Depending on where you are in the world this post will arrive at your doorstep on Saturday morning.
What a fine day to finally get off the old duff and fix up the system. Yeah, I know, it's probably a better day to kick back and roll some tunes on that system, but having just spent the last few Saturdays revamping and refreshing the PS Audio reference music system in Music Room II, I can tell you it is worth the effort.
For a few years now I've listened past some obvious sonic problems in Music Room II. Problems like high distortion at 100Hz from the EMIM midranges, and the lack of kick in the drums as a result of trying to make the EMIMs do more than they were really capable of doing. In short, as good as the IRS V system is, it isn't without its faults: faults I and others have turned a blind ear to because...well...we could and we were lazy.
Speaker designer Chris Brunhaver and I had a come to Jesus moment over that system. Chris did his best to be gentle in pointing out how in the 100Hz to 300Hz region those EMIM planar drivers just cannot (and never could) produce the dynamics in music—especially pop music. And, when they did what they could there was distortion—like on the order of 10%. This never much bothered Arnie nor me when we were listening to classical and orchestral music since in that area there isn't typically a lot of energy. And when it came to pop or rock music, mentally I have for years compensated for that deficiency. But now with so many producers, musicians, and rock/pop people relying upon that system for the ultimate standard reference, it was time to change.
Tomorrow I'll tell you what we did and what happened as a result of it.
