I did consider posting this in the "effects of SAM" thread, but though on balance it deserved a new thread.
Since getting SAM for the KEF Blades, have noticed the very occasional track that sounds a little strange with SAM, or displays some kind of "bass artefact", for want of a better term. These are very low frequency "puffs" of other not very musical low bass effects.
I had a theory that these seemingly negative effects of SAM could be eliminated by adjusting the speaker positioning. For while, if I ever listened to a track that I felt was producing some sort of bass artefact, or if the bass was simply extremely overblown in some way, I placed the subject track into a playlist. The idea being that when I had a few of these tracks compiled, I could experiment with speaker positioning, to see what effect it would have on these particular tracks.
Today I spent some time trying to tidy up the cabling of my system, and to facilitate this I had moved the speakers. With this complete, I positioned the speakers a full 10" (250mm) further away from the wall, an the listened through the playlist of tracks with rouge bass. The result? Well moving the speakers away from the wall did change the overall balance toward the "lean" end of the scale. Plus, almost as proof of concept, the majority of the "rouge" tracks either no longer displayed any of these negative bass artefacts, or at least, the effects were reduced to the point that they were no longer of any real concern. After much experimentation, I found that actually a 3" (75mm) shift was enough to tame the bass issues, whilst giving a much better overall balance to the sound than was apparent from the 10" (250mm) shift. I will be leaving the speakers in this position for a while to see how everything sounds after some more prolonged listening.
But there was one track..... Tricky's "Hell is Around the Corner" (Maxinquaye). (CD rip, AIR Ethernet) In addition to sounding a little odd in the very lowest bass with SAM enabled, parts of the track with SAM on produce very large, slow, cone movements. This is the kind of cone movement you can sometime see using vinyl due to environmental feedback if a subsonic filter is not used. It is hard to judge, but I would say the cone movement is below the 20hz / audible range.
So some questions. Firstly, it would be interesting if other users with SAM enabled systems could try this track. Is it just the SAM / Blade combo that is upset by this track, does it impact some other speakers, large or small? I am curious!
As a second question. I am aware that it is possible to enable a "Subsonic filter" in the general settings section of the configurator. I am thinking of trying this, to see if it tames the unwanted (and slightly alarming) low frequency cone movements that SAM + tacks like "Hell is Around the Corner" can produce. However, I do wonder if there are any negative to using the subsonic filter. After all, it does not make sense to compromise 99% of ones listening, just to prevent a minor issue with one or two specific tracks.
My last question, I am sure these cone movements are somewhere in the 10 to 20hz range. I always thought redbook CD was limited to 20hz?
Since getting SAM for the KEF Blades, have noticed the very occasional track that sounds a little strange with SAM, or displays some kind of "bass artefact", for want of a better term. These are very low frequency "puffs" of other not very musical low bass effects.
I had a theory that these seemingly negative effects of SAM could be eliminated by adjusting the speaker positioning. For while, if I ever listened to a track that I felt was producing some sort of bass artefact, or if the bass was simply extremely overblown in some way, I placed the subject track into a playlist. The idea being that when I had a few of these tracks compiled, I could experiment with speaker positioning, to see what effect it would have on these particular tracks.
Today I spent some time trying to tidy up the cabling of my system, and to facilitate this I had moved the speakers. With this complete, I positioned the speakers a full 10" (250mm) further away from the wall, an the listened through the playlist of tracks with rouge bass. The result? Well moving the speakers away from the wall did change the overall balance toward the "lean" end of the scale. Plus, almost as proof of concept, the majority of the "rouge" tracks either no longer displayed any of these negative bass artefacts, or at least, the effects were reduced to the point that they were no longer of any real concern. After much experimentation, I found that actually a 3" (75mm) shift was enough to tame the bass issues, whilst giving a much better overall balance to the sound than was apparent from the 10" (250mm) shift. I will be leaving the speakers in this position for a while to see how everything sounds after some more prolonged listening.
But there was one track..... Tricky's "Hell is Around the Corner" (Maxinquaye). (CD rip, AIR Ethernet) In addition to sounding a little odd in the very lowest bass with SAM enabled, parts of the track with SAM on produce very large, slow, cone movements. This is the kind of cone movement you can sometime see using vinyl due to environmental feedback if a subsonic filter is not used. It is hard to judge, but I would say the cone movement is below the 20hz / audible range.
So some questions. Firstly, it would be interesting if other users with SAM enabled systems could try this track. Is it just the SAM / Blade combo that is upset by this track, does it impact some other speakers, large or small? I am curious!
As a second question. I am aware that it is possible to enable a "Subsonic filter" in the general settings section of the configurator. I am thinking of trying this, to see if it tames the unwanted (and slightly alarming) low frequency cone movements that SAM + tacks like "Hell is Around the Corner" can produce. However, I do wonder if there are any negative to using the subsonic filter. After all, it does not make sense to compromise 99% of ones listening, just to prevent a minor issue with one or two specific tracks.
My last question, I am sure these cone movements are somewhere in the 10 to 20hz range. I always thought redbook CD was limited to 20hz?
