Dealers and exaggerated treble

kenjit

i immediately heard and pointed out that the speakers were wired out of phase. He then corrected the mistake. I was shocked at how this could have happened. Either deliberate, or a mistake. Either way its deplorable.

It’s "deplorable" to make a mistake?
Have you ever made a mistake?
To err is human.

yes deplorable to set up a pair of high end speakers without listening to them and positioning them and noticing that theyre out of phase. The guy didnt even notice until I told him. Either that or it was deliberate

kenjit"yes deplorable to set up a pair of high end speakers without listening to them and positioning them and noticing that theyre out of phase."

I fully agree with this assessment, evaluation, and conclusion and it is a reflection, indication, and example that this "dealer" is not qualified, diligent, or capable and you were justified and correct to bring to his attention his derelict attention to simple matters of setup. "cleeds" defense of this practice reveals him to be the ignorant, opinionated, and misinformed contributor that he regularly demonstrates.

I've gone to two audio shows in the last 2 years (AXPONA, Tampa) and I've been surprised at the overall quality of the sound. I think they might try harder because you've got manufacturer reps on site who spend time tweaking and refining their setups. If someone is interested in buying speakers I recommend attending a major show. Not only can you likely hear the speakers you have in mind, you can also year many others that have a range of qualities. Plus you can hear several expensive state of the art systems to get an idea of what $250,000+ buys.

Many years ago I was comparing a couple different speakers at a dealer and I immediately noticed that one pair was out of phase. I pointed this out and the salesman gave me the stink eye and walked out of the room. Today I'm very interested to read that I'm not the only one who's noticed out of phase speakers in a dealer's showroom.

Erik: it's not just the dealers.  Perhaps it's not even primarily the dealers.  It's the makers.  A healthy percentage of new speakers today are voiced hotter/brighter than many of yesteryear.  The Thiels were always that way, so it's not exclusively a recent trend, just one that is more pervasive these days (I speak as a former owner of 3.6).  Whether this is closer to a quasi-objective norm of accuracy or not, is a matter of debate.  To you, me and others what is not up for debate is that they are not pleasant to listen to, especially for extended periods of time.