The All Purpose Advice Thread

Discussion in 'Advice Threads' started by purr1n, Sep 26, 2015.

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  1. mcebrian

    mcebrian New

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    Thanks! But this will short the + wire with the shield. I need to connect the shield of the Rca with the chassis (metal body) for the device to completely become silent. (Earth ground to chassis basically)

    I think it’s a different case...
     
  2. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Ah you're right, although I'm still curious if that will make a difference.
    What country did you buy your amp in? I'm just wondering if there's a voltage/power supply difference that could be causing something funny.
     
  3. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    How important is the resistor?
    Amazon is selling shorting plugs, they do not seem to use any resistors. The advantage is you can use them as caps or shorting plugs.
    I though shorting plugs may lower a noise floor on my two Nuforce HA200, you know those amps, where RCA inputs are not used.
    https://www.amazon.com/Stopper-Conn...37&s=electronics&sr=1-33&th=1#customerReviews
     
  4. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    A resistor is mostly to stop/minimize current if there is any. On an input this doesn't really matter much. On an output, you don't want to accidentally short it out.

    A little bit of digging seems to see people using anything from 75 ohms (for spdif coax connections) up to 6k ohms. Some warn that a value too high can behave like an antenna, though I'm not sure I buy that. I've made a few at 75/470/4700 because that's what I had on hand. Using them on inputs, I didn't notice a difference between them (on one noisy old receiver, the amount of hum was reduced the same on all versions). I have not used shorting plugs on outputs, though if I did I would lean towards the 4.7k.

    The only time I can think of where resistor values would matter more is on the output of a preamp or dac with a tube or something that's unstable unless it gets exactly what it's expecting (like a matching piece of gear or something).
     
  5. Stuff Jones

    Stuff Jones Friend

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    Burn in with drivers seems to be a real thing. The material loosens to its designed looseness (?).

    Can you get burnt drivers that get too loose? Like their burnt in at 100 hours and then burnt at 3,000 hours, for example?
     
  6. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    Thanks, I am planning to use them on input only. Take Five Audio page says: DO NOT use shorting plugs on output.
     
  7. Polygonhell

    Polygonhell Acquaintance

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    Is there a comparison somewhere between the Schiit Mjolnir 2 and the Monoprice Cavalli Liquid Platinum?
    I did scan what I thought were the appropriate threads, but couldn't find a direct comparison.
     
  8. lcmusiclover

    lcmusiclover Friend

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    Not that many on SBAF. There's this:

    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/the-mjolnir-2-thread.208/page-29#post-240953

    More on HeadFi, including these:

    https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mon...-by-alex-cavalli.876406/page-36#post-14589627
    https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mon...by-alex-cavalli.876406/page-160#post-15333037

    which seem pretty useful.

    Here's a search I used on HeadFi -- quite a few results:

    https://www.head-fi.org/search/61327382/?q=mjolnir&t=post&o=relevance&c[thread]=876406
     
  9. johnnypaddock

    johnnypaddock Facebook Friend

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    Here's a question for you guys... Any suggestions on how I can test a power supply? I have an Uptone Audio UltraCap LPS 1.2 that I recently listed for sale, but I want to make sure it's working properly.

    My cause for concern is that I was using the LPS 1.2 to power an Allo DigiOne Signature Player that ended up giving me a ton of trouble. I sold the Allo unit "as is", figuring someone could fix it and end up with a great deal, and the buyer said that it ended up working perfectly for him right out of the box using an Apple charger for the clean side.

    I've done some research on Google, but all of the sites seem to be geared towards building computers and most of the terminology is over my head. I'm willing to pick up a multi-meter, but I've never used one.

    Any advice would be much appreciated... I'm pretty sure the LPS is fine and my issue with the DigiOne was related to my music server, but I'd like to be certain before I sell it.
     
  10. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    The plan is to build a new house this year. This is a rough plan of the basement where the stereo system will be. The dimensions aren't exact, nor is the placement of the windows. This will be a walkout basement. The stereo cabinet is in green. Speakers are the dark red boxes, and listening chair is the blue star. My question is if I should add a small wall (marked in red) to help balance out the sound between the left and right. My speakers are PAP Trio 15s which are open baffle, so back and side wall symmetry is usually helpful. Also any advice on the length that the wall should be or any other acoustical suggestions are appreciated. My main concern is that if I put this wall in it will create some dead space at the bottom of the staircase that might look a little weird. Maybe not. I'll be meeting with the architect in a few weeks. Basement_edit 1-2-19.jpg
     
  11. Mike_WI

    Mike_WI New

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    You could put a bar at the base of the stairs before people enter the HT/Rec room area.
     
