Speaker appearance verses musicality.


Every one of the hi end speakers has a great finish on the outside. Some like a car finish others like fine furniture stains. There are some beautiful speakers out there but at what cost to the quality of sound? To approach the very best attainable sound shouldnt the speakers be covered with acoustic dampning material? Maybe so you could take it off in pieces to tailor your sound. DJ speakers and car subwoofers are covered. One reason maybe it wont show scratches like wood. Has anyone ever tried enveloping their whole speaker except for the drivers? I have a top firing speaker with 3 drivers on top and I cut out some auto acoustic damping material for the top and it smoothed out the sound along with a pair of Grado earphone replacement pads attacthed to my front firing tweeters. I attached them with double sided tape. Looks nice except my front grill wont fit. The top grill fits. Clarity of bells and cymbels was enhanced. Here is my point. Or question. Has anyone wrapped their whole speaker in acoustic carpeting or foam. OK I know it might sound ridiculus. But shouldnt room tuning start with the speakers? How much impact would a dampened speaker have? Ive only tried a little of the way. Anybody done their whole speaker and what results did they get? Not many people would chance ruining their finish or resale price. I guess it would be room dependent on how much you would get out of it. Oh, that tweeter tweek was in Stereophile several months ago. The writer puts foam around his tweeters and he said manufactures are reluctant to do so because of attractiveness. He believed in that tweek. I do know Signet speakers had foam cut out like a star around their tweeters. B&W places their tweeter on top away from the encloser! Mike
128x128blueranger
Sonus Faber "GUARNERI" Vs Shindo "604"

Take a look ... and then ... feed them with your favorit track

And after this quick session, ask your self :
How on Earth this ugly washing machine (Shindo) can be the love of my life?

Yes we feel free to admire the beauty in every form, (even on a cable) & especially at the most visible of our components....our speakers.
But at the time that we were going to choose for a thing to live with it on every day basis, it is not our decorative needs that wins at last !
After all the price of admision for a "hi-end" speaker is comparable to an antique object of art of a much higher beauty factor & "pride of ownership" so, no matter how we are lusting over the "Guarneri", it is our hearing that beats it's sexy sight !
Therefore it is my belief that we own to ourself to avoid the spider's web & give a chance to the honest but ugly.
You will never know until you hear it !!!

(I use the Guarneri as an example of beauty so, please do not take my words for granted until you hear it too.)
GEoch,

That's a good comparison!

I'm sure I'd pick the more substantial Shindo's if I could afford them all other things aside, especially with the field coil drivers, and in a suitable larger room.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
Ok...I'll say it:

My guess is that, for the most part, sound quality is at best 50% of the buyer's decision. This hobby is not purely about aesthetics.
Some of the worlds best performing speakers do not have a fancy appearance. Magnepans, Vandersteens, plain flat black Merlins, Green Mountains are just a few that come to mind. All capable of amazing performance, but cosmetically bland.

I owned some stunning speakers that pleased the wife visually but never made the music magic. They were sold at a loss to buy the cosmetically bland.

Here is the best analogy, the EX-wife was stunning and gorgeous on the outside, but overloaded easily, spewed distortion, eventually wound up with a bloated midrange and despised the hifi music hobby!

Stick with performance and what's on the inside for true happiness!