromecast audio with an external DAC (it's not clear why).
Or just keep listening to music.

 

[alex-z]

Could you get much better speakers, and a much better amp? Yes.

But in reality, the biggest bottleneck is room acoustics. If you want objective proof, take even the cheapest measurement mic, and look at the frequency response plus decay time at 400Hz and below. If you want subjective belief, take your speakers outdoors. The bass will sound weak, but the detail level will shoot up dramatically.

1500 euro worth of broadband absorption and bass traps will go a long way, especially if you are buying materials and building them yourself.

 

[karimthedream]

Thanks for your replies,

My quest was aiming for a better soundstage with, as much as possible, the "holographic" perception. I am also not satisfied about the sound when watching tv, especially the voices that are lost in the mix.

 

[Willem]

Soundstage is an audiophile myth. You bought good speakers - anything within the budget that you mention will buy you different but not necessarily better speakers. My hunch would be that the best way to spend up to 1500 euros is to add two small subwoofers and some form of dsp room eq. Alternatively, you could ditch the somewhat underpowered Onkyo (i.e. use it in a bedroom system etc), get a DSpeaker X2 DAC/preamp/dsp room eq, and a Hypex based power amplifier. This will give you more power, a perhaps marginally better DAC, and very user friendly room equalization. The next step after that would be the small subs.
As for voice reproduction: is this a very barren room? If so, just add a little bit of damping such as a rug, a book case etc. I think using a stereo system for TV sound is an excellent idea - I do exactly the same.

 

[ZolaIII]

Seams most problems you have are from those speakers (resonance @ about 700 Hz, midrange deep, bright...).

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For a budget if you can find and like it i would recommend that you look for Yamaha R-N803/R-N803D and Elac DBR62 speakers to keep it simple as possible.
Edit: eventually add subwoofer if you want.

 

[radix]

I second the vote to measure first. Get a UMIK-1 or other measurement mic, get familiar with REW, and take some measurements at your mail listening position. You can post the results (the "all spl" and the spectrograph or waterfall) and people can help interpret them. Those measurements will tell you what the main issues are and give a clue to the best way to fix it.

If you have a willing partner, you can do some experiments. Get a big cushion or bed comforter and have someone hold it along a wall, e.g. the left wall for the left speaker. You'll likely hear where they block the 1st reflection. You can do the same thing behind you to test out blocking the rear reflection. Or if you have wood floors, put down a comforter or throw rug. If you have measurements, you will usually see some sharp dips, say at 400 Hz or 800 Hz or 1.2 Khz (these are just random examples). The dips will be different for each channel. You can then play a test tone in REW at one of those frequencies and have your partner move around. It should be pretty clear where the destructive interference comes from (unless it's the ceiling). Or you can use the real-time analysis (RTA) function in REW and move around yourself and watch the display.

If you have bad dips around human voice intelligibility range (say 500 - 4k, that's my non-expert understanding), moving your speakers a little or moving your couch or putting up a painting or other absorber might make a big improvement to the clarity. If that's not an option, then dynamic correction, like a Flex, or using your AVRs EQ, could help.

 

[JayGilb]

Does your tv have different audio modes to help with the volcals ? I think most people ride the volume control due to the huge dynamic difference between vocals and everything else in a movie. If your tv has an equalization control you could try to boost between 400hz and 1khz to see if that helps.

As others have mentioned, try repositioning your furniture or your speakers.

 

[karimthedream]

Does your tv have different audio modes to help with the volcals ? I think most people ride the volume control due to the huge dynamic difference between vocals and everything else in a movie. If your tv has an equalization control you could try to boost between 400hz and 1khz to see if that helps.

As others have mentioned, try repositioning your furniture or your speakers.

There's some so said "clear voice" option I might try. But nothing more detailled. Dsp system might do the trick.