There are 4 types of speakers.
One that measure good and sound good. Very easy to evaluate....case closed.
One that measure bad and sound bad.... same thing here...case closed.
Then you have those that measure good and sound bad or measure bad and sound good.
Those are interesting to investigate and find out what is going on.
This speaker is falling into the last group and hence my quest for an answer. If we find the answer we learn and grow to understand things better.
Many talk about the port tuning and EQ-ing.
Can we dissect that?
1 EQ the bass bump.
Amir said it was too strong. When closing the port he said there was not enough bass hence his solution to EQ it.
But :
- this speaker doesnt have baffle step compensation and to provide sufficent and balanced bass output it should be placed close to the wall.
Did Amir listen to this speaker with closed port and close to the back wall?
It would have the sealed box slope and lift from the wall re-inforcement below 100Hz.
2 EQ at 700Hz.
What is the idea here? Killing the resonance at that frequency?
If so, as show in the graph below and like someone here already pointed out, the resonance comes from the port/woofer. If the port is closed this issue will be solved as well. (if this is the reason why amir EQ it....if its something else....)
3 EQ 5Khz
Amir mention something about the schowroom brightness.
Is he trying to solve that with this EQ setting?
If so, there is also an other route....Wilson provides resistors to adjust the tweeter level.
Only Amir can confirm what his listening conditions was and what problems he want to solve with the EQing.
But if it is match the situation like I mention here, then we can have a good sounding speaker without EQing.
Just my point is, there are blanks that we dont know to make a proper evaluation and that in my book is enough not to condemn a speaker.
No, this speaker
is not falling in the last group (
measure bad, sound good). They measured
bad - for the asking price of $10,000. Full stop!
But, if we aren't looking at the price, they measured
very good, except for frequencies below 200Hz - where they are
bad. How can we describe its quality (objective measurements only!), when it measures very good in the majority of the spectrum, but bad in the bass? Here your simplistic approach fails. How much is one
bad plus one
very good?
How they sound? You guessed it (or not) -
very good (not excellent!) above 200Hz and
bad below 200Hz! And, on the end, what is the final verdict - are they good or bad sounding? Here your simplistic approach fails, again.
So, are they measures bad and sounds good? We have to look at the price, to give the right answer!
The final verdict:
Wilson Audio Tune Tot measures bad and sounds bad, because for $10,000 there are plenty of other loudspeakers which have much better measurements in
every technical aspect and have much better sound quality.
If
you EQ Tune Tot, it will measure very good (not excellent!) and sound very good, except there is no dip bass to speak of – but for $10.000 I expect to measure excellent and sound excellent, with plenty of deep bass.
1. No. Amir EQed the bass
not because it was not enough of it, but because there was
too much of it at 115Hz (that huge peak)! Look at the parametric equalizer setting, band 1: - 6dB at 115Hz.
Minus 6 dB!
Amir
did listen to this speaker with closed port. And no, listening close to the back wall
will not help plummeting frequency response below 80Hz. But it will help the bass between 200Hz and 600Hz.
2. EQ is on 800Hz, not on 700Hz – see the the parametric equalizer setting, band 2: 800Hz, - 2dB, Q=2. The idea is
not killing the resonace at 700Hz - it is in the very narrow frequency band centered about there, but to keep down
wide hump between 600Hz and 1200Hz. Because the hump is relatively wide, Q has to be small, and it is: Q=2.
3. Yes, Amir successfully solved brightness around 5kHz with EQ setting. And no, resistors will
not help here. Different value resistor will bring down
the whole tweeter band (more or less) from 2kHz to 20kHz – and we don’t want to bring down the output above 10kHz, but only from 3kHz to 8kHz.
As you can see, we don’t need Amir to explain what problems he wanted to solve with EQing – all knowledgeable DIY audio enthusiasts already realized what Amir did, there is no need for more explanation from Amir.
And no, we can
not have a good sounding Tune Tot
without EQ.
Maybe You have blanks and don’t know how to make a proper evaluation, but there are members here who
do know how to make a proper evaluation and to "condemn" this speaker - rightfully.
