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Hmmm. Disappointments? A few. Fortunately, most of them caught before I wrote the check.
B&W CDM1SEs (actually any B&W) Press raves, but awful tweets, not cohesive
Sonic Frontiers SF1: Mistaken for "tube gear"...boring, uninvolving
Bryston 3BST: Bright, boomy, gone. New stuff, however, is phenomenal...they got it right
Adcom 545II: Bright, lacking dynamics, stuck with for too long.
Adcom GTP600: broke, goofed up, broke, sold
Adcom 575 CD: Sounded bad, broke, fixed, sold
VAC's original Avatar: Spanked by an SE EL34 amp at 1/4 the price
JBL XPL-90: bright, not cohesive, too expensive.
Surprises:
VPI Scout: I expected "good", not "geat"
Sutherland PHD: Scary, very scary
Audiovector M1 Signatures: Just "right", musical, open, easy to drive
Kimber 4tc: Never was a speaker wire guy, but this stuff is good.
Audioprism Mantissa SE: Neutral, dynamic, open, and pretty.
Castle Isis: Just something "right" about them
KEF 1.4/2: My first hifi speaker crush.
I could think of more, but it is bedtime.
Space
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Quote:
Originally Posted by audio_dude
Whats the big deal?!?
well for one, they are damn well near the best speaker in the $200 range...
and the centerpiece of my young system!
Duuuuuude....You are being Very UnDude.
Sorry couldnt help myself.
If I remember correctly, you are 16 or 17 years old. I snooped at your system list and think you got some KickAssed system. Alot of us do what we can with limited budget=sub$10,000. YOu should be extrememly proud of how much enjoyment your system can deliever, and I think you are. I never mated my Atoms with a tank like Sansui integrated so we are both just speaking based on different experiences. Combination of my personal taste, Atoms, and Rotel didnt do it for me. I just never bought any statements like "Paradigm Atoms are the Product of the Year!!!!!' sort of nature.
This reminds me, Grado SR-60.....
You own this too, Dude. If I wanted to make my ears bleed, I would be throwing eggs at my sister like I did 20 years ago. If anyone has any experience with SR-60 with tube headamp go for it. To my ears, over-hyped is all.
-JRA
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Funny.
Quote:
Originally Posted by spacedeckman
Hmmm. Disappointments? A few. Fortunately, most of them caught before I wrote the check.
B&W CDM1SEs (actually any B&W) Press raves, but awful tweets, not cohesive
Bryston 3BST: Bright, boomy, gone. New stuff, however, is phenomenal...they got it right
Space
I've seen a few people complaining about lack of cohesiveness in the B&Ws. However, that has not been my experience. Perhaps they listen to them at too close a distance? I myself realised the quality of B&W when my son bought a pair of 601s for his bedroom. With the pair I bought, the tweets did sound harsh for a while, but now are very smooth. I have become a convert to the need for a burn in period. Oh, and careful positioning in the room.
I agree with your Bryston comment - from specs I thought this particular unit would be ideal, but just could not get involved emotionally with it during a rather prolonged listening session. Don't know about the newer ones, because I haven't auditioned any.
PS. Please don't think I'm going out of my way to defend B&W. I'm not. It's just that at the present moment I am happy with mine, but I know that for the money there are probably hundreds of others as good or better. The tragedy of a busy life and limited finances means that its hard to find them. When the time comes for an upgrade, I'll probably try something else, even perhaps Florian's great love.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jrhymeammo
Alot of us do what we can with limited budget=sub$10,000.
Haha I'd say that's not too terribly limited in the overall scope of things. Sub $1000 is definitely limited.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Woochifer
A couple of speakers immediately come to mind, spaced out about 20 years between listenings.
Apogee Duetta - Hyped to no end by the audio press, and by the audiophile community at large back in the 80s. Also made appearances in interior design magazines and movies -- they were the audio jewelry of their day. Then when the store where my friend worked got them in their demo room, I gave listened to them multiple times, we tried multiple front end rigs and alignments, and in the end wondered what all the hype was all about. I found them uninvolving in every other demo I'd heard in other rooms with other front end rigs. They were fine with orchestral pieces, but throw amplified instrumentation and heavy percussion their way, and they just weren't up to the task. They have their merits and I can see their appeal for certain audiences, but in my listenings they did not measure up to the inordinate amount of hype that they received back in the mid-80s.
