Expensive loudspeakers that sound bad

[Dialectic]

Raidho speakers measure quite poorly in most parameters except perhaps distortion but I've not listened to any.

I have heard big and small Raidhos. I always found the sound to be horrendous, truly terrible, especially in the low frequencies.

 

[steve59]

At axpona in the next level room Lars was playing his notorious music selection on a pair of D1.2 stand mounts and I was really impressed until I asked how much and he replied $27,000! I think the stands were extra. guy looks like a used car salesman to me.

Back to point, nearly every speaker i've fallen hard for in the store demo has sounded like garbage at home. the first were the Kef R105/3 that sounded so amazing in the store that when the salesman told me to just let them break in I believed him. It took over 10 years for me to find a way to make them sound like they did that day and I kept them for 25 years, but I learned my lesson with those speakers.

 

[Midwest Blade]

that sounded so amazing in the store that when the salesman told me to just let them break in I believed him. It took over 10 years for me to find a way to make them sound like they did that day and I kept them for 25 years, but I learned my lesson with those speakers.[/QUOTE]

Yep, I went throught that with the very first pair of speakers I bought - custom made by the dealer as a side business, loved them in the store, bought the sales pitch hook line and sinker, brought them home and YUCK, not sure what happened but I struggled with them, went back a couple of times, suggested the ol'breakin time, he tried to sell me new cables, new amp, turntable, even suggested to try different music. He naturally did not offer any return or exchange and I was rather lucky that a friend needed a set of speakers for his cottage, I took a bath on the price, learned my lesson on my very first purchase in the stereo world. I was so very disappointed, I never returned to his store again, years later I guy I worked with was married to his daughter, who told me she worked with her Dad on building speakers...get this...apparently she did the wiring as her Dad could hear a difference when speakers were done by her or someone else in the shop...oh pleeeeeze!

 

[steve59]

daddys little girl

 

[onslash]

Focal, Golden Ear. Bright, harsh misery speakers to my ears; at least what I’ve heard from those brands.

+1 on focal , they might be great for people with damaged hearing , but definitely not for someone who still has almost perfect hearing. I can listen to 20khz and its torture listening to sopras and utopias

 

[MattHooper]

Revel speakers.



When I was doing a major tour of available loudspeakers to possibly replace my floor standers, I included Revel in my search. I didn't think I'd heard Revel since the old Ultima Studio model, and a local high end place had a floor-standing Performa model.

I was frankly quite disappointed with what I heard. It had a sort of chalky, course quality in the upper frequences, and a thinned out quality in the warmth range. I could hear some promise, but it was not "good sound" to my ears. But I could see how the positioning may have compromised the performance.

Well, I was able to hear another pair of Performas later on at another store. Better room and I had some say in how they were set up.
This time what I heard was fantastic. Just hard to fault - smooth and balanced through the whole frequency range. Sounded like extremely competent speaker design.

Another lesson in making sure to get a good audition situation for a speaker.

(If the first store were my only option for Revel, I would have worked harder to ensure they set up the speakers better).

 

[Ilkless]

I have heard big and small Raidhos. I always found the sound to be horrendous, truly terrible, especially in the low frequencies.

Seems like the overbuilt driver doesn't do the basics right.

The treble in the crossover region was horrendously coloured as well IME for the X-1.

Another brand already mentioned is Goldenear. Tremendous bass for a stereo speaker at that price but the AMT has a rough response.

Harbeth off-axis is horrendous - not merely academic pedantry for me, it was severely compromised for my listening habits (includes standing and listening off-axis).

Focal Utopia, Wilson, Boenicke also come to mind.

My goodness, Boenicke was infuriating. Could have been a fun design for nearfield with the midbass driver side-mounted on the desk plane and a wideband driver. But the tuning of that is screwed. Someone should do something in the form factor with the Scanspeak 10F/8414G10 widebander (extraordinarily smooth FR and off-axis and good distortion in the form factor) and the Purifi driver.

