Specialists > Audiologists

The Old Days

(1/7) > >>

dflee:
My first audiophile grade speaker was Bang and Olufsen M4.
I got them from a small audio shop run by Valparaiso University in my home town. One of the selling points and something ingrained was I could stand in front of one speaker and clearly hear the other side playing. That meant no matter where in the room I could hear both right and left channels clearly. Today there is the "sweet spot" and if you sit in just the right place and just the right height and put your head in just the right position you hear nirvana (not the band). I won't disagree that sound stage and all the other euphemisms may be better but not all of us have a stereo for just themselves. Besides isn't music to be shared and enjoyed by all in the room? When did things change? Is it the equipment that made us listen differently or is it equipment isn't made like that anymore?

Don

Folsom:
You won't find me in the sweetspot all the time. I think a good stereo sounds nice everywhere. But you get that last 5-10% in the sweetspot.

Nick B:

--- Quote from: dflee on September 04, 2022, 03:44:45 PM ---My first audiophile grade speaker was Bang and Olufsen M4.
I got them from a small audio shop run by Valparaiso University in my home town. One of the selling points and something ingrained was I could stand in front of one speaker and clearly hear the other side playing. That meant no matter where in the room I could hear both right and left channels clearly. Today there is the "sweet spot" and if you sit in just the right place and just the right height and put your head in just the right position you hear nirvana (not the band). I won't disagree that sound stage and all the other euphemisms may be better but not all of us have a stereo for just themselves. Besides isn't music to be shared and enjoyed by all in the room? When did things change? Is it the equipment that made us listen differently or is it equipment isn't made like that anymore?

Don

--- End quote ---

Over twenty years ago, I had Shahinian Diapasons and their omnidirectional design gave me lots of freedom to move around….and it was an excellent speaker and fun to listen to. In my situation…single with the house to myself… I don’t mind being locked into a small sweet spot. A couple of years ago, I looked into Ohm speakers, but couldn’t pull the trigger due to lack of comments by high end users.

James Edward:
I currently have Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S speakers; no baffle, so a fair amount of sound emanates from the rear of the speaker.
This gives a wider sound when not sitting locked into a listening chair- I do that only about 10% of the time; so I empathize…
Back in the day I think maybe (?) we were more into tonality… Magazines at some point began to emphasize soundstage and depth as holy grails- maybe manufacturers toed the line to garner better reviews.
I still prefer tonality over soundstage as my preference- my system is in my living room and I don’t sit in my listening chair as often as I’d like, but I do always have it on as I move about.
Having said that, I do get a thrill out of a system that does the image thing really well. CES 2008- Tropos Audio- I kept going back to their room- you’d think if you threw a tennis ball between the speakers it would bounce back- I’ve never before or since heard such a solid image.

Nick B:

--- Quote from: James Edward on September 07, 2022, 03:42:20 PM ---I currently have Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S speakers; no baffle, so a fair amount of sound emanates from the rear of the speaker.
This gives a wider sound when not sitting locked into a listening chair- I do that only about 10% of the time; so I empathize…
Back in the day I think maybe (?) we were more into tonality… Magazines at some point began to emphasize soundstage and depth as holy grails- maybe manufacturers toed the line to garner better reviews.
I still prefer tonality over soundstage as my preference- my system is in my living room and I don’t sit in my listening chair as often as I’d like, but I do always have it on as I move about.
Having said that, I do get a thrill out of a system that does the image thing really well. CES 2008- Tropos Audio- I kept going back to their room- you’d think if you threw a tennis ball between the speakers it would bounce back- I’ve never before or since heard such a solid image.

--- End quote ---

I did a search on Tropos, but couldn’t find very much. Here’s a link on one of their models.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/tropos-audio-audio-dreams--455848793514225953/
I’ll agree with you as to the value of tonality. Over the years, I’ve become spoiled and want the whole package… Imaging, soundstage, resolution, black background etc.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

Go to full version