Hi Fi Speaker Demos

[dshreter]

It’s hard to say why you haven’t found demos to be very good, but a big part is the expectation that different equipment will sound dramatically different.

Most electronics sound exactly the same. Speakers definitely vary, but the impact of a room on sound is greater than the impact of the speakers.

How is your room at home? Is it especially reflective? Especially high absorption from room treatment or furniture? How would you describe the rooms you’ve demoed in?

 

[Mean & Green]

Yes, I have read but it doesn't say anything. You keep mentioning about lack of bass or muddy bass. You also mentioned about presentation at Linn being artificial (whatever that means).

I am not sure if your perceived lack of bass is due to the speakers not generating it or it's just the recording does not have the level of bass you are seeking. A good sound system should not be boosting bass (neutral).

There is also no mention of any physco acoustic effects, ok maybe artificial can be considered but doesn't say a

Are you being deliberately obtuse?

 

[Mean & Green]

It’s hard to say why you haven’t found demos to be very good, but a big part is the expectation that different equipment will sound dramatically different.

Most electronics sound exactly the same. Speakers definitely vary, but the impact of a room on sound is greater than the impact of the speakers.

How is your room at home? Is it especially reflective? Especially high absorption from room treatment or furniture? How would you describe the rooms you’ve demoed in?

I don’t expect any half decent electronics to sound different, because they shouldn’t ‘sound’ like anything.
Speakers on the other hand are vastly different and yes most of what we hear is affected by the room.

I believe the demonstrations I have witnessed have pretty much always been in a room too large for the given speakers.

I‘ve been into hifi for about 30 years and as a result I’ve moved the same equipment into different houses and rooms a good few times now and have pretty good experience of how much the room affects the sound. I don’t have room treatments as such as the way I see it is I live in a house not a studio - other than some soft furnishings to break up reflections from hard surfaces and speakers kept well out of corners, some thick curtains hung at the window etc I’ve nothing special in that regard.

I’ve always managed a satisfactory balanced sound at home by spending many hours experimenting in each room I’ve used for listening with speaker placement, speaker selection and subwoofer integration. I also use decent headphones as a reference for how recordings sound without room acoustics coming into the equation.

 

[dshreter]

I don’t expect any half decent electronics to sound different, because they shouldn’t ‘sound’ like anything.
Speakers on the other hand are vastly different and yes most of what we hear is affected by the room.

I believe the demonstrations I have witnessed have pretty much always been in a room too large for the given speakers.

I‘ve been into hifi for about 30 years and as a result I’ve moved the same equipment into different houses and rooms a good few times now and have pretty good experience of how much the room affects the sound. I don’t have room treatments as such as the way I see it is I live in a house not a studio - other than some soft furnishings to break up reflections from hard surfaces and speakers kept well out of corners, some thick curtains hung at the window etc I’ve nothing special in that regard.

I’ve always managed a satisfactory balanced sound at home by spending many hours experimenting in each room I’ve used for listening with speaker placement, speaker selection and subwoofer integration. I also use decent headphones as a reference for how recordings sound without room acoustics coming into the equation.

Yeah, maybe that’s it. If you are used to a smaller and more live room, it will sound very different from a larger and likely more treated room. I’m not sure one is more right than the other, but it would be difficult to translate one to the other in terms of sound.

 

[restorer-john]

I’ve always managed a satisfactory balanced sound at home by spending many hours experimenting in each room I’ve used for listening with speaker placement, speaker selection and subwoofer integration.

Basically, you've become used to all the deficiencies and strengths of your own listening environment and anything else you hear just sounds 'wrong' or 'inferior' to you. Basically, we came across this all the time back in the day with 'audiophiles' who were in the market for a new set of speakers. Sometimes I'd go to their house and listen to what they had and how the system sounded only to be shocked at how bad their room actually was. But they were used to the sound and thought it sounded great.

What was worst, was they confidently asked you to be 'honest' with them about how good/bad it was. Most people honestly wanted to be told 'it's really good and you don't need to spend a cent'. Sadly, that was rarely the case.

I would suggest next time you want to listen a pair of speakers in a dealer's demo room, take your own existing speakers along too and compare side by side. You may be very surprised

 

[Mean & Green]

Basically, you've become used to all the deficiencies and strengths of your own listening environment and anything else you hear just sounds 'wrong' or 'inferior' to you. Basically, we came across this all the time back in the day with 'audiophiles' who were in the market for a new set of speakers. Sometimes I'd go to their house and listen to what they had and how the system sounded only to be shocked at how bad their room actually was. But they were used to the sound and thought it sounded great.

What was worst, was they confidently asked you to be 'honest' with them about how good/bad it was. Most people honestly wanted to be told 'it's really good and you don't need to spend a cent'. Sadly, that was rarely the case.

I would suggest next time you want to listen a pair of speakers in a dealer's demo room, take your own existing speakers along too and compare side by side. You may be very surprised

I see how you completely ignored my reference to headphones.

