Mods for Avantgarde speakers

I am struck by this issue with AG time alignment. Has anyone tried to time align in the digital domain?

I know the issue then moves into multiple amps etc. I have seen many systems that could do this. The problem then becomes one of the quality of the amps & the digital crossover.

Is the improvement really that great? It strikes me that time alignment is a can of worms. Surely at some point you still run into phase problems? Or is it that to get the tweeter & mid closer in alignment is enough? My seating position is around 4.5-5m away.

Hornguys, I agree with your comment re butt ugly. my solution with the wooden blocks certainly is but I don't care. I don't have a problem with reflections from the midrange horn. have measured the response before and after time alignment and there is no difference.
I also find it amazing how much of a difference it makes to time align the horns with the subs. I'm using digital delay for that which I can adjust on the fly with a few a mouse clicks. even at a xo of 200 hz a few cm can easily be heard.
everybody who is interested in this subject should look at john atkinson's step response measurement of the uno nanos and read his comments!!

Chadeffect, aligning tweeter with mid horn would certainly be a major improvement. best would be to align all 4 drivers in your trios but this is a daunting task indeed

Duomike,

I have read a reasonable amount about time alignment & it strikes me there is little gain vs all other issues. Probably why AG do it that way.

It may be easier to time align a 2 way, but once you get to 3 & 4 ways it gets very tricky as off axis response, beaming at various frequencies, room interaction & positioning becomes very difficult deal with. It strikes me the only sane way to attempt alignment is in the digital domain.

I have a friend who has a DAC/Pre which has built in room correction/4 way digital xover. I will see if I can borrow it & have a play. My problem is a multichannel amp. 8 channels & all the cables... I will try & organise it over Xmas if I can & report back. Looks like a lot of work!

Duomike,

It looks like my friends room correction/crossover/dac/Pre in a box can be used as an insert on my DAC (computer FireWire into my Weiss DAC then out into room correction & back into my DAC then into the amp).

Also rather than getting into xover & multiple amps, it can still do the time alignment/phase etc into a single amp. So there won't be too many variables. So aside from the insert cables & the algorithm everything else will be the same. I will try & deal with it this week or maybe next & report back.

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Duomike,

Sorry - I didn't put the butt-ugly remark in the right context.

If I listed all of the "zero-WAF-mods" I've done, it'd require several sheets of paper.

I was referring to the ability to manufacture a version that the public would buy.

It were left to me, I would have kept my mod, but dealers, reviewers and consumers visit my demo room regularly.

I never came up with anything that met marketing requirements and still scratched that itch to tweak that we have.

And they did sound good "stock", as has been documented lots of places.
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