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Do my ears deceive me??

     The money is in the bank, thinking of upgrading speakers, but everything I demo is no better or worse than what I have.   Willing to spend up to $6,000.      Upgraditis??   My main system is Mcintosh MX 134 that I bought in 2003, with a pair of Focal 836v's and a Parasound 5250  (250w/channel) amp I bought around 2012.   I either blew the tweeters or crossover on my 836's, so they are in for repair.   Since I've owned them for 10 years, I was considering new speakers.    The blades are way more than I would spend, but I also demoed the Kef R11s, Martin Logan xtf 200's, Mcintosh XR 100s, and B&W 703 S3.   

       None of them sounded better than what I'm hearing right now from my BP 2006s.    Would I really need to demo them in my room to make a fair comparison??  Or are speakers just not much better than they were 20 years ago?   I know I love detail, and tend to lean towards aluminum tweeters.  I pretty much only listen to classic rock and roll.   Of all I demoed, I really like the B&W 706s.   They sounded much brighter/cleaner than the others.   But they had the reciever set up so I couldn't adjust the treble/bass.  I love a V equalizer curve, and bump up the bass and treble a bit on my home/car systems.   Maybe I just have the good luck of prefering cheaper speakers.   

 

  

fenderu2
curtdr
348 posts
 

btw, I have never had an equalizer help the sound of my speakers... I've tried numerous times.  At most, I've used the bass/treble control, and that quite subtly.  Select the speakers that can stand on their own and avoid the extra peripheral. 

curtdr
348 posts
 

btw, I have never had an equalizer help the sound of my speakers... I’ve tried numerous times. At most, I’ve used the bass/treble control, and that quite subtly. Select the speakers that can stand on their own and avoid the extra peripheral.

That said, the Concept 50 + SVS idea that I gave might be nice for you because the SVS does have an EQ function so you can smoothly bring up the bass a bit if you'd like, and if you want a bit more top end from the 50 just simply use your treble tone control.  That way, your only "peripheral" is your sub/app.  

erik_squires
16,369 posts
 

No manufacturer — and I mean ZERO— uses any EQ in their audio systems at high-end audio shows.

 

Ahem!

  • Vandersteen
  • Legacy
  • JL Audio

Just to name a few.

The use of an EQ is controversial in some ways because of how they were sold initially in the home and in some because users don’t really understand what to do with them.

The absolute best scenarios where I can point to tremendous gains is in clipping bass peaks and tuning a sub to have a descending FR from 16 Hz to 80 Hz.

The worst scenarios are when users try to "flatten" their speakers and end up using a horizontally flat curve.

Overall I’m with Floyd Toole, and believe that EQ’s should be used sparingly and precisely. If you attempt complete "room correction" what then is the point of picking out any particular brand of speaker over another?

unreceivedogma's avatar
unreceivedogma
1,000 posts
 

My speakers are 68 years old. 

I recone them every ten years. 

My ears never deceive me, but the brain that they are connected to often does. 

nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,909 posts
 

No manufacturer — and I mean ZERO— uses any EQ in their audio systems at high-end audio shows. Why do you think that is? If Magico, Wilson, Joseph Audio, Rockport, Vandersteen, Audio Research, etc. don’t ever use EQ at shows that they pay a boatload of $$$ to attend, what do you think you know that they don’t? Are you smarter than them? If the answer is no, you really gotta think about your whole system because something is clearly off. Or just keep polishing the turd with EQ.  Whatever makes you happy is all good.

That takes me back to when I posted about the tone controls on my Marantz and how they could help tame some brightness and got mostly bemused responses saying, "don't". That's when that sorely missed gentleman, Almarg, chimed in to prop me back up, explaining that it's best to leave them alone, out of the signal path, that it would do more harm than good. I miss him.

In support of @soix's remarks, I finally found that one must pay attention to the drivers and avoid the ones that don't perform well. Simple as that. Listen to them. There have been advances in speaker design (despite what some claim) that can put an end to the debate and you don't need to spend a fortune to get there.

Some are probably tired of me saying this but my Atalante 3 monitors go almost as deep and are cleaner and have better tone and detail than my much larger JBL 4319s. That's comparing a 7" driver to JBL's 12 ". 

The domed tweeter is proprietary as well with a coating of the makers own design. Nothing about these drivers are off the shelf, or modified. They are made in house and only for themselves. This tweeter goes higher, cleaner, has much more detail and ambience and never once have I winced, whereas with the JBLs, I'd be rushing for the remote.

The great part is, they're relatively cheap compared to what's out there, and that factor has many "audiophiles" passing on them, only to buy something more expensive and spend countless hours taming their system, looking for that bandage. 

All the best,
Nonoise

 

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