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Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater. |
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Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater. |
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In Reply to: Re: Maybe you have a point but... posted by morricab on February 4, 2004 at 01:21:32:
Excitement vs. TruthBoring! You are exactly right. Real, live sound is indeed “boringâ€. Look through your window and you will see how “boring†the colors are. During a recent visit to an electronics store, there was a plasma flat screen TV, showing some sort of nature film. I was amazed; it looked like a hole to the outside world. But guess what? The colors were bland, “lifeless†to use your term; but actually realistic. Not too many people were looking at this TV. Most of them preferred the “excitingâ€, colorful, bright but unrealistic CRT screens next to it.
Go to an acoustic jazz performance. There is no “jump factor†and “excitement†to the sound. Just gentle, “boring†sound; as in real life. I love it. I can listen to my Contours for many, many hours (even at high SPL) non-stop without any fatigue. I’ve haven’t been able to handle most other speakers at 100 dB for more than a few minutes.
I compared the Audience 82, Contour 1.4, 3.4 and Confidence C4 in the same environment, using the same setup. The differences were recognizable but not major. The Confidence had more bass energy and dynamics than the Contour 3.4 (which have more power handling than Contour 1.4s). The Contours had more detail and refinement than the Audiences. All of the model’s sonic quality, balance wise, was very similar. And they were all neutral. It is not possible for Dynaudio to make any of their models much different from the others. The Contours are sonically almost identical to the Confidences. This is theory and my hearing agrees. You can read my extensive review of the Contour S3.4 also here on Audio Asylum.Are you worried that you’ll trash my choice? You must be kidding. I’ve been actively involved in the Hi-Fi business for more than 30 years and I’ve heard hundreds of speakers ranging from the JBL L300 of the 70’s to the JMLab Utopia and Dynaudio Evidence of today. I know what I’m talking about. The Contour S3.4s are one of the most neutral sounding speakers on the planet, and by a wide margin. You said that not to many people were in the Contour room? No wonder, people like excitement, not the truth. These people are wrong, not the speakers. If they like “excitement†there is plenty of choice out there from Thiel, B&W, Focal, and others.
Nonetheless, there is a small group who appreciate the taste of nature, such as the “boring†taste of organic food. I belong to this group. The discussion of “excitement†vs. “truth†has been going on for quite some time in the High End World. Even some professionals are divided. I really appreciate that there are makers like Dynaudio who prefer natural sound reproduction. They are among a rare bread today. Most manufacturers are trying to serve what the average Joe likes instead of telling the “boring “ Truth.The ultimate goal of Hi-Fi is neutrality (from Encarta.com, “fidelity is the extent to which an electronic device, for example, a stereo system or television, accurately reproduces sound or imagesâ€). Any coloration (which is sometimes described as excitement, extra air, emphasized detail, etc.) is a distortion. Some speakers may work in combination with other components that distort the signal in an opposite way, but the proper way should be to design the product as close to perfection as possible from the first place. As you may have noticed, many manufacturers advice the use of special cables, amps, room treatments, etc. to balance their faulty designs. Thiel is definitely amongst them (see the Thiel PCS review in the June 2000 Stereophile). The way Dynaudio has achieved neutrality is to eliminate almost all unwanted vibrations and resonances. For example, they mount their drivers to a metal/rubber/MDF sandwich to reduce the driver’s interference with the cabinet. Another feature is the use of MSP and soft dome drivers, which dampen the internal diaphragm’s resonance (in contrast to metal cones). Dynaudio motor units have extremely large voice coils with internal magnets to better control the cone and achieve higher power handling. One of the reasons that paper cone drivers have a higher sensitivity is because paper has poor damping properties. Part of the sound energy comes from undamped resonances, like in a bass reflex. A bass reflex is also not an ideal method, but it is a very efficient way to extend the low frequency extension of a small cabinet. Passive radiators (used by Thiel) can provide an even lower extension than a bass reflex, but at the cost of poor transient performance (see Vance Dickason’s “Loudspeaker Cookbook†p. 79). What this means is that quick bass impulses one after another, like a fast bass drum solo, are not reproduced correctly. The bass line is not clearly visible. This is what I experienced with the Thiel CS2.4 (on Masekela’s Hope, the Stimela track). The Contour S3.4s play this track’s kick drum with outstanding bang. Many years ago, I worked with a large speaker maker on passive radiator improvements. A passive radiator has a very high inertia, which sacrifices the impulse response.
Very often I listen to the Contours at night at very low volumes, yet they still present the music with excellent micro dynamics.
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Follow Ups
- Re: Maybe you have a point but... - TKwolek 17:45:55 02/09/04 (0)
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