Audio Jester

It's sad about Rik. Young Ones was truly magnificent.

Could it not just be due to manufacturing variances? The graphs that people post show there are some differences between each HP within the same batch (or concurrent batches). This would account for why there are some people who have owned multiple HD800's over time have not noticed any great difference between them.

Thanks for the responses, much appreciated.

Srs? I was hoping for a more indepth response than that....

Have you looked into the CAPS systems? You can build them yourself or there are some businesses that make them for you. Some servers that I have been looking at are from Aurender, Auralic, Bryston and Antipodes. Sadly, all of these "off the shelf" ones seem overpriced.

I was pondering the idea of sound design when it comes to amplifier design. I am wondering if amp designers know what a circuit is going to sound like before they make it? So is it the case that they think about the sonic attributes they want to create and design an amp to suit or do they just build an amp with little concern for the sonic side of things and aim to keep the variables (such as THD) in an optimum range with an expectation that the amplifier will sound good at the end? In addition to this are there things a designer can do to deliberately change an aspect of the sound, such as increase the warmth, widen the soundstage or increase the detail? Sorry for the noobish question, but the scientist in me gets curious sometimes.

I love this book...

Those speakers drink scotch of the highest order.

One day the universe will align and I will be able to get one of Doug's amps.

That's a valid point. FTR it was a store focused on studio mixing and live music production, not a guitar store. I had assumed that a store with such a decent room setup for testing was going to reveal what these speakers can achieve, but I think you are right about it not being the best environment as my experience was quite different from the many reviews I had read. I didn't want to waste any more of their time so that is why I decided to leave without a home demo. Maybe it seems odd but when I buy gear I need to have an immediate connection with the sound. I feel that as I would be using these in a less than perfect room the chance of the sound becoming dramatically better is unlikely. I hope to do some more listening sessions soon, a place near me has a huge range of Quads and a few other bookshelfs.

A fine piece of kit Doug! Would it be possible to have a timber top panel as well as the sides? I think that would look pretty stately. ... I'm still pissed that I missed out on the L-2. I hope to get my hands on an ECP someday.

Rant inbound. Mike Mercer's review was so blatantly a piece of marketing hype that I am surprised that more people on Head-Fi didn't comment on it. WTF is the point of a review if you are just going to blow hot air up the manufacturer's ass. Maybe I'm an idealist, but we should be trying to push audio technology forward and not throwing false praise around so unsuspecting readers end up funding people that are simply not bringing decent stuff to the table. Soz, just can't abide the censorship and copious quantities of BS that are being produced by Head-Fi currently. Rant over.

ROFL! That is kind of my M.O., I was trying to be more restrained this time around. .... It is very tempting though.

Thanks for the input everyone! I think it is back to the drawing board for me, but you've given me some direction which is bound to help. Cheers!

My previous desktop speakers were Swan m200 mk3's so I was expecting that these studio monitors would be much better, but I enjoy the sound of the Swans more. I'm not saying that they are more detailed or transparent, but the Swans had a decent amount of bass to them and presented a fuller sound overall. I am reluctant to get a sub because I live in a share house and sub-bass is not going to be well received by others. I have a very small room currently, so space is an issue, but I am happy to sacrifice accurate imaging for something that can deliver a broader frequency response at lower volumes. I have read good things about the Dynaudio 160, but they are in a completely different price bracket. Does anyone have any suggestions? If I can keep the system below $3000 and fit it in my 3x3m room i'm all ears.

I have been looking for some small active speakers for my room so I did a whole lot of research and ended up auditioning studio monitors at a local store. I listened to the following: Adam A5x,A7x JBL LSR2325P Presonus Eris E8 Yamaha HS7 Neumann KH120 ... And I didn't like them. I tried moving around the test room, aligning my ears to the tweeters, various types of music (including some tracks I know well), nothing seemed to work. I found this really frustrating as I had read over and over again that studio monitors should present an accurate sound and have a linear frequency response. The most convincing to me was the Neumann KH120, but I just didn't like the overall sound enough. None of them reproduced the piano on my test track to the degree of realism I would have expected. Low mids and bass were an issue with many (contrary to many reviews that spoke of huge bass coming from these speakers). I just didn't find any of them very engaging. I think this means that I need to look into bookshelf speakers that offer a more hifi/euphonic/inaccurate(?) response or is there a reasonable explanation for all these monitors sounding like they are missing chunks of the frequency spectrum? I personally don't know anything about music production, but the gear the guy was using to demo these speakers looked pretty impressive. Has anyone else found a large difference in sound signature between bookshelf speakers and studio monitors? I have read so many positive reviews for these speakers, so obviously I am missing something here. Thoughts?