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General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

Re: Missing the forest for the trees

Right On! Just about the whole audiophile cult is running off looking under the wrong rock.

It takes a lot of time and patience to find the right components and interface them properly to get the system performance you want. I insist on musicality and naturalness above all. Over the years I have learned that more money or "better" specs is not the answer. (I just replaced a "highly reviewed", "product of the year" CD player with one that cost about 40% as much because in my system, it worked better)

Now, having said that, I'll get back to the original question: why did the Dunlavy sound more "live" than the "megaspeaker". If they were both driven off the same system, it is unlikely that it would be optimum for both. Rather than focus on crossover orders, or other specifications, I would first look at the overall system, including the listening room to see if the total system were optimum for both speakers. Second, speakers with similar spacifications often sound very different. Why? Because standardized measurements are not sufficient to characterize the sound we perceive in real rooms. Partly because something as simple as the height of the drivers above the floor can make a difference in how they sound in a real room. But the measuring microphone is usually aimed at the center of the cabinet or the center between the drivers or some other standard positioning--but my ears stay about 39" from the floor when seated.

But there are zillions of factors which could make the difference and without a whole heck of a lot more details and data, none of us are going to solve the problem in this forum. Personally, I have had enough trouble getting my system to sound "right".

THere was a second question about how do we tell if a system is right? I don't play guitar, so I can't use that, but I do use vocals. Male and female. And I close my eyes and see if I can visualize the vocalist or not, and if I can visualize their lips forming the syllables. If the system is "right" it happens easily and just about automatically, if the system if "off" just a little, it doesn't happen at all. Like the other respondents, I'm not sure what makes one system "right" and another "off", but smoothness and neutrality and a sense of "ease" are always associated with it.

I happen to be an engineer, and I have made many measurements of systems, and to date have not found the magic measurement. But ruler flat frequency response doesn't seem to be the answer.


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  • Re: Missing the forest for the trees - Bald Iggle 19:24:17 09/20/01 (0)


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