PCMusic
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- Mar 19, 2021
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During speaker audition I agree with Keith that it's the best to do a home loan, and then you have the knowhow to put the speakers at the 'best' and the least compromised positions in your home. Only can you do this you could know how it could truly deliver in your home.
But there are several points here:
1. 'Knowhow' - speaker placement is largely science, and a bit of art. The goal is to find where with reference to your free/fixed listening position the speaker really 'sings the best' with your room. Scientifically it always means least distorted FR, least standing waves and bass nodes and valleys, and so on. There's also an subjective side - what music you like, how much live you want your room to be for different music (art).
There are different approaches to speaker placements, but at the end it's also a practice which needs experience.
Some friends I know seldom experiment speaker placement. Some even go to a hifi shop and listen to a speaker models at a position pre-arranged by the dealers. When they come back saying - the speakers are no good. I know they probably are not listening to the best those speakers could perform.
Other weird way of evaluating speakers include placing them side by side ...
2. If you could borrow and place at home - but do you have free speaker placement and listening positioning? If no, you are at your best judge the speakers from the best compromised locations (if you know how to achieve it) at your home. In fact, this is the situations of many people who need to incorporate domestic needs with hifi hobby. Nothing to be ashamed of. But this fact at least for me mean two things.
1. Don't hastily generalize our experiences of the compromised positions to a general evaluation of the speakers.
2. If it doesn't work in our room, it may perform well in other rooms (different sizes, room treatment, positioning etc).
As in the place I live, home load is not a common practice. This is the only thing I could do:
1. look for the possibility of listening to the speakers in a room size with acoustics similar to mine (if not, note their room treatment and take this into account)
2. regardless of whether you could do point no. 1 - insist you could move the speakers with your knowhow of achieving the best room-speaker synergy. If one is not experienced in speaker placements, s/he may misjudge the speakers' performance as the dealers may not have positioned them in the best positions.
Of course, if your dealer is very knowledgeable, you may save your work here.
But in my experience of auditioning 8c, I moved speakers several times, and the performance varies a LOT (I am testing it in freestanding mode). 8c could reduce the need for room treatment, but still subject to speaker placement rules (esp in freestanding mode). The relative distances between the speakers, speaker-sidewalls-and-front walls, also make noticeable difference.
After all, I don't look for the best speakers, I just look for the speakers whose design could minimize my own room problems (and suits my music taste).
Sorry I am a bit tired of 8c is better than Genelec, which is better than Grimm, which is better than Kii, and Kii is better than 8c kind of debate
But there are several points here:
1. 'Knowhow' - speaker placement is largely science, and a bit of art. The goal is to find where with reference to your free/fixed listening position the speaker really 'sings the best' with your room. Scientifically it always means least distorted FR, least standing waves and bass nodes and valleys, and so on. There's also an subjective side - what music you like, how much live you want your room to be for different music (art).
There are different approaches to speaker placements, but at the end it's also a practice which needs experience.
Some friends I know seldom experiment speaker placement. Some even go to a hifi shop and listen to a speaker models at a position pre-arranged by the dealers. When they come back saying - the speakers are no good. I know they probably are not listening to the best those speakers could perform.
Other weird way of evaluating speakers include placing them side by side ...
2. If you could borrow and place at home - but do you have free speaker placement and listening positioning? If no, you are at your best judge the speakers from the best compromised locations (if you know how to achieve it) at your home. In fact, this is the situations of many people who need to incorporate domestic needs with hifi hobby. Nothing to be ashamed of. But this fact at least for me mean two things.
1. Don't hastily generalize our experiences of the compromised positions to a general evaluation of the speakers.
2. If it doesn't work in our room, it may perform well in other rooms (different sizes, room treatment, positioning etc).
As in the place I live, home load is not a common practice. This is the only thing I could do:
1. look for the possibility of listening to the speakers in a room size with acoustics similar to mine (if not, note their room treatment and take this into account)
2. regardless of whether you could do point no. 1 - insist you could move the speakers with your knowhow of achieving the best room-speaker synergy. If one is not experienced in speaker placements, s/he may misjudge the speakers' performance as the dealers may not have positioned them in the best positions.
Of course, if your dealer is very knowledgeable, you may save your work here.
But in my experience of auditioning 8c, I moved speakers several times, and the performance varies a LOT (I am testing it in freestanding mode). 8c could reduce the need for room treatment, but still subject to speaker placement rules (esp in freestanding mode). The relative distances between the speakers, speaker-sidewalls-and-front walls, also make noticeable difference.
After all, I don't look for the best speakers, I just look for the speakers whose design could minimize my own room problems (and suits my music taste).
Sorry I am a bit tired of 8c is better than Genelec, which is better than Grimm, which is better than Kii, and Kii is better than 8c kind of debate
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