SoundArtist ("BBC") LS3/5A Speaker Review

[MaxwellsEq]

It's quite possible that some people may actually like something that colours the sound. After all, musical instruments are like that.
Despite me going for good measurements speakers , sometimes I amp the equaliser right up with mega hard limiting or clipping with narrow band peaks because it sounds interesting to me

That is something you are choosing to do, but you can also choose to play music as accurately as possible by turning your EQ off. If these speakers are all you've got everything is permanently messed up without any real hope of fixing it.

 

[Norville]

That is something you are choosing to do, but you can also choose to play music as accurately as possible by turning your EQ off. If these speakers are all you've got everything is permanently messed up without any real hope of fixing it.

Accurately as possible to whom?
There seems to be exist some benchmarks or references in sound science that everybody in the industry seem to strive for, like Harman targets or as low THD+N as possible, but I don't like Harman targets (which are highly coloured by the way) and THD+N is something that has really little impact on how I perceive sound quality, since most equipment today has numbers way beyond hearing.

Plus, if you mean accurately as possible according to the record company and sound engineer it might be that their goal for sound is entirely different than what you perceive as good.

If you mean accurately according to live music playing in an acoustically perfect room, then I'm with you, but once you record and mix and master that, it's gone.

 

[Willem]

This is a recurring discussion. In my experience, the most accurately measuring gear comes closest to the original sound of live acoustic music in a good concert hall (with which I am well familiar). How close that is depends a lot on the kind of music, and its dynamic range in particular. A good audio system in a large listening room can give a remarkable suggestion of the live sound of for example chamber music. Much less so of large scale symphonic music with its high dynamic range. Recordings rarely fully reproduce that dynamic range, few listening rooms are large enough, and very few systems have the power to succeed here, although modern subwoofers help.
Given these experiences, I avoid anaemic tubes, any underpowered amplification, analogue sources, and where possible small listening rooms. And I do not try to take on the role of the musician or the recording engineer. It is their artistic product, not mine, so I try to respect its integrity.

 

[Norville]

This is a recurring discussion. In my experience, the most accurately measuring gear comes closest to the original sound of live acoustic music in a good concert hall (with which I am well familiar). How close that is depends a lot on the kind of music, and its dynamic range in particular. A good audio system in a large listening room can give a remarkable suggestion of the live sound of for example chamber music. Much less so of large scale symphonic music with its high dynamic range. Recordings rarely fully reproduce that dynamic range, few listening rooms are large enough, and very few systems have the power to succeed here, although modern subwoofers help.
Given these experiences, I avoid anaemic tubes, any underpowered amplification, analogue sources, and where possible small listening rooms. And I do not try to take on the role of the musician or the recording engineer. It is their artistic product, not mine, so I try to respect its integrity.

But the real question is, is the live music you are describing the type of sound you want and prefer while listening at home with your own speakers?

Like for example, I don't listen to classical music in a large concert hall without amplification very often, but when I do it sounds flat indeed.

But I do go and dance to techno music more often and I go to rock concerts which are always amplified and thereby inherently colored.

 

[Willem]

It is only with live sound from acoustic instruments that there is an undisputed external quality standard, and when listening at home I want to get as close to that as possible. If I get that more or less right, other/electronic music will inevitably also sound close to what the recording engineer heard, even though I cannot ascertain that myself. How that music sounds in a crappy disco system would not interest me. Rock concerts are a different matter, of course, because there the musicians have a say in the sound, and one would hope they and the sound engineers aim to create similar sounds in the studio as they do for concerts. And if they don't, that is their decision, although recordings of live concerts are also possible. Again, I don't think it is up to me the listener to alter the sound if I can help it. I am not the artist.

 

[Norville]

It is only with live sound from acoustic instruments that there is an undisputed external quality standard, and when listening at home I want to get as close to that as possible. If I get that more or less right, other/electronic music will inevitably also sound close to what the recording engineer heard, even though I cannot ascertain that myself. How that music sounds in a crappy disco system would not interest me. Rock concerts are a different matter, of course, because there the musicians have a say in the sound, and one would hope they and the sound engineers aim to create similar sounds in the studio as they do for concerts. And if they don't, that is their decision, although recordings of live concerts are also possible. Again, I don't think it is up to me the listener to alter the sound if I can help it. I am not the artist.

But you can alter the sound according to your own preferences with EQ, tubes and less or more bassy speakers, more technical speakers and such.

Neutral, flat or natural is mostly a lie.

 

[Norville]

But you can alter the sound according to your own preferences with EQ, tubes and less or more bassy speakers, more technical speakers and such.

Neutral, flat or natural is mostly a lie.

In my experience, the closest thing I have heard to neutral or flat I have heard a kind of studio reference sound if you will, was from Genelec 8361 active monitors with GLM room correction. That sounded a bit harsh and not warm or inviting but technically very impressive.

Not the sound I'm aiming for but I can see the appeal.

 

[Willem]

But you can alter the sound according to your own preferences with EQ, tubes and less or more bassy speakers, more technical speakers and such.

Neutral, flat or natural is mostly a lie.

Sure you can alter the sound if you want to play the artist. I don't think abstaining from that is a lie. I admit that tuning the system to be as neutral as possible is not easy. Measurement helps, plus some modesty.

 

[Norville]

Sure you can alter the sound if you want to play the artist. I don't think abstaining from that is a lie.

Well, if it suits you that way the artist intended, then it's not. Moreover, it's so hard to just have one setting for EQ etc for one type of music. Ideally, you want different settings for different music.

 

[Willem]

Well, if it suits you that way the artist intended, then it's not. Moreover, it's so hard to just have one setting for EQ etc for one type of music. Ideally, you want different settings for different music.

I don't understand your grammar, I am afraid. Different settings for different music is not my ideal, by the way. And to be honest, I don't need it. My system sounds fine with every music.

 

[Willem]

That sounded a bit harsh and not warm or inviting but technically very impressive

Go to a live concert of classical music, and you will hear that that too can sound harsh.

 

[Norville]

I don't understand your grammar, I am afraid. Different settings for different music is not my ideal, by the way. And to be honest, I don't need it. My system sounds fine with every music.

Let's just agree that we are all different and have different goals. What unites us is this wonderful hobby.

 

[Willem]

Let's just agree that we are all different and have different goals

Fine with me - fortunately it is a free world, but I will continue to disagree with the post-modern subjectivism.

 

[Norville]

Fine with me - fortunately it is a free world, but I will continue to disagree with the post-modern subjectivism.

That's a wholly different topic. When it comes to music and sound reproduction I will be somewhere in the middle, good measurements will act as a baseline to see if the product is not broken, although that can be deceiving too since for example the HiFiman Susvaras were considered more or less broken but I do love those headphones and my Sound Artists the same. But I will always try to form my own opinion according to the sound of speakers with my own equipment in my own room.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Four different views of scientific knowledge and the birth of modern relativism: The very important challenge facing reformed churches in a Western world