Stereo versus surround sound

[RGA]

There is nothing wrong with liking the Bose 901. The fact that some people dislike them and I am one of them does not mean much...that is why there are so many speakers on the market. For instance I have read numerous discussions of the AR9 and there is certainly no consensus on that speaker - a lot of people are put off by its numerous phase poblems(too many crossover points) lack of treble response, lack of detail and some just complain that it's dull and lifeless.

What does that tell you? It tells you that YOU and THEY hear differently the speakers in question. That is why it's called a Preference. Ever wonder why magazine reviewers can give the same high mark to two or twenty COMPLETELY DIFFERENT sounding designed speakers? I personally don't like any of the newer(last 8 years) AR, NHT and Snell designs using side-firing woofers(built in subs) etc (Make me nautious and they cost at least double or triple the price of speakers that sounded much better but were not as big and didn't have 6+ drivers with fancy looks. Neither AR nor Snell makes those side-firing noisemakers anymore. Polk does but that explains their poor reviews in the blind sessions at Hi-fi Choice.

I digress, Bose 901s have a unique sound. Lots of people love horn speakers too, and planars and electrostats, some swear by Paradigm. I say buy what sounds good to you, but do make sure you listen to as many different speakers as possible. The more you listen to the more informed is your selection.

[skeptic]

I have read numerous discussions of the AR9 and there is certainly no consensus on that speaker - a lot of people are put off by its numerous phase poblems(too many crossover points) lack of treble response, lack of detail and some just complain that it's dull and lifeless.

Out of the box, I'd have to agree at least about AR9s lack of treble. It took 5 years before I had a clue as to how to fix it. I heard and saw Snell AIIIi, one of my all time favorite speakers at a trade show around 1989 and noticed that they had added an indirect firing tweeter. I decided to add a pair to my AR9s and then another and another. Rebalancing the system meaning using the crossover level controls and an equalizer has made a huge difference. I would say that as they sound now, no other speaker I have heard is nearly as accurate or beats it or even equals it in any important respect. It does everything right as far as I am concerned. I'm using the same approach with every other speaker system I own. A loudspeaker with a single direct firing tweeter is now unthinkable for me.

BTW, you can see that the treble has always been a bugaboo for Acoustic research. Every evolutionary step in their high end models has incorporated a major redesign of the treble while according to the in-the-know experts on the Acoustic Research section of Arsenal, the basic woofer design and performance hardly changed at all for about 40 years. This despite the measurements always showing flat on axis response right out to 20 Khz. Obviously, there is much more to subjective treble performance than on axis frequency response.