 

[thewas]

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

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

And here some Stereophile measurements of another models of theirs

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

 

[Dialectic]

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 )

I heard that model of speaker in Singapore at the Adelphi Mall. Anyone with a modicum of experience messing with audio gear would have known within 15 seconds that it was a broken-ass design.

 

[FrantzM]

It pays at time to read the review

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 )

It pays at time to read some reviews. If this is not allowed please feel free to delete or remove the part I quoted..
https://www.stereophile.com/content/voxativ-ampeggio-loudspeaker-page-3

I found myself stopping to marvel at its brilliantly good pitch certainty. In terms of being able to simply nail a note,

I suppose from the above some speakers are uncertain about the pitch ...
I can't understand how such a bad speaker manages to sell for so much money. Subjective audiophiles are a strange bunch but what to make of some reviewers and/or of the magazines?

 

[digicidal]

Subjective audiophiles are a strange bunch but what to make of some reviewers and/or of the magazines?

That they like making money... almost as much as many of those subjective audiophiles love spending it and explaining how much and on what.

 

[SimpleTheater]

I'd be interested to know your experiences with loudspeakers which sound just bad, in any room and in whatever configuration. Those going for several k€ and that you had to sell back just after, or those you heard at an audiophile's place thinking "all those $$$ for that?".

Totem Forest Signature. Bought them without listening because there aren't any dealers near me, but they had a 30 day return policy. I also picked up a pair of Tannoy Dimension DC T8's to compare the two. Totem's have a sound signature, which to me wasn't being true to the source material. Were they terrible, no, but I'd argue if you spent 1/10th the money on the new Elac Reference DBR-62's, you'd be getting a better speaker.

Love the Tannoy's, but I won't let @amirm test them because I don't think I want to know the truth.

 

[tuga]

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 )

Single-driver speakers, the speaker equivalent of a Reliant Robin... You don't need to hear/drive one to know it will fail.

 

[Ilkless]

I heard that model of speaker in Singapore at the Adelphi Mall. Anyone with a modicum of experience messing with audio gear would have known within 15 seconds that it was a broken-ass design.

A lot of cottage-industry esoteric BS in the audio shops there, and dismal setups. Like Linn in a bare cement room.

 

[Blujackaal]

Single-driver speakers, the speaker equivalent of a Reliant Robin... You don't need to hear/drive one to know it will fail.

Single driver are only good if its a Headphone.

 

[mhardy6647]

Single-driver speakers, the speaker equivalent of a Reliant Robin... You don't need to hear/drive one to know it will fail.

Signature-line worthy material right there!

 

[Ron Texas]

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.

 

[Siwel]

The best super expensive demo at a show I've heard was a full MBL Xtreme system in Chicago a few years ago. The same show had a Salon2 surround rig only playing discretely recorded music that was very impressive.

I don't think B&Ws are used today in many American studios at all. Can't speak to English or Continental practice but the 800 series isn't something I see in studios anywhere around here which has a goodly studio scene. I think the studio use of B&W 800s is long ago and far away except perhaps for very specific people and circumstances. The form factor doesn't work fo most studios. Maybe for mastering? The Series 800s I was considering were big and exiting but quite bright both times I heard them.

I wouldn't say they're the worst expensive speakers I've heard though. There are a lot of contenders for that. I don't get Harbeth at all.

 

[tuga]

The best super expensive demo at a show I've heard was a full MBL Xtreme system in Chicago a few years ago. The same show had a Salon2 surround rig only playing discretely recorded music that was very impressive.

I don't think B&Ws are used today in many American studios at all. Can't speak to English or Continental practice but the 800 series isn't something I see in studios anywhere around here which has a goodly studio scene. I think the studio use of B&W 800s is long ago and far away except perhaps for very specific people and circumstances. The form factor doesn't work fo most studios. Maybe for mastering? The Series 800s I was considering were big and exiting but quite bright both times I heard them.

I wouldn't say they're the worst expensive speakers I've heard though. There are a lot of contenders for that. I don't get Harbeth at all.

I've recently scanned the web for what classical music labels and orchestras are using:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ers-are-the-classical-music-pros-using.12225/

 

[peanuts]

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.