Fundamentally Flawed "Test"

The notion that evaluating a speaker is possible by listening from another room has multiple flaws, because of too many variables.

Before the "test" proponents get their dander up, I'll say that if you like the way your system sounds from another room, that's great and have fun.

But putting it forward as a test for loudspeaker quality is misguided. There are too many variables in the process, which affect the subjective results. Among them:

The acoustics of the source room.
Shape of the source room.
Placement of the speakers in the source room.
Frequency response characteristics of the speakers.
Directivity of the speakers.
Size and placement of the opening to the coupled room.
Acoustics of the coupled room.
SPL of the system.
EQ of the system.

Some of these variables are outside of our control.

As an example of what I'm explaining, take the K-horns which Brian Levy mentioned. Vintage variations of Klipschorns have a couple of things in common: Harsh and hard midrange, irregular (not smooth) bass, and uneven dispersion vs. frequency. But once these poor attributes have had a chance to have the room's acoustic signature imposed upon them, much like a graphic EQ coupled with some time smear, I suppose they might sound ok from another room.

:)

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - The lazy man's guide to critical listening: recline on a comfy couch, (anywhere) in the source room. - tinear 08:51:04 01/26/15 (18)

RE: The lazy man's guide to critical listening: recline on a comfy couch, (anywhere) in the source room. - thebordas 12:51:44 01/30/15 (0)

RE: The lazy man's guide to critical listening: recline on a comfy couch, (anywhere) in the source room. - Brian Levy 06:57:32 01/28/15 (1)

Fundamentally Flawed "Test" - Inmate51 10:12:31 01/28/15 (0)

RE: The lazy man's guide to critical listening: recline on a comfy couch, (anywhere) in the source room. - fantja 17:42:20 01/27/15 (0)

A fine example of tinear’s need for attention … - three_sox 16:04:01 01/26/15 (5)

Another ironic post. You could ignore it, but you are unable to control the need to stand up and - tinear 19:08:30 01/26/15 (4)

Yeah right ... - three_sox 20:09:29 01/26/15 (3)

RE: Yeah right ... - RGA 22:25:48 01/26/15 (1)

Math ... - three_sox 23:29:57 01/26/15 (0)

"... I'm the only person on AA who thinks you are an attention whore." - musetap 21:00:06 01/26/15 (0)

LIAR!!! - Winston Smith 11:29:56 01/26/15 (2)

RE: LIAR!!! - Presto 09:11:20 01/27/15 (0)

Some systems better at this than others - Brian H P 16:43:56 01/26/15 (0)

Ask your wife in the kitchen how it sounds...(nt) - mkuller 09:41:05 01/26/15 (4)

I'm the cook/cleaner. - tinear 11:49:50 01/26/15 (3)

RE: I'm the cook/cleaner. - mkuller 11:51:59 01/26/15 (2)

Says a lot about you to say so. nt - tinear 14:29:49 01/26/15 (1)

You're welcome...(nt) - mkuller 16:16:50 01/26/15 (0)

Follow Ups

Fundamentally Flawed "Test" - Inmate51 10:12:31 01/28/15 (0)

Fundamentally Flawed "Test"

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