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[Mark Wilder]

Phil Demetro wrote on Tue, 24 June 2008 22:18

Do these speakers or any larger floor standers benefit from the addition of concrete/granite bases or speaker cones? Looking to not only put mine on a solid non-coupling surface but raise them up about 2 inches or so. (Is this techically a hijack?)

At the 54th Street studio, my front 3 (Princess') were on concrete plinths, de-coupled, right to the slab.  It was the biggest improvement I ever made to my monitoring system.  the rears were on Sound Anchors.

[Phil Demetro]

Mark Wilder wrote on Wed, 25 June 2008 14:18

Phil Demetro wrote on Tue, 24 June 2008 22:18 Do these speakers or any larger floor standers benefit from the addition of concrete/granite bases or speaker cones? Looking to not only put mine on a solid non-coupling surface but raise them up about 2 inches or so. (Is this techically a hijack?) At the 54th Street studio, my front 3 (Princess') were on concrete plinths, de-coupled, right to the slab.  It was the biggest improvement I ever made to my monitoring system.  the rears were on Sound Anchors.

Hey Mark!
I was in that room and others on 54th (r.i.p.)
Seth Foster gave me a look around and a chance to listen to those Princess'. Very very nice....

[Mark Donahue]

I'm pretty lucky because my room is underground and the slab sits atop a piece of ledge, so I don't have any issues with decoupling. However, Like many, I found that my Dunlavy SCV's were about 4" too low for my preferred seat height. I went to the local granite counter top fabricator and got a couple of scraps that were about the right size for my speaker. (Funny enough they are just about the same size as a double sink.... wonder where all these scraps came from?)
Also, one of the cheapest places to get a highly machined piece of granite is from the local machine shop supply house. They use precisely machined granite slabs to measure parts and often they get chipped ones that they sell as seconds. I had a pair of 24x36x4 slabs I used for my SCIV's at home that I got for $150 ea. Each had a hairline crack along one of the outer edges, but that didn't have any effect in this application.
Finally, polished concrete pavers are really easy to move and are usually pretty flat and level. I strapped four 18"x18"x2" pavers together with box strapping for each speaker and they worked fine. Much cheaper as well.
All the best,
-mark

[Matt_G]

mike mico mastering wrote on Wed, 25 June 2008 07:28

Hi Matt,I am using the Marquis for mastering as well,and they sound great!Amazing detail and stereo seperation.Matt I find the bass a little shy in mine,how big is your room,and what subs are you using?I know the Duntechs are quite room positon sensative,how far from the front wall are yours?I would recommend these to anyone wanting a natural uncolored monitor that relates well to the real world.

Hey Mike, good to know I'm not the only one enjoying these babies! I've had people comment that the bottom end on my Marquis even without the subs are a bit fuller than Sovereigns that they've heard in other rooms. The only thing I can think of is the newer drivers & room placement being everything. Having said there -3db down point is probably around 40Hz. I've got a stereo pair of Velodyne DD12 subs to cover the lower octave & they crossover at 46Hz. I have the subs on a seperate switch on the monitor controller which I find useful bypassing when I'm dialing in the low mids & the punch range of the kick.

My room is probably average size 15'W x 19'L x 8'H & the Marquis are pretty good for this size space. I'd like to get more ceiling height but it's not possible with this room. My desk is in the middle & the Duntech's are about 3M apart & I'm sitting in an equilateral triangle 3M back. I followed the Duntech set up guide in terms of positioning them from memory they're about 1.7M off the front wall & about 84cm off the side walls & toed right into the listening sweet spot.

I have custom spikes that the previous owner made which are a bit longer & stronger than the original spikes. They go through a tight pile carpet through to the concrete slab. The tweeters are about 1" below my ears if I'm sitting up straight in my chair, I've thought about raising them another 1" by using some off cut slate or granite. But I've got very little to complain about the sound is amazing as they are.

