best sound I have ever heard from hifi

[audiojoy]

I revisited my ' professional speaker friend' again yesterday and took along my own cd's this time. Same as before his own speaker design (painstakingly designed over 10 years ago) and a 50 quid Sony amp and 50 quid sony cd player. The sound was once again mind bogglingly astounding. I sat in disbelief that such cheap amp/cd units could make such a sound. The sound was superior to anything I had ever heard before, and this time I appreciated it even more. My CDs sounded so real, lifelike, fluid. Every single musician was heard crystal clear and their interactions were spot on, is the best way I can describe it. Every instrument and every voice was heard so clearly and so distinctly you new immediately it was capturing the real harmonics and decay in a way I have never heard before. In fact the decay rate of each note seemed to be what may have contributed a lot to the rightness of everything that I heard. 1940's and 30's recordings were nothing like I could have ever imagined, so present so real so palpable. I heard tunes from cd's that I thought I new well that I had never appreciated before. Voices that actually had the correct amount of tonal color with an accuracy that showed off every facet of the voice, the accent, the emotion, the teasing. I could go on and on. More amazing was that the speakers were almost shrouded in boxes of speaker drivers, with a massive 50 inch tv smack bang in the middle of the room in front of our listening area and right up against the walls as he had no where else to put them, yet I could neither see nor hear the sound coming from the speakers. I think that's what you call an 'inert' speaker, to its surroundings anyway.

At one point I got up and followed the speaker cables all the way to the amp terminals to be sure of the amp that was being used

You go figure. That's how much a speaker done right is worth at the end of the day. In my mind anyway.

 

[ff1d1l]

You'll be knocking yourself up a pair? Over to the DIY section...

 

[Yomanze]

What speakers are you using? Would help offer some perspective.

 

[audiojoy]

You'll be knocking yourself up a pair? Over to the DIY section...

dont think so, built speakers in the past, (see my diy bastanis on diyaudio) very difficult to get right. This person has 60 years of driver building skills and remarkable hearing. The drivers alone were built from just the speaker chassis, i.e the cone was specially selected paper material of a particular conical contour etc etc etc you get the picture. I am afraid that's all I know, quite rightly he has good reason to keep the whole speaker camouflaged and give nothing away to me as hard as I have tried.

 

[audiojoy]

What speakers are you using? Would help offer some perspective.

Ok where do I start here is my list of speakers I have lived with , my most recent speakers have been tannoy Canterburys, Devore Orangutan, and at present Tannoy GFR Corners,

of those that i can remember actually owning and listening to extensively include the following, there are many more I am sure

quad esl57 electrostatics single and double, rogers ls3 5a, Avantgarde duo horns. Harbeth both new and old, Tannoys all the way from 12" versions to 15". Shahinian obelisk 2 more recently, Naim ovators, audio physic avanti,Altec sound of the theater, various Linn speakers from the Kan upwards, devore orangutans, totems, triangles, magnapen electrostatics PMC LB1, yamaha ns2000, Kudos titan, etc etc

as always check my posts and see what my version of reality is, we all have our own versions don't we?

 

[eastone]

dont think so, built speakers in the past, (see my diy bastanis on diyaudio) very difficult to get right. This person has 60 years of driver building skills and remarkable hearing. The drivers alone were built from just an speaker chassis, i.e the cone was specially selected paper material of a particular conical contour etc etc etc you get the picture.

So we know the speakers used a paper cone. Can you say a bit more now about the construction? How large was the cone in question? Were they a 2-way design or some sort of full-range/coaxial affair?

 

[audiojoy]

as i said in my earliest posts they are very well camouflaged and I am given no idea, regarding its secret, whatsoever, and trust me I tried hard

 

[ff1d1l]

The method used in music and silence?

 

[lilolee]

Best sound I heard was at a show many years ago. Border patrol were demoing their 300b with Living Voice AirScout and AirPartner speakers. Can't remember what front end, but I kept going back again and again and pretty much stayed there for hours. Kind of like this.

 

[Mescalito]

Like virtually all of us, I was conned into accepting the "source first" ballyhoo promulgated by Ivor/Julian.
They were wrong. A mediocre front end/amp into good speakers will always trounce a state-of-the-art front end into mediocre speakers.

