What if a high end speaker measures really badly?
You know, it's true that I feel listening is more important than measurements and that it's generally difficult to really tie together measurements with pleasure. Below 0.05% THD do I care? No I do not. I really don't care. The number tells me nothing about whether I'd like the amp more or not anymore.
In this one memorable review for the Alta Audio Adam speaker, I really felt shivers go up my spine when I looked at the measurements, especially at ~$20kUSD. This looks like an absolute hot mess. Does it sound this bad though? I certainly don't have the $20K to test that out myself. What do you all think?
This is an area where I think Vandersteen does it exactly right. Uses an active woofer with built in EQ and a low pass filter for the amps. In hotel rooms this delivered exceptional bass in a tiny room. |
@deep_333 illustrates the deep, deep chasm between DIY builders and kit makers, modders vs. the high end industry writ large. "How can a speaker maker offer such poor performance for so much money" they ask, and sometimes I have trouble defending some models. |
Be careful @erik_squires. Another Eric may sue you for posting about measurements. Oh, wait, wrong choice of words. He may "litigate"... |
Question: when FR graph such as those above show the db level at, say, 1khz, does the measured response include any other frequencies - such as resonances introduced by the speaker? Also, I assume, the graphs alone do not reflect phase consistency between a fundamental and the harmonics typical in music, or differing decay rates for the fundamental vs harmonics. I believe these factors are critical for imaging and musical realism. |
As you may know, many guys on the diy forums (i have seen your name there as well) can do something better with the same parts than the guy asking 20k for this (facepalm)... This guy trying to make the easy cash did not deserve 20k in my books (no thanks). Every speaker i own above a certain price point is something i can't cook up on my own. It immediately disqualifies manufacturers purchasing 3rd party drivers and throwing them in a box for me. I tend to pay for things i can't do on my own.. Unless if it becomes too much of a time investment/hassle/screwups/etc at a low enough price, it begins to reek "Just buy the damn thing and get it over with!".
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