I’ve also said I’ve heard the same speakers in many different rooms so know exactly how the room affects what I hear. But because I’ve never been impressed by any demonstrations it’s because I don’t know what things are supposed to sound like? Ok mate...

 

[I know (almost) nothing]

Are in-store speaker, demos even a possibility for most of us? In Charleston we only have the option of magnolia at Best Buy. I was willing to drive to audio advice in Charlotte, but they don’t demo any speakers under a certain price point.

At Magnolia, I found the room unstaffed and shut down during working hours. I went in, figured how to turn on everything, figured out how to use their comparator system, and listened to a few speakers. I wasn’t really impressed by the sound in that room, which is when I realized I just needed to order speakers and try them home. At least I didn’t get thrown out and it was kind of a fun hour.

 

[Witterings]

I much prefer to have them at home for a couple of days. the last ones I tried they sounded quite "boomy" on the bass at the in store demo but this disappeared when I bought them home but more importantly with time you almost find out what you don't like about a speaker.

I had some recently that a couple of hours listening to female vocals and you didn't want to hear any more, I guess this is what people call "fatigue" but you'd only discover that by listening over a period of time.

 

[Goodsounds]

I’ve never experienced a good one.

Many years ago I used to audition speakers before buying them by booking a demo, I was always left grossly underwhelmed and if anything just more confused as to weather or not I was going to get the upgrade I was looking for. Always finding kit sounds much better at home even when my kit at home was technically inferior.

The last two pairs of speakers I bought I didn’t even bother with an audition I took a gamble. Last time this was with 50% off on my current Tannoys about 3 years ago and luckily it paid off and they work well within my living room and were a significant step up from what I had previously.

The last demo I was at was at Linn a couple of years ago. It was a factory tour of their facilities which ended in their demo room which housed an £80k Linn Klimax system. This demo was actually awful to the point of being funny considering how much the kit costs, it was a shambles and certainly not a high fidelity performance and I don’t think any of the others I was with on that factory tour left there wishing they had £80k to drop on that flagship system.

I watched a YouTube video recently where a guy was walking around a high end show somewhere in America and he was having a similar experience to what I’ve always had. Just a completely lacklustre demo experience regardless of equipment cost. It just makes me wonder why if I can get good sound at home (I’ve moved house multiple times) so not just comparing one room to everything else - but why every demo I’ve had has left me completely cold?

Incidentally I only tend to change speakers when I’ve moved house to suit the new living space sonically.

Has anyone else felt that demos are actually more of a hinderance than a help? Has anyone ever been seriously impressed by a demo and thought ‘this is what I want to hear at home’?

Agreed. That's why I haven't demoed that last four speakers that I've owned. Rather, just read review after review as well as the forums always looking for common threads. While not a fool proof system, I do find consistency (e.g. treble sparkles or rolls off). Obviously, the reviews are subject to the same problems encountered during a demo, the room, electronics, etc. We are fortunate that we can order speakers online, bring them home and do the best demo we can then keep or send back. Beats a store demo IMO.

 

[fpitas]

I also use decent headphones as a reference for how recordings sound without room acoustics coming into the equation.

+1 on the headphones. That's a basic sanity check on any speakers.

 

[Mart68]

I don't know how many demos I've been to but it's in the hundreds. They've ranged from outstandingly good to risibly bad.

Maybe you've just been unlucky?

I don't usually buy from reviews alone as most subjective reviewers are either biased, incompetent or both. In fact I avoid reading the subjective reviews until I've bought the speakers and spent some time with them. Otherwise just risk filling my head with more expectation biases . Don't want to contaminate my purity!

I do read the reviews afterwards, just out of interest, and sometimes some of the reviewers' subjective observations do match my own. But I wonder if this is just similar to a psychic doing a 'cold reading'. Write enough observations about the sound of the speaker and you're bound to hit some correlations with other's experiences.

I'm happy to buy just on the measurements - as long as it's a used buy - as I'm not going to lose much money. Plus my room is acoustically good and I've only once bought some speakers that didn't really work right in there. Sold them on, lost fifty quid on them so not a big deal.

 

[valerianf]

I remember, a very long time ago (25 years?) Listening to a pair of tower speakers in shop: I sat down and stayed half an hour.
The shop room was awful, no accoustic treatment, but the soundstage was so good: Monitor Audio Gold serie.
If I would have the money, I would have brought back the speaker pair.
Yes, long audio listening was very useful.
But nowadays there are no more place to do that.
The street brick and mortar shops are dead.
The audio show are not suitable: you cannot bring your music and stay half an hour.

I may go to the new Focal shop located in Las Vegas.
Once again I will listen to speakers that I dream to buy (i.e. Focal Maestro Evo) but will stay a dream.

 

[goat76]

I think a demo room that is at least on par or hopefully even better than your own listening room can tell you a lot about the potential of the speakers.

I'm lucky to have a HiFi store close to me with five good demo rooms, which I think give me a fair view of how the speakers can sound under the right circumstances. I think many of us should think about upgrading the acoustics of our listening environment before we even think about upgrading our speakers.