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DSP and stores - Anyone else get the feeling they might be sweetening?

One thing I’ve been thinking about especially now that I’m streaming and have EQ at my fingertips, is how easy it is for a dealer to sweeten a mix. That is, alter speakers to sound differently in the store. One dealer would not let me play my own music, at all. That was a big red flag. I didn’t have anything troublesome, just some Diana Krall or something like that.

Another made my ears hurt with speakers others tell me are quite neutral.

In another store the speakers were wired out of phase and painfully bright. In this case it could have been in the speaker setup as they had external resistors.

Anyone else have these kind of quirky experiences in a shop lately?


Best,

E
erik_squires

Showing 1 response by mike_in_nc

mike_in_nc
1,189 posts
 
I haven’t had any such experiences. As to DSP, my impression is, the average dealer doesn’t have the patience or knowledge to set it up well. Maybe things have changed.

As to honesty and forthrightness, I guess we have good dealers here (Portland, OR). I have dealt with four or five of them, and I can’t think of one that would want to sell you speakers you don’t like or that won’t sound good in your room. Nor can I imagine any of them tweaking the speakers in a misleading way.

A dealer that doesn’t let you play your own music? Odd, and a red flag for sure!

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