Nuance Takes on All Challengers!!!! (1 Viewer)

[Shion_ca]

Please someone do this for me ....




Review Date
November 19, 2002

Overall Rating
5 of 5


Value Rating
5 of 5


Used product for
1 to 3 months


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Reviewed by: Ben store manager Brian senior salesperson, AudioPhile, from Oshawa

Price Paid: $1400 at World Sound & Vision

Product Model Year:
2001

Summary:
Nuance sounds wicked. The imaging is wide and rock-solid. The midrange on their new 360 and 260 models is liquid. I challenge any of the winy losers out there bashing this product to come into my store with their favourite CD and a comparably priced pair of speakers, and we'll A/B the hell out of them. You WILL be shamed into submission.

Strengths:
For the price: true musicality with no fatigue and incredible scalability to your electronics.

Weaknesses:
I think they look kind of boring, but aesthetics are less than tertiary to the sound and value.

Similar Products Used:
B&W , Mirage , PSB Image series

 

[James Bergeron]

I agree, there MUST be someone around here from Oshawa that could do this. Someone that has something in the 1400 range, say a Paradigm studio 40 or B&W CDM something or something something that is close.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

You'd likely loose this fight since if his hearing is damaged enough to seriously thing they are good sounding speakers he'll never hear what sound is supposed to be like...its a lost cause I'm afraid.

 

[Ned]

If you haven't experienced a Nuance Demonstration, it's an event you'll long remember. Here's what to expect. You'll be escorted into a soundroom to hear music in a new way. That's right. You'll hear commonplace activities in a way that will convince you you're in a far different place. You'll wonder how it's done. It's called SpatialSound™ Technology. And, it's from Nuance.

Here's how it works.
When we listen to music in a room, less than 10% of what we hear comes originally from the speakers, while over 90% is delayed and emanates from the surrounding furniture, ceiling, floor and walls. Our designs take this into account by producing sound in a pattern of acoustic distribution that has similar sonic signatures throughout the listening area.


While this sounds simple, the execution is a little more complex. And the results are pure magic. You'll experience a sense of realism unlike anything you've heard before. Nuance SpatialSound™ Technology redefines the stereo experience.


That's the nonsense from their website. You can't even see the various speakers and subwoofers that they sell. No specs, no information, no pictures.

We need to firmly establish the following:

NUANCE SPEAKERS ARE THE SAME CRAP FROM THE WHITE VAN SCAMS.

The only difference now is that they have a few stores and you willingly walk in rather than being molested by some weasels in a parking lot.

I've seen and heard these speakers at my stupid aunt/uncle's and they are laughable. The construction quality is very poor. The cabinets are made of particle board, not MDF like any good speaker, and the drivers are cheap paper woofers and midranges. You could get better drivers at Parts Express for 1/50th of the cost.

One person on Audioreview said he opened them and the binding posts for bi-wiring were connected to each other internally! Nothing like buying that extra run of wire only to find out it's just summed back together internally without any real bi-wiring scheme.

I would not pay $200 for the speakers that they claim are worth $8000. For $200 you could actually get a decent pair of bookshelf speakers that sound reasonable.

 

[JohnnyG]

What you want to do is get organized. Take a bunch of people who live in the area and all go in together. That way, the results will be a matter of public record!

 

[RussKon]

lol,

at the risk of stating the obvious, what other speaker company has said this:

When we listen to music in a room, less than 10% of what we hear comes originally from the speakers, while over 90% is delayed and emanates from the surrounding furniture, ceiling, floor and walls. Our designs take this into account by producing sound in a pattern of acoustic distribution that has similar sonic signatures throughout the listening area.

What?...was this company started by a former bose employee??

lol

IMHO the above quote is a bunch of bullshit!!!!

 

[Bill W.]

Actually about 30-40% of the sound you hear indoors is direct, (sometimes more, depending on how close you are to the source), in a typical theater/stereo setup the 30-40% rule holds. (This is why speakers sound different in near field/far field comparisons or in an anechoic chamber.)

Mirage takes advantage of the same principle with their Omnisat and other Omni speakers.

The sound is different when properly done, I haven't yet hard the Omnisats, but have heard some of the other Mirages and have very much enjoyed them.

I'm going back and forth on the direct vs Omni approach, but I'm beginning to think I like the thought of the more diffuse sound field of the Omni's, at least for Home Theater.

I haven't heard Nuance speakers, but doubt the 90/10 figures. Without some directional shaping like the Omni's have, I doubt the Nuances could work as advertised.

Bill

 

[JohnnyG]

less than 10% of what we hear comes originally from the speakers

Well I would hope that 100% of the sound originally comes from the speakers!

 

[Greg Kolinski]

My rule of thumb for most things.........

the bigger the promise , the less you actually get.

 

[Ned]

It might be 10% if you listened to your speakers in a marble lined closet. The average room might be 50/50% direct/reflected sound.

The ridiculous part is the claim that they somehow design the speakers to leverage this acoustic property. What they really do is use cheap boxes and stick a bunch of drivers in it, no science or art in this.

 

[Greg Kolinski]

MARBLE lined closet now is that something "Home Depot could help someone out on??