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A Note To Consider One food for thought I'd like to inject: I've noticed throughout the years that some of the esoteric designs I've tested had to be sent back NOT because they didn't sound or look fabulous but because they simply were incapable of playing loudly without either bottoming out...

Agreed, these are some great examples of companies that have slim margins in their products due to quality of parts and craftsmanship. Ascends is one that really stands out IMO b/c their stuff is very affordable despite the level of parts and performance offered.

The savings passed on to consumers by ID companies cutting out the middle man is often a myth. It's something quite evident when looking at the quality of parts and craftsmanship inside the box. Many B&M companies now sell direct too so this really levels the playing field.

Steve Feinstein no longer works for Atlantic Tech and he is no longer employed in the audio industry other than writing for Audioholics. He's got a good insight into the business and I enjoy his contributions to the site. I agree that anyone with the right knowledge and access to good parts...

My review of the UMC-200 is completed. Just waiting on the peer review. It should post late next week!

The only pair I've heard were the ones built by one of our reviewers: Building Do It Yourself Loudspeakers — Reviews and News from Audioholics It's been so long since I heard them that I can't really comment on their sound.

Actually I envy Consumer Reports. Their reviews are 1-2 paragraphs long, have either no or very crude measurements, and people worship them. I think they have a much better business plan :rolleyes:

LOL we've done blind tests. They are a lot of work and many manufacturers shy away from them. Some even dropped us as an advertiser when the results weren't in their favor sadly.

Your greatly mistaken about this. Harman does market their DBT results, especially at dealer meeetings and at AES conventions. I used to do standards body work for telcom and the company I worked for applied similar tactics to establish themselves as an authorative subject expert. It also...

Yes that sounds good. I don't think we will ever come to a 100% foolproof method of subjectively testing loudspeaker performance but I'd also stress the importance of sustained listening tests in your own environment to determine what you really like. As a person that has reviewed and...

Agreed 100% ML's need very specific placement to sound their best. I am not a fan of rotational platters and the general blind shootout b/c it gives you a momentary glimpse of performance. I think there is merit to this approach but to not allow each listener a proper extended demo with...

I recommend you run them fullrange all of the time with that nice amp you've got. Then run the subs for all modes of operation to get the bass in the lower octaves that you're missing.

Yes I read the report and spoke with Sean about it. In fact, I even offered to run an independent 3rd party DBT at their facility along with getting them all of the loudspeaker samples for the test but it was turned down by their legal department. For high end audio Harman has a very small...

I had the P363s in my soundroom for over 1 month. It's a decent $400/pr speaker but it's not a $4k/pair speaker killer IMO. The tweeter is a very limited design and the speaker sounds bright which is likely a good thing to a casual listener. It's pretty easy to rig a listening test, sighted...

the bands are adjustable and I'm able to go down to 20Hz for the subwoofer channel on my unit.

Yep also look at the new Boston Acoustics line. I have a pair of their $800/pr towers in for review and the quality of parts and construction rivals many of the ID counterparts costing more. It's also noteworthy to mention many of today's B&M companies sell direct too. So in a sense, B&M are...

Just recognize who ran the test in question. A company sponsored DBT never produces a winner that isn't their own product. With that logic, if you would have given the same speakers to ML to run the test, I suspect the results would be much different ;) Recommended reading...

The idea that ID always offers a better value to B&M is a myth. While some of the really good ID companies do operate on smaller margins by cutting out the middle man, some use the idea of ID to still charge the same or higher margins than B&M alternatives. This can be easily determined by...

the importance of anechoic chambers for loudspeaker measurements and development has been grossly overstated for a number of years. A good designer can use gated indoor measurements, nearfield and outdoor measurements to get an exact picture of loudspeaker performance. The only advantage an...

Try measuring the crossovers. Many of them are higher than 1st order despite the claims. 1st order crossovers are rarely a good idea when designing a speaker to produce high output levels with minimum distortion and compression.