Testing adding tweeters to the high end on the Amazings

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

haha either my shitty $20 speakers at work don't work well, or my hearing literally shits the bed at 13k.  I'm fairly certain it's the speakers...  a little concerned now though; will check again when I'm home.

Ha!   I laugh because I can relate.   When I first took the test a couple years ago, I did it on a laptop.   When I couldn't hear anything, I turned it up.   So I thought perhaps it was the computer speakers and moved to my wife's computer with better speakers.   Still nothing.   So I moved to the music system and played it through my mains.   I still didn't hear anything, but at this point my teenage daughter yelled down the stairs "Will you PLEASE quit making that horrible sound"!   The issue wasn't my speakers. 

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

It's only the top 2/3 of an octave.   Very little musical info up there anyway.

Think of it as built in NR.

[bearjew]

Good news guys, it actually was the sprakers haha. I'm good up to 16-17k. I almost wish it stopped at 13, who the hell wants to hear that squeaky shit?

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

That is good news.

[MacGeek]

Well, I ended up making a project out of the hearing test.

First, the online tone generator was hard to work with.  I used the music.ece site with a pair of Grado SR 60s plugged into the computer phones jack and heard bass down to 25hz and high frequencies up to 16.5khz and something beyond that, but am not sure I heard a change in frequency or just noise.  Feeding the same source from the computer, into a B & O receiver and a pair of Def Tech Studio 350s, with a Def Tech SuperCube III sub, performance was similar, but only down to 35hz (there was some signal at 30hz).

I have several audio test discs and used a MoFi with 1/3 octave test tones played on a Sony PS3 into the B & O/Def Tech rig-results were the same as above with the Music.ece site (30hz to 16.5khz).  Listening to the Grados through only the computer with this disc improved the response at 20 and 25hz, with no change in the high frequencies.

Finally, I played the MoFi disc on the big boy analog rig.  20hz was audible and 25hz was solid.  16.5hz sounded like on the B&O/computer rig and I heard nothing at 20khz.  When I measured and set up this system, it rolled off above 16.5 khz, so the 20khz result is not surprising.  I also can't hear sh*t beyond 16-17khz.  The good news is my hearing is about the same, or only slightly worse compared to 10 years ago. 

I gave up chasing the last 1/3 octave in high frequency performance years ago.  I don't think a super tweeter will help me much, but would like to hear the effect, or at least try too.

[bmwr75]

Unfortunately that one doesn't work for me as I can't hear 16.5k.   This one has a sweep from zero to 20k.

http://onlinetonegenerator.com/hearingtest.html

Using this test, Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10 earbuds and the soundcard on my ASUS laptop, my hearing craps out completely at 10k Hz.

[bmwr75]

I tested my hearing again using my desktop PC, AudioEngine 5 powered speakers, and Bink's Test Tones (can't find these on the net right now), I was able to hear up to 12.5k Hz.

But, when I went back and tried this onlinetonegenerator on this same system, could only hear up to ~10k Hz again.

[MacGeek]

bmwr-can you copy the test tones and play them through another system, to verify your results?  Loosing almost an octave of high frequencies is a bummer.

[bmwr75]

MacGeek - I don't have any other stereo systems set up right now.  We have moved to MS and are living in a work shop.  Only the essentials have been unpacked.

I'm 53 and have abused my ears over the years (concerts that made my ears ring, shooting guns with no ear protection, and the list goes on and on).

As STaL said earlier, not a lot appears to be doing on above 10k Hz, see the chart below.

[StephenWVU]

Pepe,

You might be crazier than me when it comes to tweaks! Looks like fun! I want to see photos of how everything turns out!

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

I tested my hearing again using my desktop PC, AudioEngine 5 powered speakers, and Bink's Test Tones (can't find these on the net right now), I was able to hear up to 12.5k Hz.

But, when I went back and tried this onlinetonegenerator on this same system, could only hear up to ~10k Hz again.

I'm not sure, but I think he is announcing the frequency AFTER the tone.   A very confusing way to do it, but it would explain your discrepancy.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

Loosing almost an octave of high frequencies is a bummer.

Remember, the "audible range" of 20-20k is like 10 1/2 octaves.   So,while seeming huge, you are really only losing less than 10% of your useful frequency range.   Since frequency is a logarithm, your mind tricks you into wanting to think that since 10k is half of 20k, the top 10k represents a large number, even when you realize it is much less than the 1/2 it seems to be at a glance.   It is a small amount.   It is also normal for guys our age (though I would have been sad if that had been the case for bj, as he is a good bit younger).

[Jim Pittsburgh]

Being the same age as by, I'm very lucky to still have
most of my hearing. Had mine tested by audiologist
and still have at least 50 to 16,000 which is all he tested for.
Can still hear everything on my test records down to 30 and up to 18.

Religiously use ear plugs while on the bikes for the last 30 years. Wind noise
Even with a good helmet is an ear killer. Lots of near deaf riding friends. My Dad
worked in the mill for 40 years and was pretty deaf even with hearing aides.