*Warning pretty off topic as I only mention the PSB in this line.*
Minneapolis, MN.
Yes, blind would be great though hard to pull off even with help. It would be worth trying.
I'm in Texas(near Houston)
. I've done a few before, but they're definitely a PITA to setup and run/coordinate. I've got a sweet AVA ABX Switcher now that should make things easier, but I haven't had a chance to use it. I think speakers like this where the measurements differ from the subjective impressions are most interesting to test.
I mentioned this in the 4309 thread. I believe JBL/Harman still blind test during the design phase and require the speaker to win. If so then the 4309 passed their in house testing.
A good point. Presumably, this did well enough in blind testing, despite the measurement flaws.
By the way not sure what you mean by 5-6 resonances, what do you mean?
It's a good question, as I do think we all may have slightly different definitions of what a "resonance" is. That no doubt contributes to some of the debate, even when we likely mean the same thing. When I first heard the word, the idea that came to mind was "some part of the box other than the drivers that resonates, and that alone". I'm no longer so sure of that "alone" part, but maybe it's true. I've even seen Toole describe almost any deviation from flat as a resonance. The most common idea I've seen is "a peak or dip in the frequency response that shows up in all of the top curves(on axis, listening window, early reflections, and sound power)". Peak resonances are more harmful than dip resonances. I actually wouldn't call that port error of the 4309 as a resonance, as it only shows up on axis. I'd call it a port cancellation? I would say the cancellation is right in the middle of a fairly large resonance, though. Either that, or it's surrounded by a couple resonances.
I also am not surprised it's not very audible. My 708p has a similar port problem, and I don't notice the issue at all. When looking for resonances I tend to look for:
- peaks or dips that show up in the top half of the CEA-2034, but not the bottom
- blips in the impedance curve. Resonances may or may not show up here, but blips here almost always correspond with a resonance in the FR(from what I've seen)
- look for somewhat high q, but not too narrow. I don't count all the little tiny blips as resonances, nor would I count super wide dips or peaks. For example, I wouldn't call the 3dB peak from 70-250Hz of this PSB speaker as a resonance, nor the rise and fall from 2.5-10kHz.
This PSB speaker is actually an interesting one to see resonances. Too me, it looks like there are a couple resonances going on in that 1-2kHz region, but also some non-resonance errors, as they also show up as directivity errors at the bottom. Not sure what to call those. Amir calls them "acoustic events". I like that
. Also, I see a resonance(or even a couple?)between 2.6 and 3.9kHz, and another at 15kHz. The one at 15kHz I pretty much ignore.
Not a hint of distortion at high volumes (with an HP at 35hrz to cut out excess excursions), actually one needs to be careful as it is playing much louder than it seems.
No doubt this is a huge part of why they did so well(especially when testing with just one speaker). Amir's preferences kinda lean towards dynamic capability being more important than better measurements, though bad measurements still usually lead to worse Amir preference. I get the same feeling with my JTR speakers. You don't really realize who loud the volume is until you try to talk to a friend or sing along with the song. It's an awesome experience.