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YouTube Loudspeaker Demo Videos - Yes No Maybe?

fineMen

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Would you happen to have a link? Would love to give these a listen.
Hope this helps?

 
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Rednaxela

Rednaxela

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Hope this helps?

Very nice. Thank you.

Won't comment in detail to prevent continuing a different thread here. But a really interesting exercise and must-try IMO.
 

fineMen

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Very nice. Thank you.

Won't comment in detail to prevent continuing a different thread here. But a really interesting exercise and must-try IMO.
Only thing is, what actually *is* the "original recording"? Is it what is on the "tape" (as to say)? Or is it a recording of the playback of the "original recording" in the studion using dummy head technique, where it was mixed--again and then legally listen to over headphones?

If it was the first alternative, the speaker with lesser room interaction would win, right? But that wouldn't be the most pleasant speaker to engage for just listening to music, when not evaluating the best resemblance to the "tape".

All these attempts to replicate Harman's listening tests with mono speakers, but with vastly less effort, and even more lacking knowledge are doomed to fail. At best they are funnily self contradicting, as here, training the brain to find the error ;-) At worst they are on youtube for nonsensical reasons other than entertaining the greed for "luxury" product.
 
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ntsc525

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Forget all this YouTubery for picking speakers:

I just strap some earbuds to my Motorola RAZR flip phone, and call all the local stores that sell audio, and ask a salesperson to give me a "tele-demo" of the different speakers.

I found a local thrift store who was willing to play along, and I heard a set of Realistic MC-500's. They sounded quite good to me, so I snatched them up. Best ten bucks I've ever spent!

When I got them hooked up to my Crosley turntable, I heard things I'd never heard before: Some tones! Some bass! The imaging was stunning: With my eyes closed, I could easily identify where the left speaker was, and where the right one was! It was as if the artists were actually in my home, locked up in those walnut vinyl veneer boxes!

If you can't afford the high cost of luxury speakers like Bose, I highly recommend the Realistics.

(Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. Hopefully more people are laughing than screaming. I'll show myself out now.)

Dan
 
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Rednaxela

Rednaxela

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:D

I just deleted a (to me hilarious) first post on the Knowles Curves thread, just in case.

Happy to see someone in the same mood! :)
 
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Rednaxela

Rednaxela

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Once I found what I thought was a good demo recording of a loudspeaker. It sounded good on my headphones so I thought I'd try and hear how would it sound when played back on my system. The "effect" was very strange, to say the least. Like in some kind of a "feedback loop", I could hear not the "character" of the loudspeakers on the video (it sounded fairly neutral), but the sound (decay) of the actual room they were set up in (as opposed to mine). Even more strange was the effect that the sound stage was confined exactly by the boundaries of my TV screen. Like there was a tiny person singing "over there". To me it sounded like If I would record a video of my system playing and when played back all of a sudden not only the room fits the screen, but also the sound. Weird. And I have no clue how this could happen.

Edit: Found it:


If you are interested, please try listening to this over your headphones and then your loudspeakers to compare the two. I would be most interested to hear what you guys think. If you hear similar "effect", is it due to the fact that these are open baffle speakers, dipole, or is it because it was made with (Sennheiser) binaural microphone? Or maybe something else?
There is a lot of room in this video. Which is, as far as I understand, essential to the OB approach.

Through headphones it doesn’t take a lot of effort for me to ‘get’ the picture. Through my speakers however it’s a mess. As expected really. It is not something I do or would recommend. Things are already warped enough. Why warp them even more.

Thanks for the experience though! It was fun to try.
 
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Rednaxela

Rednaxela

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I don't know. Sometimes the room sound seemed more evident than others, though with a speaker tone still seemingly coming through.
(You can for instance often hear some of the original recorded acoustics/reverb character in the recording - e.g. reverb added to voices, instruments, the hall reverb for an orchestra etc, even though the speakers may be in a relatively small room).

Here's one of the videos I watched. They generally recorded from seats right in front of each pair of speakers:


As I mentioned, on my big screen with my HT speaker system, it was a really cool visual/sonic impression of "visiting" each room.
Agree. At around 11:00 my bookshelves got six times as large. No kidding. YMMV but for me the illusion was real. Very cool!
 
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Rednaxela

Rednaxela

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Post #171 makes me rethink my reaction in post #169.

Maybe there is an essential difference between the two videos that helps explain my disappointment with the OB one.
 

Kvalsvoll

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Probably the best sound demo on YouTube I've ever heard
Remember this one, there is thread on here on this experiment, and they described how they did the recordings.

This makes more sense, since it compares different speaker against each other, not a speaker to original. the speakers clearly sound different, BUT - if I hear those speakers, will the recordings represent a similar experience as for listening to the real speakers. I am not convinced.

