Outside with tiny audio equipment! (How does it sound?)

Romeo Wolf

Romeo Wolf

Super Member
So I decided to take my JVC SP-UX7000s and Chinese battery powered T-amp to the back of our 800sqft apartment where the picnic tables and playground are, and tested them there during the blyatiful sunset we had in the Pacific northwest.

This is gonna get interesting.
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Ohhhhh boye looka yonder at Mount Hood!
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Anyway, so for testing I tried stuff like Chicano Rock (Soul sacrifice), classic 1960s and 70s rock, a bit of Drum & Bass, and at the end after a collage of songs before my brother used the strobe on my flashlight from the bedroom window to get me back inside, I played that ONE song that JBL Fanboys use:
it reached a decent bass response of 60Hz, in the outdoors. But only like 10" or so from the speakers. Any more than that, and the bass is gone. However that is to be expected for small drivers with a small surface area.

I think this outdoor testing would improve much more with 12" drivers.

Great for:
-Nearfield listening with minimal desk space
-small rooms
-taking on Vacation (they can fit in your backpack! Along with a DIFIIFOL T-amp, of course)

Not for:
-those who expect to hear bass from several feet away with tiny little 3" drivers in the outdoors (I need to lower my expectations lol)
-large rooms
-parties (of course)
-BBQ meets (you need something like the Rokit G1 5 or better for decent sound)
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Well that's it for this review. Danke for reading this.
 
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Romeo Wolf said:
So I decided to take my JVC SP-UX7000s and Chinese battery powered T-amp to the back of our 800sqft apartment where the picnic tables and playground are, and tested them there during the blyatiful sunset we had in the Pacific northwest.

This is gonna get interesting.
View attachment 1640315
View attachment 1640317
Ohhhhh boye looka yonder at Mount Hood!
View attachment 1640319

Anyway, so for testing I tried stuff like Chicano Rock (Soul sacrifice), classic 1960s and 70s rock, a bit of Drum & Bass, and at the end after a collage of songs before my brother used the strobe on my flashlight from the bedroom window to get me back inside, I played that ONE song that JBL Fanboys use:
it reached a decent bass response of 60Hz, in the outdoors. But only like 10" or so from the speakers. Any more than that, and the bass is gone. However that is to be expected for small drivers with a small surface area.

I think this outdoor testing would improve much more with 12" drivers.

Great for:
-Nearfield listening with minimal desk space
-small rooms
-taking on Vacation (they can fit in your backpack! Along with a DIFIIFOL T-amp, of course)

Not for:
-those who expect to hear bass from several feet away with tiny little 3" drivers in the outdoors (I need to lower my expectations lol)
-large rooms
-parties (of course)
-BBQ meets (you need something like the Rokit G1 5 or better for decent sound)
View attachment 1640372

Well that's it for this review. Danke for reading this.
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Past the "audio report", y'all got some nice shots (and a nice view!) of Hood. Are you vacationing? I ask b/c your avatar lists you as residing in The OC - Orange, to be precise. BTW, I found Orange an interesting community, very disimilar to other OC-located & LA Basin communities, but very similar to certain Inland Empire communities, e.g., Claremont and LaVerne.
 
Mystic said:
Past the "audio report", y'all got some nice shots (and a nice view!) of Hood. Are you vacationing? I ask b/c your avatar lists you as residing in The OC - Orange, to be precise. BTW, I found Orange an interesting community, very disimilar to other OC-located & LA Basin communities, but very similar to certain Inland Empire communities, e.g., Claremont and LaVerne.
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No. Orange, CA is where I was born. I now live in Washington.
 
Romeo Wolf said:
Well, I got it changed to my current location(s). So there's that.
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Good to see y'all made it safely outta The OC, RW. Vancouver/Carnas -- very nice IIRC, but it's been many years -- decades -- since I was last @ that area. How's it holding up?
 
Romeo Wolf said:
I didn't really measure it. It was just fairly audible from where I was sitting until it reached the 50's and lower.
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How do you know the frequencies they were trying to reproduce? Did you run some type of test tones?

The equal-loudness contours show our ears are increasingly less sensitive as bass frequency decreases.
 
fill35u said:
How do you know the frequencies they were trying to reproduce? Did you run some type of test tones?

The equal-loudness contours show our ears are increasingly less sensitive as bass frequency decreases.
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I didn't do any test tones. No bass tests either, besides that heavy Go Freek track. I just sorta heard those lower frequencies being reproduced by those tiny drivers, as long as I was sitting at the picnic table.
 
