Golden Earring wrote: > Hi Archimago! > > I agree wholeheartedly with the points that you make. > > It is certainly the case that loudspeakers are still (despite massive > advances in materials available for driver construction since I first > started my audio quest for nirvana some 45 years ago) the weakest link > in the chain, & the most appropriate choice for an individual listener > will be governed by the size (& shape) of their listening room, the > particular combination of compromises used by the various manufacturers > (who usually have some kind of "house" sound throughout their range) > that meshes best with the musical ear of the listener, & also on the > type of music that is to be reproduced. If you predominantly listen to > string quartets, you will have an easier time finding loudspeakers that > you like than you will if you have more catholic tastes (like me, & I > suspect, the majority of the members of this forum). > > I am not particularly bothered which "genre" a musical performance is > (often relatively arbitrarily) assigned to, I am interested in whether > it is an emotionally engaging musical performance. I like listening in > the dark with no distractions, in the (probably delusory!) belief that > this helps my analogue brain focus on the sound without any other > sensory distractions. I do have to observe certain safety protocols when > indulging myself like this since my 18 year old black cat *-still-* > hasn't twigged that, unlike her, I cannot see in the dark (or for that > matter that my eyes are located much further away from my feet than in > her configuration... ). This is slightly dangerous for me, but > potentially disastrous for her. I have a powerful flashlight to hand! > :D > > The almost total inadequacy of any commonly quoted objective > measurements of loudspeaker performance for the purpose of assisting > one's selection of a loudspeaker that suits you is apparent. Arnyk sent > me the link (on another thread) for a recently published paper by 3 > Danish academic researchers who were attempting to make headway with > this issue by inventing new objective measures which actually do > correlate to the sound produced. It was a tough read - I think it took > me 3 run-throughs fully to fathom their chosen methodology & ultimately > I was less than impressed with the amount of progress which they had > actually made by the end. > > However, if anyone would like to have a headache this weekend, I'll go > off & find it so that you can judge for yourself! Throwaway remarks like > needing a "specially experienced listening panel" & the need for the > experiment to be conducted by "experts" gave me cause for concern that > the scientific method (which requires the results of experiments to be > readily repeatable) was not being closely followed despite the undoubted > qualifications of the authors... > > Have a great weekend all! > > I'm off to a Richard Thompson concert this evening - I attended one of > the early concerts in his current tour & he was so good that I got > tickets to see him again before he retreats back to the US which has > been his home for the last 30 years. I'm really looking forward to it! > > Dave :cool:
Just reading from overseas... Thanks GE. Do you happen to have a link to the paper you're referring to? Maybe Arnyk can chime in here... Archimago's Musings: (archimago.blogspot.com) A 'more objective' audiophile blog. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Archimago's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2207 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=108132 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