Matt

[Jerry Tubb]

Weighing in at ~200 lb. each, my Dunlavy 4A's sit on 3 inch granite slabs which sit on 2.5 inches of super dense recycled tire rubber HVAC pads (thinkin' green bro'). Which gets the tweets up past my Mothership and level with the ears. The towers look pretty massive up that high, resembling a pair of black monoliths from the famous Kubrick film, complete with a monkey that only recently discovered his opposable thumbs sitting in the sweet spot, which is really nice, the rest of the 12x17x23 room not bad either.

The rubber pads sit on a hardwood floor that my chiropractor helped install, which lays upon a sub-floor consisting of two offset layers of 3/4" tongue & groove plywood on a 2x4 frame, all resting on dozens of neoprene pucks that cost us a small fortune. That whole affair rests on the massive concrete slab than spans our entire industrial park.

The floor "floats" because, not only does it not touch the walls, I had to float a loan to finance the whole situation. Oh yeah... the ceiling floats too, more neoprene, save that for another thread : - )

Cheers - JT

[Gold]

Phil Demetro wrote on Wed, 25 June 2008 07:25

I'm ashamed to say that I might be a little too vain to follow this idea through.

I use clear acrylic food service bins. I think it looks nice. I smooth out the surface Japaneese garden style. There are ways to spend a ton of money on carpentry or metal work if you so desire. You can rest the speakers on a platform in the sand box too.

[jdg]

i'd love to see pics of the sandgarden speaker stands

[Phil Demetro]

Interesting! Lots of creative speaker installs...

While I'm not using the Duntech/Dunlavy -  has anyone used the Hypex/Class D amplifier on these with positive results?

Thread officially jacked...

[jdg]

hypex and dunlavy here.
love it. (and my duns are up on pavers, keep meaning to pour cement blocks)

[Mark Wilder]

Phil Demetro wrote on Wed, 25 June 2008 15:06

Hey Mark! I was in that room and others on 54th (r.i.p.) Seth Foster gave me a look around and a chance to listen to those Princess'. Very very nice....

I'm glad you were able to enjoy them.  I think when you were there the Princess' were on the Sherwood Sax amps (Bi-amped).  The best I ever heard them.  I miss those amps...

[Wook]

Hi Mark,

Glad to hear that you come back to 44th.
Where did the amp go?

I think we still have a few though.

Sunny

[Phil Demetro]

Mark Wilder wrote on Thu, 26 June 2008 21:45

Phil Demetro wrote on Wed, 25 June 2008 15:06 Hey Mark! I was in that room and others on 54th (r.i.p.) Seth Foster gave me a look around and a chance to listen to those Princess'. Very very nice.... I'm glad you were able to enjoy them.  I think when you were there the Princess' were on the Sherwood Sax amps (Bi-amped).  The best I ever heard them.  I miss those amps...

Yes, they had the Sherwood Sax amps when I was there. We have his cutting amps (in the back room.... gorgeous sounding apparently) and a Phono Pre that's here in my rack. The service guy who recapped it called me in the middle of the nite to rave about the sound and ask if I had schematics!

[Mark Wilder]

Wook wrote on Fri, 27 June 2008 02:36

Hi Mark, Glad to hear that you come back to 44th. Where did the amp go? I think we still have a few though. Sunny

When we flipped my room over for surround we had to make a decision about amplifiers.  I was told to check out other amps because it was becoming quite a financial burden to re-tube the four that I had, and the four that Vic Anesini had.  I really wanted to run all Sax amps, but I was told no.  So I ended up with Krell's and all the Sax amps were sold at the Sony auction last September.  I have no idea who bought them or for how much.  I just hope they found a nice home.

Vic ended up with a Classe Omega on Dunlevy SC IVa's.

[Bob Olhsson]

How often did they need retubing?

[mike chafee]

Hey, Mark,

Your old room at Sony was a serious inspiration!

Did George Augspurger do the acoustics on the new room?

Anything else you can tell us?

Thanks,

Mike Chafee