Jason GT
Second Unit
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2002
- Messages
- 452
Just got back from an AV dealer, and had a pretty good time chewing the fat about the a/v industry and where it is in this town.
Anyways, I learned a lot while listening and hope that maybe this thread can help others that are also auditioning. First of all, I'm of the opinion that speakers that sound good with music will do well with HT (more on that later, though). One thing I have found is that I've started listening to more music since I've got my HT set up.
I ended up listening to 3 pairs of speakers connected to midfi Unison components: A Unico Remote integrated amp (80 w/ch) and Unico CD player (Canadian price for the pair in the neighborhood of $4-5000). The Unico amp was described to me as "warm".
Key pieces of music:
"Elsewhere" (Sarah Mclachlan, "The Freedom sessions") - a wonderful jam/improv recording. Useful in comparing resolution of different instruments, and how "alive" a speaker can be.
"Angel" (Massive Attack, "Mezzanine") - a dark, moody piece, quite bassheavy.
"That Girl" (Esthero, "Breath from Another") - poppy type music with a rich blend of female vocals and instruments. Reasonably dynamic, and listened to with that in mind.
1) Paradigm Reference/60 - floorstanding 2-1/2 way, list price $1450ish CDN, $2000 for the wood.
My original reason for auditioning. Crisp, detailed highs, probably the crispest of the three speaker pairs I auditioned. Probably the best bass extension, by far the most dynamic -- it could play, and sound good, at much higher volumes than the other two. Bass, if scrutinized, had a slight but noticeable bloat to it. Vocals sounded good. In black laminate, these guys were pretty fugly, appearancewise.
"Angel" is quite nice -- the darkness of the track is captured, but at the same time, did highlight the bass problem a bit. "Elsewhere" benefitted with nice separation of the different instruments and overall with a nice pluck of guitars, etc. Imaging was fair, but sound was fairly well distributed among the room - there was less noticeable of a difference moving around the room with these speakers than the other three, but this could be attributed to the outstanding imaging of the other speakers.
2) Totem Arrow - narrow floorstanding 2way. List price $ ??? but I think about $1500 CDN
Tested as an alternative. More laidback highs (probably the most laidback of the three). Bass was a bit more controlled than the Paradigms but did not extend as deep or hit as hard. "Elsewhere" was fantastic - there was an irresistable groove to the track and it felt like an actual jam session! In fact, my dealer at one point got into it as well! Instruments and soundstage were well resolved. Of the three speakers, the Arrows produced the a most pleasing piano sound - resonant and rich, the nicest of the three demoed. The speakers were finished in maple and fairly attractive, if slightly short and small.
Moving around the room had a more detrimental effect on the sound than the Paradigms, but this was probably attributable to the superior imaging of the Totem.
3) Opera Super Pavarottis - compact floorstanding 3way or 2-1/2 way (not sure). List Price in the neighborhood of $2500 CDN.
Easily the most musical speaker of the three. I keep reffering back to "Elsewhere" - again, it had that groove to it, but this time the imaging was so incredible -- I now know what people mean when they speak of the illusion of sound! I cannot emphasaise how impressive this was -- I suppose you'd just have to be there
Bass was quite good and controlled, but it seemed like the Paradigm had better extension again. Highs were almost as detailed as the Paradigms, definitely more detailed than the Totems. "that Girl" and "Angel", however, revealed the dynamic limitations of this speaker. At moderate listening volumes, these speakers sounded simply incredible, but at slightly elevated (but reasonable) levels, this speaker began to sound strained, compressed. Not unlistenable, but very far from the sweet sound dispensed a couple of dB ago.
These guys are finished in a gorgeous hardwood, on quick appearance, a bit nicer than the Totems.
----
So what did I learn, after all that longwindedness?
(much of this will sound familiar with readers here)
1 - bring your own music, hopefully stuff that you're familiar with, even if it's your first time shopping hi- or mid- fi. You might hear things that you never heard before, like I did. Try to bring a variety of stuff fairly representative of what you like to listen to, and try to different pieces that have different emphasis (bass, vocals, "groove" or what have you). FWIW, I personally confirmed that pop type music isn't too stressful on components in terms of differentiation.
2 - find a good dealer who you feel comfortable with. Self-explanatory.
3 - don't be afraid to use better quality source and amplification components than you have at home. Sometimes it's the only way to differentiate speakers. Try to find parts that reasonably approximate your home stuff in character(for example, my receiver is warm, so I appreciated the warmth of the store's amp).
4 - listen to all sorts of stuff, even stuff that you don't think you'll buy (your dealer can help you in this). You might learn about what aural qualities make a good loudspeaker, and about different characteristics of speakers.
5 - don't go too crazy with the speakers you compare, or else you may miss out on the personality of each speaker.
----
So what now? Well, if I were listening to music, the Operas would be the clear winner, and if I were going for a 2-channel system, I'd pick up the Operas in a heartbeat, they were that good, musically.
However, HT wise, their limited dynamics concerned me. The same held true, to a lesser extent, with the Totems. (Operas and Totems are also a tougher amplifier load). With the HT requirement in mind, of these three I could only really consider the Paradigms ...
