I hate the sound of my new stereo sound system

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I actually like B&W, I think they sound good, they have a sweet sound to them.

I think some of the B&W (especially Diamond) have that +5dB peak around the 10kHz region. Is that the sweet sound you’re talking about?

 

[ryanosaur]

I actually like B&W, I think they sound good, they have a sweet sound to them.

Not interested in bashing brands! No good comes from that. But great examples of disappointments I've experienced in my recent Audio Adventures are KEF (fatiguing) and B&W (600series was anemic sounding at best).

Are you a B&W owner? What do you have? I'm curious because I've seen others say that anything under the 800s aren't very good. The 700s were a little over my pricepoint and after hearing the 600s... I just wasn't interested. KEF, on the other hand, sounded nice in general terms, but halfway through my audition my ears were screaming.

Mind, I ask you to share your experience, please so I can have a different point of view for future comparison!

Thanks!

 

[hemiram]

A friend of mine's dad had a pair of Klipshorns(Am I spelling it right?),and I remember thinking, "Turn down the treble!!" when I heard it the first time, and was kind of shocked when I looked at the preamp and the treble was actually at about 10 O'clock. I didn't think it sounded good at all, even as a kid. My allergy doctor/neighbor had a set of AR9's a couple years later, and that set up impressed me, even listening to his (still) boring piano concert tapes. My idea of good classical music and his was 180 degrees apart. I got him to put "Mars" from "The Planets" on once and for a long time, I wanted Ar9's really bad. I don't remember the brand of amps that were running them, but the rest of his stuff was all McIntosh. I never heard his final set up, bought weeks before he had a huge stroke and had to go into assisted living. His son said it was amazing, but too big for his house, so he sold it along with his dad's house after he died.

 

[Bucknekked]

A friend of mine's dad had a pair of Klipshorns(Am I spelling it right?),and I remember thinking, "Turn down the treble!!" when I heard it the first time, and was kind of shocked when I looked at the preamp and the treble was actually at about 10 O'clock. I didn't think it sounded good at all, even as a kid. My allergy doctor/neighbor had a set of AR9's a couple years later, and that set up impressed me, even listening to his (still) boring piano concert tapes. My idea of good classical music and his was 180 degrees apart. I got him to put "Mars" from "The Planets" on once and for a long time, I wanted Ar9's really bad. I don't remember the brand of amps that were running them, but the rest of his stuff was all McIntosh. I never heard his final set up, bought weeks before he had a huge stroke and had to go into assisted living. His son said it was amazing, but too big for his house, so he sold it along with his dad's house after he died.

I think your reply and experience shows how individualized our perceptions can be of a speaker. You had a negative experience with the almighty Klipschorns. All my experiences have been off the charts exceptional. But, I got to listen to mine in places and with systems and music that were setup to show off them mighty giants. They are on my all time favorite speakers list. I would have to buy a new house in order to have a pair so its highly unlikely I will ever own a set (besides what they cost). But I can dream.

That doesn't change one bit your experience though. Nor does it make your opinion of them any less valid. What I think it means is that what we tend to forget in our speaker preferences is just what an impact the room they are placed in can have in how they sound. Not to mention the other equipment and of course the musical selections themselves. Klipschorns for instance are absolutely made to be place in the edges of rooms and those rooms need to have plenty of space. If they are placed mid wall, or who knows where else, they are definitely going to not sound their best.

I would love to own a pair of Klipschorns. I have always wanted a set. But, I have never been able to afford them and now that I can afford the speakers I'd have to build another dang house to put them in. In my next life I guess. Or, as my wife is often heard to say "you can get a set of those with your next wife".

 

[Auditor55]

Not interested in bashing brands! No good comes from that. But great examples of disappointments I've experienced in my recent Audio Adventures are KEF (fatiguing) and B&W (600series was anemic sounding at best).

Are you a B&W owner? What do you have? I'm curious because I've seen others say that anything under the 800s aren't very good. The 700s were a little over my pricepoint and after hearing the 600s... I just wasn't interested. KEF, on the other hand, sounded nice in general terms, but halfway through my audition my ears were screaming.

