I've heard tales of some people "getting used to" the sound of the L100. I never could get a pair of them to "break in" properly.Originally Posted by hsosdrum
I've heard tales of some people "getting used to" the sound of the L100. I never could get a pair of them to "break in" properly.
Ok, granted, what do you say if you hook up the old pair and new pair of the same model and compare them side by side. And the new pair still sucks.
It's happened before and it'll happen again. I'm not saying what you said is bogus, however there has to be something other than "getting used to the new sound."
S4700 owner.
I was only referring to sonic changes commonly attributed to a "speaker break-in" period. If you compare a brand-new pair of Martin-Logans with a pair that has been used for months you'll hear a significant difference between them. If you compare a brand-new pair of 4365s with a pair that's been used for months they'll sound much more alike than the two pairs of electrostatics.
Now, you may not like either a brand-new or broken-in example of a particular speaker, but that's a different phenomenon. As I said in another thread, different people are satisfied by different speakers. My personal hell would be to have to spend eternity listening to music on a pair of L100s. However, ultimately not liking a given speaker does not prevent someone from learning how it "processes" the music. For example, I own a pair of JBL 4312Es (got 'em for a ridiculously good price when I worked at Harman and just couldn't pass them up) and although I don't care for how they present the music, I'm familiar enough with them to be able to listen to music that I've recorded through them and recognize which anomalies I'm hearing are caused by the speakers, and which are inherent in the recording I've made. That makes them a tool (one of many) that I use to help make my recordings sound better on a wider variety of playback systems.
[QUOTE=hsosdrum;374722 If you compare a brand-new pair of 4365s with a pair that's been used for months they'll sound much more alike than the two pairs of electrostatics.[/QUOTE]
Probably, but the differences will be there, subtle as they might be. Is it just merely a matter of taste? Yes, that plays a role, but if the used speakers sound better, then that's cause to think that some break in happened. Of course you can go the full objectivist route and do measurements on both pairs and call me a friggin' nut job. You also as an objectivst, have no problem driving $20k speakers with a $150 receiver...
S4700 owner.
Well I can say this as just the most recent example I've seen, FWIW:
A year ago I ordered Studio 580's but one cab had defects. Took a couple weeks to get replacements, meanwhile the first pair was played almost 24/7. They sounded as I described earlier - somewhat one-notey in the lows without the extension or bloom they should have had, the rest a bit closed in or dry and it seemed the inherent treble rise around 9-10k was too pronounced. For a while I despaired to keep 580's if they were going to sound like that.
They did start to shape up though, and when the second pair came I dreaded to break it in but my luck - the second pair was defective on the cabs like the first. It was clearly a manufacturing issue, not from shipping (dents on the rear corners halfway up the side of the cabs), but I placed the 2nd pair exactly in the spots that the 1st pair were (I'm a stickler for positioning, everything is measured to the room dimensions), and heard what I heard.
The 2nd pair had the sound of the 1st pair out of the box. There was no mistaking that break in had occurred on the 1st pair. Extension was lower into the 30's with proper bloom, better transients and definition, and the treble rise was still there but not as noticeable. The thing I noticed most was the "hard" sound or annoying restriction had returned with the 2nd pair, the 1st pair was much less fatiguing, a more "relaxed" or ease of presentation.
Called Harman HQ in CT and rattled the chain, eventually got to Chris Smith in Northridge who made a good offer on cherry 590's and I sent both pair of 580's back. By some miracle the 590's arrived unharmed. Again, they had a similar new or "raw" sound which did improve after a few weeks run-in like both pair of 580's did. What I heard may or may not happen to the same degree with other speaker models, but IMHO it did occur with these.
"Who you gonna believe - me or your own lying ears?"Longish story, but I tend to believe my own lying ears. I'd like to have had the interface that Mctwins and others here do, to see if it could have been measured and a possible correlation could've been made.
I'm leaving the building now. I sense acoming on...
I'm not exactly sure what you mean here, but if I had a pair of $20k speakers (M2s! I wish...) I would have no problem driving them with whatever made them sound good. (With M2s my first try would be the recommended Crowns.) Whether or not a $150 receiver would get the best performance from a $20k speaker is a different question, having to do with the wisest way to allocate a total system budget to achieve the best overall system performance. I can't imagine a situation where driving $20k speakers with a $150 receiver would be the way spending $20,150 would yield the best possible audio performance, but you never know till you try...You also as an objectivst, have no problem driving $20k speakers with a $150 receiver...
Well, I'm not trying to bait you there. I was just taking a stab at these die-hard objectivsts who think all amps sound the same and blah blah blah. They sure like to rip on audiophiles, calling them juvenile names like "audiophools," is highly inventive. NOT. I thought objectivists are scientists, couldn't they come up with a better name for audiophiles? I mean they're intellectually superior right? Anyway, whether you're an objectivist or not, I find it ludicrous to drive a speaker of the caliber of a JBL Synthesis with piss poor electronics made in some god awful backwater 3rd world country. Then again, I'm a subjectivist, but not a die-hard. For example, I'm not going to go off on the merits of $3k a foot speaker cable. The merits are just not there. But I'm not gonna sit here and say everything sounds the same except for speakers. That my friend, is absurd. I have heard the differences between amps and preamps...HUGE differences. The only component where there maybe more similarities than not, are digital players; CD/DVD/SAVCD/DVD-A/MP3 etc. I haven't heard as much differences. Furthermore, I don't listen to graphs, pink noise, and test tones, I listen to MUSIC! So, if you disagree, I don't know what to tell you. This is where I stand...however, I'm open for debate.
S4700 owner.
Someone else did that part for you.
Hey, how about those 4365s! Pretty cool eh?
Widget
During the 4 years I worked at Harman I had the chance to spend quality time with every single current-model hi-end JBL speaker that comes up for discussion on this forum EXCEPT for the 4365 (even though I created its user manual). I just never found myself hanging out at the engineering labs at the time the 4365s were up and running (and I wasn't about to ask that they be hauled into a sound room and hooked up just so I could audition them). So I can't speak to how good they are or how I think they compare with any other hi-end JBL speaker, although given their pedigree, how they're built (they weigh well over 100 lb each) and the components they're made up with, I can imagine that they sound very, very good indeed.
And of all the hi-end JBLs, the 4365's are the ones that really look like they mean business—just a huge, heavy-as-hell box with a big blue grille and a couple of no-nonsense horns across the top. No fancy design, no curves, no WAF (wife acceptance factor), no BS. When you walk past them you can almost smell the testosterone.
You probably mean the manufacturer. That's ok. But, I was referring to consumers. I don't buy this stuff to listen to that. I listen to music and if I'm watching a movie and such, sound effects and dialogue. Furthermore, I don't walk into a showroom armed with test equipment asking if I can jerry rig it all to $20k speakers. I go in there to listen to my favorite cuts of music, and not necessarily audiophile approved stuff. Measurements only tell half the story (if that) and that's the way it is as far as I'm concerned.Someone else did that part for you.
S4700 owner.
So trueSomeone else did that part for you.
Hallo!
Some new pictures
I added the spikes to see what is going on. Must have this MDF plate to move around the speakers a little bit easier. Other than that, the speakers sounds great and still going strong.
JBL
Nice. I like that you can see the Amp parameters on the TV screen. Am I seeing that right? If so, what's the output configuration? Amp to Laptop to TV?
Cheers,
Warren
Hallo!
I am using HiQnet Audio Architect for Windows. Connecting via ethernet cabel from my Crown to my computer. Here you can adjust things like limiters, using DSP, output levels, see what line voltage is and so on...
Pretty cool...
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
