MikeBrewster77
11-22-2009, 06:44 PM
I dogsat for my parents this weekend while they jaunted off to Virginia Beach. Yes, my parents have a more exciting life than I these days, but what the hell - they deserve it.
I took a trip to their local mall while I was there (Delaware is the home of tax free shopping, after all.) While I was browsing through Macy's, I never took note of the generic background music playing through the likely 20 year old recessed ceiling speakers, until I started moving towards the younger men's section. Suddenly, I heard something vaguely familiar - it was bass! I wandered over, looked over my head and sure enough there were six Control 1's above me. Clearly a rather new installation, and sounding pretty good for a department store. If the intent is to draw people over to that area, it certainly worked well on me; then again, I'm a sucker for that kinda thing.
I also the chance to listen to speakers of mine that I haven't heard in probably 8 years. Quite some time ago (1999 to be exact) I bought a pair of Cerwin-Vega 12", 3-ways (E-712's to be exact) that were my pride and joy at the time. $489.97 was quite the price tag for me back then, and they were my first major purchase after moving out on my own as well as the first speakers I ever bought brand new. They sat in storage for years after I had moved on, and I finally gave them to my Dad when I closed out the storage unit. I remembered them being quite awesome. They're not... :o:. They certainly throw some bass, but other than that, I can't say much more. They're kinda the "shock and awe" of speakers - all muscle, no grace. It was pretty interesting to see how my tastes have evolved.
Lastly, I got some time with the Bose system in the living room. Not sure which one it is - it has the acoustimass bass unit, and some speakers that aren't cubes, but aren't much larger either. I won't completely trash it; I can see where if you haven't heard better, or if audio just really isn't that important to you, it could be pleasant enough. It's sort of like the movie The Wizard of Oz: Not particularly realistic, saturated with color, and typically enjoyed by those who prefer saccharine over depth. The dynamic range also roughly equals what would have been available on that era's soundtracks...
In short, the best audio reproduction I heard all weekend was in a department store, and I'm really happy to be home with my JBL's again!:applaud:
I took a trip to their local mall while I was there (Delaware is the home of tax free shopping, after all.) While I was browsing through Macy's, I never took note of the generic background music playing through the likely 20 year old recessed ceiling speakers, until I started moving towards the younger men's section. Suddenly, I heard something vaguely familiar - it was bass! I wandered over, looked over my head and sure enough there were six Control 1's above me. Clearly a rather new installation, and sounding pretty good for a department store. If the intent is to draw people over to that area, it certainly worked well on me; then again, I'm a sucker for that kinda thing.
I also the chance to listen to speakers of mine that I haven't heard in probably 8 years. Quite some time ago (1999 to be exact) I bought a pair of Cerwin-Vega 12", 3-ways (E-712's to be exact) that were my pride and joy at the time. $489.97 was quite the price tag for me back then, and they were my first major purchase after moving out on my own as well as the first speakers I ever bought brand new. They sat in storage for years after I had moved on, and I finally gave them to my Dad when I closed out the storage unit. I remembered them being quite awesome. They're not... :o:. They certainly throw some bass, but other than that, I can't say much more. They're kinda the "shock and awe" of speakers - all muscle, no grace. It was pretty interesting to see how my tastes have evolved.
Lastly, I got some time with the Bose system in the living room. Not sure which one it is - it has the acoustimass bass unit, and some speakers that aren't cubes, but aren't much larger either. I won't completely trash it; I can see where if you haven't heard better, or if audio just really isn't that important to you, it could be pleasant enough. It's sort of like the movie The Wizard of Oz: Not particularly realistic, saturated with color, and typically enjoyed by those who prefer saccharine over depth. The dynamic range also roughly equals what would have been available on that era's soundtracks...
In short, the best audio reproduction I heard all weekend was in a department store, and I'm really happy to be home with my JBL's again!:applaud: