flabbergasted with reviews on speakers
I read speaker reviews as i think they are the personal end of the signal i hear alibiet the source what i think is most important. They are terrible.They give no room size they are listening in.treated or not and what room size they recommend is important. sguare foot please.Ihave purchased speakers to big for my room and now buy down a size from what they say.They audition speakers that from my videos on you tube are placed stacked against there racks or pushed against wall and cluttered amongs other stereo equipment in a small room i get it .i have been to persons small farm house that had an infiniti stack with 334 levinson monoblocks who bought this on review this was in a 10 x 12 bedroom and was a respected audiogoner! I think we are oversold in this hobby i miss dealers but they have not heard it all review suck look at there rooms they are pathetic.Are speaker sensitivity real or is it to sell more expensive amps.If first watt is most important why isnt 50 watt tbr amp enough for an 87 db speaker.
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Not to confuse matters, sensitivity may be measured using dB (1W/1M), dB(2.83V/1M) (and for the really lazy, just dB, move right along if you see that). They are different. I understand that there is about a 3 dB difference between the watt and the volt measurements, all other things being equal. Watt higher? Happy to be corrected by an EE - ohms also come into play. Read and weep right through if ya dare. |
Speaker sensitivity is real. I used to build single driver speaker cabinets (transmission line, front loaded horns, Voight towers - my favorite) and pair them with Fostex drivers. You can get ridiculous volume levels with amazing clarity pairing these with flea watt amps. We even used D class chip amps. So speaker sensitivity is real. More wattage was required when drivers and speaker cabinets become inefficient due to designs driven by marketing wanting cool looking speakers. Lazy engineering required more power. |
MOABs from what I hear, have electrolytic capacitors in the crossover. A complete travesty if you ask me. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> What do they have MC? You swapped yours out. Did they have electrolytics in the XO? If they did, so did 90,000.00 Infinity IRS Vs or Beta, or Gammas. Yea they ALL sounded horrible for over 40 years.. What is wrong with electrolytics? Your gear is full of them? So is your house for that matter. Go look at your fancy thermostat or your remote control. Filter CAPS? I guess I missed something. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Lazy engineering required more power. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> It's usually not the engineer, it's usually the accounting department. Bean counters have destroyed more great products and their reputations than any other thing on earth. It's true "The Love of money is the root to all evil". Money's fine, counting it too often, leads to some costly mistakes. Bean counters that can't count. The US Congress. Merry Christmas Regards |
@slick2 , It sounds like you got up on the wrong side of bed this morning. More so than any market I know of the audio market is consumer beware. You have to learn what you like and why. Experience will lead you to the best speaker for you not some reviewer. Very few dealers have dedicated rooms for their systems where you can get a reasonable idea what the speaker is capable of. I don't even read them. At some point you just have to jump in. Looking at my own experience, it took me 20 years and 6 different pair of speakers to figure out what I liked. Then another 20 years perfecting that approach. This is what the hobby is about. If you don't want to be bothered with it just get one of those package systems from Best Buy. |
IME, it's true both that speaker sensitivity matters, and that manufacturers sometimes (frequently?) misleadingly exaggerate it. If you can't try a prospective speaker with your amp, at least gather as much testimony as you can as to whether amps similar to yours can drive it. As for the other sense of sensitivity, I quite like my speakers, and only say nice things about them. This approach has "dramatic" positive effect on their performance! |
I don't own focal speakers but I do appreciate that in their website the tell the consumer what size room each model in a line the speaker is designed for. Sensitivity ratings alone aren't enough because like russ69 said impedance will affect the way an amp controls the output and possibly color the sound. |
In a top notch system, most, if not all the electrolytics caps are not directly in the signal path. Speaker crossover capacitors are, and get the full brunt of amplification. What is actually audible is a variable that’s difficult to quantify, but it’s better if they were good audio grade poly caps instead of the electrolytics, and it’s a fairly simple thing to upgrade....at the very least, bypass them with a small value poly cap. It’s a similar logic to better wire, better connectors, etc. At some point, just about everything makes some difference. Regarding the importance of sensitivity...I suppose it depends on how loud you want to listen, and the size of the room. I’m using primarily about 17 watts triode tube power into 89db speakers in a fairly good size carpeted room. I have the option of exceeding 30 watts in Ultralinear mode, but rarely ever the feel the need for more power....it seems to get plenty loud enough to annoy the family. There is an active subwoofer in the system to help fill out the bottom octave,so I’m sure that makes some difference, but overall sensitivity has been a non-issue for me....like anything else, I guess it depends....the transparency gained by better caps and wire means far more to me than a little extra volume level.
