Bluesky with Emu 1616m

[OafyC]

I have always felt that small drivers lacked lower mids. I have the EXO system and it sounds better than anything in the price range, but I feel you will always sacrifice low-mids when you have a sub and small drivers.

[ORGANIK]

i just gt them as well...
great monitors..i have the same problem as well.
i do have corner chunk bass traps and some decent oc703 treatment. when i raise the volume i feel like the sub gets left behind a little. its weird. i tried placement changes with the sub but not 2 much difference.
maybe we can try to re-calibrate the sub ???

[Rick1114]

It'd be nice if there was a mod for the sub. I'm not an electronics guy, so I don't know what would do it (bigger magnet etc...). It's a shame because the satelittes on this system deliver amazing detail and I am more than satisfied with them. Using an EQ in patchmix has helped but it's still a bit muddy using EQ as a band-aid like that. I guess the driver IS too small...

[johnwayne]

I've been happy with mine. Although I did calibrate the sub, measured frequency response in the listening position, and I have 10 4" bass traps in most corners. It's fairly tight but there's still a small problem, but I can make do. I really like th speakers with the sub.

[Pascal Sijen]

Originally Posted by Rick1114

It'd be nice if there was a mod for the sub. I'm not an electronics guy, so I don't know what would do it (bigger magnet etc...). It's a shame because the satelittes on this system deliver amazing detail and I am more than satisfied with them. Using an EQ in patchmix has helped but it's still a bit muddy using EQ as a band-aid like that. I guess the driver IS too small...

I hope nobody minds me chiming in.

In general, we have had very users express these types of concerns. Both EXO and MediaDesk offer flat on and smooth off axis frequency response, when measured in a quasi-anechoic environment. Throughout the mid-range region they are certainly more neutral than some monitors on the market, which often tend to be more forward and this can certainly play into what you are hearing.

However, the single biggest influence on the performance of any loudspeaker is going to be the room it is placed in. I believe our 2.1 system design offers some advantages in mitigating the impact of the room, but acoustic treatment and proper setup are still of prime importance.

Lastly, it is also important to understand the program material you are listening too and any possible limitations it has.

If I can be of any help addressing your concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me directly: pascal@abluesky.com

Cheers!

[Rick1114]

I will admit my room is untreated and not too good to begin with. Also the source material varies, so sometimes I think the system sounds amazing and sometimes I'm not so sure what's going on. But for listening purposes keeping an EQ in the patchmix channel strip that I can bypass or just trim or boost a few frequencies (ever so slightly) when needed works for me. My wife won't be too happy If I start treating my living room with Bass traps!

Thanks,

Rick

[living sounds]

I had a Mediadesk and I second the problems with the low mids. Using A7 in the same room the low mids sound great.

As for the Emu card, you can easly improve sound quality by bridging the output caps (which are not needed), much better detail, a lot more bass and high end.

[Rick1114]

Originally Posted by living sounds

I had a Mediadesk and I second the problems with the low mids. Using A7 in the same room the low mids sound great.

As for the Emu card, you can easly improve sound quality by bridging the output caps (which are not needed), much better detail, a lot more bass and high end.

Thanks for the tip on the Emu card. I will look into that mod further if I ever feel it's needed (I'm pretty happy with it as-is though). I'm realizing there is a real problem with the low mids with the media desk. Not in terms of flat response in the lower mids, but there is not the same amount of detail. I can hear every congo and cymbal in amazing detail with the sattelites, but never can I hear a bass guitar with that same detail. Positioning the sub or adding bass traps won't help that - the clarity in those frequencies is not there to begin with! It's a shame there is no upgrade for the sub because the satellites are pure heaven...

[blayz2002]

Originally Posted by living sounds

I had a Mediadesk and I second the problems with the low mids. Using A7 in the same room the low mids sound great.

As for the Emu card, you can easly improve sound quality by bridging the output caps (which are not needed), much better detail, a lot more bass and high end.

I've got roughly the same set up except the 1820m, can you elaborate more on this mod? or point me in a direction of more info?

[living sounds]

With the 1820m you've got to open the case and unscrew the PCB from the metal casing at the bottom. Only remove the small PCBS connected on top on the side of the in/outputs, not the one on the other side (it's hard to get back on). Locate the electrolytic caps that form a sinous line, they're between the outputs and the jrc opamps, 16v, 47uF, if I remember correctly. Solder over the connections on the backside of the PCB so that the legs of the caps are connected. That's all. They're bridged now and can no longer take away bass and definition.

You can do the same for the corresponding caps at the headphone output.

There's a lot more room for improvement by means of an external power supply, a better clock (external clocking can help as well) and replacing the crappy opamps, but that's a lot more complicated.

