Powered speakers show audiophiles are confused

@secretguy

For the price of $100K+ I would rather have a matched 7.1.4 system of bryston active speakers with bespoke amps of my choice than a pair of Sonus Fabers and a pair of Macintosh/Audio Research monoblocks, YMMV.

The Bryston Active Mini-T’s aren’t any where near six figures and this is for the entire system and the size makes them ideal for a MCH setup.:

The speakers boast a nearly perfect neutral sonic perspective and this, along with the aforementioned incredible revealing attribute serves to place a well recorded small assemble slightly in front of the system, thus producing a striking ”live” illusion, but without any of the hardness and in-your-face elements, often experienced in systems that project the sound forward.

I found that there is little, if any, way to improve the performance.

http://innerearmag.com/reviews/speakers/Audio_Observer_Bryston_Active_System.shtml

@mastering92 You're right ugly is not the right word, and you're right in your description and importance of the brand. I've spent millions on pro sound equipment and lived in LA doing the highest pressure productions on the planet. Now I'm retired and live in Idaho in a beautiful home next to a lake. I'm not watching movies or music for technical gaffs or evaluation I just want to enjoy. I've got an atoms mixing system that I'm about to do some projects on. That system is utility the speakers aren't beautiful (Genelec "the ones" ) but it sound really good and surprises me every time I turn it on.

@kota1 I haven't listened to the video yet I will and thank you. You are a never ending fountain of information. But this picture above is really bad, any speaker in that room will sound bad without exception, you couldn't make a good recording in that room you also can't listen well in that room. Looks more like a commercial set up without cables in a right angle echo chamber. Bryston is a good company this picture is embarrassing for them.

I've literally shot movie and TV productions in rooms that looked like this and told the producers if you let xxxxx actor walk in this room they will be insulted because you can't hear anything and the recording will be awful, this is what happens when a young art director doesn't think it through.

Canadiens are good at speakers (Paradigm/Bryston) , they got get their marketing guys from NYC in the future.

@kota1 On the video did you catch how they didn't listen to symmetrical speakers in the PMC / Capitol video. I haven't come to any conclusions yet but working with object based information means you are creating images between the speakers, so if you are in a completely symmetrical listening position the images can't have much depth. Consistently the best Atmos mixes I've heard and seen on ProTools meters have been mixes that sound good in stereo and the other speakers add depth in back, with some little silly instrument gimmicks that are used on side speakers just because they can. Movies are much further ahead in surround mixing than music because your brain understands the images coming at above and around you where in music everything is backwards if you are hearing the band from the side and behind. discipline is the winning and boring answer, setting up surround music mixes is disturbing to your brain because you are never in an understood environment. Eventually surround music may become a genera unto its self and become just fun but people won't have real connection to the music unless some standards are made fairly soon.