-At this point I have ~150+ hours on the ZMA.
-This update is less about the ZMA and more about how I am trying to get more out of the entire system
-I have made some adjustments to speaker placement, furniture and room treatments that have improved clarity, soundstage depth and 3D imaging.
-I believe additional performance can be squeezed out of my current setup without making any equipment changes (DAC, speakers, etc).
-I will continue to make adjustments and report back so you have a sense for what I am doing and the results
Soundstage Depth & Clarity-Initial listening impressions suggested soundstage width and lateral placement of images was excellent. That said, I felt soundstage depth and 3-dimensional imaging could be improved (my reference is memory, but from experience with the SuperZen and speakers being pulled well into the room*).
-Before optimization (see picture), I had the 944’s pulled out in front of the television by ~ 2.5’. I then placed an absorption panel in front of the tv during critical listening, effectively reducing the distance to ~2’.
As an experiment, I removed the absorption panel, pushed the tv as far back on the stand as possible (~4”-6” closer to the front wall) and moved the speakers about 4” closer to the listening position. The front of the speakers are now about 4’ from the TV (2X previous distance).
With these changes, I am noticing a significant improvement in clarity of the images and soundstage depth.Next Steps:
• Remove the tv from the stand (this will get me another 2+’ from the front wall. I have my audio stand about 1’ from the wall so I can work behind there, which certainly came in handy when I installed the new outlet)
• Remove the tv from the stand AND move my diffusion panels to the front of the room.
*Ever so slight exaggeration, but I have had the speakers pulled way out into the room with the SuperZen and the holographic imaging is almost spooky. Paul Desmond and his saxophone appeared larger than life in my living room during a Time Out listening session. Ok, back to reality.
Also, I have been optimizing speaker placement (toe in, distance from listening position and walls, etc) using the following laser measure:
http://www.amazon.com/Bosch-DLR130K-Digital-Distance-Measurer/dp/B001U89QBU/ref=...It’s not cheap, but I am often doing these tweaks myself, so it comes in handy.
Bass-As others have stated, the amount and quality of the bass from the ZMA is just awesome. This can be a blessing or a curse depending on the room/treatment. After listening to a wide variety of material, frequency balance and clarity appears to be ok at my listening position. Said differently, bass doesn’t appear to be significantly smearing/muddying the sound (which is a major issue at our local audio shop). That said, I can hear some muddiness/boominess in other areas of the room--particularly in the back of the room near the corners.
-I have a few bass traps hanging on the back and rear side walls (w/scatter plates to help diffuse higher frequencies). They were originally placed along the entire back wall, including inside 2 large windows in the rear. The latter was generating too many dirty looks, so they are now mounted on the wall in between the windows (in less ideal locations). In hindsight, it seems obvious that I should have treated the rear corners of the room first (vs. rear/side walls) but live and learn.
Next step: Order additional bass traps for the corners in the back of the room. I will likely order GIK Corner traps (vs. the Soffits I have in the front of the room) b/c of space considerations.
Would love to hear your comments, other ideas, etc...