  12. allegro

    allegro Friend

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    Consider extending that wall in red all the way back to your listening position? Better yet close that side of the room completely with a door to enter so side reflections are as symmetrical as possible.
     
  13. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Stuff all walls (including interior) and ceiling with Roxul safe'n'sound. It makes a big difference in damping out sound and upstairs will be quieter as well. When I had to fix my foundation two years ago, I paid extra to pad the walls and ceiling of the affected areas and the entire space is significantly quieter now. If I ever reno upstairs, I'll do it there too.

    Don't extend that red wall, that just creates a claustrophobic hallway at the bottom of the stairs. I'd go with either:
    1) shorten the red wall or make it half wall with maybe a frosted glass on the top half; very old fashioned but it works to divide without really cutting it off and making it feel closed
    2) commit to the wall, but put a storage room at the bottom of the stairs to make use of the space (access from either the bottom of stairs or from rec room)
    2b) as above, but the stairs make either one or two 90° clockwise turns to drop you either into the hallway or rec room; this will give you the option to either expand the rec room or make a bigger storage space and have more symmetrical walls
     
  14. Metro

    Metro Friend

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    I agree, but if you aren't doing it already, you can visualize a walk through and different options with 3D home design software. I was doing it on my PC 15 years ago and it was already good then and must be much better now. There are free versions available.
    https://www.google.com/search?q=house+design+software
     
  15. dasman66

    dasman66 Self proclaimed lazy ass - friend

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    consider ditching the red wall and putting the speakers at the other end of the room. Put the built-ins and bar at the open end of the room where you show the speakers now.
     
  16. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    Thanks for all the suggestions guys. The floor plan is relatively set so flipping it or totally enclosing it probably wont fly with the wife. She's also hardcore about minimizing hallways to encourage open space. The space at the bottom of the stairs probably isn't that significant. As it stands now with a wall its probably around 7x9 and it's nice to allow a little space to move larger items up and down the stairs. There's also a door near there that goes into a utility and workshop area. I like the idea of modeling this with some 3d program to get a visual.

    If it wasn't obvious by the plan, the back and side wall are foundation walls. They'll be framed and sheet rocked over. Is there any benefit to double sheetrocking the walls? I like the special insulation idea.

    I guess the goal here isn't to create the perfect sound room, but maximize this general floorplan. My current listening room doubles as a living room and home office. It also has a fireplace that makes speaker placement limited. So this will be a major step up.
     
  17. mitochondrium

    mitochondrium Friend

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    @crazychile
    Congratulations for your new sound lab. My recommendation:
    Get yourself a measurement mix and measure once’s the speakers are set up. That will tell you the whole story including how different the two channels are due to lacking symmetry. Then you can try to fix real problems.
    I have a fixation when it comes to reverb time, so I would put one to two foot of rock wool in front of the back wall. I would also put 2” absorbers on the side wall to cancel early reflections. If you have enough headroom I would suggest 5 to 6” absorbers on the ceiling placed between speakers and listening position at least mounted with a 5 to 6” gap ceiling/absorber.
    Whether you need bass traps on the RH side because of the stone wall corner causing an imbalance in SPL in the bass region a measurement with Room Equalization Wizard will tell you, maybe you know somebody who could lend you a mic or assist with the first measurements.
    And don’t forget to...

    Have fun
     
  18. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    @crazychile Congrats on the build news! It may be worth getting in touch with GiK for a free consult before you meet with your contractor again. I bet they’ll be able to easily model the room and provide suggestions for optimizing the acoustics at a given price point.

    https://www.gikacoustics.com/acoustic-advice/
     
  19. Mike_WI

    Mike_WI New

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    I would not double drywall the side walls. I would consider that -- or using QuietRock for the ceiling.
    Given it isn't an enclosed room, it won't be perfect -- same with light openings or HVAC disruptions.
     
  20. johnnypaddock

    johnnypaddock Facebook Friend

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    Have you thought about putting the speakers along the long wall towards the top of your diagram? I think you could avoid the side reflection issue, and there seems to be a ton of room there. I'm guessing you've already considered this, but I figured I'd throw it out there.

    Great looking floor plan... Best of luck!
     
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