So Shan got me motivated about my monitors

[Lt. Bob]

For 20 years I've used a pair of JBL 4208's ..... in fact, I have 2 pair because in Baton Rouge, in that house, they sounded freakin' amazing.
The 8" woofers put out an astounding and detailed bottom end.
They sounded so good that I bought a 2nd pair and couldn't understand why everyone wasn't running out to get a pair.
It was such a good system I listened to music all the time .... it just drew you in.

But when we moved here to this house .... old old frame rather than brick ...... different room .... they never have sounded that way here.
They're decent ..... but not the OMG sound they had in the other house.
But I've continued to use them and I suppose as a result, I rarely listen to music.

Well, at the beginning of covid Klipsch had a big sale and I got a pair of R28F's for my living room system and they sound good and I've been experiencing a renewed interest in listening to music.

The R28F's replaced a pair of Polk towers I had ..... don't know the model and don't feel like trying to get to the back of them to see, but they're about 47" tall with two 6.5" woofers and a tweeter ..... fairly decent sounding.
So they got moved into the studio and replaced the JBLs ..... sounded better but still no ooh factor.
And my music room should have the best sound of all ..... it should make me want to hear it.

Now I'm a firm believer that your monitor system should sound awesome playing your favorite music.
If it can't sound good on music you know sounds good .... then it's useless to try and make your own sound good because it isn't capable of it.
So I tune my monitors to sound great as an audiophile system and then they're ready to do monitoring work.

Anyways I got to thinking .... what if I use both sets of speakers?

I know, I know ...... lots of times that's a clusterfuck and they interfere with each other and sound worse than either by itself.
But WTH ....... since losing so much weight I just have buttloads of energy so the last couple of days I wired up a way to switch between either pair or use them both together.
I use an Alesis RA-100 reference amp ...... and a decent stereo pre-amp.
100 watts per ch into 4 ohms which is what I get with the two pair of speakers.

Holy Crap!!! Synergistic serendipity!
They compliment each other.
I flipped the JBLs upside down to set the tweeters close together and set them on top of the Polks.
They sound so fucking good!

Brought wifey in and set her down and asked what she thought ..... she wanted to just sit and listen ..... it almost compels you to listen.
Every freq is there in spades but totally balanced and nothing is harsh ..... a seriously deep bass end and tons of highs but they're mellow .... and the biggest thing of all is the location thing.
You can 'see' every freakin' drum and player and instrument ... anything you want to listen to, you can just pick out ...... the detail and resolution is off the charts!
Wifey noticed it ..... she said it was like she could see where everything was .... even in busy mixes.

I sat and listened to music for the next 4 hours ...... just now coming out.

Way happy bob here!

They look a little weird but 2x6.5" and 1x8" woofer/midranges and 2 tweeters are somehow being a perfect set-up.

[rayc]

Excellent. My downstairs recording space has good sound with my monitor set up, nice sound with the NAD amp & ARs set up for pleasure listening and an old BOSE 5,1 system set up to play quad recordings. Upstairs, in the living room I'm REALLY unhappy with the sound...good amp a choice of more ARs or some BOSE towers from the late 80s but the room shape and a glass wall mean that the stereo image in hard work. I managed to set up a sweet spot but it's almost in the middle of the room and ANY variation from that spot means a stereo image that leans to one side. As a result I rarely listen to the stereo in the living room. That upsets me no end.

[Lt. Bob]

Excellent. My downstairs recording space has good sound with my monitor set up, nice sound with the NAD amp & ARs set up for pleasure listening and an old BOSE 5,1 system set up to play quad recordings. Upstairs, in the living room I'm REALLY unhappy with the sound...good amp a choice of more ARs or some BOSE towers from the late 80s but the room shape and a glass wall mean that the stereo image in hard work. I managed to set up a sweet spot but it's almost in the middle of the room and ANY variation from that spot means a stereo image that leans to one side. As a result I rarely listen to the stereo in the living room. That upsets me no end.

Isn't that frustrating?

You know you've got good gear but the sound just isn't compelling ....... I used to listen all the time and with a collection of 6500+ LPs it's obvious that it's something I enjoy.

But for the last 14 years I haven't because I didn't have a sound I liked.
It's not that it sounded bad ..... it just didn't sound good enough.

[Greg_L]

Lol that speaker stack gives me anxiety.

[Lt. Bob]

Lol that speaker stack gives me anxiety.

lol ...... it's really stable and I have some rubber sheeting between the two so the top one can't 'walk' around when there's a lot of bass.

[WhiskeyJack]

You can 'see' every freakin' drum and player and instrument ... anything you want to listen to, you can just pick out ...... the detail and resolution is off the charts!

I remember the first time i ever experienced this at one of my parents friends house. It's the coolest thing in the world. I was blown away. Like the way he had his room set up, i could walk around the room, and feel like i was walking past things i couldn't see or touch. Only hear. Like i felt i could walk across the room and pass by the keyboard player and in front of the drummer and then over to a guitar. Clear as day i can recall little child me experiencing that. I was young though. So maybe not clear as day! LOL. I may have just been sitting in a chair and moving my head around. I know i was given very clear instruction to NOT TOUCH ANYTHING in that room haha. But i remember for sure the experience of feeling, "seeing" and moving around the moving parts. So cool.

I have never really been able to recreate that ever. A little tiny bit with my recording set up, but nothing that engulfs a room the way this guys did and as you describe your set up. He was a SERIOUS audiofile, i have no idea what he had in there but i know he had serious gear and more than two speakers like any normal person did that i met at that young point in my life.

Awesome story Lt. Nice to hear you got a space to space out in man!! Enjoy.

[JD01]

Cool - well done, Bob

[Tadpui]

That's an impressive stack o' speakers Bob!

When I'm listening for fun, or watching YouTube or playing video games, I typically have both of my pairs of monitors going. It's a cool sound stage, wide and really full-bodied. But I've learned not to mix like that. There's some funky thing that happens in the mids where it gets all phasey when I move my head around. Since I'm usually moving back and forth a bit when I'm mixing, it messes with me (and judging by the quality of my mixes, I can't afford any handicaps ).