If I may say so:
Don’t worry too much people. The same happens to us when testing champagne or other wines, perfumes and so on. Our senses do not act isolated. And are easily fooled.
Enjoy music through the gear you love best. Spend money wisely because there obviously are people around trying to earn money on you. Don’t argue with scientists about your taste. Don’t criticize other’s convictions. And if you can, let science help you in your search to good sound.
Don’t worry too much people. The same happens to us when testing champagne or other wines, perfumes and so on. Our senses do not act isolated. And are easily fooled.
Enjoy music through the gear you love best. Spend money wisely because there obviously are people around trying to earn money on you. Don’t argue with scientists about your taste. Don’t criticize other’s convictions. And if you can, let science help you in your search to good sound.
I'm practically the exact opposite. I like AB and ABX tests, if I don't hear a difference immediately it is too small to matter.
With those test I use snippets of 30 seconds or so, may be a minute.
It needs to be quick because our ears have the annoying tendency to adjust over time.
Haven't felt the need to change my main speakers and amps for about 20 years now.
What is the speaker (size)? Bass is usually the bottleneck in small system. Certain bass passages will be distorted heavily with certain speakers, I think. Especially with class AB amps....
With big 2-way (which is rare) the sonic is okay with small amp. But with 3-way we start to lose it...
Your system must be very good, or your hearing is not sensitive anymore 😀
The fact that he scored -48 dB with the Klippel test indicates both a very good system AND very good hearing.
Regards
Charles
Adjustments to direct sound are broad-band in nature; ironically it's narrow-band issues that often do NOT become quickly apparent (..unless they are really *bad), particularly with unfamiliar associated equipment.
Classically it often generates that buyer's remorse and a need for an upgrade that fuels much of the HiFi industry. 😱 😀
*and in that 1-3 kHz range it doesn't take a lot of bad to be "really bad". (..it's a sensitive pass-band.)
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Hmm, there could be market for IoT device that after certain honeymoon period triggers a peak filter on the high mids and forces the customer to buy another piece of stuff. Gotta keep them equipment rolling. I'll get my coat.
Oh jeah, the device could do double duty then, trigger filter parameter randomization every month to sell a device "that always sounds as good as new". Marketing department would love it 🙂
If parameters are slooooowly changed to the worse and then occasionally reset by a "software update" for a small fee one could sell devices that can be "optimised" every few months. They will continuously "improve" with every "update". 😉
Regards
Charles
Regards
Charles
12 inch Tannoy DCs crossed at 250Hz to 12 inch Volt radials in transmission lines, run active with 3 MC2 Audio amps.
Active because I have never heard truly accurate bass from passive speakers, they are always somewhat 'soft' and 'smeared' presumably because the bass cone doesn't stop moving when it really should.
Why would ClassAB amps be particularly prone to distort bass?
Under-powered valve amps sure but they are prone to distort anything.
Endless possibilities. Could be updated with better cable sound wirelessly! 😀 alright too much info, some one might publish an actual device.
Maybe we should ask a mod to delete these posts. If it is not too late already.
Regards
Charles
P.S.: As soon as this is acomplished I will file it for patent !
Regards
Charles
P.S.: As soon as this is acomplished I will file it for patent !
Nah, why bother! Make a youtube clip with title "It's like day and night", charge 200+ Euro for upgrade and you're fine😱)
Music contain a ton of information and listening for a few minutes could not possibly determine all the minute aspects of a driver. It would be like skipping trough a book in 5 minutes and afterwords confidently say "this was a good book". I totally agree that some major faults would be discovered, but the minor flaws would take longer to discover. I had some speakers I was really happy with until I needed them to play loud for partys. Cone breakup and sibilance turned up really fast making them a dealbreaker. Luckily a new crossover with improved notch and tweeter waveguide fixed that problem. The drivers ability to play the upper harmonics of a note without going through rapid phase changes is also something I never focused on before a new crossover suddenly got better phase control. It obviously wasn't only phase, but improved off axis, flatter spl curve, less combing in the 3-5kHz range in REW measurements also helped. But the sum of all the small improvements adds up to me finally enjoying the music. I've also played a lot with DSP in my cars and it definitely works, but it cant solve issues completely. Often it just makes them less noticable. And for most folks that is good enough 🙂
"Music contain a ton of information and listening for a few minutes could not possibly determine all the minute aspects of a driver. It would be like skipping trough a book in 5 minutes and afterwords confidently say "this was a good book". "
Now that is false equivalent if I've ever heard one.
Compared to visual input music contains quite little information and it is very easy to tell a good monitor/TV picture from a bad one almost instantly.
Now that is false equivalent if I've ever heard one.
Compared to visual input music contains quite little information and it is very easy to tell a good monitor/TV picture from a bad one almost instantly.
I would say it depends on what one is looking - better listening - for. If one is searching for faults by switching back and forth, short sequences are best.
If someone is making changes and trying to find out which ones he subjectively likes best in the long term it is better to make one change at a time and listen to it for a while.
Regards
Charles
If someone is making changes and trying to find out which ones he subjectively likes best in the long term it is better to make one change at a time and listen to it for a while.
Regards
Charles
Let’s face it. Most audiophile sets are far from optimal. So there always remains room for upgrades.
Charles, just because a picture contains even more doesn't deminish the fact that music has lots of info to digest. I just listened to Accept with a ton of instruments and lot of instruments and harmonics. When you push the levels you suddenly notice ringing/stored energy tendencies that you didn't at low levels. A regular listener whould never notice that at first glance.
Phase, I completely agree with your last statement. I've been modding my speakers for the last 2 years of total 8 years of ownership, and I always tweak 1 speaker at the time. I then use balance in the software to switch between the speakers instantly. That works great, but looking at speaker measurements got me from a good sounding speaker to an excellent sounding one. My ears are not in same league as a Umik-1 and Audio Science Review on YT recently did a great video on why thats is..
Phase, I completely agree with your last statement. I've been modding my speakers for the last 2 years of total 8 years of ownership, and I always tweak 1 speaker at the time. I then use balance in the software to switch between the speakers instantly. That works great, but looking at speaker measurements got me from a good sounding speaker to an excellent sounding one. My ears are not in same league as a Umik-1 and Audio Science Review on YT recently did a great video on why thats is..