Audio Myths.. food for thought

Yes but one system at 85 spl could be putting a whole load of wide bandwidth information and energy out, and the other at 85 spl could be within a narrower bandwidth, are you with me.
The one with the wide bandwidth could be perceived as being lower in volume.
Yet set at the same spl the limited bandwidth system could appear to be louder.

I believe I already answered that one (just a line above)

That’s the point; small speakers tend to be rolled off at lower frequencies or need a lot of current to produce the low end larger drivers are able to produce (but that’s a different story).

Absolutely! That’s a matter of choice and taste.

One could choose to “cut off” or “attenuate” part of the spectrum, through smaller speakers or less capable amplifiers.

This also means less realistic music reproduction.

It’s ok for voices of chamber music, but not for piano or bigger ensembles like symphonic orchestras or rock bands (part of the foundation is lost), in my opinion of course. And again, this is a matter of taste.

I used to listen to symphonic music through headphones. It was a lot more enjoyable than through my previous speakers.

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I agree that it’s down to taste.
Do you want the artist in your room ? Or, do you want to go into the artists room ?
Best wishes.

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In the end i think there are two types of audiophiles / enthousiasts, those that are looking for something that sounds accurate, and those that are looking for something that sounds real. Those could overlap but to an extent they are different goals. :wink:

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Your forgetting the third, but first.
Those that like it straight out of the box.

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My system is on my profile. I am aware not having full frequency as with a nap 500 dr driving big focals. But in my medium room I don’t need more.
If I wanted to put Magico M2 in my room, a hard acoustic treatment would be an absolute necessity.

As a fair reply, I have never been interested in art that tries to give a genuine account of the real thing, you shouldn’t expect ever anyone to really follow or read any intentions. That’s down to science rather than the arts.
Best wishes.

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Does that also mean you are more interested in lively, musical sounding speakers than in precise and analytical sounding ones? That would be an interesting comparison!

Dont think so. Coat hangers have some flexibility in them.

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Only so far. The first are usually a lot more cheaper. The later are usually very expensive. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

You could consider a pair of active studio monitors like the Dynaudio BM15A, those are quite affordable and very accurate. :wink:

(they come in a separate left and right version for extra precision!)

It is a big part of the presentation… in short room distortion effects with the variability of head position can lead to an illusion of sound improvement or worsening with a given device/technique/method where in itself there is no perceptible change in audibility. Given the processing the brain does in reconstructing the sound… if you feel or expect an improvement, then that can align to hearing things slightly differently through honey comb reflections of an untreated listening room and having moved your head in some cases a few cms and can lead you to a false conclusion of cause and effect.
There is an implication that certain type of Hi-Fi product marketed to ‘audiophiles’ take advantage of this phenomenon

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And higher frequencies too… honey comb filtering of early reflections can be more impacting at higher mid and treble frequencies.
If you have the tools, you can play around and if you put -2dB shelf filter in with a cut off of around 1kHz and a Q of 0.3 you can reduce the audibility of early some reflections in smaller rooms with respect to lower frequencies in the audio and can improve the perceived performance, without loosing much if any definition.

I have not considered the effect of small movements in listening position but in my old set up, speakers on short wall, moving my listening position forward by 50cm made a big difference, the bass bloat fell away and the detail became clearer. I did not consider the possible effect of comb filtering due to reflections, at the time I assumed the improvement in clarity in the higher frequencies was due to my ears having less bass to deal with!

The effect was quite noticeable and easily exceeded the differences I have experienced when box changing. All a bit sobering.

Well it probably helped, but with high treble you only need to move a 3 or 4 cms for percussion to sound different (or clearer if you want it to be)

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So maybe i am fooled by my brain and prefer wall reflections. However I met some dealers who think as me too. Room réflexion is a natural effect. It becomes a problem when the bass is not controlled .

Probably the biggest audiophile myth is that we all have dedicated listening rooms we can hang ugly baffles about and move the speakers wherever we want out into the room. For many (most?) it’s best to choose speakers, etc. that work in the existing room as is to begin with.

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Sure there is no right or wrong… the point of the article was not to say domestic listening environments necessarily must be bad, but more can lead to false conclusions with cause and effect… especially coupled with expectation bias.
The author says it matters not how much you are trained, amateur or professional, expectation subconscious bias will affect your conclusions, and so blind testing or double blind testing in a relaxed environment over a period of time is one of the only reliable ways to determine preference/improvement or degradation.

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Which is why getting a 3000,- interconnect or speaker cable in that situation will probably be a waste of money. It would not do nearly as much as moving the big plant or the couch 1 ft to the left/right. If the acoustics are not right, then the rest of the investment is more or less wasted…

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