Long post alert, sorry..
From my own experience, and with a bit of context ....
I've listened to the same system for several years.
Sony 550ES amp, JBL L110 speakers. The sources have also remained the same but it's the amp/speaker combo I'm interested in..
I've stuck with this system because to my ears, it would take some beating. I always enjoyed listening to it and to be honest, I couldn't afford to spend the money required to better it.
I've tried many speakers over the years, but never dabbled with full range. Horns etc.. Always stuck to traditional 2/3 way etc.
I've recently took the plunge and bought a pair of Mark Audio Alpair 10P drivers and popped them in a suitably well built pair of Pensil 10 cabs.
The Sony I figured, would be too powerful so I opted for a lower powered class d amp.
I was underwhelmed with my new system at first but as the drivers loosened up a bit I became to really like the sound. The only thing I missed was the bass oomph that my Sony/JBL provided.
I listened to the new combo for a few months before deciding to buy a valve amp as I figured these new drivers were better suited to valves perhaps..
I'm fairly happy now with the sound, but I remembered my old system and being underwhelmed with the change.
Today, I set up all my old system again and was again underwhelmed.. Lol.. It's like I took steps backwards at each "upgrade"
I know I haven't, but it appears that way.
My ears had obviously got used to the new sound and anything different sounded worse....?
Anyone got any thoughts / similar experience? Are our ears tricking us into taking on the path of upgrades 😁?
From my own experience, and with a bit of context ....
I've listened to the same system for several years.
Sony 550ES amp, JBL L110 speakers. The sources have also remained the same but it's the amp/speaker combo I'm interested in..
I've stuck with this system because to my ears, it would take some beating. I always enjoyed listening to it and to be honest, I couldn't afford to spend the money required to better it.
I've tried many speakers over the years, but never dabbled with full range. Horns etc.. Always stuck to traditional 2/3 way etc.
I've recently took the plunge and bought a pair of Mark Audio Alpair 10P drivers and popped them in a suitably well built pair of Pensil 10 cabs.
The Sony I figured, would be too powerful so I opted for a lower powered class d amp.
I was underwhelmed with my new system at first but as the drivers loosened up a bit I became to really like the sound. The only thing I missed was the bass oomph that my Sony/JBL provided.
I listened to the new combo for a few months before deciding to buy a valve amp as I figured these new drivers were better suited to valves perhaps..
I'm fairly happy now with the sound, but I remembered my old system and being underwhelmed with the change.
Today, I set up all my old system again and was again underwhelmed.. Lol.. It's like I took steps backwards at each "upgrade"
I know I haven't, but it appears that way.
My ears had obviously got used to the new sound and anything different sounded worse....?
Anyone got any thoughts / similar experience? Are our ears tricking us into taking on the path of upgrades 😁?
Listen to something with a consistent source sound like chamber music in three different venues and it will sound very similar and immediately familiar, although the measured sound will be all over the place due to room acoustics. Our brain is excellent at identifying sound that has been modified by the environment. Why should minor equipment variation be different?
Of course, but it usually takes our ears a good few hours to 'burn in' to the new sound... 😉
Interesting, as both the JBL and the Alpair are rated at 89dB/watt. Perhaps they do match in the midrange, but certainly not in the bass.
Yes, our ears do adapt to the systems we have, much like our eyes adapt to light. It's funny when you switch back and forth.
Not until I was able to simply switch between pairs of speakers did I notice the real differences. What were fairly clear differences became bleedin' obvious and more subtle differences became fairly clear.
If you like a wide variety of music, as said, unless you can afford the best kit which will do it all you need some switchable kit, then you can choose whatever pleases you in the moment.
If you like a wide variety of music, as said, unless you can afford the best kit which will do it all you need some switchable kit, then you can choose whatever pleases you in the moment.
I use to have some old KEF DIY speakers, driven by a couple of Maplin MOSFET amps with decent PSUs, driven from a pro-audio DAC - and it was a constant source of puzzlement to me how I always preferred the sound to the grey, timid sound of £1000s worth of new gear in any HiFi shop...
... or the strident screeching of a £60kish system in a HiFi show, turning Pink Floyd into a hideous noise I wanted to escape from 😀
Since then my system has changed, but much is DIY still, and I still haven't heard anything nearly as good in any shop.
I suspect many of the DIY community have similar experiences.
I did find something good in a shop once, and it was hugely surprising: so I bought it and now it's on 24/7 duty as my TV speaker, great for films etc. and that's a JBL OnBeat Xtreme box. Power and clarity beyond it's size, way underated.
I'm not sure any of their newer stuff is any good, but this was seriously impressive.
Some old stuff is good too, Grundig did some awesome speakers, amazingly good, real wool stuff, air cored inductors - very subtle, they look quite ordinary, but sound excellent. Old Japanese receivers too, can be excellent. The 70s were better for sound than perhaps many thought 🙂
My view of a lot of modern stuff is that it's too expensive, but that's probably an effect of taxation, rather than actual lack of value, but most mainstream Hifi I find extremely boring, in both sound and design philosophy 😀
... or the strident screeching of a £60kish system in a HiFi show, turning Pink Floyd into a hideous noise I wanted to escape from 😀
Since then my system has changed, but much is DIY still, and I still haven't heard anything nearly as good in any shop.
I suspect many of the DIY community have similar experiences.
I did find something good in a shop once, and it was hugely surprising: so I bought it and now it's on 24/7 duty as my TV speaker, great for films etc. and that's a JBL OnBeat Xtreme box. Power and clarity beyond it's size, way underated.
I'm not sure any of their newer stuff is any good, but this was seriously impressive.
Some old stuff is good too, Grundig did some awesome speakers, amazingly good, real wool stuff, air cored inductors - very subtle, they look quite ordinary, but sound excellent. Old Japanese receivers too, can be excellent. The 70s were better for sound than perhaps many thought 🙂
My view of a lot of modern stuff is that it's too expensive, but that's probably an effect of taxation, rather than actual lack of value, but most mainstream Hifi I find extremely boring, in both sound and design philosophy 😀
I also find this, but also (in the 1980s) I had a pair of Celestion Ditton 110s that were 'a bit brighter' than the Heybrooks I should have bought. It took me years to realise that the reason I found them tiring after a short listening session was that the crossover to the tweeter was 'rather basic' and it was delivereing a huge amount of IM distortion from the excessive tweeter dome travel 😀
From there I went back to the 1970s KEFs that were fine LOL.
Well. I'm going to leave the jbl's as complete speakers but yes, a 2 way is something I'm going to look at..
I rearranged the order of posting which left little more to be said. 🙂