Hey NuTT98 & Green Hornet!

[Howdy]

Well, I set up those new Yorkies and played around with them a bit.... I must say that you guys were "right on the money". They are excellent. I want to thank both of you for your help and input on near-fields.

I am now thinking of replacing my BR-8..... I am looking at the Roland VS-2400CD and the Korg D16XD. What are your thoughts on these units?

Thanks again for suggesting the Yorkville near-fields and going with the active instead of passive... I can't believe Yorkville doesn't put a higher price tag on them!

One happy camper...

Howdy

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Howdy:

Glad you are enjoying the Yorks. One reason that the price is so good on the Yorks is that they don't do big time advertising. And, they seem to have a very devoted staff.

Can't say much about the Korg or Roland since I use the Yam 2816. But, if I were to buy either, I'd probably go with one of the new Korgs.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Green Hornet

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Howdy:

Glad you are enjoying the Yorks. One reason that the price is so good on the Yorks is that they don't do big time advertising. And, they seem to have a very devoted staff.

Can't say much about the Korg or Roland since I use the Yam 2816. But, if I were to buy either, I'd probably go with one of the new Korgs.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Green Hornet

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Howdy:

Glad you are enjoying the Yorks. One reason that the price is so good on the Yorks is that they don't do big time advertising. And, they seem to have a very devoted staff.

Can't say much about the Korg or Roland since I use the Yam 2816. But, if I were to buy either, I'd probably go with one of the new Korgs.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Green Hornet

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Howdy & BBS crew:

Sorry for the repeats. Not my fault; just a busy server I think.

Green Hornet

[NuTT98]

Superb . Check that the limiter is clicked in and trim is not above 0.

[Howdy]

Green Hornet....

I am having the same problem with the Korg D16XD that I had with the Yorkies.... no where to check them out. Went to Guitar Center and they told me only a few of their stores have them... bummer.

I am now looking at the Roland SI-24 package... I can pick that up for $730 USD. Just wish I could take a look at that Korg, though... it would make it a lot easier to make a decision. From what I have read, it sounds like it is right up my alley.

[Howdy]

NuTT98...

Yup, I pasted your suggestions onto my word processor and read them over again before I set up the Yorks. Most helpful.

The only problem that I may have is that with the position of my workstation (and I have no options of relocating it) one monitor is close to a corner wall while the other is against a flat wall. I set one of them up as a corner position (1/4 position, I believe) and the other one is set up as a 1/2 position since it is against a flat wall. I have both monitors angled in (trying to create that triangle). They are about 4 feet apart. Any suggestions? Am I going about it correctly?

[NuTT98]

Well, the only suggestion I can give you is to get it away from the wall if possible. It must cause some significant side effects both to the performance of this monitor and to the sound stage.

I had one of mine near 45 degree angled wall. Not as bad as a corner, and it wasn't exactly that close, but moving it to another location made quite a significant change. In your situation I can only imagine how much of an improvement you would get.

[Howdy]

Thanks for the suggestion, NuTT.... Once I get my new digital recorder, I will try and see if I can't move the workstation. I may just have to build my workdesk to accomodate the changes. As good as things sound already, it is hard to imagine it sounding any better, but this is all pretty new to me. My wife sat at the console and listened to the system... she said the center point of sound seemed to be a bit to the right (the left monitor is near the corner). Since I have trouble hearing higher frequencies in my right ear, her evaluation is probably correct.

I have been trying to find a place where I can buy some dust covers for the Yorkies... I live in the San Joaquin Valley and there is a lot of agriculture here, so dust can be a problem.

[NuTT98]

Wow, you must have a lot of dust there

What you could try, is to get winamp 2.x with the MAD input plugin. Play some tracks with point source sounds which are shifted significantly, but perhaps not entirely to either left/right. Then go to MAD properties and invert left/right channels. This sound will now play on the opposite side of the stereo spectrum, and in optimum conditions it should sound exactly like the original.

If it sounds noticably different, either in tone or stereo localization then you have an obvious problem.

Also, I noticed the volume trim on the YSMs is not calibrated correctly. So a -6dB on one may represent a -4dB on the other or so. At 0dB, both of mine seem to be correctly matched, but if I take both down to -6dB, one is notably off-volume to the other, significantly shifting the stage. So if you can tell center-stage is off, trimming it will fix that. In your case however, I'm almost certain the wall is causing all your problems. It will distort the notes coming out of this left speaker which in turn will make the sound stage fuzzy. I'd get it out of there as soon as possible. It's not necessarily too bad if the speaker is relatively close to a wall, as long as both are symmetrical, or the same relative distance from their walls. What really matters is not how far the speakers are away from the wall, but how far you are from the speakers in relativity to the wall.

I measured mine to be almost exactly in the center of the room. They are each 4' away from side walls, 1.5' away from the rear wall and about 1.5' away from my head.

The rear wall isn't much of a problem as long as the side walls are relatively far away because the sound still has a lot of cubic area to dissipate behind the speaker.

Also it would help to have them near the front of the desk rather than at the back or somewhere in the middle. That will reduce desk reflections which can as well be pretty significant given it's proximity to you is closer than the speaker itself.

If you have a monitor in the middle, its important that the speakers not be behind it. Either on the same depth as the monitor or in front of it. And check that they are symmetrically in the same position, including rotation. What seems like an insignificant imperfection can break the sound stage. Our ears are sensitive to phase, tone and volume when determining sound location. Phase distortion will make focused sounds appear to come from both speakers. Tone distortion will blur the sound stage and volume will shift it. A small change of around 2dB to one speaker will shift the entire stage over 30 degrees. That's pretty significant when you're in close proximity with high separation.

Perhaps some tweaks seem isnignificant in themselves, but it adds up. TBH when I first got the YSMs I wasn't overly impressed. My experience was limited and I didnt really know what I had to do to get them to sound right. Over the last year I've been gradually making tweaks and adjustments and now they're nothing short of amazing. Just recently I got a new parametric EQ and a ratshack SPL meter . Which showed me that my bass response was severly disfigured. Even with a subwoofer I noticed that I had a sharp rolloff below 50Hz to nearly dead-zero at 20Hz. I was getting severe cancellation with the subwoofer in that particular spot. So I moved it around, cancelled the peaks with 5 high-Q bands and now my response is SPL meter variation aside, 20Hz-100Hz within +/-2dB, and thats in-room response, which is pretty spectacular. Anyways, point is little things make a difference and they will add up over time, its just how well you know your room and system. I think you'll get to like them much more over time, they only get better for me.

[Howdy]

Thanks for the tips, Nutt... I think you're right. I have decided to tear everything apart and relocate the desk. Once things are more balanced, I will do some "tweaking" and such. I did do some remixing with the Yorks and the difference between the new mix and the old mix was like night and day. I was also pleased that what sounded good thru the Yorks also sounded good through my home stereo and I didn't have to go back and make any adjustments to the mix... I did quite a bit of that sort of thing before.

Life is good...