Speaker Preferences?

at the risk of being labelled an elitist, why is speaker selection so critical if recordings feature mainly amplified instruments ?

Hang on...acoustic instruments all sound different too!

How can you judge what is real timbre anymore than with amplified music?

Sabian, for example, hand make cymbals...each one probably sounds different.

Sir Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music had period instruments copied/rebuilt so they could replicate the timbre of the day.

Pavorotti caried throat lozenges in his pocket handkerchief that he used to wipe his brow..surely that affected the sound outcome too

Perhaps the quickest/easiest test for timbre are male and female vocals so may be you have a point about unamplified... but even this is not perfect (I'll grant you that at least we are all skilled at recognizing voices)

So how to decide, for me it is easy. I tend to trust others who have ample opportunity for direct comparisons to "real" sounds.

My rsuggestion would be to audition a pro main monitor that studios use to impress clients with. If clients can be impressed by listening to themselves in a studio (just after a recording session) then the speaker/system must be doing something right in terms of accuracy. There are many speakers to choose from in this category and most are very good over a wide range of music. Although even in this case, microphone selection and placement can do a lot to influence the sound. One Nashville studio claims to have $1 Million invested in microphones alone...go figure!

Or like J. Gordon Holt...he selected a speaker that made his own recordings sound the most like the live event itself.

At the end of the day, I'd suggest that all sounds (amplified or not) must be all weighed and accounted for in the speaker selection. However, something like Sheffield Drum Track is a good starting point; great eliminator disc, as most systems fail that one altogether, and if a speaker can't do transients convincingly then how can any system connected to it begin to even hope to get timbre right...

So my quick check would be Sheffield Drum track followed by all kinds of vocals, and then loads of different instruments.

Shredder,

I will look into the Aerial 9s... if you were impressed with them and you had ML background, it may be something I'd like to audition. Just for kicks. And if they are truly better, well... que sera sera... this is life.

Joey

Joey. Don't get me wrong, I love MLs. If I had a bigger room, I would probably still have them.

I am pretty happy with the Aerials though. Definitely worth a listen.

If a speaker's finicky positioning scares you, then don't get it. There's a lot of other brands out there.

You bet it does, and that is why I said "Those seem like even greater reasons to stay away from that speaker line to me...."

Why do I want to waste years hoping I've finally got it right, yet never knowing if I did? That kind of situation just bothers me, and I WILL obsess over it. For me it is very simple... Rives Audio designed my room and gave a central location that would work best for the speakers, then my Wilson dealer came out and found the voicing did actually fall within those areas suggested by Rives Audio. I've even measured the speakers in and around those positions and I'm happy to say that the dealer and Rives Audio nailed it!

I have no idea who sets them up better. The point is, if it takes that much work to set them up, and no one is qualified until they've spent a year with it (like you have), why would I care to torture myself?!?

The Wilsons are not hard to set up, I learned the voicing technique partially before the dealer arrived, and the rest after he got there. I needed help with learning to hear the "swimming voice" sound once you get too far from the closer wall boundary and start getting feedback from the opposite wall. My friend and I found the same relative area as the dealer on our own using the WASP technique. The dealer was actually pretty surprised that we managed to locate the general area on our own. There are actually acoustical correspondances between the areas where the ceiling soffits end and the tray ceiling begins (basically where the greater room volume begins and the smaller part of the room opens up) that correspond with the zone of neutrality. It was a cool experience, because it taught me something about how acoustical space anomalies can correspond to "localization" and "focus."

JKalman,

If I had the money to get a Rives room, it would be much easier to set these up.

It's all about how you approach it, if you find tweaking is a negative, then don't tweak it. You wont get the best sound out of an ML because there is SO MUCH potential there. If you're the type of guy who just leaves well enough alone, not only is ML not ideal for you, but perhaps hi-end audio in general.

Most change components, move things around, add a few room treatments here and there.... I don't know of any audiophile who just leaves it as is from the getgo.

All I'm saying is that there is more than meets the eye with these MLs, and most dealers (not all) are not setting these up right because of lack of dealer training and lack of care. Whether or not you care to "torture" yourself with it is your prerogative, that's not the moral of the story. Now that I've lived with mine for a year, it takes me not any longer than setting up any other speaker... I know what I like and I know how to make my Summits sound good in terms of positioning. Much akin to you and your WP8, I bet you have more insight into how to set up your speakers in a new room if you had to move... moreso than when you first got them.

So please, dont start with the ?!?... I've been on your side on a lot of things, J.

Joey