AR bashing ??

[Guest Bret]

>Summer CES??? Sorry, there hasn't been a Summer CES in many years...<

See? I keep telling people I matter at some level and they just won't listen. I quit selling gear and there just wasn't any need to have CES twice a year anymore.

But where do we find-out this Christmas season's tone of anodized alumimum and brushed stainless? How can a retailer go into Christmas not knowing what color the B&O platter pads are this year?

Okay, okay, I'll chastise myself immediately.

Bret

[Guest Bret]

>Given that there is no standard for making recordings, it is hardly surprising that a given speaker sounding accurate reproducing one recording could sound highly inaccurate reproducing another.<

What you say is so incredibly obvious but generally ignored that I'm almost ecstatic you said it as matter-of-factly as you did.

In another diatribe about "music to select speakers by" I made the point that since we weren't there when the music was recorded, we really can't say whether what we are hearing is what we would have heard had we been standing in front of the microphone when it was recorded.

And you never know what goes on in a studio ("Here, stuff this towel in that tuba, it's too harsh.")

But you know, both recording engineers and speaker designers are all fighting a battle they cannot win. Re-radiation from refractive points on an acoustic instrument, to choose only one of thousands of variables, give every one of them a "custom auditory signature."

Just trying to design something that "sounds like a Strat, but isn't a Strat," has kept a lot of talented instrument makers very busy for a very long time.

We would all be naive to think that it is really possible to make a speaker that "sounds like a Strat, but isn't even a violin." Then, put more demands on reproduction - "THAT Strat, in THAT room, with THAT bow-style, with THAT catgut, held THUSLY," and I'd say we ask a lot from the guys who design microphones, speakers, recording techniques,listening rooms, and everything in between.

I don't have an anechoic chamber sitting-around handy, but even if I did, unless the recorded instrument was also recorded that way. . . what have I got? I've got the results of whatever the recording engineers were fighting. . . how did Douglas Adams put it. . . an SEP (Somebody Else's Problem). Now I need a speaker in my chamber that will radiate exactly like the violin did in that room. So. . . maybe it would be possible for me to hear what the microphones heard. . . so long as it was recorded binaurally with a casting taken from my head and ears. Under those circumstances it might pass for "being there." (a favorite movie title)

So when listening to my stereo I'm contending with. . . My lord, we've got my room to contend with, the furniture, the cabinet the drivers are in, the drivers themselves, . . . the dewpoint for goodness sake.

Rather than groussing that it doesn't sound like a chamber orchestra is really sitting in front of me, I'm pretty amazed at how close it can come. Anything in any audio component's performance that reminds me that the stereo system is there is just an annoyance.

And I think we've hit the crux of the biscuit when it comes to my love of "old, worn-out, not-high-end" AR speakers. They don't constantly remind me how good they sound. They just let me hear how good the performers sound.

Off soapbox, ready to argue relative merits again.

Bret

[roundhome]

KEN KANTOR

I'm not sure how it works but I found a blurb on the same concept

(Acoustic Feedback (AFB) Dome Sound System

This 2-way, 4-speaker configuration delivers powerful, dynamic bass and clear, natural sound across a broad frequency range. Woofer and tweeter units are housed in a large bass reflex box, with high-performance microphones positioned in front of the woofers to detect sound pressure levels. Any deviation in sound pressure levels is fed back to the audio amplifier, and the sound output is automatically adjusted. )

The speakers that have the microphones in them are junk but you can turn them off and go to the the ARs and drive them only. the mic still works with ARS sitting on top the other speakers. That is when it sounds good. would like to put the mic's in frount of the ARs woofers but think there is some respect to position to consider.

I think its just some type of EQ system.

Jim

PS would be interested in reading about more of your work, on here. Plus I'm refoaming some 901 now and fixing up some LSTIIs so would like you to continue on your coment about bose 901s and LST Please

[kkantor]

>But where do we find-out this Christmas season's tone of

>anodized alumimum and brushed stainless? How can a retailer

>go into Christmas not knowing what color the B&O platter pads

>are this year?

>

That's what the Internet is for.

- You can find out what the colors are.

- You can vote for the colors you want.

- You can buy and return the platter pads 6 times without ever having to talk to a sales guy.

- And you can turn all your 7" disks into 12" disks with a pill you order confidentially.

[kkantor]

OK, I'll try and remember to say more on the LST later. You can remind me, too.

That kind of feedback system you describe is completely different than what I am working on. The "AFB" type of feedback system is really, really difficult to make work properly. The reasons are very complicated, but it has been tried since the 1950's without success. Also, even if it worked, it would correct for one microphone location very close to the speaker.

[roundhome]

HELLO ALL

while we are on the topic of comparing speakers and there price and quality. does anyone know the diff between the Cello and the LST? They look alot alike yet the price of a cello will to say the least shock you. and I have been told buy one company selling me some drivers that they used the same as AR(?)

I think the Cello peaple would not have much good to say if you compared them together .

Jim

PS

The Cello speaker I'm talking about is the Pro Amati,

[Guest Bret]

>does anyone know the diff between the Cello

>and the LST?

I didn't and asked this same question not long ago. See:

http://168.143.114.212/dc/dcboard.php?az=s..._id=1769&page=4

Bret