For my covered deck I use a pair of Dayton B652's ($30/pr) and a $25 Lepy T-amp. I keep a 3.5 mm cable plugged in to connect with a source, which is usually an Ipad playing Pandora or Tunein.

I've never measured it or tried to roust the neighbors but it plays loud and clean enough to satisfy me, and my guests. And, it's surprisingly musical.
 
Romeo Wolf said:
I didn't do any test tones. No bass tests either, besides that heavy Go Freek track. I just sorta heard those lower frequencies being reproduced by those tiny drivers, as long as I was sitting at the picnic table.
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Ah, so you really have no idea what you heard or didn't, nor what the speakers could or couldn't do

Subjective reviews aren't data, they're opinions. The world is full of subjective reviews because talk is cheap and fun, but taking useful measurements is hard and boring.

(Older man to younger man rant:)
You might want to be careful in the future about throwing out exact numbers when you're really just making a wild guess. If you specify a particular number when you really don't know, you'll annoy the people who respect real measurements. At the same time, subjectivists will be put off by your use of numbers- they want you to share how something made you *feel*. Either way, you're not doing yourself or the world a favor by presenting imagination as truth. This goes for everything, not just audio.
(rant off)

I know you're on a tight budget. Have you looked at the apps for audio tools? AudioTool is a good one for Android, and one I use. Sure, phone mics aren't calibrated, and usually have an inaccurate response, but they're good enough for ballpark use. Having a tone generator is mandatory for audio research. Start playing with one of those apps, you'll have a lot of fun learning! And you'll be armed with some real data when you come here for advice.
 
fill35u said:
.....You might want to be careful in the future about throwing out exact numbers when you're really just making a wild guess. If you specify a particular number when you really don't know, you'll annoy the people who respect real measurements. At the same time, subjectivists will be put off by your use of numbers- they want you to share how something made you *feel*. Either way, you're not doing yourself or the world a favor by presenting imagination as truth. This goes for everything, not just audio.....
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.
Great advice for the entire world!
.
 
fill35u said:
Ah, so you really have no idea what you heard or didn't, nor what the speakers could or couldn't do

Subjective reviews aren't data, they're opinions. The world is full of subjective reviews because talk is cheap and fun, but taking useful measurements is hard and boring.

(Older man to younger man rant:)
You might want to be careful in the future about throwing out exact numbers when you're really just making a wild guess. If you specify a particular number when you really don't know, you'll annoy the people who respect real measurements. At the same time, subjectivists will be put off by your use of numbers- they want you to share how something made you *feel*. Either way, you're not doing yourself or the world a favor by presenting imagination as truth. This goes for everything, not just audio.
(rant off)

I know you're on a tight budget. Have you looked at the apps for audio tools? AudioTool is a good one for Android, and one I use. Sure, phone mics aren't calibrated, and usually have an inaccurate response, but they're good enough for ballpark use. Having a tone generator is mandatory for audio research. Start playing with one of those apps, you'll have a lot of fun learning! And you'll be armed with some real data when you come here for advice.
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I'd rather have actual testing equipment instead of everything smashed into one tiny device with pretty eh microphones. Paying $8 definitely isn't my run for the money. I'd use a real Oscilloscope, and good microphones. However I wouldn't look into that just now.
 
Romeo Wolf said:
I'd rather have actual testing equipment instead of everything smashed into one tiny device with pretty eh microphones. Paying $8 definitely isn't my run for the money. I'd use a real Oscilloscope, and good microphones. However I wouldn't look into that just now.
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I'd say paying $8 for some hands-on experience doing actual audio measurements is a far better bang-for-the-buck than anything else you've suggested here. Cheaper even than most good books on the subject.

Plenty of similar apps for free.

You don't need an o-scope. There's lots of free software out there for taking audio measurements.

You don't need a calibrated mic. For what you're working with, anything will get you learning.
 
fill35u said:
I'd say paying $8 for some hands-on experience doing actual audio measurements is a far better bang-for-the-buck than anything else you've suggested here. Cheaper even than most good books on the subject.

Plenty of similar apps for free.

You don't need an o-scope. There's lots of free software out there for taking audio measurements.

You don't need a calibrated mic. For what you're working with, anything will get you learning.
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Fine. Just gotta wait till Christmas for a Google play card. It's been a while since I've used one.
 
Well, ANYHOO, those L'il fellers sure are Cyoot ! Bet that mountain MAKES 'em sound better, too... Kinda like washin' yer car makes it run better...(Or so you TELL yrself, anyway..)
 
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