John Matheson" wrote:


Unfortunately the Thiele Small alignment model
and it's derivatives are just that - models - that have fundamental
limitations. They can't predict the real world sound of systems - yet I
have
known many speaker designers that put more faith in the modelling than
their
own ears!


John Stone wrote:


Well isn't that what you are doing here? You say the midrange can't be
good,
not just because you don't like the sound, but because you see an out of
band breakup mode on the data sheet. Then you turn around and say you
don't
like the bass, but you admit to having no technical reason for doing so. It
just seems to me that your dislike of this speaker is based as much on
preconceived notions as it is upon what you are hearing. And I strongly
suspect that one influences the other.


I'm just a home brew audiophile, but as I've mentioned a number
of times before, I've listened to a lot of systems over the past
30+ years I've enjoyed hi-end audio.

I'm not an electrical engineer, but I know enough to get myself in
trouble. I certainly don't have access to speaker driver test equipment,
let alone know how to use it. Like so many of us, a lot of what I take
an interest in begins with reputation. A piece of equipment or a
loudspeaker gets favorable comment from a variety of sources and
then I go take a look-see for myself.

I'm not a member of the "Component of the Month Club". I typically
own and operate a set system configuration for several years at a
time. My previous system was in operation for about 10 years
before I decided to move to the Linkwitz Orion. I've never spent
that much ($4000) at once on an audio system. That's a lot of
money to me. Not to you perhaps, but it is to me.

I respect anyone's reputation, but the real test comes from when
I listen. I didn't look at any driver documentation or test
results. I just listened.

Frankly I wasn't unhappy with the sound of my old system. I had
moved to a smaller home and it was just too big for the room it was
in. My previous loudspeakers were X-Static, full-range, curved
diaphram electrostatics. They did wonders with voices and
acoustic instruments. I augmented them with a pair of Thiel
aligned sub-woofers I'd built some years ago that were powered
by a separate amp/Marchand active crossover. A wonderful system.
So I know what I'm listening to.

There was only one dynamic loudspeaker I'd ever heard that
compared to my 'stats, and that was what I heard from Avalon
Acoustics. Great stuff but waaaaaaaaay out of my price range.

And then I heard the Linkwitz Orion.

You can engineer and design all you want, but in the end,
the point of all this is that it all comes down to listening.
John Stone is correct in that you can come to an audition
with pre-conceived notions based upon what you've read on
the spec sheet. It's all about expectation really.

Like so much of life, you don't always get what you want,
but you always get what you expect.

It had been my expectation that I'd never find a dyanmic
loudspeaker that sounded as good on voices as my old 'stats.
With the exception of the Avalon line, that had always been
true until I heard the Orion. A friend whom I respect a
great deal told me about them and so I went and listened.
I was skeptical on the way over, but in the first 5 seconds
knew they were for real. It took another hour or so of
critical listening to be sure, but it was clear from the
start that these were extraordinary.

I looked at the mid-range driver and just sort of shook
my head because it went against everything I'd read about
mid-range drivers over the years. But heck. What do I
know? The listening told me that I didn't know as much
as I thought I did, and that's the point here.

You go listen and you make your choice.

More than once, I asked John Matheson to tell us what he
liked, if he didn't like the Linkwitz Orion. What did
he have at home? Why did he choose that? What loudspeakers
did he like? Why?

He never answered any of those questions, instead preferring
to say he had nothing at home and listened to a lot of things
at his hi-fi shop. When then, what was it he was selling
that he did like?

You obviously have a lot of good professional experience John
Matheson, but when you criticize something, you have to back
it up with alternatives to educate us. Tell us you like this
or that and give us pointers to go listen. Without that,
there's nothing for us to reference your perspective against,
and thus you have little credibility.

Russ Button