The Tweak from Heaven...or Hell?


I was going to contribute to the thread m669326 started yesterday about “warm or colored speakers,” but then decided to just start another. I’ve had lots of good speakers in my home (B&W, Martin Logan...), and currently own too many: PSB Synchrony One, Von Schweikert VR4 Jr., and—still my favorite—Scientific Fidelity Tesla. The Teslas were savaged by Corey Greenberg in Stereophile when they first came out (1992), and that was pretty much the end; that’s why you’ve never heard of them. In contrast, the PSB Synchrony One were listed by Stereophile in 2012 as a starred “Class A [Restricted Extreme LF] Loudspeaker Recommended Component,” along with speakers costing up to $80,000 in that category, and as a “Recommended Reference Component” by Soundstage Hi-Fi —again, in competition with vastly more expensive speakers. The latter review described them as “among the most neutral speakers ever reviewed” that “sets a new standard for tonal accuracy, clarity and detail,” and a later rave remarked that, in the anechoic chamber of Canada’s National Research Council, they measured lower levels of distortion “than any speaker at any price we’d measured up till then.” But of the speakers I’ve just listed here, they are my least favorite: dull, bland, soulless. And I play cello and guitar, my wife plays piano, my daughter violin and piano, and we have lots of musical friends and a home that hosts “house concerts.” I’m quite familiar with the sound of live, acoustic instruments, solo and in small ensembles—and in fact, I know their sound in the very same environment where my audio system resides. So I have to conclude that, for whatever reasons, “objective” performance and subjective impact are only vaguely correlated, if at all. Millercarbon has harped on this in half his posts, urging that we use our ears and not acoustics labs. Fair enough!

And so, my question. A respected friend who has vastly more experience than I have in the high-end audio world swears by the BBE Sonic Maximizer as his all-time favorite audio component!

I haven’t purchased one yet, but I will. They’re not expensive; compared to the crazy money we spend even on cables, they’re practically free. And I trust my friend’s experience and judgment. But…

How can it be that this simple tweak—whether or not it does what it does for the reasons BBE claims (and I’ve read engineer geek threads that say the claims are mostly mumbo jumbo)—how can it be that I’d want to add this thing to an expensive system from which I’ve compulsively excluded any kind of “distortion”?! What if I like the result? That, frankly, is the outcome I’m worried about.

Bottom line: does anyone have experience with this device? Can you speak in favor of it, or against it, from experience? For what it’s worth, Stereophile founding editor John Atkinson disparaged it in a discussion thread, saying that it did nothing else than add “second harmonic distortion on a dynamic basis,” concluding that it was “a tone control rather than high fidelity.” But this is the same John Atkinson who loved the PSB Synchrony One, writing that it “offers surprisingly deep bass for a relatively small speaker; a neutral, uncolored midrange; smooth, grain-free highs; and superbly stable and accurate stereo imaging”!


128x128snilf
I'd agree with MC that the BBE unit certainly is a component if in the signal path. But as a non-necessary device I guess it could be viewed as a 'tweak'. I've not heard tweak defined to ignore certain things.

I have a lot of respect for John Atkinson and his experience (although J. Gordon Holt is not resting peacefully at the Stereophile 'founder' comment made above) and if that was what he concluded I'd probably ignore that type of active item. I admit to using DSPeaker digital room correction to deliver smooth even bass down deep and would never give it up (peak reduction primarily, maintaining phase coherency).

I'm also awaiting a few of the Schumann generators and have more confidence in the 'do no harm' aspect of them since they are not in the signal chain.  Still, if one was lying around, I'd probably try a BBE unit for fun (but not pay to try one). If it truly made the music more like the 'absolute sound' I might be tempted.


"And so, my question. A respected friend who has vastly more experience than I have in the high-end audio world swears by the BBE Sonic Maximizer as his all-time favorite audio component!

I haven’t purchased one yet, but I will. They’re not expensive; compared to the crazy money we spend even on cables, they’re practically free. And I trust my friend’s experience and judgment. But…"

snilf-

Is your friend a musician/recording enthusiast? I've known some who like to listen their home rig with pro audio box enhancements. 

 Bottom line, it is additive. All my audiophile experience tells me the way to go is minimalist. So strike one.

Have you seen your system?
That's not a tweak, its a component. Specifically, it is a processor. Says so on their website. As such it is in the same category as tone controls, equalizers, and surround processors. Bottom line, it is additive. All my audiophile experience tells me the way to go is minimalist. So strike one.  

I'm no fan of JA, but when you're right, you're right, and this time he's right. 

This is by the way totally consistent with his comments on the PSB speakers. One is a speaker. The other is a tone control. The speaker can add or detract from bass or treble, but that does not make it a tone control. They remain two distinctly different things. 

If you want to try a really inexpensive tweak that really is a tweak and not a tone control, puts nothing in the signal path, yet greatly improves your perception of space, depth, and image focus, while removing a layer of grain and glare, try a couple Schumann generators. At $10 each they are dirt cheap, work great, and while one all by itself is not a huge improvement it is very noticeable, and you can easily add more with proportionally better results. In other words the opposite of decreasing returns. They are cheap. Try em and see.
They claim:
"Unlike some "exciter" devices which add artificial harmonics to the signal, BBE adds nothing artificial but instead restructures it to faithfully allow all the detail and nuance to be heard."
I guess you would have to listen to it and decide if you like the result.
There are many flavors of pleasing sound, not just vanilla.


There is no rule that says the best measured products sound best. Best is a subjective not objective determination when it comes to sound because there are so many factors that go into what you hear and each of us and our personal preferences are perhaps the most critical factor.


I heard those PSBs at my local “hi end” dealer back in their day. I thought they were very good and I liked them a lot. Of course I never heard anything bad in his shop because he had good ears and knew what he was doing. I would say his favorite flavor was vanilla. Like most people. He had lots of different gear to audition and it all sounded similarly good and fairly “neutral” to various extents. Definitely no Baskin and Robbins 32 flavors there.

I’ve got it and a tube buffer between my DAC and my AVR. Makes it a great alternative to the big stereo for casual listening. Both have superceded my Loki. I used to have a small plastc BBE box on my desktop. This is way better
both can be switched out for "purists."
Right on, there is no "need" to make things sound better.
I cannot speak about that gear and i will never add it anyway good or not.... No need for that...I vouch for acoustic control of the room without electronic...

Try Helmholtz tubes and pipes.... Not only passive materials...

I only reach naturalness of timbre perception after playing with acoustic controls in my 2 years experiments...