On impulse, and because I was driving by, I stopped at the nearest full-service Magnolia to listen to new stuff and recalibrate my ears.
It was an illuminating experience, but it served to convince me that audio is going in a funky direction. And not in a good way. My perceptions are so counter to my expectations that I am wondering what’s wrong with my ears.
My current system comprises Advent NLA’s in good condition driven by a B&K Reference 125.2, an SAE preamp, and a Tascam CD player (among other things). I have used an SAE parametric EQ and a real-time analyzer to flatten the system in my room. Not much adjustment was required, either, at least not since I repaired issues with my speakers. My speakers are suboptimal in their placement, to be sure—too high, too close to the ceiling on one side, backed up to the wall, etc.
But I was really, really disappointed with what I heard at the store. I listened to a couple of pairs of B&W bookshelf speakers, and also the bookshelf-sized KEF R’s. And a pair of very expensive Martin Logan floor-standing electrostatics with sub-woofer enclosures down at the floor (and driven by a McIntosh amp).
Surprise 1: The bookshelf speakers could only attain moderate listening levels with the demo receiver (Denon, supposedly 225 wpc) turned all the way up. Really? My 125-wpc B&K can attain ear-splitting levels in a room of similar size, through not-so-efficient acoustic-suspension Advents. Huh?
Surprise 2: Though the pricier B&W bookshelf speakers I heard in the higher-end room were louder (driven by a Rotel amp of very large physical size), they and all the others I heard were boomy in the 100-Hz range. To the extent I was checking the tone controls.
The source material was the Canadian Brass, and I KNOW what they sound like, live and recorded. I have shared a stage with them a couple of times. I can usual tell which tuba Chuck Daellenbach is using on a recording just by listening, and his sound is idiosyncratic to me. But none of this even sounded like a tuba—it sounded like a bass synthesizer. The French horn sounded like a euphonium—too round and open. The horn and the trombone sounded the same, and even the tuba when played high.
Now, I’m not just suffering from Advent Expectation, though it would be reasonable to assume so. I regularly play in my own quintet and I know what the real instruments sound like. I was expecting less bass—modern bookshelf speakers are microscopic compared to the 2-cubic-foot Advents, and only subs had drivers as big as the10” drivers in the NLA’s. So I was expecting the response to roll off at 50 Hz or so. But I was also expecting more clarity across the spectrum, and what I got was considerably less.
Maybe it was all those other passive radiators in the room—I expected that to undermine the experience as it always used to. But I also expected everything to sound basically good. I felt like I was listening to plastic boom boxes—nothing of the supposed advances in speaker design came through to me.
I thanked the guy and fortunately didn’t take him away from any real customers.
What’s wrong with my ears?
Rick “really surprised” Denney
It was an illuminating experience, but it served to convince me that audio is going in a funky direction. And not in a good way. My perceptions are so counter to my expectations that I am wondering what’s wrong with my ears.
My current system comprises Advent NLA’s in good condition driven by a B&K Reference 125.2, an SAE preamp, and a Tascam CD player (among other things). I have used an SAE parametric EQ and a real-time analyzer to flatten the system in my room. Not much adjustment was required, either, at least not since I repaired issues with my speakers. My speakers are suboptimal in their placement, to be sure—too high, too close to the ceiling on one side, backed up to the wall, etc.
But I was really, really disappointed with what I heard at the store. I listened to a couple of pairs of B&W bookshelf speakers, and also the bookshelf-sized KEF R’s. And a pair of very expensive Martin Logan floor-standing electrostatics with sub-woofer enclosures down at the floor (and driven by a McIntosh amp).
Surprise 1: The bookshelf speakers could only attain moderate listening levels with the demo receiver (Denon, supposedly 225 wpc) turned all the way up. Really? My 125-wpc B&K can attain ear-splitting levels in a room of similar size, through not-so-efficient acoustic-suspension Advents. Huh?
Surprise 2: Though the pricier B&W bookshelf speakers I heard in the higher-end room were louder (driven by a Rotel amp of very large physical size), they and all the others I heard were boomy in the 100-Hz range. To the extent I was checking the tone controls.
The source material was the Canadian Brass, and I KNOW what they sound like, live and recorded. I have shared a stage with them a couple of times. I can usual tell which tuba Chuck Daellenbach is using on a recording just by listening, and his sound is idiosyncratic to me. But none of this even sounded like a tuba—it sounded like a bass synthesizer. The French horn sounded like a euphonium—too round and open. The horn and the trombone sounded the same, and even the tuba when played high.
Now, I’m not just suffering from Advent Expectation, though it would be reasonable to assume so. I regularly play in my own quintet and I know what the real instruments sound like. I was expecting less bass—modern bookshelf speakers are microscopic compared to the 2-cubic-foot Advents, and only subs had drivers as big as the10” drivers in the NLA’s. So I was expecting the response to roll off at 50 Hz or so. But I was also expecting more clarity across the spectrum, and what I got was considerably less.
Maybe it was all those other passive radiators in the room—I expected that to undermine the experience as it always used to. But I also expected everything to sound basically good. I felt like I was listening to plastic boom boxes—nothing of the supposed advances in speaker design came through to me.
I thanked the guy and fortunately didn’t take him away from any real customers.
What’s wrong with my ears?
Rick “really surprised” Denney