acoustic system resonators

yesterday I got 6 resonators - 1 basic, 4 silver and 1 gold special.

I installed as suggested by sending the designer pics of my room, and based on reading the 6 step outline.

SInce I am just getting over a cold and my head is a bit stuffy, I'll have to reserve judgment for a few days.

So far I am not getting the huge soundstage as other have reported, (I am going to put the 2 outer units further apart to see if that helps)

Tonally, I am getting good results, and on the Athena Rachmanoff LP I seem to be able to make out instrument seperation and detail that I dont recall hearing before.

The real test will be in the next day or so, when I listen to a cut - then remove the bowls from thier bases (putting them in another room) and listening again. I think this will be the best telltale test.

I have no emotional investment in wanting this room treatment to work. If they work, fine, they will be a welcome upgrade. If they don't that's fine too
they are quite expensive, and I can use the money elsewhere, or just heaven forbid, save it. (plus I ordered an expensive full front end that will be here soon, so I don't want to spend needlessly)

One thing I have found so far is that bass seems to be better integrated, but a bit less. I recently changes my system to have the tubes powering just the mid/high cabinets, and a remote SS amp poweing the woofer units. I love the adjustability to be able to dial in via remote just the right amount of bass for each song/listening volume.

With the resonators in the system, I find I am adjusting the bass much less than before, as if the bass is better integrated and on many LP's needing no adjustment. One of the caveats of this biamp setup is I always felt their was a slight discontinuity in the bass, (though my atma MA-1's powering the full spectrum sounded more coherent, the SS controls the bass a bit better)

I was planing an adding 2 Velodyn SMS1 units to tame nodes (which I will probably still do) but I am suddenly very happy with the bass.

I'll definitly post back soon, when I do the test where I pull the resonators out of the system.

Emailists, I should warn you that the resonators, Shun Mook mpingo disks, Halographs, Brilliant Pebbles, etc. all interact with the WTC control on the H-Cat.

I just realized this again yesterday when I came to the conclusion that I just could not find the right setting on this control with any degree of confidence, even though others seem to have no difficulty, at least after the H-Cat is broken in. Today I am once again going to remove everything of the resonant nature and build up slowly as I had done with the previous, H-Cat P-12B X5.

Let me start out by saying that I think I decided I really didn't want these to work. I would be happy to send them back and get my inordinate amount of money back. Yesterday I did a power upgrade (Oyaide receptacle and plug) feeding my main Romex extension cord from the wall, that was only about $200 and made an amazing improvement.

Okay so tonight after listening to Bill Evans at Shelly's Manne hole (jap. pressing) I pulled the 6 resonators off their bases and put them in another room under a sweatshirt.

The bass bacame woolier and more pronounced, and the drum kit/cymbols got flatter and localized to my speaker. I can't characterize the piano differences.

I put them back in and listened to the same cut. Now I could hear what the resonators were doing. Tiny details of the recording seemed to pop out, and I thought I almost heard some phasing. The bass become better integrated, the piano took on bit more of a life of it's own, and the drum kit fell a bit further back- and sounded more realistic.

I am still not getting a huge or deep soundstage from the resonators, but either with playing with position, or getting 2 more for the side walls (where I have none) maybe soundstage will come.

I feel like perhaps my ear is not fine enough to discern what the resonators are fully doing. At this point I would characterize them in the more subtle of upgrade areas, at least in my system.

I must say this though. A number of months ago I was auditioning the Tron Seven phono pre against my current GCPH phono. I had to switch back and forth a number of times (I could do this in about 20 seconds and with the record playing) before I really started to hear what the Tron was doing differently than the GCPH. At first I was shocked how similar they were (cudos to the bargain priced GCPH - the Tron at 4X the cost has been catagorized as a Steelhead beater!!), but as my ear became more refined to the differences, it became easier to hear. I truly think by the end of the session I had become a better listener. (and a bit poorer as I opened up my checkbook)

The resonators make me think that in a few months from now - I could even more clearly identify when they were in and out of the system, because I will have really "learned" what kind of contributution they make.

So that is my "still early on" response.

It will be interesting once my H-cat preamp gets here in the next 2 days (hopefully) if more or less is revealed about the resonators, and if I find Like Norm that they have to come out to set the H-cat (I have little other room treatment though - just roomtune cornertunes to tame corner loading)

I am still not 100% convinced. I want to do several more rounds of removing/replacing the resonators with different types of music, and see what occurs over the next few weeks. I'll certainly post back.

Emailists, I increasingly think great music reproduction is like pornography. I know it when I hear it but I cannot say exactly what defines it. I have had several instances where initially I love a tweak or component in my system, only to some time later give a sigh of relief on removing it.

After being somewhat uncomfortable with the new H-Cat P-12R relative to the earlier P-12B X5, last weekend I decided to remove all resonance control in my room other than the Halcyonics platforms. I also removed the Stealth Dream power cords. I was shocked at how good the system sounded after adjusting the WTC to its correct position. This was much easier with everything removed.

Then I gradually reintroduced each of the Dreams. Each improved the attach and stayed. It did require some readjustment of the WTC, but not much. Then I introduced the Brilliant Pebbles. I first put one on the floor between the speakers on 3 4x4 tiles on cones. The image dropped about three feet and I removed it. I tried it on the amp where I had also gotten a nice improvement. It now made the bass thick and boomy. Out it came. Presently I have none of the Brilliant Pebbles in my room, although in the past they greatly improved my sound.

Finally, I introduced a pair of Halographs, putting them initially behind me as they had worked well there in the past. Not this time, however. I decided to try them in the corners behind my speakers which is the first recommended position. In the past I could not use them there as they really muddied the bass. Once again I had this result initially, but I persisted and canted the array toward firing at each other, which was one position from the 45 degree center mark. Bang! Even while I was still behind the speakers, I could hear the great improvement.

So right now I have one set of Halographs and nothing else in the room dealing with resonance.

I would make several observations. One, all of these devices have an impact. And two, there are many ways to reach the best musical reproduction. Finally,
a change in your components can change what works, but it is entirely trial and error to find the best. Perhaps, I should stop this adventure and stick with what I have to avoid this lengthy readjustment needed to accommodate a changed component.

"I have had several instances where initially I love a tweak or component in my system, only to some time later give a sigh of relief on removing it." - TBG

I have trouble with the same experience. A friend of mine calls it psychoacoustics. My theory is that no reproduction system is without fault and that after we get to know a system we want to plug its specific fault or faults. So, we look for a component to plug that fault. Initially, we love it because it plugs the fault while we carry the bias of what the preceeding component did well. A month later, we hear the faults of the new component as it stands on its own.

One time I read an article that said you will statistically maximize your selection of a good mate after dating seven different women. If that applies to each component, I've got three cd players, two amps, four preamps and one set of cables to go.

Jeff