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  3. 146960-20253

An encounter and lesson in speaker prices ...

Not to long ago, in a shop I like but will remain nameless I got to observe a customer evaluate a pair of systems side by side. The buyer had an eastern European accent. First they listened to the larger system, $50k speakers, equivalently priced amps and digital.


It sounded _really_ good. Then we moved to another system. Slightly smaller speaker pair, around $20k, completely different DAC and amp. Sounded like crap. The digititis was unbearable and the speakers were clearly out of phase. On top of that, the treble and bass balance were now all wrong.


The buyer was "I like them, what colors do they com in? " and that was that.

After the buyer left I looked behind at the amp. Yep, I was right, the pahse was reversed. The darkness of the room and angle made this an easy and common mistake to make. But the rest was unbearable.


What is my point? The people buying the top end gear are not necessarily the one’s with decent ears, so we really cannot trust price points to be any sort of guide to value. If you develop your taste on your own, independent of prices, you can score some fabulously performing gear at a fraction of what this buyer was going to end up with.


Best,

E
erik_squires

Showing 11 responses by erik_squires

erik_squires OP
15,803 posts
 
Removing the expectancy of performance based upon price can often be very enlightening.  


And money saving. :)

erik_squires OP
15,803 posts
 
In this case, the bass was weak, but also wonky. It sounded like it was reverberating in a giant hall. Like a bass echo.

In any event, that was my clue, but the confirmation happened when I walked behind the amp I was auditioning.
erik_squires OP
15,803 posts
 
You lost me.  How can you determine whether the speakers are connected to an amp out of phase.


By looking at the color coded speaker terminals and comparing them to the wiring.

erik_squires OP
15,803 posts
 
Some equipment manufacturers preamps and amps are 'out of phase' by design. The easiest way to get them 'into phase' is to reverse the wires at the speaker posts. One such manufacture is Conrad Johnson.



I think that several readers are misreading my original post. This was not related to this. The L and R were wired incorrectly relatively to each other.

Best,
E

erik_squires OP
15,803 posts
 
Hi @tarheelneil
I meant the speakers were out of phase relatively to left and right.
erik_squires OP
15,803 posts
 
Wow another great thought WOW i didn't know that dude!!

EBM demonstrates what constructive participation in a discussion does not look like. Again.


Best,

E
erik_squires OP
15,803 posts
 
Fixes it!!?Ruins it!




I was being sarcastic, that's why I used double quotes and added a "Haha" line. :)

erik_squires OP
15,803 posts
 
There's a Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab pressing of Dark Side of the Moon that literally "fixes" all the phase problems in the original.

Hahahaha.
erik_squires OP
15,803 posts
 
@meadowman

That's really interesting!! Becuase the buyer did run around looking to see if other speakers were also working. To him, the effect was a super-wide soundstage.

Maybe this is why the treble and bass were set so high?

Best,
E
erik_squires OP
15,803 posts
 
Hi @gawdbless :
Of course, fools and their money are easily parted, and individually, no I don't care. My point was that this says something about gear prices and culture. This is a social commentary post, and I hope you don't object to that.

And yeah, wouldn't that be interesting if the dealer did it to make them sound more spacious?? I doubt it though. I looked and it was really hard to see the colors.

Best,

E
erik_squires OP
15,803 posts
 
Buyer bought the the out of phase. Well, TBH, I don't know he actually bought. But he felt the out of phase was almost as good, and in his price range. So he started talking about colors and delivery times and left the showroom with the dealer.
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