Expensive loudspeakers that sound bad

[Soniclife]

Yes. That's why when I said: "I did review an "old one" in 2005: https://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/998pmc/index.html," the term "old one" referred to a different model.

Ah, my use of old one referred to the original fact 8, so that confused me.

 

[steve59]

I want to be Kal's neighbor.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I want to be Kal's neighbor.

I am OK with that.

 

[andreasmaaan]

All Voxativ loudspeakers I have heard till now in Audio shows (by the way, not even me, but even the usual old audiophools at those shows who usually praise everything weird sounding stood up after few minutes and left the room as they sounded so weird), here some measurements of their 88000€(!) single driver top models which even got the highest ever points (!!!) in the German magazine AUDIO

View attachment 56966
(Source: the PDF of above test used to be online on their website)

And here some Stereophile measurements of another models of theirs

View attachment 56967
(Source: https://www.stereophile.com/content/voxativ-ampeggio-loudspeaker-measurements )

Wow, these things are nuts:

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

I question some of the opinions offered here. While low end B&W speakers are excessively bright, the 800 series is widely used in the recording industry. Goldenear speakers have an un-fan club here. They have been widely applauded and that includes sites which do measurements. The tweeter goes crazy at very high frequencies, but anyone older than 50 can't hear that. Wilson's I wonder about. They don't measure flat and the big ones are ugly as sin. The only chance I had to listen to an Alexx was with electronic dance music which is not a good test. Again, many professional reviewers love them.

Either there is a bad case of emperor's clothes out there, or a bunch of haters here. Take your choice.

Ron. I choose Henry VIII

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

i always thought GoldenEar speakers were weird. then i listened to two interviews by the owner Sandy Gross on youtube. he has no idea how a speaker works acoustically. go check it out.

Wow. See what you mean

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

I'm tired of boutiques I'm too old I'm sticking with Harman

 

[adm]

I have not listened to many expensive speakers but a year or so ago, I heard a demo of the Focal Maestro Utopia. I would not say they sounded "bad" but they were just underwhelming for the approximately $60,000 price. A speaker is going to have to really knock my socks off to make me want to spend $60,000 and that is if I just won the lottery. Part of the problem may have been that the electronics they used with them were just not a good match. The dealer also sells Moon, which is French-Canadian, and someone thought it was cute to have a French/French-Canadian connection. This was a bad choice, since the overall effect was icy cold. I have always found most Canadian (French or otherwise) amps to be rather cold and analytical, which is perhaps a reflection of the climate. Focal speakers do best with warmer electronics. I have liked some of the less expensive Focal speakers I have heard. They measure surprisingly well and are a good value. I recently heard a much less expensive pair of Focal speakers paired with NAD electronics and was favorably impressed.

 

[Koeitje]

https://www.stereophile.com/content/pmc-fact8-signature-loudspeaker-measurements

This is what $12k/pair buys you at PMC. Definitively not the worst, but for the money you should expect better.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

https://www.stereophile.com/content/pmc-fact8-signature-loudspeaker-measurements

This is what $12k/pair buys you at PMC. Definitively not the worst, but for the money you should expect better.

And this is the $2k/pair that I compared it to:

 

[Ron Texas]

Perhaps this says it all:

"The PMC fact.8 signature's measurements do correlate with the sonic character Kal reported, I feel.—John Atkinson"

 

[Alexanderc]

Regarding people's comments about Focal, I heard a pair of Focal Kantas (no. 3 I think) at the Tampa show in February and thought they sounded pretty good--not overly bright for sure, although I expect they wouldn't measure perfectly flat either. This is the only pair of Focal speakers I've ever heard so I have no reason to doubt anyone's observations, just saying that this particular pair didn't seem extra bright.

I've heard lots of Goldenear Triton speakers (5, 2+, 1, 1.R, and Ref) at various times, locations, setups, and with familiar music...I don't have a problem with them and I can certainly see why people would like them so much. They sound pretty natural to me. The top octave in all the graphs looks terrible, but, although I can hear up to 15-16 kHz, I can't differentiate the rough top octave when listening to music--maybe I could with test tones or something.

Expensive speakers that I thought were disappointing include: Muraudio SP1, two sets of Martin Logans including a pair of Neoliths, and Von Schweikert Ultra 11 (I did like the Ultra 55 though). I'm willing to believe it's because they were in hotel rooms, not set up properly, or because of my seating location. For example, I thought the Spendor A7s at the 2020 Tampa show sounded atrocious, but I thought the same speakers at the 2019 show sounded excellent.

 

[LightninBoy]

https://www.stereophile.com/content/pmc-fact8-signature-loudspeaker-measurements

This is what $12k/pair buys you at PMC. Definitively not the worst, but for the money you should expect better.

They ain't much to look at either.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

They ain't much to look at either.

Really? I think they look snazzy.

 

[Frank Dernie]

Seeing the measurements, one wonders why PMC monitors seem to enjoy an exalted status among popular music recording and mastering engineers. (One doesn't often see them used by engineers of classical recordings.)

I haven't liked any PMC I heard, though I haven't heard the big monitors with dome mid range units.
The Fact range were at my local dealer. They looked lovely but were not to my taste and astonishingly insensitive.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I haven't liked any PMC I heard, though I haven't heard the big monitors with dome mid range units.

I have. https://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/998pmc

 

[Frank Dernie]

I have. https://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/998pmc

I am a fan of most speakers with the mid-dome I have heard, I own old ProAc EBS and Yamaha NS1000M.
I re-read your review of the Fact 8 and noted your comment about needing a higher level from the amp, which I had noticed too at my dealers. JA measurement showed the 1kHz sensitivity of 88.5, just shows how important the 100-500Hz band is, that is where it increasingly seems to me the most important part of classical music seems to lie.
Having a FFT display on the phone makes looking at this so easy!

 

[LightninBoy]

Really? I think they look snazzy.

If I had the black ones in my living room, I'm afraid I'd club someone with a pig bone ...

 

[Kal Rubinson]

If I had the black ones in my living room, I'm afraid I'd club someone with a pig bone ...

They are not black. They are "graphite" and present as varying shades of silvery grey depending on lighting and perspective. The picture is not representative of the actual appearance.

 

[alanca3]

All of the "Heritage" Klipsch loudspeakers are ear-gougers to me* -- although the K-horns were (are) OK.
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* Full disclosure: I owned, and used, a pair of 1974-vintage Cornwalls for a full decade.

Hahaha that's relatable. I use a pair of Klipsch Heresy I in my main setup. It is not a great loudspeaker, but I can't help but love it still.