Floorstanding Speaker: Yamaha NS 777 vs Q Acoustics 3050i

[kemmler3D]

Watch the hands of an experienced magician:

1. A company approaches the owner of the Klippel system and asks for a review of their speakers;

2. They send a pair of well-made speakers, receive good measurements and good reviews.

3. After a while, for the same model, the company starts using cheaper components that you can't distinguish by appearance from the components for the "ideal" first pair.

4. 100% of buyers of your speakers will not have a Klippel system in their garage to expose the company's deception.

5. ???

6. PROFIT

Bait and switch like this is conceivable... But actually not impossible or even very hard for home listeners to catch.

What's special about the Klippel and hard to do at home is taking many accurate measurements at many angles to create a 3D picture of how sound radiates from the speaker. Directivity in other words. You can do this with a regular microphone, but it's a huge pain in the ass in comparison.

The pattern of directivity depends on the shape of the speaker (which you can't change without anyone noticing) and the crossover.

If a speaker company wants to swap in cheap components to trick the end user, it will probably be drivers or crossover components.

You don't need a Klippel to catch that. The changes to frequency response or distortion from worse components would be discovered in a single on axis measurement that anyone can do with a regular mic. The Klippel is better than a home user's measurement for that, but mostly just in terms of accuracy in low bass.

If the speaker company decides to skimp on stuffing or bracing or cabinet material, that's still entirely possible to catch at home in the same way.

So, fortunately I would say any competitive advantage revealed by a Klippel but not revealed other ways is really hard to screw around with.

 

[landco]

The Hi-Fi industry is largely built on deception. One less deception, one more.

Any actual examples of that behaviour or is this just a general, unsubstantiated, worry?

 

[Antiaudiophile]

I've got the Yamaha NS-777 running with a subwoofer and a second amp with a set of Sony SS-DX50. Together they sound amazing but I'm not impressed with the Yamahas. They sound good at high volume, provided they're not overdriven, when overdriven the highs and mids sound harsh. I much prefer the Sonys for clarity and lushness but together they sound pretty amazing. I find the Yamaha's sound dark when played at low volumes but at higher volumes sound really good. I've tried turning down the Sonys so when I turn up the main volume the Yamahas get louder and the Sonys are a little quieter.

 

[Talisman]

A general piece of advice I'd like to offer.
If you don't have the time/ability/patience/tools to properly integrate a subwoofer, a pair of speakers with good bass extension is much better. Trying to integrate a subwoofer by ear is a patch worse than the hole.