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Hi all!
Lately, I've been listening a lot to my latest project: a 3 way with 2 RS270's, 2 W4-1335's and an SB29.
Basically, every Classic Records DAD disc blows me out of my seat. "I Robot", by The Alan Parsons Project, for example, sounds the way I imagined it could sound - incredible. Everything sounds correct. Likewise, say, Monica Mancini's tribute to her father (in SACD), "Eye in the Sky" (DVD-A), Santana's MFSL releases, The Eagles' "Hotel California" by DCC...
Which is to say - most of my audiophile discs sound perfectly well.
But then, I decided to play the "Like Omygod" 80's box by Rhino, and things weren't so nice. The recordings sound thin and shrill - no real bass to speak of, and there are too many highs.
Most of my 80's discs sound pretty much the same.
Anyway, I played back those same discs on my 7.1 system (which has an el Cheapo Yamaha receiver, DVD-A / SACD combo player and Energy C-7, CC1, C1 and C3 speakers, plus a DIY Tempest 15" sealed sub). I used the "Pure Direct" mode (plain old stereo, no processing).
While not audiophile sounding in any way, they were pretty listenable. Thin? Yeah, but not shrill. They just lacked a bit of bass.
Now, I've been thinking a bit on this. I also like headphones, and I have a set of Grado RS-2's, SR125's, and a couple of Sennheisers (my favorite is the HD-600).
Is this what is commonly called a "House Curve"? I don't know, but most music sounds awesome through both of them. I'd rather listen to the Sennheisers, BTW, but the Grados are OK too.
Now, I found this graph for the Energy C-5 and C-3, which are pretty similar to the C-7's I listened to.
C-5 (the second trace from top to bottom is the 0° response, the top one is the summed one: 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°)
C-3:
This is my speakers' response. I lowered the treble level by 1.5 dBs (from 3,000 Hz on up) because they were just too aggressive.
Pretty flat when compared to the headphones and the Energy's response.
Now, I know you can't compare a headphone FR to a speaker one, but I see a pattern. Most speakers "tilt down" apparently the frequency response. And they work pretty fine for most recordings. From my own personal experience, a speaker with the flattest 0° & power response sounds better balanced, but only on audiophile recordings. Pop and rock sounds pretty weak.
That's my opinion, of course, and the thing I'd like to discuss. I know John Krutke's think that the tonal balance should depend on the harmonic distortion of the drivers, with low distortion ones benefiting the most from a flat frequency response. I know that designers like Troels Gravesen use a decreasing slope on their speakers.
But - I'm starting to believe that speaker design should also consider the type of music you listen to and personal preference (as if the room they are playing in, the drivers they are using and other factors weren't enough!). The fact is - most recording engineers (and some mastering ones) have their own style, and no speaker can take into consideration every one of them.
And, the way I see it, a speaker with a "tilted down" response has a better chance of sounding at least OK with badly mastered material, while sounding good with audiophile recordings.
Flat is closest to perfect, but perfect isn't good all of the time, IMHO.
Opinions? I'd surely love to hear them...
Lately, I've been listening a lot to my latest project: a 3 way with 2 RS270's, 2 W4-1335's and an SB29.
Basically, every Classic Records DAD disc blows me out of my seat. "I Robot", by The Alan Parsons Project, for example, sounds the way I imagined it could sound - incredible. Everything sounds correct. Likewise, say, Monica Mancini's tribute to her father (in SACD), "Eye in the Sky" (DVD-A), Santana's MFSL releases, The Eagles' "Hotel California" by DCC...
Which is to say - most of my audiophile discs sound perfectly well.
But then, I decided to play the "Like Omygod" 80's box by Rhino, and things weren't so nice. The recordings sound thin and shrill - no real bass to speak of, and there are too many highs.
Most of my 80's discs sound pretty much the same.
Anyway, I played back those same discs on my 7.1 system (which has an el Cheapo Yamaha receiver, DVD-A / SACD combo player and Energy C-7, CC1, C1 and C3 speakers, plus a DIY Tempest 15" sealed sub). I used the "Pure Direct" mode (plain old stereo, no processing).
While not audiophile sounding in any way, they were pretty listenable. Thin? Yeah, but not shrill. They just lacked a bit of bass.
Now, I've been thinking a bit on this. I also like headphones, and I have a set of Grado RS-2's, SR125's, and a couple of Sennheisers (my favorite is the HD-600).
Is this what is commonly called a "House Curve"? I don't know, but most music sounds awesome through both of them. I'd rather listen to the Sennheisers, BTW, but the Grados are OK too.
Now, I found this graph for the Energy C-5 and C-3, which are pretty similar to the C-7's I listened to.
C-5 (the second trace from top to bottom is the 0° response, the top one is the summed one: 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°)
C-3:
This is my speakers' response. I lowered the treble level by 1.5 dBs (from 3,000 Hz on up) because they were just too aggressive.
Pretty flat when compared to the headphones and the Energy's response.
Now, I know you can't compare a headphone FR to a speaker one, but I see a pattern. Most speakers "tilt down" apparently the frequency response. And they work pretty fine for most recordings. From my own personal experience, a speaker with the flattest 0° & power response sounds better balanced, but only on audiophile recordings. Pop and rock sounds pretty weak.
That's my opinion, of course, and the thing I'd like to discuss. I know John Krutke's think that the tonal balance should depend on the harmonic distortion of the drivers, with low distortion ones benefiting the most from a flat frequency response. I know that designers like Troels Gravesen use a decreasing slope on their speakers.
But - I'm starting to believe that speaker design should also consider the type of music you listen to and personal preference (as if the room they are playing in, the drivers they are using and other factors weren't enough!). The fact is - most recording engineers (and some mastering ones) have their own style, and no speaker can take into consideration every one of them.
And, the way I see it, a speaker with a "tilted down" response has a better chance of sounding at least OK with badly mastered material, while sounding good with audiophile recordings.
Flat is closest to perfect, but perfect isn't good all of the time, IMHO.
Opinions? I'd surely love to hear them...
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