Most Disappointing Speaker You Have Heard?

[3db]

Perhaps if coat hangers were used, the Wilson Pups would have yielded a more life-like soundstage

Now your talking......

 

[Boerd]

good question

I like how the question was phrased:
"Most Disappointing Speaker You Have Heard? "
Disappointing - keyword.

I can find pretty good speakers for 2k$ (Aperion, NHT, Magnepan, etc) that sound as good if not better than the uber expensive brands.
For one the kilobuck speakers like Wilson, Sonus Faber and B&W.
Can't get over the fact these speakers at 10k$+ sound just good or even just OK.
I find that DISAPPOINTING.
The Sonus Faber Amati has so much port noise piano sounds broken. Even Stereofool acknowledged the port noise - 30k$ speakers.
I saw on the net at some point real measurements of the B&W 80X Kevlar driver it looked poor - THD was disappointing.
Wilson speakers are plain charlatanry - Poopy sounds the worst ever for 20k$ plus they look like ****.

 

[tom67]

" seth by bright i meant harsh. and my preference is neutral, i hate bright speakers, i can't stand warm speakers, and i really dislike the sound of laid back speakers. i don't want the speaker to have a sound that effects all things i listen to to the point that i can tell it's the "sound" of the speaker not the material."

Funny how all the talk of "neutral, Bright, soundstage, etal" seem to become irrelevant in double blind testing. The winners are often surprising as evidenced by the recent Klipsch speaker test. Perhaps we ought to add "pre-bias" to the lexicon of terms that describe our thoughts. We all have it and in a lot of posts here, you know damn well the poster has never listened to the speakers they claim they dislike or heard them once in a less than ideal venue.

 

[lsiberian]

My RB Kit ported without treatment was terrible. With treatment and sealed they are great.

FYI flat response isn't bright or harsh it's what you are hearing in real life. Such a speaker doesn't exist so yepimonfire has his heart in the right place, but will never find that speaker. Instead as speaker listeners we listen for speakers we can tolerate the most.

Bright speakers(ascend acoustics) show a noticeable bump in the upper range. The 600 series B&Ws I've heard were boomy compared to the 700 series(potentially a bad setup). Now this was the one of the later models not more vintage stuff.

Good speakers are hard to differentiate without measurements or in room tests.

 

[zieglj01]

The Bose 201 speakers - I looked all around in the room for live concert sound
and couldn't find it. I also did not like the Klipsch rb 61 - way too bright, forward
and gave me ear fatigue in 5 minutes.

Let the music play!
Jim Z

 

[riker1384]

Vandersteen 1C: dark, muddy, and the vertical dispersion pattern was ridiculous. It had some good qualities, but I could get over these problems that I heard immediately.

NHT SuperOne: The highs were just rough, crude and a little harsh, comparing them to newer speakers with metal tweeters. Also, they had decent bass, but even using them in a bedroom at moderate levels, crossing over to a subwoofer made the midrange significantly cleaner, so the bass they produced wasn't really useful.

 

[STEEDA]

This is an interesting thread! I would have to say that speaker choice/preference is inherently dependent on ones preferred music genre. I've heard B&W's I don't particularly like, Same with klipsch and it is BEYOND me why ANYONE would even consider bose. But Tha's MY opinion for MY choice of music!

Regarding Wilson's..... I have a friend (who has more $$$ than he knows what to do with). He has a pair of Watt/Puppy 8's driven by TWO Halcro DM-58 monoblocks and they sound INCREDIBLE provided you're listening to a well recorded track! However, his system doesn't sound THAT MUCH better than my humble setup to justify spending $60,000 on a pair of Speakers and Amps but then again, 60K to him is a mere "drop in the bucket."

I don't have 60k to spend on "gear" and I'm not sure I would even IF I did! I've heard WAY TOO MANY great sounding speakers in the 4-8 K range to justify spending any more! Wilsons are VERY revealing speakers.... Many "recording artists' use them to "playback" their own recordings. But hey, they have the $$$ to do so!



J-

 

[Seth=L]

Vandersteen 1C: dark, muddy, and the vertical dispersion pattern was ridiculous. It had some good qualities, but I could get over these problems that I heard immediately.