Mind, I ask you to share your experience, please so I can have a different point of view for future comparison!

Thanks!

No, I can't afford B&W speakers, however they still sound good to me at Best Buy.

 

[ryanosaur]

No, I can't afford B&W speakers, however they still sound good to me at Best Buy.

I don't think I would ever consider a B&W under the 800 series. But at that ticket... Ha. I won't ever consider them. If I were to buy at BB/Mag, it would be the Martin Logan Motion 60XTs. Side by side, IMHO, the Motion 40s destroyed the B&W 600 towers in all aspects. YMMV.

 

[KEW]

I don't think I would ever consider a B&W under the 800 series. But at that ticket... Ha. I won't ever consider them. If I were to buy at BB/Mag, it would be the Martin Logan Motion 60XTs. Side by side, IMHO, the Motion 40s destroyed the B&W 600 towers in all aspects. YMMV.

If you were there, surely you listened to electrostats by M-L! What were/are your thoughts?

 

[ryanosaur]

If you were there, surely you listened to electrostats by M-L! What were/are your thoughts?

Intrigued. In my local BB, they had them on display at the entrance to the Magnolia area. None were set up in the listening rooms for a more “critical” experience. Needless to say, ambient chaos made listening dicey at best... but in that spacious environment they sounded like I might enjoy listening to them in a better setting.

 

[hemiram]

I think your reply and experience shows how individualized our perceptions can be of a speaker. You had a negative experience with the almighty Klipschorns. All my experiences have been off the charts exceptional. But, I got to listen to mine in places and with systems and music that were setup to show off them mighty giants. They are on my all time favorite speakers list. I would have to buy a new house in order to have a pair so its highly unlikely I will ever own a set (besides what they cost). But I can dream.

That doesn't change one bit your experience though. Nor does it make your opinion of them any less valid. What I think it means is that what we tend to forget in our speaker preferences is just what an impact the room they are placed in can have in how they sound. Not to mention the other equipment and of course the musical selections themselves. Klipschorns for instance are absolutely made to be place in the edges of rooms and those rooms need to have plenty of space. If they are placed mid wall, or who knows where else, they are definitely going to not sound their best.

I would love to own a pair of Klipschorns. I have always wanted a set. But, I have never been able to afford them and now that I can afford the speakers I'd have to build another dang house to put them in. In my next life I guess. Or, as my wife is often heard to say "you can get a set of those with your next wife".

Yeah, the room has a lot to do with it for sure. I was definitely in the minority as far as the Klipschorns were concerned, my sister and her best friend thought they were amazing. I just thought the whole midrange and up was over the top hot. Maybe if I had been allowed to play with the tone controls on the preamp I would have felt differently. The best set up I've heard, period, is at a friend's house that had, when they bought it, a set of updated Infinity Reference Standards in a "music room" with no parallel walls and a lot of acoustical treatments. It had a grand piano that had to be sold and moved out before he could put his HT into it. The previous owner insisted he wanted the piano to stay with the house so "A young person could learn on it". Well, a little bit of fibbing, his daughter's acting ability, and a nice chunk of money got him the room, the piano and the Infinity's, and the piano was gone a week after they closed on it, a coworker bought it and had it moved, and the money it brought in paid for a lot of his HT equipment. Some of the old equipment is still in use, like the Marantz FM tuner (I don't know the model, but it's old and was expensive, and sounds nice) and the rear in wall surrounds, which are currently being evaluated, but IMHO, there isn't a lot to improve without spending a ton of money. A junk portable radio put onto one of the theater seats playing talk radio sounds amazingly great if you go into the back of the room. It's kind of spooky, it sounds terrible six feet from you, but back off about 15 feet, and there it is. Even modestly decent speakers sound pretty good. He's had several expensive speakers in there and the old Infinity's win every time. I would love to have any room I've ever had my set ups in sound 50% as good as that room does. About it's only drawback, in my friend's opinion, is the room treatments seem to make some speakers sound a little laid back. In my opinion, this is it's greatest strength. That and the theater couch seats he has in there. I sleep in them GREAT! One of his big dogs on each side of me, another one in my lap, and I'm all set for a few hour nap.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

No, I can't afford B&W speakers, however they still sound good to me at Best Buy.

