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Visual Confirmation Bias

Nice term, Paul. Very impressive. Very scientific.

And original. Well, at least I’ve never seen it before so I’m going to claim it as my own.

Visual Confirmation Bias (VCB) is a variation on confirmation bias that postulates that your brain causes audio gear, particularly speakers, to sound the way they look.

I came up with this idea a week ago when I got my new (used) KEF LS50s. (Note: I’m sure that dozens of people have been talking about VCB for a hundred years. I’m not particularly interested in who preceded me but raising points like that is one of the reasons that this forum exists.)


I had read lots about the speaker and I was expecting accuracy and soundstage precision. Their rich, full sound surprised me. These were not adjectives that were usually attached to these speakers.

I’ve been obsessed with these speakers for the past week, reading about them constantly. I find myself most in agreement with The Absolute Sound, which described the speakers—just after they were released—as possessing a “prevailing sweetness, a harmonic saturation that lends it a dark, velvety overall character, and a bloom that is so pleasing that I began affectionately dubbing it the butterscotch sundae of small monitors.”


But in the years that followed, listener after listener reported a “hard” “bright” sound. And when I look at the speaker, those words make complete sense. A tiny metallic driver in a small box? They look tinny and bright so no wonder some people hear that.

My own strongest experience with VCB: Many years ago, on the pretense of looking for a CD player, I walked into Sound By Singer at its old 16th St. location. After just enough feigned interest, I asked the salesman to listen to something “really pornographic.”

Surprisingly, he was happy to take me into one of the listening rooms. The only specific piece of equipment I remember was a pair of Wilson Speakers. I don’t know which model but they were white and just over six feet tall. Each the size of a restaurant-grade refrigerator. They were somewhere in the neighborhood of $250,000.

Then I settled into the listening chair as the salesman started turning stuff on. Preamp, monoblock, monoblock, God knows what else. I just remember him throwing switch after switch. I have to believe all that gear equaled the price of the speakers.

If ever a system should have disappeared, it was this one. If ever the music should have been revealed to me, it was now. But even with my eyes closed, all I could see—and all I could hear—were these huge speakers looming over me. They could not have been more present in my listening experience.

Visual confirmation bias kept me from enjoying the finest pair of speakers that I’ll probably ever hear. The phenomenon is not to be underestimated.
paul6001

Showing 4 responses by paul6001

paul6001 OP
98 posts
 
Unfortunately, my apartment is so small there’s no room for a sub. Although maybe the bathroom . . .

Actually, I find that I get the best out of the LS50s by playing “Singles Going Steady” by The Buzzcocks LOUD. Or at “elevated SPLs” as some might put it.

Opening with “Orgasm Addict” it’s one hit after another. You won’t believe how the songs come back to you. This is the real sound of ‘77.

The running length of the first five songs of the first five songs: 2:00, 2:52, 2:16, 1:47, 2:39. Even the Ramones have to envy that.
paul6001 OP
98 posts
 
Anyone want to comment specifically on the LS50 and it’s supposed forward/bright sound?


All this talk of memory caused me to return to an earlier observation of mine: There seems to be no limit to the lyrics I can recall to songs that a) I haven’t heard for 20 years, and b) never liked in the first place. God knows that I’m not happy about it, but put on a song by The Captain And Tennille or England Dan And John Ford Coley and you’re sure to find me singing along, every ghastly word imprinted on some neuron somewhere in my head.


If I could figure out how to reprogram my brain and put the cells currently devoted to “Crocodile Rock” to more useful purposes, I could solve global warming. Do you suppose that’s Elon Musk’s trick?
paul6001 OP
98 posts
 
Speaking of first reflections—

One of the good things about this apartment is the many windows. The LS50s are firing at four of them. But they’re covered by very nice, old-school wooden blinds that are quite adept at diffraction. 

My biggest room problem is, if I’m sitting at my sonic strong seat, the point of first reflection is covered by two pieces of art, each covered in glass. Essentially, a 3x5 piece of glass. But is there anything to be done? Covering them with drapes would seem to defeat their purpose in life. Any ideas? Anything?
paul6001 OP
98 posts
 
Seasons In The Sun! Now THAT’S music! By? No googling. 

Djones, you’re right on both counts. Believe me, there’s nothing I’d love more than an Eames easy chair planted right at the point of the triangle. But this apartment dictates that the couch go here, the table go there . . .

The apartment is functional, however, in the amusement it provides out-of-towners. “You pay HOW MUCH for rent? I have six bedrooms and a pool and a BMW for the same price!” Us New Yorkers love that conversation. Every time we have it. 

John Updike wrote that New Yorkers share a belief that anyone living somewhere else is, on some level, kidding themselves. Count me among the believers. 

Terry Jacks! I’m not familiar with his ouvre but I’m sure he never again reached such a height.
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