If only this could work. Imagine the possibilites to present new speakers and technology. If only.
 

ntsc525

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Probably the best sound demo on YouTube I've ever heard
Wow. If you can hear the difference between those speakers, then you've got great headphones! I listened with my best headphones, and was suitably impressed with the mic'ing of the room, but the speakers sounded like a direct connection, meaning the speakers and mics exceeded the quality of my audio chain. However, the soundstage of the room was excellent, because when someone dropped something during one of the demos, I knew it was behind me and to the right.

James Blake's "Limit to Your Love" is my new speaker (and neighbor) torture song!

Of course, there is no way someone like me can get the full impact of speakers like those through YouTube. But then, $30K is my car budget, not my speaker budget!

Dan
 

Pearljam5000

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Wow. If you can hear the difference between those speakers, then you've got great headphones! I listened with my best headphones, and was suitably impressed with the mic'ing of the room, but the speakers sounded like a direct connection, meaning the speakers and mics exceeded the quality of my audio chain. However, the soundstage of the room was excellent, because when someone dropped something during one of the demos, I knew it was behind me and to the right.

James Blake's "Limit to Your Love" is my new speaker (and neighbor) torture song!

Of course, there is no way someone like me can get the full impact of speakers like those through YouTube. But then, $30K is my car budget, not my speaker budget!

Dan
They sound totally different even on my cheap headphones / speakers
 

Digby

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This makes more sense, since it compares different speaker against each other, not a speaker to original. the speakers clearly sound different, BUT - if I hear those speakers, will the recordings represent a similar experience as for listening to the real speakers. I am not convinced.
In the livestream, they talk to people in the chat. Everyone is chat is as amazed at the midrange/vocal quality of the Grimm LS1be. OK, I know what you're going to say, confirmation bias and what have you, but really were you not staggered by this speaker in the test like those seated were, I know I was. Listen to the track starting 1:56:00, that sound is something else. It is something else if I listen on my headphones or speakers (and neither of them are those speakers). Now I need £30k+ for some speakers....

I admit, there are plenty of crap videos and they don't relay much or anything of value (the Axpona one), but then you have videos like this one.

Crap examples exist, excellent ones too. This one could be improved, but I think it fulfils the purpose of demonstrating differences between speaker tonality and presentation, to a level where you could make a decision where to go next.

If only this could work. Imagine the possibilites to present new speakers and technology. If only.
It depends what your bar is for work. Done well I think it can work, in that you can get much information you need, but yeah it will never be perfect.
 

Ageve

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but really were you not staggered by this speaker in the test like those seated were, I know I was. Listen to the track starting 1:56:00, that sound is something else. It is something else if I listen on my headphones or speakers (and neither of them are those speakers). Now I need £30k+ for some speakers....

Why do you need £30k for new speakers, if the demo sound is "something else" through your speakers or headphones?

I'm not trying to be funny, just curious.

You're not listening to the speakers in the demo. You're listening to your speakers, reproducing a signal recorded by a microphone. The sound recorded by that microphone, in that particular spot, with all the room reflections, is not identical to the sound generated by the speakers.

If it's a stereo playback recorded by one microphone (or two microphones combined into a new stereo mix), it gets even worse.

There will of course be audible differences between speakers in such a demo, but how do you know which is better, without knowing exactly how it was recorded, and how it sounded in real life, and how do you know EQ or other processing hasn't been involved?
 

Digby

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Why do you need £30k for new speakers, if the demo sound is "something else" through your speakers or headphones?

I'm not trying to be funny, just curious.
It's a fair question, not the easiest to answer, but I suppose it is because I imagine it is but a glimpse of the full potential of the speakers. Essentially what I'm listening for is tonal balance and presentation, almost any decent speaker should be able to convey this to an extent, but obviously that is not the same as listening to the actual speaker.

There will of course be audible differences between speakers in such a demo, but how do you know which is better, without knowing exactly how it was recorded, and how it sounded in real life, and how do you know EQ or other processing hasn't been involved?

I'm placing my bets on the recording (inc mic and room) and reproduction (through my own equipment) with all its flaws and difference from the original sound of those speakers, does offer something which translates and can be understood, even if limited.

You can't conclusively say which speaker is better, nor that there hasn't been foul play, that is true. It is all a bit of a leap of faith, but given I don't have all the time in the world, given that I have heard similar sound characters of certain speakers in my room in the recordings of others in their room, I am going to believe there is enough to be getting started with.

I definitely wouldn't part with that kind of money without listening in person though. It is no substitute for that.
 
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Andysu

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these stereo loudspeaker youtube videos don't come near and i've used x6 Behringer ECM8000 placed around the room on mic-boom stands .
i set the audio mixers pan pots for each stereo to hard left right and set the bass level down on the mixer so it reduce distortion clipping . and it still doesn't come near to the actual JBL professional in my room . i wonder why and i'm thinking .

recorded with multi microphones

recorded earlier with mobile phone set horizontally so stereo record is activated and sounds dull on the mobile phone .
 
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