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Do not choose speakers by reading reviews

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dkinric

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I chose my new speakers exclusively by reading reviews. When I read Amir's review of them, in which he confirmed by ear the excellent measurements he posted, that was enough for me. I thought I was really happy with them too, but now I learn I may have made a mistake? Should I return them now? I'm so confused...
 

xaviescacs

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By what conditions, I mean what market conditions or corporate decisions, rather then their own criteria. I am sure Genelec must be great but they are designed for small studio mixing rooms. In other words, headphones at a near distance.
I mean imposed marketing conditions.
I don't think there isn't a single company that is not oriented to make money, so in all companies I'm aware off the business pragmatist guy is in charge, not the science idealist guy. IMHO, the difference is the target: Wilson Audio (to use some name) is targeted at people with a lot of budget that doesn't care about measurements and want to be impressed by the sound, and then the engineers try to achieve such product. Genelec's or Neumann's target is someone that with good numbers and maybe a recommendation by someone trustworthy can buy a pair without hearing them. And then there are a lot of companies in the middle. But I think it's more a company idiosyncrasy than a matter of the specific designer, that may not be a single person to begin with, don't you think?
 
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Chrispy

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The Absolute Sound made list of the best speaker designers of the last 50 years, a long list of four, beginning with Arnie Nudell.
How about something of better reputation than TAS?
 

thegeton

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I never knew that certain electronic engineers were worshiped likes rock stars until I started to visit audio related sites.

We have a very nice Putzeys shrine in the front/center of our media room, which we worship on a regular basis...
 
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Goodman

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Amir's speaker reviews are excellent, however, because of logistics most of his reviews are of small speakers. How many recipes of a 6 inch mid-base with a dome tweeter are there? The answer is hundreds and lots of them are good so you are really splitting hairs at best.
 
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Goodman

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How about something of better reputation than TAS?
Hard question to answer, how about The Audio Critic, no longer in existence, but still relevant, some British magazines Hi Fi News, the Gramophone. Forget the sleek youtube reviewers they love everything.
 
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Goodman

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I suppose it might be helpful to know if the designers used an anechoic chamber/ Klippel or if they just tweaked it 'by ear' and so ended up with a mess.
Of course anechoic chamber AND tweaked by ear based on concert experience, not producers or A and R men.
 

xaviescacs

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The Absolute Sound made list of the best speaker designers of the last 50 years, a long list of four, beginning with Arnie Nudell.
They get it by averaging (and removing the worst 5% of course) the scores of their speakers? Or they have a Klippel for designers too? You know when someone is interested in a girl and a friend says "mate, she's got a boyfriend" and the guy answers "yeah... ok... but I don't like the boyfriend... sorry"? Here is the same, I like the speaker.

I guess all designers that hold this job title in a major speaker company have very similar knowledge level, and the difference in the results lie on external factors: time, goal, salary, views from the office...
 
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Goodman

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You can get a refurb on eBay for $12.5k...
However accurate it is a small speaker, not capable of sounding like a concert hall. I pass on anything with less than a 10 inch woofer.
 
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Goodman

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John Bau designed a speaker. He was trying to replace LS3/5a speakers. Do I want it or not? Do you want it or not?

He designed another speaker. He was making it for domestic living room systems. Do I or you want it or not?
That is exactly my point, it is hard to fault that little speaker, and what ever the domestic living room speaker he later designed, it is probably also credible.
 

Chrispy

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Hard question to answer, how about The Audio Critic, no longer in existence, but still relevant, some British magazines Hi Fi News, the Gramophone. Forget the sleek youtube reviewers they love everything.
So you just refer to other review publications?
 

BDWoody

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However accurate it is a small speaker, not capable of sounding like a concert hall. I pass on anything with less than a 10 inch woofer.

Ummmm...

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