SF Elipsa's -A visit from Metaphacts and BlueChiaro

[1KW]

Last Tuesday Bill and Robert were over for dinner. We started with a few cabernet red wines, NY strip steak grilled Pittsburgh medium, sauteed spinich with a touch of olive oil and garlic, baked potato . Desert was a choice of chocolate covered strawberries, carrot cake, lemon cheese cake, tiramisu layer cake and coffee. Bill has been in the HI FI world for most of his career and shared some interesting stories. We then made our way to the basement to have Bill set up my speakers. Even after watching Bill set up the speakers I doubt I could reproduce what he has done. It's not that my stereo sounded lacking before however now it is at a whole new level as far as accuracy of imaging height, width of sound stage, tonal balance and improved depth . Bill starts by placing a demo cd in the cdp and hitting repeat for the song. He begins with the left speaker moving it and ultimately pulling it up on one Elipsa spike and listening to the song while piviting the speaker on the spike until he feels that the bass is the best it an be from one speaker. The right speaker was pushed back to the wall and turned so as to minimize its impact. The left speaker was actually moved about 10 inches closer to the side wall (built in) and about 3 inches closer to the back wall. Next Bill brings the right speaker into the picture, also piviting the speaker on one Elipsa spike to dial in the bass. While moving the left speaker into position and listening again for the loudest bass, the left and right speakers are then moved tiny amounts (we are talking a 1/4 inch or less at a time). The right speaker ended up about 6 inches closer to its side wall and only 2 inches closer to the back wall. Next the speaker toe in is adjusted tiny amounts until the voice becomes centered and instruments have the right amount of detected decay. The midrange is then dialed in and image height is adjusted by adjusting the rake angle. I am simplifying this as Bill spent over 2 hours making these adjustments . After Bill was done I now have a better sounding stereo , Thank you Bill.

[Jerome W]

David I only have 5 words for you :

YOU ARE A LUCKY GUY !

Congrats !
Enjoy your "new" system !

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[Still-One]

David
Thanks for taking time to provide us with an overview of the process. It sounds like it was an enjoyable evening for all.

Jim

[1KW]

Thank you Jérôme and Jim. I had a good time. One of the things I learned about speaker placement that I never appreciated was that you concentrate on setting up proper bass first by using only the left speaker and do not worry about toe in imaging or midrange rake height until dead last, the very very end. I used to start with measuring a isosceles triangle and then adjust imaging center by adjusting toe in and chair placement which would take me only a few minutes. Not taking your time with speaker placement really cheated me because I was not taking the room into consideration as much as possible.

[Jerome W]

David,
What changed the most in the sound ?
Bass quality ? Stereo image ? Mids ? Treble ?

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[1KW]

Originally Posted by C220MC275

David,
What changed the most in the sound ?
Bass quality ? Stereo image ? Mids ? Treble ?

Sent from my iPhone using A.Aficionado

Everything is better. The bass, the mids, the illusion of the sound stage height, width and depth. It is one thing to notice this in a theater with multiple speakers and then again to have a taste of this in 2 channel. My room still has many imperfections and is open to another room with slate floors which has slap echo in there but luckily it is not noticeable from the listening chair.

I also learned from Bill that my home theater would benefit from swapping my front speakers. Right now I have ribbon tweeters toward the side walls which makes things sound too wide. Since I was away the last few days I have not had a chance to make the switch yet

[cmalak]

David...sounds like a great evening and congrats on having your speaker placement optimized.

[PHC1]

David, that is a BIG HONOR to be visited by Bill and setup your speakers. I've heard a few of Bill's systems setup for demos and speaker unveilings and they were always truly magical. The systems were ALIVE!!! Glad to hear you had fun that evening, wish I could have made it.

[Jerome W]

What surprises me a bit is that if my memory serves me well, David bought his speakers new from an SF dealer.
Why dealers are not able to learn what Bill is doing ? I understand that it may take years of experience and a very good ear but at this level of price, not only for SF but for all high end brands, every customer should get a perfect set up.
My Arc dealer in Paris is also a Wilson dealer and he is completely unable to set up Wilson speakers.

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[PHC1]

Originally Posted by C220MC275

What surprises me a bit is that if my memory serves me well, David bought his speakers new from an SF dealer.
Why dealers are not able to learn what Bill is doing ? I understand that it may take years of experience and a very good ear but at this level of price, not only for SF but for all high end brands, every customer should get a perfect set up.
My Arc dealer in Paris is also a Wilson dealer and he is completely unable to set up Wilson speakers.

Sent from my iPhone using A.Aficionado

Jerome, there are thousands of talented painters and musicians out there but there was only one Pablo Picasso... Only one Georges Bizet... There is only one, the only, legendary Bill Peugh.