The Ziegelstein-Array!

Ziegelstein is German for building blocks or bricks. I use the nickname Brick Stone in many of my multiplayer online gaming titles that I enjoy.... With that, I am essentially calling myself Ziegelstein. This has proven to be the perfect name for my new array of Hi Fidelity Audiophile PC speakers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's the deal here?

 

 

 

 

The design goals of this system was to allow for extremely clear, yet warm and robust, 3D positional audio in either 5.1 or 7.1 titles in a near field delivery scheme, as well as serve as a part of our multimedia experience in the family/game room area of our home. I use this worksation for video and audio editing and creation, 2D and 3D graphics development for web and video games, media and entertainment such as movies, and TV via Slingbox, Netflix, Hulu and many other sources. And, yes, I also use it for state-of-the-art hardcore video gaming as this PC currently features hardware that is at the "top-of-the-line" enthusiast level for all of the installed components. This system is custom-built by myself and is designed for maximum performance on the bleeding edge of tomorrow's tech.

 

 

 

Delivering the Goods...

 

 

As for audio sources, The Ziegelstein-Array is powered currently by a single Harmon Kardon AVR1600 Receiver which has, at its heart, a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series 24 Bit Soundcard. This device has modes of operation that accomodate specific areas of use such as Entertainment Mode, Audio Creation Mode, and the highly controversial Gaming Mode. While there are sound cards specifically designed for audio playback of 5.1 source media in a home theater environment, this X-fi has been crafted around a set of core components and features designed to augment the experience for the hardcore PC gamer.

 

 

 

 

Realistic EAX® 5.0 sound effects Hear crackling gunfire and earth-shattering explosions. EAX® 5.0 delivers realistic sound effects that will engage you in long hours of gameplay

 

 

 

EAX® and 3D audio restoration for Windows Vista® Using Windows Vista®? Creative ALchemy restores the surround sound effect for the same great gaming experience.

 

 

 

Accurate 3D positional audio Listen to 3D positional audio so accurate, you can locate your enemies through mere sound alone! Plus, the X-Fi CMSS®-3D gives you amazing surround sound even with normal stereo headphones.

 

Hardware accelerated performance

 

Get unbeatable performance with hardware accelerated audio that blows motherboard audio away.

Boost your performance even further in games like Quake 4, Battlefield 2, Prey, Unreal Tournament 3 and others that take advantage of X-RAM.

Clearer voice chats

 

Plug in your headset or microphone and hear the difference immediately. With high-quality input and hardware audio processing, your teammates will definitely hear you loud and clear.

We also take advantage of a host of features that cross the genre and benefit not just the PC gamer but the music and movie enthusiast as well.

 

 

 

24 Bit Crystalizer Restore the details and vibrance your music and movies lost during compression. X-Fi technology intelligently enhances the highs and lows so you'll hear it all-crisp cymbal crashes, wailing guitar solos, screeching tires and booming explosions.

 

 

 

CMSS-3D - Surround sound from your stereo music and movies? Yes! Expand your stereo music and movies into surround sound. Voices are centered in front of you. Ambient sound appears all around you... just like a live performance. Listen on a pair of desktop speakers or a full 5.1 or 7.1 speaker system.

 

Experience cinematic surround sound from Blu-Ray & DVD movies Watch your Media in cinematic surround sound with PowerDVD software featuring DTS™ and Dolby Digital® -EX decoding.

 

 

 

 

X-Fi Powers The Ziegelstein-Array!

 

 

 

 

 

Utilizing the AVR1600's 8-channel direct in and its digital inputs in its current state, The Ziegelstein-Array is able to shine as a true hi-fidelity "Studio Monitor" set of speakers capable of 4000 watts output in any traditional home theater/game room layout chosen - a system capable of handling anything thrown at it and able to deliver it cleanly in any setting, meeting any demand.

 

 

 

 

The Ziegelstein-Array is made from 70% Recycled Materials!

 

Aside from using recycled wire from dismantled electronics, recycled pressboard for crossover mounting, recycled sofa polyester filling and recycled self adhesive sound dampening materials, we are also using vintage gear at the heart of every unit built. Utilizing the principle of the 5 R's (which we'll cover later in this segment), we can effectively recycle vintage audio gear from the 1970's and 80's for use in our current lineup. This prototype Z-Array is featuring recycled Optimus Pro LX5 Bookshelf speakers with original refurbished Linaeum DiPole Tweeters, Peerless SDS shielded drivers, specialized 2-way crossovers and original cast aluminum cabinets. We are also using recycled Minimus 7 bookself speakers with original cast aluminum cabinets, original cloth dome tweeters, custom aluminum cone drivers and specialized 2-way crossovers.

 

 

 

The Ziegelstein-Array featured here builds a 5.1/7.1 system with 24 speakers across the 6 side channels. A Center Channel (currently 1 Unit with upgradeability to 4) and Subwoofer array (1 or 2 Units).

