Why do some people by expensive cars?? Probably just because they can and they like them.
Rob 🙂
I can only give my own experience.
In the mid 90's I started reading hifi magazines, and knowing nothing about hifi, I took it all in, and believed everything I read. A number of things happened that made me realise the magazines were lying to me (kit sounding terrible, even though the reviews were great). I've since found out that there are a number of reasons why reviewers give favourable reviews, when they shouldn't. If you give a manufacturer a bad review, it's quite possible they won't give you an early review sample the next time. I've also heard of companies giving reviewers back-handers, or they get to keep the thing they review.
You can't trust Youtube reviewers either.
You only have to look at snake-oil cable companies to see how clever marketing can sell overpriced cables. Naim audio made some terrible loudspeakers, and yet, because of the company name and marketing, they managed to sell them.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/naim-nbl-loudspeaker-measurements
Sometimes people happen to hear a particular model somewhere, get carried away and decide to get them, as they already have the money. And it's usually the Hi-Fi sector that targets such impulsive buyers. They just end up paying the money because they want to take that sound home with them, as though it were an asset.
Sometimes, it's worse. Once I witnessed a colleague buy a pair of headphones (over the internet) the very next moment he thought they "looked good".
I can't edit post #280, but need to apologise to hifijim for misunderstanding his earlier posts.
Tangentially, they steal the cordless tools so if you get a corded saw they'll leave it. Even garage sales can't give those away anymore.
My house was cleaned-out a few times and they only ever stole all the small speakers. Everything with 15's they left. I even had some quite small (3" Audax + TW) satellites with discrete components and clip leads hanging out for the XO and those were stolen. My plan is now to build things large and heavy. If smaller, just very heavy. FWIW.
My house was cleaned-out a few times and they only ever stole all the small speakers. Everything with 15's they left. I even had some quite small (3" Audax + TW) satellites with discrete components and clip leads hanging out for the XO and those were stolen. My plan is now to build things large and heavy. If smaller, just very heavy. FWIW.
My last mains were 1960 x 650 x 450mm in 3 vertically stacked boxes. It took 3 of us to lift the top box on.
If they'd been stolen, I would have simply attended to local hospital looking for the shady character with a hernia.
Sorry you got robbed. That sucks.
Robin Williams - Good Morning Vietnam - interviewing the artillary guys scene just flashed through my head. WHAT? I COULDN'T HEAR YOU !!!
Commercial or home system?
It was an "un-wise" post, too easily misinterpreted. There seems to be several arguments going on in this thread, and I am trying not to get drawn into them... but it is not easy... particularly late at night after a glass of wine 🤢
This always amuses me. Would you believe they were in an apartment, and as I am the defacto building manager, I'd have been told if they were too loud, and I never was in a decade. They're disassembled for the move, but they'll be rebuilt basically the same, just not in unfinished nailed and glued MDF. It's just a pair of AE TD15s and a Lambda Unity. And 21" subs and 4 surrounds nearly as large and just under 20kW of power. A compact system.
I'll post pics once it's rebuilt and the BOSS and Crowsons are installed too.
If you haven't ever experienced it, a system that can play loud and very clean is actually very easy to talk over at high level, far more so than a smaller system that is pushing hard to get the same SPL. My theory is that the brain is trying to process the distorted audio that processing the speech too taxes it's computing power. No specific evidence, but I'm (low) on the ASD spectrum and I have a lot of difficulty processing speech in high ambient noise backgrounds, and have since a small child so it 'seems' right to me. Happy to read any research on this if it exists.
It sounds like you have a really nice (compact ;-) )system.
My current system is a single 15" sub, 12" inch woofer in a box each side, 4 x 6.5 mids each side on a baffle, and a front and rear tweeter. The woofer is a Dayton special and the mids are Lavoce that I picked up for $14 a driver. Active with classd amps.
I expect with high end there is a list of traits you expect from a system. The DIY system has different goals than buying a brand name part of which is the fun of putting a system together.
Grant.
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True NV.
In a local town there was a high end audio dealer, (they also designed speakers and turntables), my brother and I visited to listen to a second hand pair of their older range of speakers for about £850. It was the sort of place where one could spend £250,000 on a system, truly mind boggling. Being a Saturday morning and very quiet we asked if he had sold much, the sales invoices were spiked on a 4" nail on top of a desk. Total for that morning was about £90K including a £23K Boulder phono stage. Some time later I modded a Kenwood DP 7090 CD player that I'd bought on EBay for £6, fitted a new mech (£5) and updated with guidance from the Lampizator site. Only caps, op amps and diodes (no valves). Total spend about £70. We took it back to the audio shop, and with permission demo'ed it in one of his "Posh" rooms. Using some massive valve amps, and some big Magico speakers we proceeded to audition other CD players. Mine bested three up to a value of £4000 or so. Due to the room, it's treatment and all the other gear, it was a sound like I've never heard before or since. It got even better when he connected a MBL player up. Spine tinglingly real.
It was and will be again. I'm moving back to my old house where my listening area is about 10x the cubic volume of the current room which will make it feel less crowded at least. It's a great room acoustically too which is nice.
Are they OBs? I've not been a fan of them typically, but I heard one a while back that made me 'get' why people like them. Still wasn't to my personal taste, but it has me curious enough that I'll try some of my own later next year.
The LaVoce drivers are something I'd also like to try after some excellent builds I've seen using them, usually either the 3.5 or the 21 for HE subs. $14/driver is nothing to scoff at.
It's more about there being little on the market that interests my tastes. JBL M2, KHorns (had those), Danleys (too much $) and the Legacys. High efficiency, controlled directivity active speakers available manufactured are rare.
H frame on the mids and highs on my system. I'm quite happy with the sound and the Lavoce's were a really good deal. I wasn't sure how 4 drivers straight down would sound but they don't move a lot to make sound so things end up very controlled.
I've had some horns and one of the guys in the DIY group in Ottawa has an all Tad system with Pass amps/ nice turntable etc. in a good sized room. VERY nice. For the size of room I'm in (13x19 ft.) I'm happy with the current sound i get.
I was sure the thread will end by talking about room size😀
I am listening a said half of an high end loudspeakers purchased secondhand.
But what i like with diy is I eventually can above reason listen a huge speaker in a tiny room with orchestras, a small 2 ways in a huge room for a piano reccording. But most I like diy because I surely can make a bad cheap loudspeaker to sound worse as I could make a sota expsensive loudspeaker to sound better.
But mostly what I like is it is my business and FWIW I am sure ws all spent more time in the glue and drivers datasheet than listen to music, uh. But who cares ? Our freedom ! Different pleasures...same people.
I am listening a said half of an high end loudspeakers purchased secondhand.
But what i like with diy is I eventually can above reason listen a huge speaker in a tiny room with orchestras, a small 2 ways in a huge room for a piano reccording. But most I like diy because I surely can make a bad cheap loudspeaker to sound worse as I could make a sota expsensive loudspeaker to sound better.
But mostly what I like is it is my business and FWIW I am sure ws all spent more time in the glue and drivers datasheet than listen to music, uh. But who cares ? Our freedom ! Different pleasures...same people.
And as I often say to a newbie ona budget or a starving student: you like music and your main goal is to listen to music...go to a good secondhand or a good professional but cheap active loudspeaker. With the difference invit your girlfriend to the restaurent, all the old farts as I am here can not hear their own wives from a long time as they became deaf.
lt couldn’t be farther from the truth, I know my time is just more valuable, life is short, and you have to choose how your time is spent. Two sides to every coin…