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#41
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"Brian" wrote in message Thanks for your advice Barry. I have a feeling that some speakers are more suitable for Rock music and other speakers are suitable for Classical music, etc. It would be nice if the manufactures put a label on their speakers as it what they are suitable for. Brian, You remain wrong on this. Some speakers may be more suitable for pop, or C+W, or whatever *listeners* because of unsophisticated appreciation of what good sound is, but great speaker reproduces optimally what is on the source media, irrespective of genre. geoff |
#42
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"Colin B." wrote:
In rec.audio.tech Brian wrote: (Barry's excellent advice snipped) Thanks for your advice Barry. I have a feeling that some speakers are more suitable for Rock music and other speakers are suitable for Classical music, etc. It would be nice if the manufactures put a label on their speakers as it what they are suitable for. I'm trying to get away from speakers that are too bright and falsely colour music, these type of speakers seem to be suitable for listening to for short periods. I'm hoping to give more life to my old CD's by finding speakers that will faithfully place the CD's as they were meant to be heard. A few things I'd like to add here. Good speakers shouldn't be oriented for classical or rock or smooth jazz. Good speakers should sound good, period. That said, the compromises that have to be made in the real world may favour one or the other. Recently I listened to some Meadowlarks with great anticipation, and found myself disappointed. They sounded really startling with vocals and small group jazz, but had _no_ bass at all! They wouldn't be acceptable at any price without a subwoofer, in my opinion. Others though, love them for their clarity and openness. Maybe if all you listen to is Jazz at the Pawnshop... Barry talked about picking music you're familiar with. More to the point, pick recordings that you're familiar with (or take your favorite albums, and become familiar with the recording). Get to know what a particular track does really well, or has a hard time with. Figure out what parts are challenging for a speaker to get right. Here are some examples from my own listening routine. 1) So What? from Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" (the new remastered recording) The pacing and recording of this album is so perfect that I sit on the edge of my chair, waiting for Miles' horn to come in. If I notice the speakers at all, then there's something wrong with them. The string bass in the intro is particularly revealing--on good speakers, it sounds exactly like a bass being played in front of you, just off to the side. On many speakers, it's a little dull, thuddy, or thin. 2) Get out of Town, from Holly Cole's "It Happened One Night" Shiveringly good close-miked vocals, and again that revealing bass. This will really highlight clarity, transparency and imaging. If you close your eyes, you should be able to pinpoint every instrument on stage. 3) The first song on The Mavens first album, which I don't have handy at the moment. Because my speakers have got to ROCK! :-) The chorus of this song starts with an electronic bass, a kick drum, and a Chapman stick punching the bottom end. If there are any flaws in the bass, (either insufficient or boomy), this will reveal them in three notes. 4) A coupla tracks off of Jennifer Warne's "The Hunter." This is a pure audiophile recording, and has everything going on at the same time. Deep, clear, extended bass; delicate and close vocals, and just lotsa warmth. It's very easy though, for it all to get bunched up and muddy in the midrange. "Way Down Deep" is particularly good. 5) The third (fourth?) track on Horace X's "Burst Peacock." Hard driving relentless techno/acoustic celtic insanity. On good speakers you can (a) pick out all of the various instruments (lead violin, clarinet, lowland pipes) from the sequencer and electronic drums; and (b) listen for more than five minutes without your ears hurting. This is a VERY fatiguing album on many speakers. So the exact music above isn't crucial (although I would recommend it all to anyone interested), but the stuff it reveals is. That's what you need to go into a store with. Oh yeah, and don't even think of burning a CD from MP3s. Stick to the original material. Colin Thanks Colin. It's interesting to read what you listen for in your selections of music. Out of interest have you found any speakers that are acceptable for the things you listen for? Regards Brian |
#43
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Brian, You remain wrong on this. Some speakers may be more suitable for pop, or C+W, or whatever *listeners* because of unsophisticated appreciation of what good sound is, but great speaker reproduces optimally what is on the source media, irrespective of genre. geoff Quite true. Any speaker that can reproduce the entire audio spectrum is going to work with all types of music. Your choice, in a perfect world, should only be size and the sound pressure levels at which you desire to listen to music at. But, since all speakers color the sound a bit, and since different speakers load an amplifier in different ways across the audio frequency spectrum, you will notice marked differences in the way different speakers sound. So, it would be in your best interest to take a representative sample of music you like and demo the speakers. The best situation would be to demo speakers with your amp and CD player or turntable. To be frank, I would only use the opinions of others as a basic guide, then let your own ears decide. Don't discount certain speakers because some hoytitoity journalist in some audio magazine says they are not up to his standards. He might listen to nothing but chamber music while you listen to nothing but the classic Seattle Grunge. Let you own ears be your guide! This is one thing I can not emphasize enough. Give the customer what he likes and he will be happy. Force something on him by telling him what he should like and he will become your competition's best advertising. |
#44
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Brian,
