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Post by antonio on Jun 1, 2022 8:26:01 GMT
I've just had a look at the price I paid, and the advertised price, it would appear I have already paid VAT at source
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Post by firebottle on Jun 1, 2022 10:09:19 GMT
'the v3 is latest version of Q8, and it has more than 50% sound quality improve than old version' All sounds very good, the older ones must have been shite,
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Post by antonio on Jun 1, 2022 14:25:39 GMT
firebottle Unless the the older model sounded just great, the V3 sounding unbelievably great Well there is some good news, after being in the uk for 10 days the speakers have finally cleared customs, so hopefully I will have my grubby hands on em in a couple of days
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optical
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Post by optical on Jun 1, 2022 15:07:45 GMT
Great news they've cleared Dave, I'll be very interested to hear your impressions of them.
Of course, new speakers can change a fair bit between 0-100+ hours.... Although smaller ones shouldn't take as long to give you their best.
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Post by antonio on Jun 2, 2022 4:52:16 GMT
Had a fair old listen yesterday, liked what I heard and have decided to keep EL34's and Mullard EF86's in the amp for a few weeks before trying out my other valves again now that I've put a few hours on them all.
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Post by antonio on Jun 9, 2022 6:20:20 GMT
Well my new speakers finally arrived yesterday, nearly 5pm when they got here so I haven't had much chance to listen, one album last night and got some of my favourite Acoustic Alchemy on now as I'm typing. I'm liking what I'm hearing, but would rather give the speakers a few more hours yet before my final opinion, and they are just plonked down on the stands, exactly where my previous Cesti's had been placed. I would like to ask your thoughts about bolting a bamboo chopping board to the metal top plate on my speaker stands, I have two which are the right size for the speakers to sit on, at the moment I have three upward facing wooden cones on the top plate. The speakers have 4 removeable metal cones under each, and if I had the chopping board attached, it would give me the option of the metal cones or maybe just some rubber bumpers. I have encountered a problem with Ali Express, I initially paid the VAT when paying for the speakers, only to pay again to Parcelforce to get them delivered. I messaged the seller who has told me, they only received the price of the speakers plus shipping costs from Ali, so where's the VAT gone? Anyway here's a photo of one of the speakers in situ, and also one of the chopping board
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optical
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Post by optical on Jun 9, 2022 6:49:18 GMT
Well my new speakers finally arrived yesterday, nearly 5pm when they got here so I haven't had much chance to listen, one album last night and got some of my favourite Acoustic Alchemy on now as I'm typing. I'm liking what I'm hearing, but would rather give the speakers a few more hours yet before my final opinion, and they are just plonked down on the stands, exactly where my previous Cesti's had been placed. I would like to ask your thoughts about bolting a bamboo chopping board to the metal top plate on my speaker stands, I have two which are the right size for the speakers to sit on, at the moment I have three upward facing wooden cones on the top plate. The speakers have 4 removeable metal cones under each, and if I had the chopping board attached, it would give me the option of the metal cones or maybe just some rubber bumpers. I have encountered a problem with Ali Express, I initially paid the VAT when paying for the speakers, only to pay again to Parcelforce to get them delivered. I messaged the seller who has told me, they only received the price of the speakers plus shipping costs from Ali, so where's the VAT gone? Anyway here's a photo of one of the speakers in situ, and also one of the chopping board Glad they have arrived Dave, weird about the VAT thing, was the amount you paid Parcel Force the same as was paid on the speakers initially to Ali Express seller? Regarding the chopping board etc it's a bit of a dark art adding coupling/decoupling material and depending on if you are using the metal or rubber feet, results can change. I would guess that the speakers would sound at their best on rubber feet placed on the stands (so long as they are heavy enough to prevent any 'wobbling'). You want to isolate the speaker from the floor and the stand mostly (although occasionally coupling the speaker to the floor can have a pleasing quality to it, it's not really the way forward ultimately.) Also depends on what your floor is made of, if it's a suspended wooden floor you don't want any vibrations from the speaker getting anywhere near it, if it's a solid screed type (like mine) it doesn't matter quite so much as it's pretty difficult to vibrate a concrete floor. My best results with stand-mount speakers have actually been to use blu-tac on the bottom of the speakers which did result in coupling the speakers to the stands but the stands (Audio Note) were so heavy and mass filled that this completely killed any vibrations from the speaker what so ever. I don't know if your stands are quite that heavy or not. The chopping board method usually works best on floorstanders I've found but of course trial and error may give you a result you're after. Like I say there's a lot of variables involved but starting with a plan of isolating the speaker (decoupling) from the floor is usually a good start. Let us know how you get on. How's the treble balance for you with them as wasn't that the issue you were trying to avoid?
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Post by antonio on Jun 9, 2022 7:17:30 GMT
Thanks for your reply Chris, maybe I didn't explain the situation very well. The top plate is really too small for the speaker, although I have three upward facing cones on the top plate and the speakers sitting on those. If I was to bolt on the chopping board, this is the correct size for the speaker to sit on, and like I said, would be able to try the metal cones that came with the speaker, rubber bumpers, or even the cones I am using at present. The flooring is concrete, carpeted, it came with the property so not overly thick, the stand can be coupled using spikes, but at present I have four rubber washing machine feet under each stand between stand and carpet. It was really a question of what people thoght about bolting a bamboo board to the metal top plate.
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jun 9, 2022 7:19:00 GMT
antoniomisterc has used black ravioli pads on his website. Buy 8 of them for a forum friendly price, and put them between speaker and stand. They are excellent for that job, and would be how i approcah it in my system were i to have standmounts.
