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Spendor S9e or ProAc Response D28

I've been eyeing the Spendor S9e and ProAc D28 and while this is your typical "how does this compare to that thread", I wanted to give some background about where I'm coming from.

I currently own a pair of B&W 703's and my gripe with them is that my ears get tired of listening to them when playing music after 20mins or so. To be a bit more specific, at low volumes 60-70dB, these speakers are very listenable but low volumes don't do rock music justice. At higher volumes (80-85db) my ears get tired within a couple of songs.

In fact, at louder volumes even if I'm in the other room doing stuff on the computer and listening to music playing from my living room I get annoyed.

Not all is bad with these speakers, they shine when it comes to movies. I only have two of them but even so they generate an excellent phantom center (note: I haven't felt the need to add a dedicated center because they are that good). They also disappear into the background. Weird thing is I listen to movie louder than I do music, yet under this activity I don't find them fatiguing.

I've been thinking of upgrading my pre but the question I keep asking myself is that maybe I've outgrown this brand of speaker (I used to have 603's).

A bit more about me and my setup:
- Ratio of music-to-movie duty: 50/50
- Listening preferences: rock+hard rock (90%), everything else literally (10%).
- Source: Squeezbox v3 (my library has been converted flac)
- Preamp/Poweramp: NAD T742 / NAD C272
g_georgi

Showing 2 responses by shadorne

shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,490 posts
 
Weird thing is I listen to movie louder than I do music, yet under this activity I don't find them fatiguing

Movies are not COMPRESSED like pop & rock music. The reason you find rock + hard rock music fatiguing is because it has been compressed (no dynamics - example Metallica)...nothing to do with your speakers (although some bad speakers might help - something warm sounding with a recessed midrange will do).

Unfortunately audiophile systems will tend to push your tastes towards other forms of music that are better recorded...

See this for information Turn Me Up. Compression is not natural and it is done in the studio. It raises the average sound level significantly by making everything loud - in the case of Metallica I have heard the head of Meridian describe it as pretty close to white noise (when viewed on a spectrum analyzer...)
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,490 posts
 
This a reviewers comments on Guns & Roses MFSL

No, even Mobile Fidelity's GAIN system doesn't turn Appetite for Destruction into a precise audiophile disc. But their mastering makes quite an appreciable improvement on this album, turning a barely listenable mess into a rather well recorded album for this genre. While this isn't in the very top tier of MoFi improvements, it's certainly well above average as remastering differences go. I don't know how many Guns N' Roses fans there are that will appreciate the improved quality of this disc, but anyone who likes this music would be much better served buying Mobile Fidelity's release instead of that poseur release Geffen sells. It's a much more enjoyable CD to listen to.

Improved from a barely listenable mess does not (to me anyway) equate to audiophile sound....need I say more.
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