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@jerryg123, Great information! |
As a manufacturer or audio components (we don't offer speakers for sale), we get to hear and pair speakers with our equipment. We also have to adjust to the speaker as you cannot just get the best sound out of a speaker just because the equipment is reference quality. While high efficient speakers don't require that much power, paring the right amp surely makes a big difference. Reviews are only part of the answer. They should be sued for someone to get a flavor of what a speaker can sound like and to narrow down a choice or preference. IMO you just cannot listen to a you tube video and pick out a speaker that will work in your system.
We have a listening room in Northern New Jersey which we are now using to help people understand how a speaker will perform with various amplifiers, etc.
Happy Listening. |
Most every speaker I have bought based on a review has been pretty darn good. I use reviews to base my decisions on, as unfortunately most if not all hifi stores in my area have closed their doors long ago...Spearit Sound, Tech HiFi, Audio Concepts...etc...back then, I actually auditioned speakers, and components for that matter. I miss the good old days...and not just relating to HiFi... |
@wyoboy ...because Siri and Alexa are the Beast Goddess of the Electric Leash. ...but it's funny to make them try to converse with each other....
"Bots' that's just the fun stuff.... |
@asvjerry thanks for the snickers---although i'm also terrified! Good thing i'm old enough to forget about it. |
@wyoboy , stuff like that resonates in my imagination for awhile. Automated room eq is what some of us delight in, but having Alexa get a handle on it is a concern. 'She' might compute that I ought to listen to dead people as well, just to maintain a certain credibility...😖 "Thanks, 'lexa....Did you check to ensure my family is in that mix? I'd bet they all have something to say to me about me at this point..." |
$$$ is what reviews are about. no bad words will be said about paying advertisements, especially those which have a reputation of being Godlike. Many of these PAID reviewers do just that, take the money for an absolute great review of speakers, amps, preamps, ,….. oh wait, those 700$ cedar cable lifters give me more defined bass, less hard etched treble, the midrange gave me the “being their” sensation, the woodwind was if I could hear the preemptive breath of the player, and I could hear the fingers grabbing the fret, then it all,came into focus, as the bow lightly struck the strings with the subtle touch of a hummingbird on my cheek. It was something I’ve never felt before with my Klipsch,cornerhorns, yet these 90K MBL gives me the sensation of the pianist begging me for a dollar at a cigar smoke filled pub in soho. It was miraculous to say the least.
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@arcticdeth - Merry Christmas! So you're saying the reviewers who say they are not being paid are lying, and will recommend crap if they're paid for it? Seems like that would be a great way to lose subscribers and your reputation and not have prospective buyers pay any attention to anything you say anymore. Or maybe there will be enough new viewers who haven't caught on yet? I dunno... |
@larsman Merry Christmas and yes payola is going on in the review world. |
@jerryg123 - Merry Christmas to you, too!! |
Nope, not calling it a lie, it’s just a bloated bit of horse apples, like most reviewers. they will up their selected words for a review. For the companies in their rag, and financial supporters. if you wanna call it a lie, then so be it. They do elevate most reviews to make the reviewed products seem better. This has always been the way of the reviewers (most). They will not bad mouth paid advertisers, or they will lose those huge checks, and these select reviewers, know how to butter up companies.
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Electrolytic capacitors are not "bad" in and of themselves. It’s just that over time, *some* of them, especially in a hot environment, will begin to dry out and change value. How long? Usually, 5 to 10 years or MORE. If you are willing to rebuild your crossover every 10 to 15 years, (or at least use a meter to check values), then they should be no problem. |
It depends on the integrity of the speaker company. See the reviews below.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/tekton-design-impact-monitor-loudspeaker-measurements https://www.stereophile.com/content/tekton-design-enzo-xl-loudspeaker-measurements |
