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In Reply to: RE: Yes, I have asked him about his tastes and his room... posted by John Marks on February 18, 2023 at 06:49:03
I would suggest that many rooms would allow other types than conventional boxes to sound better, but people rarely seriously consider the alternatives.
When people start this hobby they usually buy used speakers or maybe DIY. Invariably this is with box designs and most of us don't consider anything else, but as budgets increase to the level you are talking about, there is often something better than boxes in many rooms. For truly live performance sounding music, I'd suggest that horns or electrostatics (let's include other panel types here) will offer better imaging and greater excitement factor that more closely approaches the original live performance than box designs. I spent 40+ years with good quality (mainly) box speakers of one type or another, but I've grown out of them after a particular box design disappointed to the extent that a Stereophile review of the AG Unos described exactly the sound I wanted and that was so lacking in the otherwise highly considered boxes I was previously using.
Follow Ups:
In my callow youth, I heard QUAD '57s, and I did not get them.
The 63s were frustrating, but then people told me that if I spent several thousand dollars completely rebuilding them, I would like them more.
I recall having something like the 9595(?) in for review, years ago.
Again, so near, yet so far.
Funny, your personal story made me remember my long dalliance with Shahinian loudspeakers...
I wonder if they have any inventory on hand.
all my best,
john
Thanks JohnMy only first-hand experiences with electrostatics are with the Quad 2905 (with latest 2912 transformers and other upgrades) and the ML Expression 13A.
I bought the Quads after hearing a friend's 2905s and was impressed enough to buy the modified used pair. In my tricky room, they sounded remarkably good and this prompted the purchase of new MLs - that turned out as a big disappointment.
The room presents a problem in that it's effectively semi-circular with the speakers placed mid-room and a curved glass wall 12 ft behind one speaker and 15 ft behind the other. Now, why the Quads sounded so good while the MLs were so disappointing (even with Anthem "room correction") is the mystery. They are both panels that project 50% of their energy backwards, so why did the Quads sound so good?
I may have kept the Quads (well in fact I had not intention of doing so!) had their "barn door" design not been so view blocking. The narrow semi-transparent ML seemed the obvious choice. I sold the MLs and kept the 17 year old Avantgarde horns, later upgraded to Duos, then the Duo XDs I'm enjoying now.
That's why I commented that the TYPE of speaker should be influenced by the room and that a home demo is essential before purchase, if an expensive error like mine is to be avoided!
Peter
Edits: 02/18/23
The previous listening room of mine that JA visited before my later one had a huge turret at the end of a Victorian mansion that had been split up into apartments, and there were three huge curved-glass double-hung wooden sash windows covering most of a 180 degree curved wall.
Which looked out across the street onto the parking lot of the other Victorian mansion that had been converted into a boutique hotel.
ciao,
john
Room layouts I mean. Both rooms sound interesting from a music and aesthetic point of view
John Marks Records dug a hole between $180,000 and $250,000 deep.
Classical case of the tide going out while one is swimming naked.
Tower Records and Border's were my best customers, duuh.
I don't feel bad; Dorian Records blew threw $4 million in Angel Rescue Money and still ended up in Chapter 7. (IMHO, they should have filed for Section 8, but that is an out-of-date military joke.)
AMB,
john
PS: My present non-opulent listening room, or a bit of it, is in the linked-to video. Yes, that is a real piano on the left. The blue speakers were loaner review copies. The small speaker is my work.
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