Question for classical lovers

Brownsfan, my big mistake in the past has been the lack of patience. I am starting from scratch with room acoustics first. Can you tell me what you did for $90? Since it is also my living room, I am not sure how I can stick a bunch of foam on the walls and it still be aesthetically appealing when I have a lady over:)
Anyway, the plan is to tweak the room, better vibration isolation and cables and re-evaluate everything before making any audio gear purchases.

Rotarius,
First of all, I'm using Magnepan 1.6QR's in my living room which is 16' x 20' x 8', carpeted, and has a fairly plush sofa and love seat. The speakers are located 4' out from the short wall and 34" from the side walls. I'm not at all sure the placement is optimized yet. I listen from the loveseat which is flush against the short wall opposite the Maggies. Anyone with suggestions?
I got two 2' x 4' Auralex studiofoam pyramid panels ($48 for the two), and glued those to a 2' x 8' Styrofoam insulation panel I bought at Lowe's. The Auralex glue cost $20 and the insulation panel was $10. I cut the panel in half to give me two 1 x 8 panels, and wedged them diagonally into the corners behind the Maggies floor to ceiling. I also bought some 1' x 1'auralex studiofoam wedges, sliced them into individual wedges, and attached those to the exposed ends to cover the blue insulation panel edges that are exposed. That was about $12 for those pieces. The nice thing about this arrangement is that they are just wedged into the corners, so they can be pulled out of place at a moments notice and stored in the basement or garage until the event is over. My wife hasn't complained so far. By the way, patience works well with finding a 2nd wife also! I've left the back walls untreated so far. Before installing those panels I was having some sort of horrendous reinforcement of certain notes from female alto, soprano, and French horns. I'm not sure if it was the fundamental or upper harmonics that was causing the problem, but it would run you out of the room with your ears bleeding. The panels really pretty well solved that problem. I’m thinking about making similar panels for the 1st reflection points on the side walls. These foam panels glued to the Styrofoam are rigid enough to stand unsupported, so you can put a 2x8' panel together and move it around the room until you find the best locations. The nice thing about this is that you don't have to wait out a burn in period. You might want to check out the Auralex.com website. One of their dealers gave me a nice Auralex catalog. If you can find one of those, I'm sure you will get some other good ideas. You can also send them a schematic of your room and they will do an analysis for you. I'll try to e-mail you some pictures that may make the description a little clearer. I hope this works as well for you as it did for me.

Rotarius,

There have been lots of replies that have been informative and insightful. Please consider all the input available to you in your 'quest'.

Now, this is what I have to offer.

Yes, you should always make sure you configuration is correct. I recently learned the importance of this step. Having moved to my first apartment (yay---freedom, freedom, freedom), I found my stereo to have too much soundstage and the vinyl reproduction to have too lean bass (coming from a VPI hw19 mk iv with a RB-250/Denon 301 combo...something was definately wrong). After checking polarity on my speakers and placing them closer to corners, the sound (to me) was correct and better than ever before. Lesson: you should never skip the slightest step in setting-up your system.

In addition, you should also do some 'burn-in' of any new cables. Try also a setup disc (like the Ayre) to make sure your configuration is correct.

Now, I'm not saying that CD is that great with string music. I'm a vinyl lover with a large CD collection as well. A inexpensive TT with a good Phono-pre and a better amp/speaker combo can blow out a mid-range cd player without difficulty.

My honest opinion is that you should give a good listen to a properly setup vinyl reproduction system. You will have another perspective on how music should sound and what you can do.

Get a MMF series, Thorens, or Rega P2/Goldring 1. Match a Bellari or Nad Phono Preamp and either a Goldring 1006, Grado Blue, or Shure. Download Audiophilia's Cartridge Setup, Enjoy The Music's Free Protractor, and purchase a bubble leveler and you should be good to go.

Thoughts, anyone?

Marty

Brownsfan has some good advice. That was the problem that I had. I went through some equipment changes and still had a certain frequency (high freq.) that would drive an ice pick through my ear so to speak. Room treatment is pretty difficult, but you can cover the Auralex or whatever you get with a fabric matching the wall (or getting close) you might have a better shot with the WAF.