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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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In Reply to: Let's put it this way posted by Norm Strong on June 22, 2003 at 14:40:24:
You can devise a test that may make a $1,000 speaker sound as good as a $10,000 speaker, if you pick the music.If I pick the music, I can tell a lot more, and given the realities of physics and economics, I have 80% confidence factor that any system I say gets the particular job done, will be near $10,000.
I never claimed to be able to tell whether "a system" cost over $10,000 or under $1,000.
Truth be told, at HE 2003 the Usher "Sonus Faber Emulation" speakers at $1,000 a pair to my ears reproduced mezzo-soprano and classical guitar at modest but real-world volume levels with more timbral accuracy and timing information than did the big Vandersteens, which I think are near $10,000. So I am not making any general claims.
And don't even draw solid conclusions from that: the Usher room was tweaked with RPG Skylines and the speakers were well away from the walls; the Vandersteens were too big for the small room they were in.
But it would only take me 60 seconds to tell whether a system could fill the room with Brahms' German Requiem in the Telarc Shaw recording, including the organ pedals, with good imaging and soundstage size and lack of excess sibilants on the choral entry.
And, you are shocked--shocked--to learn that in my experience, the least expensive system that can do that consists of Shahinian Obelisks, a Plinius 8200, and a Marantz SA-14. Add wires and you are right at $10,000.
Perhaps you can cut a corner here or there, but this precise test case is one I worked on for 18 months while at TAS, and I am 95% confident that I can tell whether the German Requiem is more there than not, and 80% confident that that can't be done for much less than $10,000 all-in.
But I cheerfully admit that on test material with limited dynamic range, loudness, and image size, such as the aforementioned mezzo and guitar disc, a smaller less expensive speaker with a good midrange will sound better than a larger more ambitious speaker that costs a lot more but does not get the midrange right. But put Mahler on the shoebox, and the limitations become apparent.
So, here's a friendly challenge: spec out a system that can deliver most of what is in the first three minutes of the Telarc Shaw German Requiem, that will sound as good as the Obelisk/8200/SA-14 system I mention above, and cost significantly less, and tell us all about it.
Cordially,
John
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Follow Ups
- If I get to pick the music, 80% confidence factor - John Marks 17:00:59 06/22/03 (2)
- Re: If I get to pick the music, 80% confidence factor - CELT 17:56:18 06/22/03 (1)
- THAT I can agree to in a heartbeat - John Marks 18:40:46 06/22/03 (0)
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