Easy live = Zu
What is a live speaker?
I am entry level and certainly not in the race for having a lot of money in a system. Not that I wouldn't like to, my day will come. Anyways I attend live performances and the sound is beautiful, open, flowing, smooth and alive. The violins flow, the cello's have life the piano is extended and alive. How to get that. Here is what I have found. It seems to be system/room interface. I have had Sequerra's very accurate point source, no live sound. Some triangles, sharp crisp sound nothing alive. Some Maggies which where open and musical but not alive. Some Cain&Cains vocals, Diana sounds like she is in your room but the instruments are not right in my room, there is a peak at 100 and goes down till the mids then nice and flat so makes sense. For my room some old Heybrooks have been the best for live sound. They are open and smooth and alive, vocals sound good not right there in the room good but good. The violins are there, cello's there and smooth and open alive. There is air around them. I have heard not in my room but auditioned numerous systems that cost 1,000's more then the Heybrook, NAD, 555es system I have and not even hinted to live. They might be sharper, louder, more dynamic, and extended but not live. The salesman try to imply but. So has anyone else heard this live sound. It seems very fragile, if I spike the stands this live sound goes away. If I change cables, or interconnects the live sound goes away. I am interested in upgrading my system and if the Heybrooks seem to be the direction that works. I am looking for more of it. Would this mean Spendors, Proacs? I thought I would find out but a deal on some Proacs fell through so my looking is on again. Thank you for your thoughts.
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My first speakers were Heybrook hb1. Very good speakers. No,I dont think that (cheaper) Proacs are better. You may try to listen an active speaker. They are tending to have a very coherent, dynamic, open treble and not bass shy soundprint with not too much coloration (as they pack together speaker-speaker cable and power-amplifier, the user has no option to color the soundprint by mismatching these three key components). |
Live sound = ATC. Try Sheffield Labs Drum tracks to test for a speaker that can sound like live music - percussion is the hardest to achieve because of the transients. Vocals is all too easy for most speakers - not a lot of huge dynamic transients in vocals. (Note that live sound does not equal stupendous bass - it means fast and detailed) |
I second mrtennis's selection for electrostatic speakers; this is my second year with soundlab m2's and they are everything I researched before buying them. I think you owe it to yourself to hear a electrostatic speaker,especially the soundlab line,awesome. The only negative I can think of is they don't play loud like a dynamic speaker does;I guess the definition of loud is a personal choice but to me they don't play loud; however extremely accurate with proper timbre,imaging and soundstage;I will take that over loud in my book. |
I'm a performing musician, recording studio owner, and audio listener. Zu Druids are easily the most natural sounding speaker I have owned or used. Their reproduction matches remarkably well to the live sources in the studio. I have quite a bit of experience with normal studio reference monitors and hi-fi speakers. While many can of course sound excellent, none I have used have approached the Zu for dynamic realism. I now use them for pleasure listening in the living room, and another pair (with upgraded high pass capacitor) for mixing and mastering in the studio. Very forgiving of placement in my rooms, and work well with a variety of sources. I have even plugged mics and instruments through a mixer and directly to the Druids and used them for live PA speakers in small venues that do not need highest SPL. They are excellent for this. Of course, they can play at monstrous levels with standard audio recordings. Steve |
I assume you want something small - then the SCM19 will do surprisingly well - even in such a large room they play much louder than most. Be aware that you are getting a damped design (sealed box) which excel at transients - you will not get heavy bass unless it is on the recording and the clean sound will tend to make you listen louder than with other speakers. Here is a fair review - it warns you about what types of people like/enjoy this kind of sound Sonicflare. Not a sound that will please everyone, for sure. However, if you like live music and well know that a trumpet player can part your hair at 30 feet if he aims at you... then you get the idea....exhilarating. |