Chris

 

[Tigerjones]

Like virtually all of us, I was conned into accepting the "source first" ballyhoo promulgated by Ivor/Julian.
They were wrong. A mediocre front end/amp into good speakers will always trounce a state-of-the-art front end into mediocre speakers.

Exactly. Unfortunately, there are those still peddling this front end first guff.

 

[darrenyeats]

The principle of "source first" is logically sound. It's just that very good electronics are cheaper and/or more widely available than very good speakers and very good acoustics, so in practice it's worth spending more money or effort on speakers and acoustics.

That's not to say electronics are universally very good - there might be some room for audible improvement depending on the system.

 

[audiojoy]

The principle of "source first" is logically sound. It's just that very good electronics are cheaper and/or more widely available than very good speakers and very good acoustics, so in practice it's worth spending more money or effort on speakers and acoustics.

That's not to say electronics are universally very good - there might be some room for audible improvement depending on the system.

spot on

 

[audiojoy]

Best sound I heard was at a show many years ago. Border patrol were demoing their 300b with Living Voice AirScout and AirPartner speakers. Can't remember what front end, but I kept going back again and again and pretty much stayed there for hours. Kind of like this.

I am sure there are many other speakers that give you that feeling you have finally reached the ultimate. This again will be on an individual basis be dependent on our psychoacoustic version of reality, which may or may not be the same as others, combined with the experience we have of listening to many different speakers and set ups. I had the Altecs Living Voice, a very similar design in many respects and I can see where the realism lied with those speakers which was audible in abundance, the lifelike dynamics and scale few speakers can produce for starters but there were some down sides as well. Not to say the Living voice will have them also as I have not heard those speakers.

 

[Yank]

Like virtually all of us, I was conned into accepting the "source first" ballyhoo promulgated by Ivor/Julian.
They were wrong. A mediocre front end/amp into good speakers will always trounce a state-of-the-art front end into mediocre speakers.

Chris

A system with mediocre components anywhere will be mediocre.

 

[ChrisPa]

@audiojoy

What models are your friend's Sony cd player and amp?

They will certainly be playing a part in what you've heard

Thanks

 

[JTC]

I think it’s as much about your mood at the time of hearing a system as the system itself. In the right mood, I can lose myself in some pretty lo-fi kit. And when I’m distracted, even my ESLs won’t pull me back.

I have to say, though, that with the possible lack of bass extension and overall volume capability (which cannot be denied) the ESL 57s do no wrong. I am smitten, even if I know I haven’t got the best out of them yet. I’ve heard more ‘in your face’ impressive speakers, but nothing that does music so well. I only wish that I could get that sound from a compact standmount or small floorstander . But we all know that despite all the claims, no box speaker really does the ESL thing. Some come close, mind you...

Musical reproduction is a bit like wine. Enjoyment is more about the company and the environment than anything else...

 

[ff1d1l]

A system with mediocre components anywhere will be mediocre.

You're right, and furthermore IMHO great speakers on the end of a succession of mediocre components will be trumped by mediocre speakers hanging off greatness.

 

[Helen Bach]

and it works for turntables as well. A good cart in a mediocre arm will sound worse than a mediocre cart in a good arm, in general.

I'm putting together a low end system, but more of the budget is going on the arm than any other component, including the amplifiers and speakers. [mix of old and new, second owner and first!]

 

[audiojoy]

MY Tannoy GFR's have gone the other way, the better the quality of the amps (and dearer) the better the sound. The amps used on the speakers in question were a humble Sony f170 (£50 ebay) and xa2es sony cd player. Don't get me wrong in my multi thousand pound speaker set up they sounded just fine, but I could not reproduce anywhere near the quality I heard in those speakers. I did spend almost 6hrs listening to those speakers on 2 separate occasions. When upped to Pye valve amps or the pass labs 250.5 things dramatically improved in my speakers as did the cd player being upgraded to an accuphase and genesis set up. However my Tannoys are 15" and as sensitive as they are they need a lot of juice to control the bottom end, which the Sony amp could not produce. I have a feeling 'those speakers' were probably designed all those years ago simply using those amps as a reference and tuned around them, or he has upgraded those ancillaries sneakily. Not that sort of chap though. So makes it all the more intriguing. I know his speakers will be using no more than 8" drivers due to the width of the speakers, exactly what size? and what configuration I have no idea. But I would pay 8k here and now, in their horrible unfinished state just to own them, that is for sure!!!! In fact I am sure I offered him more than that a few weeks ago.