Any thoughts or responses on my novel would be appreciated
Anyways, I learned a lot while listening and hope that maybe this thread can help others that are also auditioning. First of all, I'm of the opinion that speakers that sound good with music will do well with HT (more on that later, though). One thing I have found is that I've started listening to more music since I've got my HT set up.
I ended up listening to 3 pairs of speakers connected to midfi Unison components: A Unico Remote integrated amp (80 w/ch) and Unico CD player (Canadian price for the pair in the neighborhood of $4-5000). The Unico amp was described to me as "warm".
Key pieces of music:
"Elsewhere" (Sarah Mclachlan, "The Freedom sessions") - a wonderful jam/improv recording. Useful in comparing resolution of different instruments, and how "alive" a speaker can be.
"Angel" (Massive Attack, "Mezzanine") - a dark, moody piece, quite bassheavy.
"That Girl" (Esthero, "Breath from Another") - poppy type music with a rich blend of female vocals and instruments. Reasonably dynamic, and listened to with that in mind.
1) Paradigm Reference/60 - floorstanding 2-1/2 way, list price $1450ish CDN, $2000 for the wood.
My original reason for auditioning. Crisp, detailed highs, probably the crispest of the three speaker pairs I auditioned. Probably the best bass extension, by far the most dynamic -- it could play, and sound good, at much higher volumes than the other two. Bass, if scrutinized, had a slight but noticeable bloat to it. Vocals sounded good. In black laminate, these guys were pretty fugly, appearancewise.
"Angel" is quite nice -- the darkness of the track is captured, but at the same time, did highlight the bass problem a bit. "Elsewhere" benefitted with nice separation of the different instruments and overall with a nice pluck of guitars, etc. Imaging was fair, but sound was fairly well distributed among the room - there was less noticeable of a difference moving around the room with these speakers than the other three, but this could be attributed to the outstanding imaging of the other speakers.
2) Totem Arrow - narrow floorstanding 2way. List price $ ??? but I think about $1500 CDN
Tested as an alternative. More laidback highs (probably the most laidback of the three). Bass was a bit more controlled than the Paradigms but did not extend as deep or hit as hard. "Elsewhere" was fantastic - there was an irresistable groove to the track and it felt like an actual jam session! In fact, my dealer at one point got into it as well! Instruments and soundstage were well resolved. Of the three speakers, the Arrows produced the a most pleasing piano sound - resonant and rich, the nicest of the three demoed. The speakers were finished in maple and fairly attractive, if slightly short and small.
Moving around the room had a more detrimental effect on the sound than the Paradigms, but this was probably attributable to the superior imaging of the Totem.
3) Opera Super Pavarottis - compact floorstanding 3way or 2-1/2 way (not sure). List Price in the neighborhood of $2500 CDN.
Easily the most musical speaker of the three. I keep reffering back to "Elsewhere" - again, it had that groove to it, but this time the imaging was so incredible -- I now know what people mean when they speak of the illusion of sound! I cannot emphasaise how impressive this was -- I suppose you'd just have to be there
Bass was quite good and controlled, but it seemed like the Paradigm had better extension again. Highs were almost as detailed as the Paradigms, definitely more detailed than the Totems. "that Girl" and "Angel", however, revealed the dynamic limitations of this speaker. At moderate listening volumes, these speakers sounded simply incredible, but at slightly elevated (but reasonable) levels, this speaker began to sound strained, compressed. Not unlistenable, but very far from the sweet sound dispensed a couple of dB ago.
These guys are finished in a gorgeous hardwood, on quick appearance, a bit nicer than the Totems.
----
So what did I learn, after all that longwindedness?
(much of this will sound familiar with readers here)
1 - bring your own music, hopefully stuff that you're familiar with, even if it's your first time shopping hi- or mid- fi. You might hear things that you never heard before, like I did. Try to bring a variety of stuff fairly representative of what you like to listen to, and try to different pieces that have different emphasis (bass, vocals, "groove" or what have you). FWIW, I personally confirmed that pop type music isn't too stressful on components in terms of differentiation.
2 - find a good dealer who you feel comfortable with. Self-explanatory.
3 - don't be afraid to use better quality source and amplification components than you have at home. Sometimes it's the only way to differentiate speakers. Try to find parts that reasonably approximate your home stuff in character(for example, my receiver is warm, so I appreciated the warmth of the store's amp).
4 - listen to all sorts of stuff, even stuff that you don't think you'll buy (your dealer can help you in this). You might learn about what aural qualities make a good loudspeaker, and about different characteristics of speakers.
5 - don't go too crazy with the speakers you compare, or else you may miss out on the personality of each speaker.
----
So what now? Well, if I were listening to music, the Operas would be the clear winner, and if I were going for a 2-channel system, I'd pick up the Operas in a heartbeat, they were that good, musically.
However, HT wise, their limited dynamics concerned me. The same held true, to a lesser extent, with the Totems. (Operas and Totems are also a tougher amplifier load). With the HT requirement in mind, of these three I could only really consider the Paradigms ...
Any thoughts or responses on my novel would be appreciated
