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What if a high end speaker measures really badly?

You know, it's true that I feel listening is more important than measurements and that it's generally difficult to really tie together measurements with pleasure.  Below 0.05% THD do I care?  No I do not.  I really don't care. The number tells me nothing about whether I'd like the amp more or not anymore.

In this one memorable review for the Alta Audio Adam speaker, I really felt shivers go up my spine when I looked at the measurements, especially at ~$20kUSD.   This looks like an absolute hot mess.  Does it sound this bad though?  I certainly don't have the $20K to test that out myself. What do you all think? 

erik_squires

Showing 2 responses by mikhailark

mikhailark
387 posts
 

But who said the measurement must be linear? Remember popularity of equalizers? And how many people liked V-shape? A lot of music is poorly recorded and can benefit from correction. Enter this speaker. It is basically an equalizer, i bet it sounds great with some music and awful with others. Some people will love it and some will hate its sound. It has clear bump in low region, some peak at highs and dip in the middle. Probably good one for classic rock ;-)

This is why I like measurements. I can filter out speakers I definitely will not like just by looking at the frequency response graph. And select those I most probably will enjoy.

mikhailark
387 posts
 

@erik_squires - how would you define “high end” or “exotic” car? Not all of them are high performance and each has its own drawbacks and idiosyncrasies.

There is no “sports convertible with 7 luxury seats and ability to tow a boat across rough terrain”.

I define “high end” as limited production, using exotic parts, tailored to audiophiles. Price may or may not be high.

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