AudioAficionado.org - A Hearty Welcome to Barry aka soundoctor!

[Note: I posted this on another threat. Not sure which is the best one. So moderator can feel free to delete/move as needed. Thanks]

Yesterday, I spent over 8 hours with Barry Ober, the Soundoctor. The "doctor" came to my home to make a “house call” and help me with my set up. He brought with him his Test CD (you can buy it via his website Soundoctor - Home) and he used it extensively as he rearranged and “fixed” my set-up, which consist of Magnepan mains and F113 subs.

Barry is a wealth of information particularly in the area of integrating speakers and subs. He has written several white-papers that you can download/read/print from his website. Many of the procedures that he used on my system are those described in the white-papers. The biggest difference, of course, is that it is not the same when the person who wrote the articles is in your room running the tests and making the changes.

I have three subs (I was planning to get rid of one of them, but not anymore). Two subs were placed behind the main speakers; the third was to one side of the main seating area.

The first step was to determine the proper location of all subs. He used the “crawling” technique. It turns out, that the two subs behind the main speakers were in the wrong location. We moved them to the sides, against the side walls as opposed to against the from wall. The third one was ok where it was.

After relocating the subs to their optimal location in the room, then the job became the integration of the mains and the subs. That involved getting the right crossover frequency (using the crossover from my digital preamp) and adjusting the phase of the subs so that they blend with the Magnepans. This was a little bit of trial and error in that Barry tried different crossover frequencies before deciding on one.

The next step involved the positioning of the two mains. For this he used the in-phase and out-of-phase white noise tracks from his Test CD. No tape measure was used; just sound. Painstaking effort that involved moving the speakers fractions of an inch. When Barry was done, each front speaker had been toed and tilted in a way that resulted in the best possible sound for the sweet spot.

The ultimate test came from my wife. I played her favorite music and she repeatedly said that the system had never sounded better. Still, Barry recommended some room treatments for a few trouble spots. That will be my next effort.

In conclusion, I very highly recommend Barry Ober’s services. Buy his Test CD and follow the instructions from his white papers. Better yet, consider calling the "soundoctor" and let him do it for you.