advertisement


Loudspeakers That Do It All

I owned active Sara’s for about 15 years. Honk honk.
My eldest son has them now. I’m a bad dad.
 
Tony L said:
Obviously speakers are a highly personal thing, but the key indicator for me is how long you keep them.
Click to expand...

25 years for my current pair, I wonder will the next pair last as long.

FWIW I don't think the 'perfect' speaker exists, though I think it's perfectly plausible to get really close to the 'perfect' speaker for ones personal taste, budget, room, amplifier, etc.
I think any good speaker needs to be a good all rounder, any design which only works with 'this' type of music or doesn't work with another type is obviously a heavily flawed design .
 
I've been abroad for a week so not done much listening, it's always instructive to take a break. My ATC40As never fail to impress, whether loud or quiet, never harsh & wonderful on vocals. When I had a full Naim system, somedays it wouldn't sound great, others amazing. Much happier now. Neither speaker is doing for the OP so best to start again.
 
Joe P said:
Cam,

If you happen to have Suzanne Vega's Tom's Diner on LP or CD I'd be curious what you think of that recording. Even on a modest system it's almost like she's in the room singing.
Joe
Click to expand...

Bit of a tangent here, but I went straight to that Tom’s Diner track, from the ‘Solitude Standing’ album. Damn! But that is a fine test for fidelity to the human voice. My little Harbeth P3ES-2s served it up very tasty indeed, other limitations notwithstanding…

Thanks for the tip, Joe!
 
Panderos,

Panderos said:
Bit of a tangent here, but I went straight to that Tom’s Diner track, from the ‘Solitude Standing’ album. Damn! But that is a fine test for fidelity to the human voice. My little Harbeth P3ES-2s served it up very tasty indeed, other limitations notwithstanding…
Click to expand...

I imagine the little Harbeths would be amazing on human voice.

The first time I heard that track was with Quad ESL 57s. It was as though Suzanne Vega were in the room. My Tannoys do a respectable job on vocals, too, but on that track the Quads are utterly beguiling. That's why I'm curious what @camverton and @Colin L think, assuming they have the recording handy.


Joe
 
It's all about synergy. Find the perfect match and, like swans, you'll be mated for life.
Had my Celestion 44's for 49 years and still love them.
Recapped, tweaked and fettled since lockdown and sounding better than ever.
They "disappear" as the saying goes. Just love that window rattling bass.
Pity their owner couldn't be restored to pristine condition with a recap.:p
 
Interesting going through this.Most experienced audio hobbyists seem to have similar preferences to myself and that includes-
1.BBC derived lossy box monitor types
2.Sealed bass multi ways like Gales and ATC SCM40.
3.Large woofer,wide baffle types like vintage Tannoys and Celestion 3 ways.Thankfully that type is making a return.
4.Maggies.

What is left out is the modern type tower type floor stander using lowish sensitivity,ported small diameter long excursion mid woofers which have dominated the mass market for at least the last 20 years.High WAF speakers!How this type has been allowed to dominate the market is beyond me.Terrible things!.
 
Last edited:
Joe P said:
Panderos,



I imagine the little Harbeths would be amazing on human voice.

The first time I heard that track was with Quad ESL 57s. It was as though Suzanne Vega were in the room. My Tannoys do a respectable job on vocals, too, but on that track the Quads are utterly beguiling. That's why I'm curious what @camverton and @Colin L think, assuming they have the recording handy.


Joe
Click to expand...

Joe,

Got back from a business trip last night so played the track then. I have it on the original vinyl (though no TT anymore) CD and ripped to file. What to say other than she stands, present in the room, singing to me. Her breathy overtones and occasional mouth sounds are there and the natural recording room ambience comes through during the couple of longer pauses.

From someone more literate than me who describes it better - Jonathan Valin’s review in AS from 2011 when the 101 MK2’s were released

“If you’re expecting a letdown in the MBL’s midrange (and given what I’ve just said about its magic act in the bass and treble, you may be), you’re in for a surprise. Although we don’t talk about this much anymore, it used to be that loudspeakers—from big expensive planars like Maggie 1- Us or stacked KLH 9s, to moderately priced dipoles like the Quad 57s, to cheap bookshelf dynamics like stacked Ad-vents—could “fool” you into thinking that a recorded vocalist or soloist was there in the room. I don’t know what’s happened to speaker technology in the past thirty years— whether or not the gains that have been made in imaging specificity and soundstaging breadth and depth and flat extended frequency response have been traded off against that magical sense of “presence”— but it is not often, anymore, that a loudspeaker tricks me into thinking that, say, Joan Baez or Artur Rubinstein or the Juilliard Quartet is “there” in the room. The MBL 101 Es are exceptions. Like Maggies of old—and perhaps because, like Maggies of old, they throw images that are larger, less razor-cut, and more “bloomy,” dynamically alive, and threedimensional— these things can fool ya into thinking that you are in the presence of real musicians or vocalists. Of course, a great deal depends on the recording, but with the right disc—try Cisco’s reissue of Doc Watson’s Southbound or what my colleague Mark Lehman calls Bartók’s seventh quartet, Jerome Rosen’s String Quartet No. 1 [Epic]—at the right level, the 101 Es pull the ultimate magic trick: They make you momentarily forget you’re listening to speakers.”

I find the reference to Maggie’s interesting. I heard the 3.6’s many years ago ( at Hifi centre in Vancouver actually ) and they were my aspiration speaker until I heard the MBL’s. After that box speakers (any of them) have always sounded flawed to me. I searched long and hard and eventually found a pair of the 101’s I could afford. Lucky me. There is nothing else like them and well worth listening to, if only for reference.
 
I was a happy speaker swapper for decades, very much enjoying the variety of presentations available. Boxes, panels, hybrids, dynamic, electrostatic, ribbons. All came and went, some leaving fonder memories than others.

Then an upward financial blip provided an opportunity for a longer term speaker investment.
A pair of MBL116f hybrid omnis came. And stayed. Now into their 13th year with me. I couldn't be happier.

mcJZiWf.jpeg
 
ryder said:
I am aware there are people who own only one system based on a pair of loudspeakers. Speakers that are said to do everything, sounding great with all types of music. There's no disputing this fact and I'm sure this is certainly true for most people including me at one point.

Nevertheless, as time goes by I realise that all systems particularly loudspeakers are a compromise. There isn't a speaker that's perfect, in other words one that can do it all. All speakers have a sound signature of their own including those which are claimed to be neutral. To me, it's just a matter of finding one that suits one's taste and listening preferences.
Click to expand...
That aligns with my own experience and apparently with that of a lot of people posting here.

What does "do it all" mean? IMHO, good audio reproduction fools the listener into suspending disbelief and experiencing an enjoyable personal illusion. Observation tells me that an enjoyable illusion is different to different people and often surprisingly different from my own personal experience.

Performers in the room? What about a symphony orchestra in the room, then? Well maybe in that case the illusion of a window into the concert hall instead from some believable seat.
 
Colin L said:
Jerry, what are you driving them with? I don't recognise the amps from the photo.
Click to expand...
That photo is from quite a while ago, taken on one of the rare occasions when the room was relatively tidy!
I spy a Marantz class D amp on the shelves.

My speaker swapping has stopped, in my main system at least.
But electronics come and go with exhilarating frequency. :D

I've successfully driven my MBLs with all sorts; valve, transistor, hybrid. Class A, AB, D, K. 8wpc to 400 wpc.
They are remarkably easy to drive despite their mid-80s sensitivity.

The MBLs are enjoyably transparent, allowing appreciation of what the electronics can deliver.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top