First, let me qualify my upcoming statements by saying that Ive ruined more people conceptions of what constitutes a good system than I care to remember. Meanwhile I make progress with my own system unabated.
Here is what I would do:
Allocate a budget for your improvements, since what Im about to propose has potentially high cost exposure, so it needs to be managed. OK, $2500? That should work.
Next, draw a plan of your room on the computer (you can download free software to do this), and produce a library file of all the items in your room, like racks, storage, chairs, wine cabinets and storage units for any inflatable adult toys etc.
Now, try to find a position for your speakers on a long wall. If it means asymmetric placement, well fine, you can work around this. Visit the Audio Physic website and read up on their approach for positioning speakers. It will have the speakers on a long wall, spread well apart, with your chair hard up against the back wall.
Plan on getting anything out of the room that doesnt have to be in there, even if it means moving some stuff into the smaller rooms off your basement. All of that superfluous stuff harbors and creates static and other nasties that effect the sound.
Now position all of your racks/storage etc on the computer to provide least interference with the new speaker/seating arrangement. Once you have modeled it on the PC, move everything around so that you have the long wall placement.
Buy one of those Tact units and do the room frequency response measurements yourself. It will be more accurate than what you will get from Rives, since their results are going to be calculated, whereas the Tact results are measured. You can buy the Tact for $1500 and sell it two months later for $1300, so its only going to cost you $200. You can then do before and after measurements as you move things around.
Buy some room treatments. Theres a website that sells a kit which includes corner treatments and wall treatments. Add some bass busters and whatever else is needed. Experiment with absorption versus diffusion treatments to the rear of the speakers.
Get that support post out of the middle of the room, that should be relatively easy to do and it needs to happen anyway, since it restricts your seating options even with your present setup. Also, lets re-do your lighting arrangement and get rid of all those fluorescent lights, they play havoc with the AC. We can install some nice track-mounted spots and create more room ambience.
Then, order up 100 yards of cryod power cables, heat-shrink, flexi-sleeve and the high quality Wattgate 20amp cryod connector for your Krell. If your new amp has a built in cord, you can install a good quality Wattgate cryod Male receptacle. Buy a 4 way cryod strip, one of the $300 units from Chris Vs site, without a cord.
With all the parts together, make two runs of the CVH design cable, both go from separate breakers in your fuse board, one straight into the Krell and the other to the 4 way strip, for your other equipment. You will be amazed at the difference. I just finished my Bustanut project and right out of the box the difference was huge.
I think you will be absolutely delighted (old bean) at the changes, when you have all of the treatments in place, and a room that provides total flexibility of placement.
If you are skeptical, then bring your speakers over to my place and we can experiment with long wall versus short wall placement in my basement. Using the FPB200 we should be able to create a sound that you are familiar with. The room has similar proportions to yours, and if necessary we could rig something up makeshift to close off the Kitchen area at the back of my basement. Doing so would probably have it within a few square feet of the layout of your room. Then we can experiment one versus the other and you will see what Im spouting about. We could even do it with my box speakers, if you didnt want to move the Kharmas.
If you start changing components in your system, like the cartridge or whatever, the differences are going to be subtle, at least in the context of what is ultimately achievable.
Making changes to your room is going to be a revelation. Youll end up with a soundstage that is huge, both wide and deep. Youll be 10 steps closer to real live performers in your room. Everything that you have now will still be there, and then some.
Rooze
Here is what I would do:
Allocate a budget for your improvements, since what Im about to propose has potentially high cost exposure, so it needs to be managed. OK, $2500? That should work.
Next, draw a plan of your room on the computer (you can download free software to do this), and produce a library file of all the items in your room, like racks, storage, chairs, wine cabinets and storage units for any inflatable adult toys etc.
Now, try to find a position for your speakers on a long wall. If it means asymmetric placement, well fine, you can work around this. Visit the Audio Physic website and read up on their approach for positioning speakers. It will have the speakers on a long wall, spread well apart, with your chair hard up against the back wall.
Plan on getting anything out of the room that doesnt have to be in there, even if it means moving some stuff into the smaller rooms off your basement. All of that superfluous stuff harbors and creates static and other nasties that effect the sound.
Now position all of your racks/storage etc on the computer to provide least interference with the new speaker/seating arrangement. Once you have modeled it on the PC, move everything around so that you have the long wall placement.
Buy one of those Tact units and do the room frequency response measurements yourself. It will be more accurate than what you will get from Rives, since their results are going to be calculated, whereas the Tact results are measured. You can buy the Tact for $1500 and sell it two months later for $1300, so its only going to cost you $200. You can then do before and after measurements as you move things around.
Buy some room treatments. Theres a website that sells a kit which includes corner treatments and wall treatments. Add some bass busters and whatever else is needed. Experiment with absorption versus diffusion treatments to the rear of the speakers.
Get that support post out of the middle of the room, that should be relatively easy to do and it needs to happen anyway, since it restricts your seating options even with your present setup. Also, lets re-do your lighting arrangement and get rid of all those fluorescent lights, they play havoc with the AC. We can install some nice track-mounted spots and create more room ambience.
Then, order up 100 yards of cryod power cables, heat-shrink, flexi-sleeve and the high quality Wattgate 20amp cryod connector for your Krell. If your new amp has a built in cord, you can install a good quality Wattgate cryod Male receptacle. Buy a 4 way cryod strip, one of the $300 units from Chris Vs site, without a cord.
With all the parts together, make two runs of the CVH design cable, both go from separate breakers in your fuse board, one straight into the Krell and the other to the 4 way strip, for your other equipment. You will be amazed at the difference. I just finished my Bustanut project and right out of the box the difference was huge.
I think you will be absolutely delighted (old bean) at the changes, when you have all of the treatments in place, and a room that provides total flexibility of placement.
If you are skeptical, then bring your speakers over to my place and we can experiment with long wall versus short wall placement in my basement. Using the FPB200 we should be able to create a sound that you are familiar with. The room has similar proportions to yours, and if necessary we could rig something up makeshift to close off the Kitchen area at the back of my basement. Doing so would probably have it within a few square feet of the layout of your room. Then we can experiment one versus the other and you will see what Im spouting about. We could even do it with my box speakers, if you didnt want to move the Kharmas.
If you start changing components in your system, like the cartridge or whatever, the differences are going to be subtle, at least in the context of what is ultimately achievable.
Making changes to your room is going to be a revelation. Youll end up with a soundstage that is huge, both wide and deep. Youll be 10 steps closer to real live performers in your room. Everything that you have now will still be there, and then some.
Rooze