I think we spoke a few months ago when you gave me great advice when i was buying the pionerr 720h dvd recorder....Thanks for that by the way..............i bought it and am very happy with the investment and my wife could not do without it now. I am in a similar position now.... I am buying an AV Receiver and set of 5 speakers for a total budget of 3,500 to 4,00 Aussie dollars... The brands i am looking at are Wharfedale, KEF Q, Mission, Dali, Whatmough, anD Krix.....so far have been most imporessed with Wharfedale and Mission with the Wharfs winning....still yet to try the KEF Q (people rave over these), and the Whatmough... I made a whole sampler CD from my cd collection and burnt it onto one cd....so i just had to take one cd from shop to shop with a bit of everything.. I am a complete novice when it comes to this but i thought i wanted to get a well rounded speaker that sounds good for most of what i listen to... The Categories i put on it were; 1. Live (Pink FLoyd - Learning to Fly, George Michael - DOnt let the sun go down on me) 2. Pop (G. Michael - Freedom 90) 3. Accoustic Pop (Maroon 5 - She will be loved) 4. Rock (Queen - Princes of the Universe, Van Halen - Dreams) 5. Percussion (Safridio - The Bongo Drums, uno that one when you hear it) 5. Classical/Theatre - (Charlotte Church - Ave Maria and Amazing Grace, Stig Rossen - The Impossible Dream) 6. Soundtracks (Immortal Classical (Beet 7. SOundtrack (Immortal Beloved - Fur Elis, Jurassic Park - Opening Credits, Back Draft - Here comes the Fire Engines). And lastly my favourite......John Williams Star Wars soundtracks....the two tracks i sampled from this was DUel of the Fates (Phantom Menace), and Across teh Stars (Attack of the clones love theme).. Hope this helps..... Could people please provide feedback to if this is how they would do it or are there better pieces to try out some of these music styles..... and also what speakers should i be looking to , and which ones avoid...My speaker budget is going to be around the 2,500 AUD.....and in around a year to 18 months will invest in about a 1,000 sub. but when i was trying music i have to say the sub difference was so minimal i can easily go without it for a while..... "Brian" wrote in message ... "Colin B." wrote: In rec.audio.tech Brian wrote: (Barry's excellent advice snipped) Thanks for your advice Barry. I have a feeling that some speakers are more suitable for Rock music and other speakers are suitable for Classical music, etc. It would be nice if the manufactures put a label on their speakers as it what they are suitable for. I'm trying to get away from speakers that are too bright and falsely colour music, these type of speakers seem to be suitable for listening to for short periods. I'm hoping to give more life to my old CD's by finding speakers that will faithfully place the CD's as they were meant to be heard. A few things I'd like to add here. Good speakers shouldn't be oriented for classical or rock or smooth jazz. Good speakers should sound good, period. That said, the compromises that have to be made in the real world may favour one or the other. Recently I listened to some Meadowlarks with great anticipation, and found myself disappointed. They sounded really startling with vocals and small group jazz, but had _no_ bass at all! They wouldn't be acceptable at any price without a subwoofer, in my opinion. Others though, love them for their clarity and openness. Maybe if all you listen to is Jazz at the Pawnshop... Barry talked about picking music you're familiar with. More to the point, pick recordings that you're familiar with (or take your favorite albums, and become familiar with the recording). Get to know what a particular track does really well, or has a hard time with. Figure out what parts are challenging for a speaker to get right. Here are some examples from my own listening routine. 1) So What? from Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" (the new remastered recording) The pacing and recording of this album is so perfect that I sit on the edge of my chair, waiting for Miles' horn to come in. If I notice the speakers at all, then there's something wrong with them. The string bass in the intro is particularly revealing--on good speakers, it sounds exactly like a bass being played in front of you, just off to the side. On many speakers, it's a little dull, thuddy, or thin. 2) Get out of Town, from Holly Cole's "It Happened One Night" Shiveringly good close-miked vocals, and again that revealing bass. This will really highlight clarity, transparency and imaging. If you close your eyes, you should be able to pinpoint every instrument on stage. 3) The first song on The Mavens first album, which I don't have handy at the moment. Because my speakers have got to ROCK! :-) The chorus of this song starts with an electronic bass, a kick drum, and a Chapman stick punching the bottom end. If there are any flaws in the bass, (either insufficient or boomy), this will reveal them in three notes. 4) A coupla tracks off of Jennifer Warne's "The Hunter." This is a pure audiophile recording, and has everything going on at the same time. Deep, clear, extended bass; delicate and close vocals, and just lotsa warmth. It's very easy though, for it all to get bunched up and muddy in the midrange. "Way Down Deep" is particularly good. 5) The third (fourth?) track on Horace X's "Burst Peacock." Hard driving relentless techno/acoustic celtic insanity. On good speakers you can (a) pick out all of the various instruments (lead violin, clarinet, lowland pipes) from the sequencer and electronic drums; and (b) listen for more than five minutes without your ears hurting. This is a VERY fatiguing album on many speakers. So the exact music above isn't crucial (although I would recommend it all to anyone interested), but the stuff it reveals is. That's what you need to go into a store with. Oh yeah, and don't even think of burning a CD from MP3s. Stick to the original material. Colin Thanks Colin. It's interesting to read what you listen for in your selections of music. Out of interest have you found any speakers that are acceptable for the things you listen for? Regards Brian |
#45
Posted to rec.audio.opinion,rec.audio.tech
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Type of things to listen for when judging speakers?
In article ,
Brian wrote: I hope to listen to some speakers in the next few days and would like some helpful advice on the types of things to listen for when judging speakers. Some have said take your favourite recording to be played, but as it's my favourite recording it's likely to sound great on all speakers. Whatever you are listening to, try it as you turn the volume *down* until it is quite low. With many speakers, the sound sort of "collapses in on itself" at low levels, and they sound really awful. Since almost all music has some low-level sounds at one point or another, you might want to select speakers that are able to do a good job on them. FWIW, I find that electrostatics and horns fare much better at low sound levels than do any kind of "direct radiator" speakers. Many of them sound just as good when they're barely audible. I'm not sure why that is, though. Isaac |
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