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Dealers and exaggerated treble

I've been thinking about some negative experiences I've had at dealers over the past few years. I don't mean the dealer's were unpleasant, they were not. I mean that I heard bad sound.


In a lot of those cases, the treble was exaggerated, or harsh to me.


I'm wondering, have you ever heard really bad treble at a dealer, but then you hear the speakers elsewhere and they seem fine?
erik_squires
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,318 posts
 
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.
birdfan's avatar
birdfan
175 posts
 
I stopped by my local shop some months ago to give a listen to the new Paradigm Persona flagships. I was met and struck with a strident and offensive top end. Being driven with a tube integrated this should not have been an issue. The issue as I found out several weeks later, was the extended break in period for these speakers which have a beryllium tweets. My Second listen was better but still grating. The third listen was almost 6 weeks after my first. They were adequately broken in. I imagine a lot of tweets made of beryllium have this issue. 

In terms of Thiel speakers, I love their imaging and time coherent approach top speaker design, but yeah the top end can be harsh. I think the metal dome tweets could have been better rendered./designed.  
kenjit
1,771 posts
 
The issue as I found out several weeks later, was the extended break in period for these speakers which have a beryllium tweets
you sure it wasn't the mains cable? That can make the sound pretty bright. 
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
8th note 1+    I think it is nice to see the extent of the market and at least be able to have a good look at the equipment particularly speakers to get an idea of how well they are built even if show conditions do not allow you to hear the equipment at its best. 
The best dealers have multiple showrooms set up to optimize certain equipment. Serious listening is always by appointment and it always helps if you drive up in a Porsche. A good shop owner will not try to sell anything but just answer questions and allow you to listen. This approach is usually limited to the best equipment. Once you get down to mid fi you will get more of the standard approach and the shop owner's assistant. My own motto is never let anybody sell you anything. Know what you want and evaluate equipment yourself in terms of sound and build quality. 
bigkidz
3,390 posts
 

Interesting enough all the comments.  Personally I have found that most demonstrations are using servers to access music.  I have not found that many that to my ears sounded as good as a good transport and DAC like a CEC, Metronome, Audiomeca transport.  I am trying to get there myself but nothing that really does what these transports do.  So to me that is one cause of the treble issue.


I recently heard a ProAc monitor and a Vandersteen monitor.  At first, the Vandersteen sounded slow and not to involving.  The ProAC seemed livelier, faster and more open.  The Vandersteen had a more musical sound with better decay of notes and to me hearing piano notes fade away is the correct sound.  It was more spacious sounding also.  But the jump factor with the ProACs was fun.  It was during this comparison that I remember thinking the ProAC tweeter was a little tilted up in the frequency offering the fun factor.  Exciting but maybe over time not correct and long term listening could be an issue.  I wanted to have both but that was not an option.

Living in the NYC area, I get to hear so many systems.  I am able to understand more of what causes the poor sound from these experiences.  I find the issue mostly is coming form the source than the speakers.  I usually bring a DHT DAC with me so that I can hear what it does in these systems.  Usually within the first 30 seconds everyone hears the differences for the better.

So to me it is not as much the speakers or the set-up as it is the source feeding the system the sound most of the time.

Happy Listening. 




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