[blayz2002]

Originally Posted by living sounds

With the 1820m you've got to open the case and unscrew the PCB from the metal casing at the bottom. Only remove the small PCBS connected on top on the side of the in/outputs, not the one on the other side (it's hard to get back on). Locate the electrolytic caps that form a sinous line, they're between the outputs and the jrc opamps, 16v, 47uF, if I remember correctly. Solder over the connections on the backside of the PCB so that the legs of the caps are connected. That's all. They're bridged now and can no longer take away bass and definition.

You can do the same for the corresponding caps at the headphone output.

There's a lot more room for improvement by means of an external power supply, a better clock (external clocking can help as well) and replacing the crappy opamps, but that's a lot more complicated.

Cheers I'll have a look into that.

[Wayne]

Originally Posted by living sounds

With the 1820m you've got to open the case and unscrew the PCB from the metal casing at the bottom. Only remove the small PCBS connected on top on the side of the in/outputs, not the one on the other side (it's hard to get back on). Locate the electrolytic caps that form a sinous line, they're between the outputs and the jrc opamps, 16v, 47uF, if I remember correctly. Solder over the connections on the backside of the PCB so that the legs of the caps are connected. That's all. They're bridged now and can no longer take away bass and definition.

You can do the same for the corresponding caps at the headphone output.

There's a lot more room for improvement by means of an external power supply, a better clock (external clocking can help as well) and replacing the crappy opamps, but that's a lot more complicated.

Do you have any opinion as to why they use these caps in the circuit?
Thanks
Wayne

[living sounds]

In theory the caps are there to block DC, but there is no amount of DC that needs blocking. I think they're required because of consumer goods regulations (FCC etc.).

[cortisol]

The 1616m sounds very open and clear. I think you should be wary against this mod.

IMO you should do 2 things..

1st listen to the source with your ears. Listen attentively. How do your bass and guitar actually sound! What is the quality of your tone production on the instruments like and what are the pick-ups like?

2nd if things sound good in one instance and bad in another then you should check your acoustic environment for modes of resonance. Have a listen to your system with the monitor turned down so as to avoid exciting the room too much. If the tracks begin to sound better after you spend time getting used to listening at lower level then it might be something in your recording chain. But I doubt it.

Also don't listen to stuff through Windows Media Player. It resamples the audio and makes it more compressed, harsh and thin. Try this... download Real Player and listen to a track and the play the same track in WMP.. it will sound worse in WMP.

This will also highlite the fact that you aren't a supper pro mix dude and your tracks aren'y polished and mastered.

It's definately not your 1616m. I have compared it to other high quality pres and converters and it does an excellent job. Modifying it because some dude on the net says so is a big mistake.

Peace,
cortisol

[living sounds]

Let some dude on the net tell you something else: I'm not the only one who did and advertises this mod, and more importantly, there are obvious scientific reasons for the card to sound better with the output caps bridged.
There are a lot of people claiming that the EMU cards sound great or "just as good as high end converters", but few of them have actually heard those. It's true that the converter chips used are very good, but there are more than one serious flaws, see my other post.

By the way, the mod I suggested is easily and completely reversable (if the one doing it is not completely incompetent with a soldering iron).

FWIW, here's a comparison of the INPUT section of the 1820m with a mid-priced converter now out of production (Swissonic AD8). If your listening equipment is any good the shortcomings of the 1820m should be obvious:

link removed.

It's the output of a Yamaha TG77 (yes, a 15 year old digital synth - they knew how to build good converters).

[pino]

Originally Posted by living sounds

Let some dude on the net tell you something else: I'm not the only one who did and advertises this mod, and more importantly, there are obvious scientific reasons for the card to sound better with the output caps bridged.
There are a lot of people claiming that the EMU cards sound great or "just as good as high end converters", but few of them have actually heard those. It's true that the converter chips used are very good, but there are more than one serious flaws, see my other post.

By the way, the mod I suggested is easily and completely reversable (if the one doing it is not completely incompetent with a soldering iron).

FWIW, here's a comparison of the INPUT section of the 1820m with a mid-priced converter now out of production (Swissonic AD8). If your listening equipment is any good the shortcomings of the 1820m should be obvious:

scherer.de/Download/1820mvsAD8.rar

It's the output of a Yamaha TG77 (yes, a 15 year old digital synth - they knew how to build good converters).

Hi, I have read your message regarding the 1820m and im interested to exclude the 47uf condensers. I have read another message here by droopman076 Emu 1820m moded with a fully descrete output "WOW"

BUT i need to know where i have to connect the opa-moon ( i think that i put an opa sun) AND i need to know what is the DC condensers 220uf. In my card i see five 220 uf but he speak regarding 2 condensers. what condensers i have to replace?

c112
c101
c50
c59
c87



thanks.