What if you CAN'T audition?

[Paul R]

Yeah, that would be nice I think. I would have far less worries about haggling and buying even expensive gear from the regulars around here. At the very least, you could be pretty sure of getting help with the beastie.

 

The only issue I would see is the use of aliases- I dislike not knowing the real name of the person I am dealing with. Most especially if money changes hands.

 

-Paul

 

 

[Paul R]

Thanks

 

 

- Paul

 

[4est]

My comment was not to sell you on Quads, but pointing to an avenue that largely ameliorates their issues. I agree that cones and stats are a tough mix. When implemented well it is quite effective. Not to diss ML, but theirs are not a good representation IMO. Panel size helps of course, but much of the bass issues have to do with the nature of dipoles and the electrostatic field. I used to agree with not mixing them too.

 

[Nerdicus]

When have you ever come out of a concert saying "Wow, loved the singer's mid-bass response," or "Hey, Pavarotti's upper midrange was really nice and level tonight"?

 

This makes complete sense - it just seemed that the book made it sound like if I happened to mix amp A with speaker C I might just end up with horrible sound, and if I were to purchase without auditioning... you get the point. What your saying then is that system matching really is primarily a technical aspect, and probably some with serious ears could discern major problems. I have a feeling I'll be safe with just about anything I move on to from this point since it's a major upgrade for me.

 

I also took the advice of someone earlier about asking local audiogon people for audition, and I got one! A gentleman here in Orlando is selling some B&W 705s, I'll be hearing them Saturday.

 

[Nerdicus]

Heading there this afternoon!

 

[Jud]

Sometimes I get a little carried away (heh), and don't always explain things as clearly as I should.

 

What your saying then is that system matching really is primarily a technical aspect, and probably some with serious ears could discern major problems.

 

What I meant was that it is virtually impossible for anyone without huge experience setting up speakers in various rooms to discern flatness of frequency response (and even then you'd want to have measurements to confirm). And once you had, you'd still not have a great deal of the information needed to know whether a system was capable of reproducing music well. So shortcut the process and simply listen to hear if the music is reproduced well. It's more pleasant, easier, and more effective IMHO.

 

Now with regard to what barrows and Forrest have mentioned regarding system matching - amps and speakers not being suited to each other electrically or in terms of being able to play loud enough - you'd hear that pretty easily as gross distortion.

 

[4est]

Agreed Jud! Pick the speakers, then the amp to get the most out of them.