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Post by antonio on Jun 9, 2022 7:32:45 GMT
@bigman Again, the top plate is too small, measuring 13cm wide by 17cm deep, the speakers are 23cm x 29cm. If I attached the chopping board I would be able to try all options.
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Post by antonio on Jun 9, 2022 7:41:06 GMT
I could add a thin sheet of rubber, or even four small rubber feet (which I have a supply of) between the top plate and chopping board and still use four small bolts to secure.
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edward
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Post by edward on Jun 9, 2022 7:45:48 GMT
If you can easily bolt the chopping boards to your stands I would definitely try that. As you say it will allow you try out various other coupling/decoupling options easily. I assume your stands already have bolt holes so you will be able to remove the chopping boards easily. Just a matter of finding bolts of the right size and then drilling the chopping boards.
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jun 9, 2022 8:04:36 GMT
@bigman Again, the top plate is too small, measuring 13cm wide by 17cm deep, the speakers are 23cm x 29cm. If I attached the chopping board I would be able to try all options. Oh, i missed that bit. Yeah, bolt the board on and then try different combinations. I'd still go Ravioli Feet
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Post by macca on Jun 9, 2022 9:01:35 GMT
All you can do with this speaker-related stuff is experiment, there's no one size fits all, way too many variables. Just have a fiddle with different combinations until it clicks.
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Post by stryder5 on Jun 9, 2022 12:00:20 GMT
I really hope they sound as good as they look!
Gary
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Post by stevew on Jun 9, 2022 14:18:59 GMT
Lovely looking speakers. This is how mine work … tried all sorts, but in truth I couldn’t live without those Townshend bars. But the interface between the speaker and stand seem to work best with these rubber pads. (The advert call em ‘gel’.. they are not really).
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Post by antonio on Jun 9, 2022 15:52:45 GMT
stevew I've got those isolation gel pads on my watch list, those speakers and stands look great. My brother has used those bars under his speakers for years, much prefer the looks of them than the newer platforms.
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Post by antonio on Jun 9, 2022 15:58:16 GMT
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jun 9, 2022 16:03:04 GMT
Well I've painted the chopping boards and got them screwed on to the top plates of the stands. The speakers came with these screw in feet and also some rubber pads which the feet fit in to so giving a choice, couple or decouple. free screen capture softwareThey look ok mate. Nicely done. Feet are different.....very cool
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Post by antonio on Jun 9, 2022 16:30:51 GMT
Well I've got them on the stands ready for a listen, at the moment I've placed the rubber feet on, but the stands don't have anything between them and the carpet. This making it easier to move the stands for any adjustments necessary, although I will leave them until a few more hours have been put on them. Pictures with and without the grills in place:
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jun 9, 2022 16:54:26 GMT
Well I've got them on the stands ready for a listen, at the moment I've placed the rubber feet on, but the stands don't have anything between them and the carpet. This making it easier to move the stands for any adjustments necessary, although I will leave them until a few more hours have been put on them. Pictures with and without the grills in place: Looking good.
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Post by antonio on Jun 9, 2022 17:20:36 GMT
@bigman Again, the top plate is too small, measuring 13cm wide by 17cm deep, the speakers are 23cm x 29cm. If I attached the chopping board I would be able to try all options. Oh, i missed that bit. Yeah, bolt the board on and then try different combinations. I'd still go Ravioli Feet Not Iso-pucks that everyone are raving about
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jun 9, 2022 19:18:55 GMT
Oh, i missed that bit. Yeah, bolt the board on and then try different combinations. I'd still go Ravioli Feet Not Iso-pucks that everyone are raving about Could try them too?
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Post by antonio on Jun 10, 2022 6:37:12 GMT
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jun 10, 2022 9:16:27 GMT
Are you using the volume control on the Soekris or the musical paradise?
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Post by antonio on Jun 10, 2022 9:43:57 GMT
@bigman I'm using the amp, didn't know you could use the Soekis, just had a twiddle of the knob (Oooh Mrs) makes no difference to the volume, am I doing something wrong?
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jun 10, 2022 9:47:45 GMT
@bigman I'm using the amp, didn't know you could use the Soekis, just had a twiddle of the knob (Oooh Mrs) makes no difference to the volume, am I doing something wrong? Hold down the filter button until it flashes once. Then it works.
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optical
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Post by optical on Jun 10, 2022 10:07:36 GMT
It's definitely worth having a play around Dave, balancing both volume controls, a combination of both could be a big improvement dynamically.
I suspect having the Musical Paradise volume at least 1/2 way, as the pots on them are notoriously poor lower down in its range, will give the speakers a bit more power to play with.
The Soekris's volume is attenuated in the digital domain (before it's converted to an analogue signal) so you shouldn't lose much fidelity using it that way.
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Post by antonio on Jun 10, 2022 15:06:49 GMT
Thanks for that info, I've got the volume setting on -15db on the Soekris now, I can turn the volume up to 11 o'clock for what I would call normal listening levels, so may try going to -20db.
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Post by antonio on Jun 27, 2022 7:09:16 GMT
Just a quick update on the speakers/stands, firstly I am very happy with the speakers, but why then do I look on ebay and see something else that really interests me Secondly I have purchased two more chopping boards, which are now screwed and glued to the base of the stands giving a larger area and more stability, also purchased some new steel spikes and T inserts, I have come to the conclusion the speakers sound better spiked through the carpet on a solid concrete floor. I now have the brass spikes between speaker and top plate but will have to do further experimentation using the rubber feet (see photos above) or even the wooden cones I was using with my Cubes
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