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Tone, Tone, Tone !


I was reminded again today, as I often am, about my priorities for any speaker that I will own.

I was reminded by listening to a pair of $20,000 speakers, almost full range. They did imaging. They did dynamics.They did detail.

But I sat there unmoved.

Came home and played a number of the same tracks on a pair of speakers I currently have set up in my main system - a tiny lil’ Chihuahua-sized pair of Spendor S 3/5s.


And I was in heaven.

I just couldn’t tear myself away from listening.

Why?

Tone.

The Spendors satisfy my ears (MY ears!) in reproducing music with a gorgeous, organic tone that sounds so "right.". It’s like a tonal massage directly o my auditory system. Strings are silky and illuminated, saxes so warm and reedy, snares have that papery "pop," cymbals that brassy overtone, acoustic guitars have that just-right sparkle and warmth. Voices sound fleshy and human.

In no way do I mean to say the Spendors are objectively "correct" or that anyone else should, or would, share the opinion I had between those two speakers. I’m just saying it’s often experiences like this that re-enforce how deeply important "the right tone/timbral quality" is for me. It’s job one that any speaker has to pass. I’ll listen to music on any speaker as background. But to get me to sit down and listen...gotta have that seductive tone.


Of course that’s only one characteristic I value. Others near the top of the list is "palpability/density," texture, dynamics.

But I’d take those teeny little Spendors over those big expensive speakers every day of the week, due to my own priorities.

Which brings me to throwing out the question to others: What are YOUR priorities in a speaker, especially if you had to pick the one that makes-or-brakes your desire to own the speaker?

Do you have any modest "giant killers" that at least to your way of thinking satisfy you much more than any number of really expensive speakers?



prof
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,178 posts
 
Oh as for plump subwoofers, I think most subwoofers sound "plump." This is probably due to cabinet resonance which is one problem dipole subs should not have. My current system sounds anything but plump dipoles and all. So I guess you have to watch it with the generalizations.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,412 posts
 
Actually, though most of Doug Sax's work was as a mastering engineer, he DID do some recording, including the Sheffield Direct-To-Disk albums. On those he was recording AND mastering engineer, mastering of course as the recording was taking place.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,412 posts
 

@mijostyn, what were the dimensions of your OB/Dipole sub frames? Were they H-frames, or W-frames? Linkwitz chose to go with the W, Danny Richie with the H (though he provides plans for both on his GR Research website).

Did you incorporate the mandatory shelving circuit (6dB/octave boost below 100Hz) to compensate for the endemic dipole cancellation? The OB/Dipole version of the Rythmik plate amp does, and the sub absolutely reproduces the bottom octave. Honest! ;-)

Siegfried Linkwitz was nothing if not a methodical scientist, measuring everything. He published all the test results of his measurements on the LX521 loudspeaker, including those of its’ OB/Dipole woofer. That woofer too reproduces the bottom octave, and the LX521's electronics include the OB/Dipole-mandated shelving circuit. That shelving circuit is NOT optional in an OB/Dipole sub, it is mandatory.

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,178 posts
 
Correct. It all had to done at the same time. Tower of Power Direct is an amazing disc. Lee Ritenour also had some great direct to disc albums on JVC records. Lee also has a new album available in high def on HD Tracks which is killer. It sits you right in front of the band and the cymbals are tight to the drums like they are supposed to be. 95 db puts you right there.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,178 posts
 
Even methodical scientists have their pet theories which sometimes over run their thought processes. 
They were more like Linkwitz's W. I was using speaker (room) control from the start and a lot of power. The response of the subwoofer's was measured and a correction curve calculated. On top of this I always boost 20 Hz 3 db. Looking at the response curve there were large variations in volume up to 15 db if I remember correctly. The interesting thing is that when you started to boost the lower frequencies you would wind up increasing the volume only at certain points depending on how far the sub was from the front wall. The rest would stay almost the same due to cancellation effect. It required a lot of power to get anywhere which I had. But no matter what I did listening to something like a big organ as the bass traveled down the scale some notes would be loud then others would drop out. If you had a situation were the front wall was at some distance like 15 feet you could probably smooth out the bass response quite a bit but in most rooms that is impractical. Having a larger baffle will not do anything as the wavelengths are too long. There is one approach that I did not try which is to make four 2 driver subs and place them very close to the front wall in the positions I now use. I still do not think that would work. Wire your speakers out of phase and see if you can get the bass back moving the speakers around. 

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