A Well-Sorted Rig

[fas42]

Having a good sort around ...

 

[fas42]

Ummm, to me, it means that the setup has been listened to carefully, the audible weaknesses noted, and sensible 'remedies' applied - which could range from merely organising how the power cords are plugged in, through to diving inside every box, and doing major rejigging of the internals, and how each box is connected to the next ... doing what it takes to make the most of the intrinsic potential of the circuit, and parts.

 

A simple, non-audio example - a well sorted TV is one where all the accessible settings are spot on, or close enough to such, that one always gets a satisfying picture 😁 - you're not wasting any of the potential of the set, by ignoring procedures that can minimise inaccurate presentation.

[fas42]

A well-sorted rig is something like a well-sorted aircraft - get it a tiny bit wrong with the latter - "close enough is good enough" - and you have fields strewn with metal debris. And other stuff. ... It could even lead to an aircraft manufacturer struggling a bit ...

 

People ears, and brains, are far more 'forgiving' ...something in the general area of doing things reasonably well keeps most people happy ... so long as it looks good. And if it doesn't "sound right" then you can just blame other forces ... like the people who made the recording, 🙂

[fas42]

I only started using the term "rig" because I was seeing it being used in other audio forums, very regularly ...in the sense of it having some meaning, I would use "rig" as being the combination of various components, merely connected together with only a basic consideration of how there may be negative consequences, from, say, one component interfering with another. A "system", by contrast, is where all those sorts of factors are given full or much better consideration - in this sense, active speakers like the Dutch & Dutch units have every right to be called, a system.

 

A "well sorted computer system" is easy to recognise, because ones that are not rouse high levels of fury in the users 😀 - take an older version of Windows, try and do multiple things, at once ... and feel the levels of agitation rise ... 😉.

[fas42]

Horror of horrors ... I used the forum search, with the term "rig" - hmm, 195 pages of 'abuse' of the word; starting in 2008 ... oh dear, who was the very first offender ... my goodness, our dear Chris, 😝 - and again, on the next last page, by date order 😉.

 

Yes, a system is as good as a rig, by the dictionary - I just feel that there is a sense of greater integrity implied by the term "system", as compared to the other.

[fas42]

31 minutes ago, lucretius said:

 

I don't know about that.  "Well-sorted" just means the components are "suitably matched"; it doesn't imply their was careful selection. The components could be suitably matched despite being put together in a hasty way. ☺️

 

What I learnt over 35 years ago was that there was a massive difference in what one heard if one simply dumped whatever one was using in some convenient spot, hooked it together, and switched it on - as compared to fine tuning every last aspect of how the parts were connected, and organised. And absolutely nothing was ever organised with regard to the room, and still isn't, to this day.

 

"Matching" I would only worry about in the sense that the amplifier can work in a 'comfort zone', internally, when driving whatever speakers to higher SPLs - the gruntiest amplifier, with highly efficient speakers, is the easy choice here.

[fas42]

7 hours ago, RickyV said:

 

fidelity

noun [ U ]

 

...

fidelity noun  (ACCURACY)

 

the degree to which a copy of something shows the truecharacter of the original: 

The fidelity of the tape recordingwas so poor that you could not understand much of what was said.

 

I like this one - "shows the true character  of the original" - people are so down on speakers, 😉, but I have found that their misdemeanours are the easiest for the human brain to compensate for ... when a system gets into the zone, a particular recording "always sounds the same"; that is, its very distinct personality shines through, exactly as if an old friend is totally there, in the room - and the particular speaker used is quite irrelevant to delivering that message ...

[fas42]

58 minutes ago, RickyV said:

I am sorry I have my limitations with english writing. 
But what I gather from you text is that faults in speaker design are easy for the brain to compensate for? And that speakers are irrelevant to the delivery of the music quality? Is that what you are saying??? Or am I missing something, please explain?

 

What people normally assert as major issues with speakers is that the frequency response is not dead flat, that distortion levels are relatively high, and that the sound is not dispersed perfectly into the listening space. The first and third points really relate to the same thing, that the measured response at some point in the room is not ideal - but my experiences have been that one's hearing is extremely adept at compensating for quite huge variations, provided that the SQ in other areas is at an adequate level.

 

The distortion side is mainly about the deep bass - any half reasonable speaker produces quite decently low distortion above this region; and this is where it really matters, as far as producing convincing sound. A simple test I do is create a sine wave tone sweeping through the frequencies, and output to the speaker, at various volumes. How 'pure' is that sound, and up to what volume is the purity maintained? Trivially easy to hear how the bass starts to fall apart at some point, but beyond that region even tiny laptop speakers, 😜, do a remarkably good job of staying clean.

 

The speakers usually need tidying up, to get best results - I go inside, make sure the wiring is well organised so it doesn't flop around, and that everything, and I mean everything, is hardwired. I also go to some effort to stabilise the cabinet, so that the most rigid parts of the structure are tied to high mass external to the cabinet - and finally, condition the suspensions by heavy driving from cold, each time I intend serious listening. This I find is close to enough to ensure that when I listen, that I hear the recording, and not the speaker - assuming the chain driving them is up to the task!

[fas42]

It depends upon what you want from an audio system - if meeting technical touchstones in the rig's performance is all important, then being fastidious about the speakers will be very useful; but if you want to connect strongly, emotionally to the captured musical event then worrying about speakers has very little value ... when you hear, over and over again, setups using speakers 100 times more expensive than you will ever use completely destroying the specialness, and the enjoyment of recordings that mean a lot to oneself then you tend to lose interest in the concept that speakers are the magic ingredient "that really matter!", 😉.

 

Which is why a "well-sorted rig" is where the action is ... someone who has never experienced the transformation in the subjective engagement that occurs when a system finally has lost enough of its key weaknesses, that allows a full blown illusion to manifest, will never understand the importance of this. OTOH, anyone who tries to achieve some milestone in any area of life, some 'magic' number perhaps of performance capability - and finally succeeds - appreciates the 'power' of that moment, the exhilaration of making that breakthrough happen ...