"Brian" wrote in message

Thanks for your advice Barry.
I have a feeling that some speakers are more suitable for Rock music
and other speakers are suitable for Classical music, etc. It would be
nice if the manufactures put a label on their speakers as it what they
are suitable for.

Brian,

You remain wrong on this. Some speakers may be more suitable for pop, or
C+W, or whatever *listeners* because of unsophisticated appreciation of
what good sound is, but great speaker reproduces optimally what is on the
source media, irrespective of genre.

geoff

"Colin B." wrote:

In rec.audio.tech Brian wrote:

(Barry's excellent advice snipped)

Thanks for your advice Barry.
I have a feeling that some speakers are more suitable for Rock music
and other speakers are suitable for Classical music, etc. It would be
nice if the manufactures put a label on their speakers as it what they
are suitable for.
I'm trying to get away from speakers that are too bright and falsely
colour music, these type of speakers seem to be suitable for listening
to for short periods. I'm hoping to give more life to my old CD's by
finding speakers that will faithfully place the CD's as they were
meant to be heard.

A few things I'd like to add here. Good speakers shouldn't be oriented for
classical or rock or smooth jazz. Good speakers should sound good, period.
That said, the compromises that have to be made in the real world may
favour one or the other. Recently I listened to some Meadowlarks with great
anticipation, and found myself disappointed. They sounded really startling
with vocals and small group jazz, but had _no_ bass at all! They wouldn't
be acceptable at any price without a subwoofer, in my opinion. Others though,
love them for their clarity and openness. Maybe if all you listen to is
Jazz at the Pawnshop...

Barry talked about picking music you're familiar with. More to the point,
pick recordings that you're familiar with (or take your favorite albums,
and become familiar with the recording). Get to know what a particular track
does really well, or has a hard time with. Figure out what parts are
challenging for a speaker to get right. Here are some examples from my own
listening routine.

1) So What? from Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" (the new remastered recording)
The pacing and recording of this album is so perfect that I sit
on the edge of my chair, waiting for Miles' horn to come in. If I
notice the speakers at all, then there's something wrong with them.
The string bass in the intro is particularly revealing--on good
speakers, it sounds exactly like a bass being played in front of
you, just off to the side. On many speakers, it's a little dull,
thuddy, or thin.
2) Get out of Town, from Holly Cole's "It Happened One Night"
Shiveringly good close-miked vocals, and again that revealing bass.
This will really highlight clarity, transparency and imaging. If
you close your eyes, you should be able to pinpoint every instrument
on stage.
3) The first song on The Mavens first album, which I don't have handy at
the moment.
Because my speakers have got to ROCK! :-) The chorus of this song
starts with an electronic bass, a kick drum, and a Chapman stick
punching the bottom end. If there are any flaws in the bass, (either
insufficient or boomy), this will reveal them in three notes.
4) A coupla tracks off of Jennifer Warne's "The Hunter."
This is a pure audiophile recording, and has everything going on
at the same time. Deep, clear, extended bass; delicate and close
vocals, and just lotsa warmth. It's very easy though, for it all
to get bunched up and muddy in the midrange. "Way Down Deep" is
particularly good.
5) The third (fourth?) track on Horace X's "Burst Peacock."
Hard driving relentless techno/acoustic celtic insanity. On good
speakers you can (a) pick out all of the various instruments (lead
violin, clarinet, lowland pipes) from the sequencer and electronic
drums; and (b) listen for more than five minutes without your ears
hurting. This is a VERY fatiguing album on many speakers.

So the exact music above isn't crucial (although I would recommend it all
to anyone interested), but the stuff it reveals is. That's what you need to
go into a store with.

Oh yeah, and don't even think of burning a CD from MP3s. Stick to the
original material.

Colin

Thanks Colin.
It's interesting to read what you listen for in your selections of
music. Out of interest have you found any speakers that are acceptable
for the things you listen for?

Regards Brian

Brian,

You remain wrong on this. Some speakers may be more suitable for pop, or
C+W, or whatever *listeners* because of unsophisticated appreciation of
what good sound is, but great speaker reproduces optimally what is on the
source media, irrespective of genre.

geoff



Quite true. Any speaker that can reproduce the entire audio spectrum
is going to work with all types of music. Your choice, in a perfect
world, should only be size and the sound pressure levels at which you
desire to listen to music at. But, since all speakers color the sound a
bit, and since different speakers load an amplifier in different ways
across the audio frequency spectrum, you will notice marked differences
in the way different speakers sound. So, it would be in your best
interest to take a representative sample of music you like and demo the
speakers. The best situation would be to demo speakers with your amp and
CD player or turntable. To be frank, I would only use the opinions of
others as a basic guide, then let your own ears decide. Don't discount
certain speakers because some hoytitoity journalist in some audio
magazine says they are not up to his standards. He might listen to
nothing but chamber music while you listen to nothing but the classic
Seattle Grunge. Let you own ears be your guide! This is one thing I can
not emphasize enough. Give the customer what he likes and he will be
happy. Force something on him by telling him what he should like and he
will become your competition's best advertising.

Brian,

I think we spoke a few months ago when you gave me great advice when i was
buying the pionerr 720h dvd recorder....Thanks for that by the
way..............i bought it and am very happy with the investment and my
wife could not do without it now.

I am in a similar position now....
I am buying an AV Receiver and set of 5 speakers for a total budget of 3,500
to 4,00 Aussie dollars...
The brands i am looking at are Wharfedale, KEF Q, Mission, Dali, Whatmough,
anD Krix.....so far have been most imporessed with Wharfedale and Mission
with the Wharfs winning....still yet to try the KEF Q (people rave over
these), and the Whatmough...