That’s okay. Gotta have a goal to work toward. Keeps us going. So save enough money (us $50 per month into a HT account) to own:

1. B&W bed speakers x 5
2. B&W ceiling speakers x 2
3. B&W subwoofer x 1
4. Anthem Atmos/DTSX AVR?

 

[Pogre]

Intrigued. In my local BB, they had them on display at the entrance to the Magnolia area. None were set up in the listening rooms for a more “critical” experience. Needless to say, ambient chaos made listening dicey at best... but in that spacious environment they sounded like I might enjoy listening to them in a better setting.

Yeah, our BB Magnolia room has some nice stuff, but nothing is really set up for critical listening. "Ambient chaos", I like that, lol.

One thing I did not like about the electrostats was when I stood up. They sounded very, very good sitting in front of them, but a lot gets lost when you're not right in the sweet spot.

 

[Auditor55]

That’s okay. Gotta have a goal to work toward. Keeps us going. So save enough money (us $50 per month into a HT account) to own:

1. B&W bed speakers x 5
2. B&W ceiling speakers x 2
3. B&W subwoofer x 1
4. Anthem Atmos/DTSX AVR?

At the time I was looking to purchase some CM8's, however I needed the entire 5.1 system. They didn't offer a matching center channel and or surrounds. I wasn't even contemplating Atmos.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

At the time I was looking to purchase some CM8's, however I needed the entire 5.1 system. They didn't offer a matching center channel and or surrounds. I wasn't even contemplating Atmos.

Sometimes things just happen even when you don't contemplate them.

You just go with the flow in life.

 

[KEW]

Intrigued. In my local BB, they had them on display at the entrance to the Magnolia area. None were set up in the listening rooms for a more “critical” experience. Needless to say, ambient chaos made listening dicey at best... but in that spacious environment they sounded like I might enjoy listening to them in a better setting.

As @Pogre says, they are definitely sensitive to your position. Martin Logan has gone to a horizontally curved speaker which does a lot to prevent them from going to poop as soon as you get off axis, but they still need to be listened to from "that perfect spot" to fully realize their SQ! As they get more expensive, they get taller, that helps with the issue Pogre spoke of from standing up.
IMHO, they are impressive! I'm not convinced they are better, but they are a different sound without being definitively better or worse. I would rule them out as an "only system" because of the finicky listening position! However, I found a pair of M-L Vista's on Craigslist in great shape for $1500 (he was upgrading to a more expensive set of e'stats which were "hand me downs" from his co-worker, who was buying some even more expensive ~$20,000 M-L e'stats)! I consider it one of my best purchases! If nothing else, I can take a familiar recording and it is a totally fresh sound on the e'stats! I don't know how else to characterize them.
In any case, check back by every now and again. Eventually they'll get their Magnolia Room crap together. Around here, the Magnolia rooms are in almost every BB and are serious about selling top-dollar gear and have it setup pretty well with a crew that travels between stores to make sure everything is setup right. But I think they specifically chose to dominate the Atl market so as to make it hard for small high-dollar audio shops (which pretty much got wiped out during the mortgage default financial crisis) to get much traction.
To my point, at least listening to e'stats in a proper environment should be on the bucket list of every serious audio geek!

 

[mopakarim4300]

I had issues with a new PC build and the quality of sound using the on board sound card. I ended up buying a PreSonus AudioBox iOne and all the raspy, noise and hum all disappeared. Using a pair of JBL 305P mkii's and a JBL LSR310S subwoofer with it .

Yeah that's why I wonder if he's connecting through USB or analog. Using the Yamaha as an external sound card through USB would eliminate any cheap sound card issues, versus a 1/8" cable out of the headphone jack.