New speakers SAM ready

[Eddye]

@Pim van Vliet:

Please post your impressions of the SAM effect on these Dynaudio's.

Hi Charlemagne,

Well, I've spent a few days at home and had some time to have a play. Whilst I was away we had an air conditioner installed and they moved my speakers so when I came home I had to re-do my set-up. From what I had read about SAM I knew that the added bass would probably mean I had to make minor changes to my set up anyway so I was kind of prepared to do so.
I decided to set SAM to 100% and start with the set up. I was playing Mutineers by David Gray; A fantastic album but I just couldn't get Davids voice right. It kept sounding harsh and at times I wondered whether or not it had to do with SAM so I turned it on and off to hear a difference. It was subtle but it was there; without SAM the voice was less harsh but only by a tiny bit. That night I was quite frustrated with it all and went to bed a little disappointed. The added bass depth though was definitely there and fun.

The next night I just wanted to enjoy the music. I made some minor changes to the set up; A little closer to each other and more forward tilt (They sit quite high so need a lot of tilt) I left them there and just played music.

This time it was different.
1. I was listening to some acoustic guitar that always had some low end bits in it that I thought was added by a bass guitar. Without SAM that's what you would think. With SAM it clearly was the bass from the guitar cabinet. So the bass was lower in frequency but not louder. If anything probably a little less loud. But it was better defined and let the timbre of the guitar shine through better.
This I considered a big +

2. I wanted to feel the bass cranking and put on some Lorde. The bass again was clearly deeper but this is music you want to crank up and the thumping bass hangs around the 50-ish Hz and when SAM is on it lets through a much lower frequency which requires more cone movement. And then when you crank it up SAM kicks in its 'safety net' and wipes out all the bass. So it sounds good at lower volume but as soon as you go a little too loud all the bass disappears. I found with SAM off I enjoyed it more. I think SAM is a little too protective and kicks in too early. Then again, you're asking more from your cones with SAM on so it's hard to tell.
I consider this a - but at least I didn't blow my cones to pieces.

3. I can't tell if it was SAM or my renewed setup but on that second night I had the most satisfying night of music listening I had ever had. Until I put David Gray on again. His voice was still harsh and this time clearly more so with SAM on than off. I found the link to the Dynamic Range site and looked up Mutineers; The DR was quite bad. Conclusion; Although the musical production is one of the most enjoyable to my ears, the compression ruined it.
What I learned from this is what I've read here a number of times; SAM makes the mid range (voices) sound a bit more forward, which just isn't a good thing when the engineers have already set the level to IN YOUR FACE!
This I consider + on some songs and a - on Mutineers and possibly others.

So, is SAM a good thing? Yes! It gives a clearer picture of the music as it was put on disc (not as the artist had intended as we're being thrown to death with thanks to Neil Young) If the recording is good, SAM will make it better.
Would I set SAM to 100% and never touch it again? No. Sometimes I just want the thumping 50Hz tones and crank it up. Maybe once I get some subs or when my room is made smaller (We're renovating and this room will be cut in half to become the bedroom with the 200/C1 system in it) I can fully enjoy it all the time.

Unfortunately I'm back at the rig and will have to wait another few weeks before I can have another listen. And I'm soon looking forward to it.

Since you're Dutch you might want to try this song; Hilversum 3 by Herman van Veen. I only have an mp3 but it's so much fun to listen to.

Cheers,

Pim

Great read, Pim. Very clear. When you back home you could listen to Samantha Crain's song Paint from the album Kid Face. That song has a great bass.