MinimStreamer vs. TuneIn Radio on a Linn DS

[DavidHB]

(17-04-2015 13:39)simoncn Wrote:  Most of my listening takes place in a small study through a pair of Focal CMS 50 active near-field monitors positioned about 90 cm from my listening position. Can SPACE be configured for this situation?

I don't think that there's any problem about configuring the listening position; you'd just enter the room and position data in the normal way. The issue would be finding a set of speakers in the Linn supported list (which is growing all the time) that would be a sufficient approximation to your Focal units.

Your monitors are described in reviews as 'neutral', which is pretty much the way I think of Linn speakers as well, so you might try the Majik 109s (which, as it happens, I use) as a first approximation. Alternatively, you could try the Linn Kiko, which has metal enclosures like the Focal, and runs actively, without a passive crossover. Both of these were designed with small room use in mind. There might also be something suitable to try in the KEF range, which Linn supports.

If you have already set the CMS 50s to compensate for room characteristics, it might be sensible to remove those settings for the first experiments. I did something similar by switching off my sub-woofer. If SPACE can deal satisfactorily with the room nodes, tweaking the settings on the CMS 50s might then improve things further. Linn say explicitly that SPACE is designed to deal with room characteristics and not to change the sound of the speakers.

Like others who have reported results on the Linn forums, I found that the initial SPACE calculations over-compensated for the 'real' room. The advice is to adjust each calculated node in turn, starting at the lowest. The trick is not to adjust arbitrarily, but in steps of 6dB, then 3dB (6dB halves or doubles the acoustic power at the node). Using quick comparisons (Linn's Tune Dem methodology), I was able to produce a result I felt was a significant improvement in under an hour in my 'complicated' (3 node) room.

I think that the bottom line is that SPACE optimisation is a neat implementation of established acoustic technology which is worth having a go with. If it doesn't work for you, at least you know that.

David