Wilson Audio Sophia - Another company that gets plenty of mention today. Did an extended listening with a high end Theta pre/pro setup in an acoustically controlled room, and could not believe the amount of ringing and resonance that I was picking up with some of my demo sources. The midrange is otherwise refined for the most part, and these speakers have a very well balanced and extended low end, but at $12,000, they are not worth the money by any stretch. Very disappointing considering how much their speakers cost and how much positive press they get.
Also the Sennheiser HD500 headphones -- just an abomination of a headphone design. Supposedly designed for rock music, electric jazz, and hip hop, but in the end all I get is a dark and dreary sound with boomy distorted bass at moderate volumes. Just leaves me scratching my head as to how a company with Sennheiser's stellar reputation would let something as ill-conceived as this get out the door.
Well Woochifer we agree on all three almost to a tee -- (except I heard the Signature II version and it does not sound like it would have changed your mind much) - For rock music or anything with a pulse the speaker just didn't work for me. I was also not terribly convinced by the entire treble band with any music -- something about the tweeter just doesn't sound right.
The Wilson if you recall I liked but at that time $16k Cad yeah it's a good speake but I've heard BETTER at $3000.00 and a similar looking speaker (perhaps similar design) but MUCH better sound can be had from the Gershman Acoustics X1-Sub-1 Combination for around $4,500.00Cad.
And I heard a set of those Headphones here in Korea HD 500 and it boggles my mind how that could have been made by Sennheiser. I do no know how much they cost mind you so I will temper my comments but I have heard better for $50.00 at Radio Shack from no namers -- or at elast as good. Sennheiser is a little strange because I never liked the 590 - it was supposed to replace the 580 years ago -- it costs more than the 580 and it just does not cut it. The 580 and 600 are all day listenable -- not necessarily exciting to listen to all the time but they never annoy you -- and that's not a bad first step in the right direction. Living in Korea these 600s are getting a ton of work being the mainsystem again and they get the job done well. The 500 would make me stab my eye with a pen knife.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StanleyMuso
I've seen a few people complaining about lack of cohesiveness in the B&Ws. However, that has not been my experience. Perhaps they listen to them at too close a distance? I myself realised the quality of B&W when my son bought a pair of 601s for his bedroom. With the pair I bought, the tweets did sound harsh for a while, but now are very smooth. I have become a convert to the need for a burn in period. Oh, and careful positioning in the room.
I don't think the 600 series is nearly as problematic as the 700 series. Back in the day before the 700 series was the CDM series and the CDM 2 was the entry standmount with the CDM 1SE being the upper standmount. The main difference was $600.00 more for the latter - a sexier box and tweeter on top. I liked em both but the CDM 2SE was far more enjoyable to listen to and had less prominance in the treble (which was more a lack of integrtion). I personally feel B&W is going in the wrong direction all the way back to the Matrix series -- they have gone to sexy looks and sacrifice sound quality. The 600 series is not perfect and it has some issues but it is good bang for the buck and hangs in with most everything else I've heard in the price range. The 700 series offers marginal improvements in some areas and outright downgrades in other areas and costs you a PILE more money.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeE SP9
Any horns at all and Lowther based speaker systems make me want to cut off my ears and run away. Piezo tweeters on most PA systems effect me the same way only worse. Small boxes with no bass and overly prominent highs make me want to get the dynamite.:incazzato:
This is painting a picture with a street sweeper. Not all horns are built alike, just like not EVERY PA speaker sounds horrible. I have to agree with you on the Lowther horn speaker, but my speakers which are horn hybrids do not exibit the cupped sound quality, screechy highs or lack of bass that dogs most horn designs. The new Klipschorn nor the new reference line of Klipsch sounds this way either. Horns have really evolved over the last 5 years now that more work has been done to engineer them properly.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jrhymeammo
appearance wise?? Beast.
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New Forum?
Given the huge differences in budget maybe we need to seperate all future forums into price sub-forums, with one being "Hi-Fi your wife doesn't kill you for buying because it cost more than a new beemer":ihih:
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