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Blindfold Speaker testing

So if we made a  experiment where a  group of seasoned audiophiles had to choose  which speaker is best over all, 
6 brands all hidden behinda  curtain.
5 top dawgs in the xover box low sens design and 1 of the high sens PS design. How do you think the results will come out?
But we will not tell the group what speakers are behind the curtains, They will have no idea 1 of the speakers is Point Source. 
How do you think the, or lets say which 1 speaker do you think would come out on top?
No lets do this, Lets give the  group a  list of 5 speaker brands, Walsh, Wilson, Tannoy, and 2 others which are very popular, like Joseph with the Seas. 
and 1 more,
The mystery speaker is not listed, so they have no idea what speaker it is.
The ? speaker is the high sens Point Source.
Now Richard Gray hosts this *guess which speaker event* as he is a  master of these types of gimmicks and  has seasoned audiophiles fooled every single time.
Which speaker do you think will make top of the list in results??
I know.
The Mystery Speaker.
Then Richard pulls the curtain and reveals the winner.
 SURPRISEE
Got ya
The Hifi Guy


mozartfan
larry5729's avatar
larry5729
1,009 posts
 
What is wrong with his question?  All you need to do is blind fold the listener and remove the curtain.  This would be a great experiment.
luxmancl38
580 posts
 
A real waste of time. Is the room the right size for all these speakers to perform properly. Each pair of speakers will need to be set up properly. An example Klipsch K-Horns need to be in the corners. Speakers are all flawed and need special attention on how to display them. What needs to be done is to have one pair of speakers at a time properly setup and then make the evaluation. Lining them up behind a curtain side by side is a dumb idea. By the way who the hell is Richard Gray. He needs to get a life.
oldaudiophile
326 posts
 
Mozartfan, I love the idea!  My understanding is that Revel does something similar at their headquarters in California.  However, I would recommend the following:  ditch the curtain idea and actually blindfold all of the seasoned audiophile judges involved; have them all submit to audiological testing to control for hearing acuity; control for the sweet spot and vary that to test for off-axis performance of all of the speakers involved and hire a pit crew that can change those speakers out as fast as an Indianapolis 500 pit crew can change tires on those Indy cars.  That would offer a bit better control or objectivity.  However, there is still the factor of controlling for best component matching and room acoustics variables.  The only way I can think of, of going about something like that would be to do all of the above and, then, put the judges on some sort of moveable floor that can be transported from optimized system & room to another.  Now, how would you control for individual music preferences?  Different strokes for different folks.  Variety is the spice of life!
cd318
2,636 posts
 
This might end up getting filed under ’Audiophiles and their fear of the blind listening test.’

Somehow a gossamer thin curtain, or a blindfold, or even turning off the lights seems to induce a sense of mild panic amongst certain folk that has them running for more substantial cover.

Cognitive dissonance?

Surely anyone that goes to a dealer to audition a loudspeaker could only benefit from having to having to rely entirely upon their ears?

Why are the eyes such an important crutch to some when judging sonics?

Why are some of us so frightened of the OPs interesting challenge?

This is no pushover test, there’s some seriously big hitters amongst the contenders suggested ("Walsh, Wilson, Tannoy, and 2 others which are very popular, like Joseph with the Seas and 1 more")

So are Voxativ drivers really that good?

Is Richard Gray a charlatan, or an iconoclast or even a dangerous threat?

If so, then to whom?

Why don’t we at least try to find out some of the answers?

Surely we may have nothing to lose here but our preconceptions?
oldaudiophile
326 posts
 
CD318, "Cognitive Dissonance"?  Really?  Do you even know what that really means or did you look that one up in your Thesaurus?  Is that where the CD handle comes from?  "Preconceptions"?

Lighten up, man!  This is supposed to be fun!  I've got absolutely nothing against blind-testing and I don't think most folks, including audiophiles, do.  I'd love to be able to do that sort of thing with audiophile components or just in general!  It would be fun and interesting to read about tests like this with all sorts of audiophile equipment.
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