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Gone are the days of the great audition.

Only a short while back we could go to multiple audio rooms in a town just around the corner and listen to all the styles and brands of speakers you wanted. Now of course, only the bargain speakers are available for audition at that yellow sign store and unless you are very lucky the exact model you are looking for isn't reachable for an hour or two drive, if that. I'm certain from the desperation in some the posts in this very forum, that people have purchased things solely on word of mouth or even just specs and looks. Dark ages of getting what you want and yet so much more available. There is so much reviewing and so little listening going on. I live in the DC metro and wanted to look for some towers in the 2k range. The two places I went only had a couple of towers in that range and I'm just not doing the yellow sign place. What do you do?
jmacinnis
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,314 posts
 
"One caution: the GoldenEars are low enough in cost that many dealers pair them with mass market receivers for demos, in which case you will be underwhelmed as the Tritons will amply reveal the receiver's shortcomings."

That's a good point. I think it is not uncommon for less expensive speakers to sound underwhelming due to more common use with other less expensive gear, particularly amps, rather than because they themselves are in fact "underwhelming".

A lot of speakers from even 30 years ago run off "underbuilt" Japanese receivers of the day sounded a lot better with top notch amplification behind them.
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
^^^
Mapman, it's definitely true in general, but even more true with the Tritons because their ribbon tweeter and 20Khz response midrange are particularly revealing of upstream electronics while their low price invites the use of sub-par electronics. One lower-cost amp that *would* be a good match is the Marantz PM8004 integrated amp. That's a $999 unit that sounds more like something in the $2.5 to 4K range.

Your point is well taken. For a long time I powered my ADS L1090s with a Vector Research receiver (built by NEC). Then one day I auditioned a VSP Labs TransMOS Gold Edition 200wpc high current power amp in my house, powering the L1090s. The difference was stunning and at that point I said to myself, "no way is this amp leaving the house."
jmacinnis OP
16 posts
 
So what type speakers would be "unfriendly" with a 40-60 watt tube amp then? Sensitivity below x???
david12
1,454 posts
 
There is a new model developing. HiFi seems to be becoming more of a cottage industry, with one man operations selling direct. They often offer home demo's with owners of the speakers. I have Daedalus speakers and Lou Hinkley offers that to potential buyers.

I would find this more useful anyway, you feel less under pressure than in a shop, where time is money, you can listen in a home setting and speak to an owner who has long term experience with a product
rocker9999
28 posts
 
Would you travel and pay an "audition fee" at an audition house? Perhaps allowing you to compare 16 different speakers exclusively from on line retailers?
You don't buy them at the audition house, you just go there to pay for the capability of personal comparison and listening pleasure. How about that?
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