As I understand it the model up from that is supposed to be excellent.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

You guys are WAY too picky.

And some of these speakers may even be damaged for all we know.

I mean if a speaker costs $20,000 or more and sounds like a $200 speaker, that is what I called "disappointed".

But, come on, what do you expect from speakers that cost < $500/pr?

To sound like $2,000/pr speakers?

 

[walter duque]

Vandersteen 1C: dark, muddy, and the vertical dispersion pattern was ridiculous. It had some good qualities, but I could get over these problems that I heard immediately.

I owned the 2C which I purchased around 1987, don't remember exactly. Used to drive them with a VSP Labs staight wire pre-amp and VSP Gold Editon power-amp (200X2) and they sounded fantasic. I've enjoyed these speakers for many years.

 

[Seth=L]

I just realized the 1C is a floor stander. For some reason I had the VCC-1 center channel in my head.

I also had a pair of 2Ce towers, and they are probably one of the best speakers I've ever owned.

 

[krzywica]

The problem I ran into was the incredibly weak 3/4" kotex tweeter.

Don't they make tampons? There should not be a company that makes both women's hygiene products and high end speakers......I can see how this would be disappointing.


Most disappointed speakers I have heard was basically anything from Def Tech (I know Acu your blood is boiling now..). Everything I have heard from them was just mediocre or bad with a giant price tag....

 

[zieglj01]

Don't they make tampons? There should not be a company that makes both women's hygiene products and high end speakers......I can see how this would be disappointing.


Most disappointed speakers I have heard was basically anything from Def Tech (I know Acu your blood is boiling now..). Everything I have heard from them was just mediocre or bad with a giant price tag....

The problem I find with Def Tech is the tweeter - it is a little too forward and
aggressive. Back in the early days of home theater it was much smoother and
blended fairly well with the woofer. Does anyone remember the Celsius book-
shelf speaker?


Let the music play!
Jim Z

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Most disappointed speakers I have heard was basically anything from Def Tech (I know Acu your blood is boiling now..). Everything I have heard from them was just mediocre or bad with a giant price tag....

Why......you.......I never!

I can't speak for all the DefTech speakers out there, and I won't defend them.

I only know how my own speakers sound in my own room.

But speakers are speakers, and hobbies are hobbies, nothing personal.

 

[GranteedEV]

Don't they make tampons? There should not be a company that makes both women's hygiene products and high end speakers......I can see how this would be disappointing.

it makes great damping material

 

[Seth=L]

it makes great damping material

They soak up the sound pretty well.

 

[NicolasKL]

The 602 S3 sounded weighty and punchy to me

Same here. I've got a 5.0 set of B&W 60x s3s (602, 601, LCR60) sitting in a closet, haven't used them in years (too big for my computer room and my Infinitys are way better than them for my HT room) and just haven't been motivated to sell them. But the last time I pulled them out and gave them a listen I really enjoyed the sound. I think they have a really full and vibrant midrange/lowend to them, and in general they're just a good, smooth, solid sounding speaker. To my ears the "non fatiguing" is due to having a fairly mellow high end. I can see someone preferring brighter, more pronounced highs, but I don't really get saying the B&Ws are terrible because of it.

The LCR60 isn't that great (LCR600 prob better) and I don't know if I'd give the 601 that great of a review (never listened to them by themselves) but I still really enjoy the sound from the 602s. I was going to get off my behind and sell them, but I think I might actually pull them out and see if I'd like them for a 2 channel music rig in my bedroom.

 

[rollinrocker]

They soak up the sound pretty well.

now that's funny right there...i don't care who ya are

 

[STEEDA]

You guys are WAY too picky.

...come on, what do you expect from speakers that cost < $500/pr?

To sound like $2,000/pr speakers?

EXACTLY! Most "Retailers" place a tremendous markup on speakers just to make a profit. So, speakers retailing for $500 probably cost the manufacturer 1/4 of that to build. Buying a speaker brand from a company which has a good rep. and has been around for a while can result in an even higher markup!

When buying a speaker, you must ask yourself; What can I expect from a speaker which cost the manufacturer $150 to build? (using the $500 "retail" as a reference)

So, If you know anything about Audio/speaker-building, it's BEST to build your OWN set IF you really want the best quality for the least $$$$!