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General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

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RE: Marten Speakers

Posted by RGA on January 16, 2017 at 17:53:40:
Yeah bass is an issue at shows - but most current standmount speakers are designed for near field response and are designed to look pretty on anechoic measurements. Their very design advertisements are that if you sit them away from room boundaries they should sound great in most any average room. So at a show or a dealer you should be able to get a really good idea how they are likely to sound in your room.

Recent Martin Logans have sounded quite good under show conditions - they too are designed to be away from room boundaries. If the manufacturer sends their engineers and/or reps - people they HIRE to set-up the equipment then chances are they are going to know MORE how to set up the product than the average consumer. So if it doesn't sound particularly good on several occasions in several rooms with several amplifiers then why would you bring the speakers home?

Isn't it their job to demonstrate quality sound FIRST before you buy them. That goes for any consumer product - demonstrate the goodness of the product and then I'll consider it.

Sure anyone can have a bad demonstration - which is why I listen three times in three rooms with the three systems before I form an opinion. Heck at Soundhounds alone I have heard Magnepan in three rooms with three different systems.

Lastly, Bass issues are largely caused by crappy wooden walls. The more bass a speaker is capable of putting out the more the room sings along and mar the sound. This is why you always read where someone thinks the KEF LS-50 sounds better than the Blade or the P3ESR sounds better than Super HL5 or M40. And to the extent that the room sucks then yes the speaker only capable of 80hz will sound better than the speaker capable of 20hz.

I get vastly better results with my AN speakers here in Hong Kong than I ever did in my place in Canada (wood frame building with plaster walls separating bedrooms) = typical north American home resulting in adverse bass issues.

In Hong Kong the walls, floors, ceilings are solid concrete. But you can do something with that - it's solid - the wall doesn't vibrate and sing with the music. The bass is vastly tighter. So the big bass speakers don't sound low and lumpy. Then you know why the Super HL5+ walks all over a P3 and a Blade walks all over an LS-50. Although the blade still needs a lot of space on the sides and in HK that becomes an issue.