What if a high end speaker measures really badly?
You know, it's true that I feel listening is more important than measurements and that it's generally difficult to really tie together measurements with pleasure. Below 0.05% THD do I care? No I do not. I really don't care. The number tells me nothing about whether I'd like the amp more or not anymore.
In this one memorable review for the Alta Audio Adam speaker, I really felt shivers go up my spine when I looked at the measurements, especially at ~$20kUSD. This looks like an absolute hot mess. Does it sound this bad though? I certainly don't have the $20K to test that out myself. What do you all think?
In high-end industry crowded by unaware and uneducated rich kids of baby boomers you can take different approaches. 1) Design Measure Build and Measure again then present and advertise 2) Build Present and Advertise -- provide unmeasured good looking parameters. Measuring per specific room is important. That gives a consumer an idea if these speakers will match his/her room.
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Yes, exactly. With a little experience, and a lot of misspent money/youth you’ll realize how extra-sexy speakers which reveal sounds you’ve never heard before, won’t actually last long in your listening room. Oddly, where these speakers do measure well is in the horizontal dispersion. I’d expect they have an excellent and wide sweet spot, though not a very tall one. |
This is an area where I think Vandersteen does it exactly right. Uses an active woofer with built in EQ and a low pass filter for the amps. In hotel rooms this delivered exceptional bass in a tiny room. |
@deep_333 illustrates the deep, deep chasm between DIY builders and kit makers, modders vs. the high end industry writ large. "How can a speaker maker offer such poor performance for so much money" they ask, and sometimes I have trouble defending some models. |
Be careful @erik_squires. Another Eric may sue you for posting about measurements. Oh, wait, wrong choice of words. He may "litigate"... |
