2. speakers
  3. 161474-89896

Looking for more detail in a speaker

Kind of a long first post but needed the space to set up my situation. 
I decided to do something about my speaker situation after demoing a pair of B&W 805d’s. One of the tracks played was Sympathy for the Devil. At the beginning of the song, a percussion instrument, either a guiro or cabasa, just popped out at me on the left speaker. I’ve heard that song a million times but never noticed that percussion instrument coming at me like that. I came home and played the track through my system, through my streamer and turntable. My speakers are Golden Ear Triton One’s. That same presentation just isn’t there like with those 805’s.
The GET1’s are certainly decent speakers; are they not designed for this type of detailed presentation? Is it my room? My listening room is a odd shaped man attic with a 3.5’ wall on one side with an 8’ wall on the other side peaking a 9’ in the middle. My listening position is about 17’ from the speakers.  I’m sure the room is acoustically challenged. Also, I have a long speaker wire run, like 40’. Does that contribute to the lack of detail? I figured out a way to trim about 15’ of speaker wire length from each run and plan to do that ASAP. I’m using AudioQuest construction rated wire. I believe they’re 14 gauge.
So, why not buy the 805’s? I’ve thought seriously about them but concerned they’ll be kind of small for my room. Seems like I need floor standers. I’d like to keep any replacement speakers at $4k. I have an opportunity to pick up a pair of Dynaudio S5.4s for $4k but haven’t made a move in them yet. 
Any suggestions on a speaker selection or adjustments to my room or speaker wire are appreciated. To sum it up, I’m looking for more instrument detail with good sound staging either by making tweaks to my current set up or getting another flavor of speakers. Thx. 
Ag insider logo xs@2xbfoura
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
When I have heard them at shows or dealership the Golden Ear towers have sounded holistically to my ears as much "darker" speakers in terms of overall balance of frequency spectrum. Unless a speaker has attenuation to adjust the balance of driver output, your stuck with the tuning of the designer. Overall, the Golden Ear product line reminds me of the tonal character of Vandersteen, weighted toward the bottom end.
I’m not interested in debating that.

The balance has been so heavy that to date I have not been motivated to review Golden Ear speakers. The impression I have from these hearing events is that they would have impressive low end, but may struggle to get them to open up with an extreme degree of delicacy in the high end.

The more I hear of tiny 1" ribbons, the less impressed I am with them, regardless of brand. Having been an owner of the Legacy Audio Whisper and going through the conversion of the speaker from the old ribbon tweeter to the new 1" super tweeter and the 4" tweeter, it was a prodigious improvement in the upper end, with a much higher degree of deftness to the treble, and balancing better the top/bottom ends. Feel free to read my review of it at Dagogo.com for insight.

Now, having said all that, the GE is a terrific bargain! Hard to get frumpy about a speaker that gives so much for the dollar! But, when you spread out the cost on SO many big goals, there will be some lack of refinement. YMMV
Ag insider logo xs@2x
bfoura OP
88 posts
 
Thanks for all the feedback. Seems there’s a lot of emphasis on speaker placement and listening position. I would have to really think outside the box to change things in my listening room make some of the suggestions happen. I did tweak speaker position and moved about 10’ to listen to the GE’s but there really was no change in detail with the Sympathy  ‘reference’ track that put me on this journey. 
I did order the System Solution set up disc from Nordost. Maybe that will help. 
I tend to agree with Douglas in that the GE’s gravitate toward being a darker speaker. Never thought about it but think there’s something there. The lack of the separation I heard from the GE’s on the more delicate higher frequency instruments may be by design. The GE’s are fine speakers but hearing that detail in the 805’s got me excited about that type of presentation. 
There are plenty of options on the used market for my $4K target budget to try planar’s, horns or other some other design.  Any suggestions on speakers or placement tweaks continue to be appreciated. 
sgordon1
435 posts
 
Clean your stylus.
Clean your ears (Debrox or professionally).
Clean all cable contacts.

Invest in a Walker Talisman.
Demagnetize cables and cords, get them off the floor.
Use the Talisman on all music sources and electronics;
you will hear the difference!

Use an air ionizer in the room, 15 minutes
before listening to music.

Quality sound is there, right in your present room, simply
waiting to be discovered...

noromance's avatar
noromance
9,820 posts
 
Second @douglas_schroeder . I've heard the Golden Ear Triton a few times and they were so dull, the guy demoing was blaming everything except the speaker because he couldn't accept a transducer could be so bad.
cd318
2,636 posts
 
@mijostyn,

’I do not think any of the good dynamic loudspeakers corner the marker on detail. They are all about the same in that regard. It is all a matter of frequency response and where the peaks and dips are.’


@audiokinesis ,

’Take a look at the on-axis frequency response curve of the 805 D3:

https://www.stereophile.com/content/bowers-wilkins-805-d3-loudspeaker-measurements

In particular notice the 6 dB peak at 10 kHz. Imo that might make a percussion instrument pop out of the mix.’



Yes, it’s all about frequency response. Designers are notorious for deliberately peaking and dipping FR to either draw attention to - or draw attention away from certain aspects of performance.

So when a reviewer mentions how they can hear the pianist’s fingernails clicking and clacking against the keys, or a guitarist’s fingers sliding up and down the frets, it might be worth taking a closer look at the FR.

Some studio monitors are said to be tailored to give an exaggerated /unnatural view into the mix. You wouldn’t want that in a domestic monitor.

Genuine improvements in resolution are few and far between. Even my portable Sony radio offers great resolution in the midband (even if that’s all it does).

Ribbon tweeters and exotic tweeter dome materials are often said to offer better HF resolution but not everyone agrees, or even wants it.

Ditto for improved low noise cabinets which will let you better hear what the drive units are doing. A bit like getting the car exhaust fixed and then being able to hear all kinds of previously unnoticed cabin noises.
More to discover