 

 

 

 

 

 

The channel array utilizes wiring in a series/parallel hybrid configuration to allow four 8 Ohm speakers to be wired together to maintain an 8 Ohm load on the Harmon Kardon.

 

Alterative methods. We are experimenting with using solid state chip amps on each channel and driving them separately.

 

 

 

The Ziegelstein-Array featured in this article is a prototype array used for additional testing of design concepts that will lead to the future development of a retail offering that will feature custom cabinets and crossover designs that will position us within reach of the proverbial Golden Ring!

 

 

 

The Ziegelstein-Array prototype will pave the way for our future products and will position us to firmly grasp a reasonable market share of the High End Audio Component niche. "High End Audio without the High Cost" - the Credo that will propel us into the 22nd Century and beyond!

 

 

 

 

Interrogative

 

 

I've spent 30 years building and testing speakers. Over that very same set of years, I have slowly built this array with components and parts that I've acquired when others have tossed them away. Really fantastic finds in my opinion for someone that can actually utilize all their hidden abilities, secrets and cost effectiveness. This is not everyone's cup of tea though. DIY Audio is a serious hobby not for the fainthearted or impatient and, though The Ziegelstein-Array protoype is a cost effective alternative to systems costing tens of thousands of dollars, it takes some time to get everything together and then you have to learn how to do it right. That can take considerable time for some. Time that, in most cases, many of us working class folk do not even posess enough of to simply sit and enjoy a meal with each other or pray together much less take on an extremely self-engrossing hobby such as DIY Audio. This oftentimes unfair trade-off is time spent initiating one particular ritual. One that I refer to as the 5 R's. This is comprised of the time and energy it takes to Recon, Recycle, Refurb, Retrofit and Refinish the units. This is where the patience and determination play a major role in the outcome of the final product. Trust me when I say that it will all pay off in the end. Recycling these discarded ebay treasures and utilizing some science, I was easily able to create a personalized system that can be manipulated in scope and size to fit any budget or space limitations. The 24-unit array featured in our shown system, excluding the front channel and subs has a DIY build cost average of approximately $75 per bookshelf unit. With the additional DIY build cost averaging to $150 for each MTM TL 3 foot tower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unrivaled Versatility

 

Another unique feature set of The Z-Array, with its multiple amplifiers driving each channel, is the ability to break up these channels sets into completely separate bookshelf systems for nearly every room in my home. By separating the channels into smaller complete bookshelf units, 6 such individual units in fact then become available for usage in a complete multi-zone audio distribution scenario. The Ziegelstein-Array becomes a complete audio experience for the entire home by allowing every room to have sublime audio in a smaller form factor with no additional cost to the owner and without sacrificing the original clarity and power of the main unit.

 

 

 

Ziegelstein FTW!

 

 

The most exciting news is that, our recycled Z-Array is easily showing a professional-grade "Studio Quality" output from each unit that is easily toppling the performance levels of some well-known high-end audiophile systems with units that have an ownership cost usually in the $250 to $800 range for each bookshelf unit and $1000 to multiples of that can amount into unheard-of figures for larger more exotic tower units.

 

 

 

 

It gets worse. The market is driven by snobs! - What's a poor boy to do?

 

Believe it or not.... Some " Extreme" audiophiles would even snub a $50K system, let alone even look at a $15K system. Labeling even the big name entry-level Home Theater offerings as cheap knockoffs or downright worthless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keeping it Real...

 

Fortunately for anyone who can appreciate the recent global financial debacles and subsequent ripples that are affecting everyone, we all can surely appreciate the cost savings delivered when one considers tackling a DIY Audio project. When you are then fortunate enough to add recycling to the mix, your cost savings can increase to 300% more overall and those old under-appreciated speaker cabinets are also not ending up in land-fills.

 

 

 

 

My overall total cost for all of the units in The Z-Array was in the sensible range of $800 to $1000 total for the entire set of 30 speakers. This set was also accumulated over a 6-year time frame. One must know: I did not drop $1000 all at once. It is interesting to note, though, that if I were to have bought comparable units for this array from a "High End", high cost well-known provisioner of "Professional" studio-grade speakers...

 

 

 

 

I would have easily had a unit cost of approximately $400 each for a small bookshelf units and $750 each for the medium sized satellite units. The cost comes to an approximate $15,000 Just for speakers! and I haven't included MY 2 $150 towers which would have cost about $900 each if I had purchased them from the same provisioner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Closing...

 

 

I'm very proud of my $1700 (Custom speaker array, Sony sub and HK AVR1600 AV Receiver) 7.1 PC Audiophile System. It takes any home theater system that could have easily cost me $16,000 to the cleaners for a fraction of the cost. The Z-Array wins - hands down! I am so very glad I decided to go forward with my DIY aspirations. I have learned so much while traveling this path and have made some great new friends. I am thankful that I have had the patience, determination and the know-how to build The Ziegelstein-Array!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

 

Done