..in this thread
It starts with this:
But he demurs:
I’ve asked what is “coloration” that isn’t visible as frequency response or distortion (and how he is so sure that “coloration” is the culprit). Awaiting a response. Are we heading into the “unmeasurable”? Or am I missing something?
It starts with this:
So I suggest in-room measurements:As the last person in the office today, I took a call from a consumer who had called earlier in the day but whoever he spoke to was not able to give him a meaningful answer. He was sufficiently motivated to give us another call and had pre-arranged a demo of Harbeth speakers next week. I'm glad that he did and only at the end of our 30 minute conversation did I tell him who I was. Something had brought our brand to his attention perhaps after many years of invisibility. I should have asked why.
In short, the issue was that he was listening in a room of approx. 3 x 3.5m, moderately furnished and damped, with good quality electronics and mainly CD as a source. He had owned (at least) two pairs of expensive speakers in the last couple of years, the most recent of which were giving him what he described as listening fatigue and which I gather he had purchased with an inadequate (or even no) prior audition.
The reason for posting this item is because although we spoke for half and hour, I am left with the feeling that we could have talked all day. He was an intelligent listener and the various points that I made to guide him elicited sensible, considered responses. This fatigue is clearly upsetting him.
The fundamental issue was - and I don't know why I am surprised about this - that he is unable to illuminate whether his listening fatigue was in the low, middle or high frequencies. Without this feedback, it is impossible to zoom in on specific issues which could contribute to his dissatisfaction, but his dissatisfaction was real and palpable. He was an avid collector with wide-ranging musical genres, but could name recordings which gave him particular pain, and I imagine that his ideal speaker would make those recordings tolerable. They seemed to greatly trouble him. The issue, of course, may be the recordings, about which nothing can be done. I suggested that he just give them away and be done with them, but I suspect that rather like a missing tooth filling, the tongue just cannot but seek it out.
Without explaining how I did my best to deconstruct his issues, I'm wondering if you recognise this situation, how you might explain it to a hifi dealer for a decent resolution, how you might scour the internet for prospective solutions and how stressed you might become.
I'd really like to understand what it is like to be in what seem to me, mental torture. Without the most basic personal tools to deconstruct sound into its broad-brush frequency components, I cannot begin to imagine how vulnerable the audiophile is to misguidance.
But he demurs:
I’ve asked what is “coloration” that isn’t visible as frequency response or distortion (and how he is so sure that “coloration” is the culprit). Awaiting a response. Are we heading into the “unmeasurable”? Or am I missing something?
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