The Drumline Test

Ian J

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My favourite room at the Bristol show was the Gecko room featuring the top of the range M&K speakers with MX-350 sub, huge Sherbourne amp and expensive Runco projector. Total equipment cost was just over £20,000

They were playing "Chapter 34 - The Last Challenge" from the region 1 DVD Drumline. For the uninitiated, and that included me a week ago, this was a competition between two American college drumming bands consisting of perhaps 100 drummers using both snare and bass drums.

No great treble involved but it is all about dynamics and control in the midrange from the snare drums and huge power, depth and control from the bass drums. I thought that it was an astounding demonstration of the synergy of a well set up powerful system and I went back again for another listen.

I don't suppose that I was the only one who heard the demonstration and was impressed but I wonder how many people ordered Drumline when they got home.

I did and it turned up today. I have played chapter 34 several times already today and it shows the gap between my system and what is available for more money .

I have M&K MPS 1510 speakers which at £900 per pair rrp aren't cheap. This scene sounded good at home with the snap and precision of a good set of speakers but it certainly showed me that there was a gap between mine and the top of the M&K range.

The power and control of the bass drums was reproduced very well by my SVS subwoofer but not quite to the same extent as the M&K MX-350 but I suppose that at £700 against £2,000 I shouldn't really be surprised.

I also don't have such a huge and powerful amp as the Sherbourne either which doesn't help.

The moral of the post - there isn't one, I just thought that I would bore you all with a Drumline thread and perhaps some others might be brave enough to test their own systems in the Drumline Test
 
Drumline is enroute to me from a forum member:) Should be good putting my setup through the rigours of this one :)
 
Chapter 34 only as I would guess that the film itself is rather naff.
 
Let me put you out of your misery Ian, post it to me and you won't have to listen to it again. Having never listened to multi thousand pound set ups I will no doubt be gobsmacked by what my meagre setup can accomplish, and you will never be troubled by it again.

Just Kidding :)

dave
 
Trouble is that you need to listen to the expensive setups as you need a reference point.

Peter Gabriel's Growing Up Live DVD (as demo'd in the Denon room at Bristol) arrived today and I have played the demo track Solsbury Hill several times already.

That sounds great on my setup (I do have a Denon amp after all)but the problem is that particular track was a visual treat on their Marantz projector but it doesn't have quite the same impact on my 32" television.
 
Originally posted by Ian J
That sounds great on my setup (I do have a Denon amp after all)but the problem is that particular track was a visual treat on their Marantz projector but it doesn't have quite the same impact on my 32" television.

Another lost soul wondering how many members of their family they have to sell to get a VP12..........:devil:
 
Originally posted by Ian J
Peter Gabriel's Growing Up Live DVD (as demo'd in the Denon room at Bristol) arrived today and I have played the demo track Solsbury Hill several times already.

That sounds great on my setup

Pooh! :( I just got the same DVD and it sounds crap on my system in DD5.1 and DTS - my little Mission rears don't have the welly and not having a sub really shows, especially compared with the PMC monster at the Show.

I listened again in DD2.0, which was much better sounding, but then I lose the live concert atmosphere. Bloody £25000 Show setup's made my life a misery! :mad: :D
 
Originally posted by eviljohn2
I make a point of not hearing any equipment better than my own so I don't have to upgrade. :)

I've never been into a "proper" hifi shop and am proud of it :)

A sensible way of avoiding "upgraditus".

But how did you decide on your original equipment set-up to start with? Reviews? Word of mouth? Were you just lucky and found a perfect system first time round that has survived the decades? ;)

NIMBY
 
Originally posted by NIMBY
Were you just lucky and found a perfect system first time round

How would anyone know how good their system was if they hadn't heard what else is available.
 
It’s interesting the tactics used by people to demo kit and Ian’s point about how do you know if one is better than another at different price points requires thought. I personally use the same sections of films and music all the time; noobs should try to dissuade salesmen from using unfamiliar sections.

My favourite piece is from the Dire Straights track Private Investigations. On the track there is a single clean bass note from a bass guitar and any system that I am interested in, music or AV has to play this better than the setup that I already have or end of demo. I use this as my starting reference point because I know it so well and can sort of feel the note. If it rings my bell then likely as not I will get on with the system. Even more useful when comparing systems of similar pricing.
 
Originally posted by GrahamC
It’s interesting the tactics used by people to demo kit and Ian’s point about how do you know if one is better than another at different price points requires thought.

I'm off to see Bob007 next Thursday and what better way to see how his 20-39 PC Plus performs in his room compared with how mine performs in my room than by the Drumline Test.

It will be interesting as I have never heard an SVS in any other setting but my own room and he has a couple of ports plugged in his to tune it lower than mine.
 
If by now anyone if thinking seriously about upgrading to M&K MX-350 do consider going for M&K MPS 5310. This is identical speaker apart from the extra balanced input connector from their professional range. They are at least 25% cheaper as new (lower distributor/dealer mark-up).

MX-350s are going 2nd hand for approax £1,100 for 2-3 old but are not frequently offered.

Another more advanced alternative is to go for a new range of Genelec active subs. Each sub is also acting as bass management unit. This gives much more flexibility when dealing with DVD-audio, SACD or HTPC multichannel analogue signals.
 
At CES, Faroujda were using drumline as one of their demo DVDs to show their scaler & projector off.... the detail and control of colour saturation and detail in the scenes with the costumes, combined with a superb sound setup (not sure what it was) really did the trick.

I ordered the DVD as soon as i got back....

Kev
 
Well I think this Drumline DVD is absolutely useless. It hasn’t sold one piece of demo equipment yet just loads of copies of itself. :rotfl:
 
Originally posted by GrahamC
Well I think this Drumline DVD is absolutely useless. It hasn’t sold one piece of demo equipment yet just loads of copies of itself. :rotfl:

But, has anyone actually watched it all the way through yet? :laugh:
 
I had a very pleasant day in Yorkshire yesterday at the home of another SVS owner. He had hidden his 20-39 PC Plus behind the largest RPTV that I have ever seen outside of a football stadium. The sub was just "chucked into a corner" but performed very well even though it's position was hardly ideal and it passed the Drumline test with flying colours.

His Polk speakers didn't do too badly either ;)
 

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