To misquote the Grinch: “I’ve puzzled and puzzled till my puzzler was sore. Have I missed something I haven't thought of before?”
If I have this correct…
To get the best sound in my living room….I need a sonically-invisible amp, a (solidly built) selector switch as a pre-amp, a modern DAC from the blue segment of the ratings chart (to use with my old cd player as a transport -- or a lossless-playing streamer), and most importantly, speakers having good anechoic on-axis measurements [a flat frequency response curve (+/- 1.5 dB)], that produce the sound signature that I prefer (neutral/warm/bright) (w/DSP?) taking the room itself into consideration as a major determining factor of the reproduced sound being played which is the highest-quality original recording available?
Isn't it said that SET tube amps vs class AB based tube amps result in the design creating even harmonics and not so much of the nasty uneven ones? But if I remember correctly, @amirm has tested SETs and it has been shown that third harmonics have been quite noticeable?
For a tube amp, THD +N: 77.5 dB/0.014% (measured at 1 watt) can be considered good. I think it has a power of 20 or maybe 30 watts. I don't remember. It has flat FR.
www.audiosciencereview.com
www.audiosciencereview.com
It was meant in a jovial tone, not to be provocative. Boiling a vast number of contentious variables into one (albeit disjointed) sentence as a solution would be a fool's errand, I'd think
.Which opens another jar of pickles. Practically, how does one do that? I had plans on going to AXPONA this year, then thought that Tampa is warmer and closer (and this weekend!) but folks have said it's almost pointless to audition speakers in a crowded, noisy hotel room. My "Kunte Kinte I have found you" moment came unexpectedly when listening to one of Erin's videos comparing audio clips of three speakers, and I could finally say "I like that one" then try to figure out why.
Speakers are, IMO, the most important (and tricky/personal) selection you make. It's a matter of measurements and also dependent on the type of music you listen to, the volume, your bass preference and, of course, how they perform in the room. The ideal is to listen to options in a listening room that is close to the size room you're placing them in, with as close as possible to the basic room construction (carpet/no carpet, reflective surfaces such as windows, etc.). You can narrow your list down by looking at reviews and specs, or course, then narrowing further by applying your budget. But the old model of going to a nice audio shop and listening over the course of an hour or two to numerous options via a speaker selector is certainly not available to all these days. It is. however, still the best way to do it. Buying big things and shipping them back and forth because they disappoint is...frustrating at the very least.
It was meant in a jovial tone, not to be provocative. Boiling a vast number of contentious variables into one (albeit disjointed) sentence as a solution would be a fool's errand, I'd think
This doesn't work, unfortunately, just too mediated, too many variables, so what you're hearing may have originated with a particular speaker, but by the time you're hearing it through your headphones or speakers, through youtube's compression, through the mic used to record it in the specific room in which it was recorded, the breadcrumb trail has been gobbled up by crows.
Agreed, it was more of "this sounds better to me than those," which helped narrow things down to "apparently, I like a wide dispersion" and not much more. At least, it's a start.
Basically yes, but I would add a couple tweaks to this statement:To misquote the Grinch: “I’ve puzzled and puzzled till my puzzler was sore. Have I missed something I haven't thought of before?”
If I have this correct…
To get the best sound in my living room….I need a sonically-invisible amp, a (solidly built) selector switch as a pre-amp, a modern DAC from the blue segment of the ratings chart (to use with my old cd player as a transport -- or a lossless-playing streamer), and most importantly, speakers having good anechoic on-axis measurements [a flat frequency response curve (+/- 1.5 dB)], that produce the sound signature that I prefer (neutral/warm/bright) (w/DSP?) taking the room itself into consideration as a major determining factor of the reproduced sound being played which is the highest-quality original recording available?
I have a pair of K-horns now (no sub), paired with an Acoustic Research amp/pre combo...all of which I bought "blind".
The things you want to do at shows is touch and feel the product and assess whether you like those aspects. Talk to people who man the room to see if they are the type you would do business with. Look at the range of the products and price points and see where you want to land.
The K-horns are not all bad (efficiency definitely has its place) but have a pretty uneven frequency response (this iteration still has some really bad peaks and resonances https://www.stereophile.com/content/klipsch-klipschorn-ak6-loudspeaker-measurements) - You could improve this with EQ somewhat, but the directivity errors and resonances are still going to be there, so the ceiling is not super high compared to where you are now.
Yes I have improved my system this way with the help of this site. Went Hypex for the amp for lots of clean power. Went Topping Pre90 to replace my Rogue tube pre, a piece I still love but the Pre90 performs much better. A cheap SMSL DAC does the job, which is mainly fed from my old yet great Sony ES changer.
Speakers are where I split from ASR as well measuring speakers are prohibitively expensive. I have no choice but to stick with my little Maggies which I have loved for over 20 years. I also have a pair of Vandersteen 2ce Sigs that I never use. But my feeling is that speaker measurements work better for conventional dynamic drivers. If this is what you want, then by all means follow the ASR method for speaker selection. But they say the preference score was not meant for dipole speakers.and most importantly, speakers having good anechoic on-axis measurements [a flat frequency response curve (+/- 1.5 dB)], that produce the sound signature that I prefer (neutral/warm/bright) (w/DSP?) taking the room itself into consideration as a major determining factor of the reproduced sound being played which is the highest-quality original recording available?
Okay nice... would these be considered market disruptors? Too bad they're sold out though, but I may have something new to drool over.
