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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 1 response by simonmoon

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simonmoon
477 posts
 

I can hear a pair of speakers, and by how they sound, I can usually be pretty accurate on what parameters will measure badly.

I have built and upgraded enough speakers in my life, to let me know where the problem measurements will be. I tend to be pretty sensitive to the sound of stored energy, that is visible in the waterfall plot.

@sounds_real_audio

I honestly do not need to look at the spec’s to know if a speaker sounds good.....but if you do and if you that is important to you then knock yourself out......

 

You have it a bit backwards from the way I approach speaker measurements.

I don’t look at the measurements, then judge how good the speaker is based on them. I listen to the speaker, then judge whether I like it or not, then I look at the measurements to see why I did or did not like the speakers.

As I said above, I can listen to speakers, and easily pick out too much stored energy in the system.

 

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