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Which speakers are the brightest?

This wasnt a Heresy ..it was this model

FREQUENCY RESPONSE 29Hz-21kHz ± 3dB
POWER HANDLING 250W RMS / 1000W Peak
SENSITIVITY 100dB @ 2.83V / 1m
NOMINAL IMPEDANCE 8 ohms compatible
HIGH FREQUENCY DRIVERS 1.25" (3.2cm) Titanium diaphragm
compression driver mated to 90˚x 60˚
square Tractrix® Horn
HIGH FREQUENCY CROSSOVER 1650Hz
LOW FREQUENCY DRIVERS Triple 8" (20.3cm) High-output Cerametallic™
cone woofers
ENCLOSURE TYPE Bass-reflex via triple rear-firing ports


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I know nothing about the post-Paul Klipsch stuff. That just doesn't even look like a Klipsch to me, just a conventional floor-stander with a horn-loaded tweeter!

PS Just for the record here's a listening seat measurement of my La Scalas back from when I was unsuccessfully playing around with some subs:

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That is semi-tone smoothing so a way more jagged graph than you'd ever see in a magazine. There is an obvious corner lift at around 45Hz and the odd bit of cancellation here and there (may well be phase issues as La Scala drvers couldn't be any less time-aligned!), but despite what so many claim they are clearly not 'bright'. In fact if I were to do it again now they are driven by a little 2 Watt single ended triode I'm prepared to bet they are currently rather warmer! I no longer feel any need for subs anyway.
 
And many a perfectly good loudspeaker can be shot down for being bright or thin sounding when the real problem is the amp not being up to the job.

It's a matter of taste but I'd take a bright speaker over a dull one any day. There are ways to tame brightness but with dullness the only response is to fall asleep!
 
Having DJed at The Merchants Tavern last weekend, where they now have those installed, I can see where you're coming from. Nice at lower volumes, crank them up, and they get a bit harsh.

Had these for many years. With the wrong amps they can be bright at higher vols. They really do need tube amps in my experience. Due to the efficiency they really don't need a lot of power.
 
Under the wrong conditions (bad placement, bad room acoustics) the Triangle Titus and Comete Models can give that experience. In the case of the Comete, supporting measurements are available.

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I think French brands like Triangle and Focal are voiced for small and heavily furnished rooms, which means off axis treble matters and on axis is therefore boosted. Sweeping generalisation I know
 
The brightest speakers in the world are my old Rogers Studio 9s. My daughter blew the tweeters a while back ('sleep' over apparently), so I replaced them with what I thought were equivalents, and recapped the crossovers at the same time.

They now rip my ears off, so something went wrong in the process somewhere. Can't be bothered to fix them, so I gave them to my sister, who thinks they're wonderful.

But she also likes listening to music on her iPhone on speaker mode, so that might account for it
 
I know nothing about the post-Paul Klipsch stuff. That just doesn't even look like a Klipsch to me, just a conventional floor-stander with a horn-loaded tweeter!

I hear you, Tony and it's easily understandable. There are many factors to this but a lot of it is the old-school aesthetic of a wide-baffle, fat-ass speaker that pumps it out.

Have a look at one of the products they unveiled this year at CES in their new kind of "vintage" range. It looks quite interesting. Kind of a really, really cheap and less half-built version of an Avantgarde Zero1 thing. Also quite inexpensive. IT got my blood pumping a bit.
 
There is a reason why I have used the same speakers in my room for over 20 years. And it isn't money.

:)
 
And many a perfectly good loudspeaker can be shot down for being bright or thin sounding when the real problem is the amp not being up to the job.

I remember back in the day the diference between hearing a pair of Kans through a 42 - 110 and then 32- SNAPS - 250

The latter was clearly much better , fuller sounding and, subjectively, a load less bright
 
I find diamond tweeter B&Ws unacceptably bright - and was daft enough to buy a pair once.

I have the 804D3s with the latest version of the diamond tweeter. They have a very flat measured frequency response that extends up to around 30KHz and very low measured distortion. I have used them with a variety of front ends and power amps and the "problem" with them is that, when partnered with less than first rate power amps or sources the high frequency distortion that these generate is reproduced by the speakers in all of its glory (or should I say gory detail!). This makes them appear "bright", but they are not, they are simply revealing the high frequency distortion produced by their partnering equipment. Why do I say this? Because, when partnered with accurate power amps and sources, all of this distortion or over brightness simply disappears.

For example, an optical feed from Sky TV into pretty much any DAC and good power amps results in unpleasant sibilance through the 804s. Wiith an Aries Mini into a Mytek Brooklyn via USB, feeding NCore or Bryston power amps, the brightness and sibilance is gone and the music just sound natural, but substitute a lesser power amp, like an Audiolab 8200P, for the NCores or Bryston, and the over bright sibilant treble returns.

What I'm saying is that modern speakers like these are very revealing in the treble region, perhaps more so than older designs, and it might be that they are simply revealing short comings in their partnering equipment.
 


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