I made a whole sampler CD from my cd collection and burnt it onto one
cd....so i just had to take one cd from shop to shop with a bit of
everything..

I am a complete novice when it comes to this but i thought i wanted to get a
well rounded speaker that sounds good for most of what i listen to...

The Categories i put on it were;
1. Live (Pink FLoyd - Learning to Fly, George Michael - DOnt let the sun go
down on me)
2. Pop (G. Michael - Freedom 90)
3. Accoustic Pop (Maroon 5 - She will be loved)
4. Rock (Queen - Princes of the Universe, Van Halen - Dreams)
5. Percussion (Safridio - The Bongo Drums, uno that one when you hear it)
5. Classical/Theatre - (Charlotte Church - Ave Maria and Amazing Grace, Stig
Rossen - The Impossible Dream)
6. Soundtracks (Immortal Classical (Beet
7. SOundtrack (Immortal Beloved - Fur Elis, Jurassic Park - Opening Credits,
Back Draft - Here comes the Fire Engines).
And lastly my favourite......John Williams Star Wars soundtracks....the two
tracks i sampled from this was DUel of the Fates (Phantom Menace), and
Across teh Stars (Attack of the clones love theme)..

Hope this helps.....

Could people please provide feedback to if this is how they would do it or
are there better pieces to try out some of these music styles.....

and also what speakers should i be looking to , and which ones avoid...My
speaker budget is going to be around the 2,500 AUD.....and in around a year
to 18 months will invest in about a 1,000 sub.

but when i was trying music i have to say the sub difference was so minimal
i can easily go without it for a while.....




"Brian" wrote in message
...
"Colin B." wrote:

In rec.audio.tech Brian wrote:

(Barry's excellent advice snipped)

Thanks for your advice Barry.
I have a feeling that some speakers are more suitable for Rock music
and other speakers are suitable for Classical music, etc. It would be
nice if the manufactures put a label on their speakers as it what they
are suitable for.
I'm trying to get away from speakers that are too bright and falsely
colour music, these type of speakers seem to be suitable for listening
to for short periods. I'm hoping to give more life to my old CD's by
finding speakers that will faithfully place the CD's as they were
meant to be heard.

A few things I'd like to add here. Good speakers shouldn't be oriented
for
classical or rock or smooth jazz. Good speakers should sound good,
period.
That said, the compromises that have to be made in the real world may
favour one or the other. Recently I listened to some Meadowlarks with
great
anticipation, and found myself disappointed. They sounded really
startling
with vocals and small group jazz, but had _no_ bass at all! They wouldn't
be acceptable at any price without a subwoofer, in my opinion. Others
though,
love them for their clarity and openness. Maybe if all you listen to is
Jazz at the Pawnshop...

Barry talked about picking music you're familiar with. More to the point,
pick recordings that you're familiar with (or take your favorite albums,
and become familiar with the recording). Get to know what a particular
track
does really well, or has a hard time with. Figure out what parts are
challenging for a speaker to get right. Here are some examples from my
own
listening routine.

1) So What? from Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" (the new remastered
recording)
The pacing and recording of this album is so perfect that I sit
on the edge of my chair, waiting for Miles' horn to come in. If I
notice the speakers at all, then there's something wrong with them.
The string bass in the intro is particularly revealing--on good
speakers, it sounds exactly like a bass being played in front of
you, just off to the side. On many speakers, it's a little dull,
thuddy, or thin.
2) Get out of Town, from Holly Cole's "It Happened One Night"
Shiveringly good close-miked vocals, and again that revealing bass.
This will really highlight clarity, transparency and imaging. If
you close your eyes, you should be able to pinpoint every instrument
on stage.
3) The first song on The Mavens first album, which I don't have handy at
the moment.
Because my speakers have got to ROCK! :-) The chorus of this song
starts with an electronic bass, a kick drum, and a Chapman stick
punching the bottom end. If there are any flaws in the bass, (either
insufficient or boomy), this will reveal them in three notes.
4) A coupla tracks off of Jennifer Warne's "The Hunter."
This is a pure audiophile recording, and has everything going on
at the same time. Deep, clear, extended bass; delicate and close
vocals, and just lotsa warmth. It's very easy though, for it all
to get bunched up and muddy in the midrange. "Way Down Deep" is
particularly good.
5) The third (fourth?) track on Horace X's "Burst Peacock."
Hard driving relentless techno/acoustic celtic insanity. On good
speakers you can (a) pick out all of the various instruments (lead
violin, clarinet, lowland pipes) from the sequencer and electronic
drums; and (b) listen for more than five minutes without your ears
hurting. This is a VERY fatiguing album on many speakers.

So the exact music above isn't crucial (although I would recommend it all
to anyone interested), but the stuff it reveals is. That's what you need
to
go into a store with.

Oh yeah, and don't even think of burning a CD from MP3s. Stick to the
original material.

Colin

Thanks Colin.
It's interesting to read what you listen for in your selections of
music. Out of interest have you found any speakers that are acceptable
for the things you listen for?

Regards Brian

In article ,
Brian wrote:

I hope to listen to some speakers in the next few days and would like
some helpful advice on the types of things to listen for when judging
speakers. Some have said take your favourite recording to be played,
but as it's my favourite recording it's likely to sound great on all
speakers.

Whatever you are listening to, try it as you turn the volume *down*
until it is quite low. With many speakers, the sound sort of "collapses
in on itself" at low levels, and they sound really awful. Since almost
all music has some low-level sounds at one point or another, you might
want to select speakers that are able to do a good job on them.

FWIW, I find that electrostatics and horns fare much better at low sound
levels than do any kind of "direct radiator" speakers. Many of them
sound just as good when they're barely audible. I'm not sure why that
is, though.

Isaac