Ashley James:Subjective evaluations of anything are not really satisfactory. Measurements dictate precisely how your hi fi will sound and they are what its designer will have used to be sure he has achieved an acceptable standard. One very good reason for measurements is that our ears interact with our brains to give the result we need. Some years ago the Cambridge University Auditory Dept did a series of tests to show how the process worked. This consisted of distorting some speech so that few if any people could understand a word of it. They played this to a series of people who confirmed that it was unintelligible, then they played the undistorted recording, so everyone knew what had been said and finally they played the distorted sound again and this time people could completely understand. The ear brain combination had learnt how to decode the distortion. Now if you ask anyone how good his hi fi system is, he'll tell you it is as good as he has heard and he'll be right, simply because he can no longer hear its faults. This is good because perfect hi fi doesn't exist, but it can be bad too. If this imaginary person were to be presented with something that measured a great deal better than his system and therefore sounded much better, he may not immediately hear this because his brain is still trying to decode his system, he has to adjust first before he can make a value judgement. Some people adapt very quickly and others have real problems of which the change from vinyl to CD is a clear example. It's probably possible to show that vinyl has one thousand times as much distortion as CD, but to try an convince a vinyl addict of this would be starting a war. Boom is a regular topic for discussion on all Forums, but no one actually knows when their speakers are not booming. All speakers do to some extent, cheaper ones more so, low powered amps make it worse, bad port alignments worse still and even rooms can exacerbate the problem. The big difference between active speakers and passive ones is that boom is reduced by a factor of at least one hundred and it could be as much as one thousand. This is because the power amplifier is connected straight to the driver and not through a crossover. A crossover is resistive and acts like a spring in the speaker wire. The lean sound of Active speakers is simply less distortion, NOT less bass, which means great clarity/quality once you've adjusted. I apologise for interfering with a thread not directly related to our speakers and I hope this explanation is considered useful in a general sense. Ashley
Thanks for the reply, Ashley. I'll definitely try and give the 9.1s a listen before I part with any money. As regards the bass issue, I do most of my listening at the moment through my Shure E4Cs (without any sort of bass-boost), so am probably used to a more lean, controlled sound already. By the sounds of it the 9.1s shouldn't disappoint on detail. Unfortunately my budget won't stretch to the £1800 for the speakers + sub package - if I decide I need to add a little punch to the lower end, has anybody tried to combine them with a less expensive sub and how successful was the integration?
Thanks for the reply, Ashley. I'll definitely try and give the 9.1s a listen before I part with any money. As regards the bass issue, I do most of my listening at the moment through my Shure E4Cs (without any sort of bass-boost), so am probably used to a more lean, controlled sound already. By the sounds of it the 9.1s shouldn't disappoint on detail. Unfortunately my budget won't stretch to the £1800 for the speakers + sub package - if I decide I need to add a little punch to the lower end, has anybody tried to combine them with a less expensive sub and how successful was the integration?
chebby
Well-known member
Andrew Everard:JohnDuncan:Andrew Everard:HobNobs
I'm afraid in these recessionary times I have had to cut my cloth accordingly.......
...at Castle Everard
I'm afraid in these recessionary times I have had to cut my cloth accordingly.......
...at Castle Everard
John Duncan
Well-known member
eightballtom:
Ashley James:Subjective evaluations of anything are not really satisfactory. Measurements dictate precisely how your hi fi will sound and they are what its designer will have used to be sure he has achieved an acceptable standard. One very good reason for measurements is that our ears interact with our brains to give the result we need. Some years ago the Cambridge University Auditory Dept did a series of tests to show how the process worked. This consisted of distorting some speech so that few if any people could understand a word of it. They played this to a series of people who confirmed that it was unintelligible, then they played the undistorted recording, so everyone knew what had been said and finally they played the distorted sound again and this time people could completely understand. The ear brain combination had learnt how to decode the distortion. Now if you ask anyone how good his hi fi system is, he'll tell you it is as good as he has heard and he'll be right, simply because he can no longer hear its faults. This is good because perfect hi fi doesn't exist, but it can be bad too. If this imaginary person were to be presented with something that measured a great deal better than his system and therefore sounded much better, he may not immediately hear this because his brain is still trying to decode his system, he has to adjust first before he can make a value judgement. Some people adapt very quickly and others have real problems of which the change from vinyl to CD is a clear example. It's probably possible to show that vinyl has one thousand times as much distortion as CD, but to try an convince a vinyl addict of this would be starting a war. Boom is a regular topic for discussion on all Forums, but no one actually knows when their speakers are not booming. All speakers do to some extent, cheaper ones more so, low powered amps make it worse, bad port alignments worse still and even rooms can exacerbate the problem. The big difference between active speakers and passive ones is that boom is reduced by a factor of at least one hundred and it could be as much as one thousand. This is because the power amplifier is connected straight to the driver and not through a crossover. A crossover is resistive and acts like a spring in the speaker wire. The lean sound of Active speakers is simply less distortion, NOT less bass, which means great clarity/quality once you've adjusted. I apologise for interfering with a thread not directly related to our speakers and I hope this explanation is considered useful in a general sense. Ashley
Thanks for the reply, Ashley. I'll definitely try and give the 9.1s a listen before I part with any money. As regards the bass issue, I do most of my listening at the moment through my Shure E4Cs (without any sort of bass-boost), so am probably used to a more lean, controlled sound already. By the sounds of it the 9.1s shouldn't disappoint on detail. Unfortunately my budget won't stretch to the £1800 for the speakers + sub package - if I decide I need to add a little punch to the lower end, has anybody tried to combine them with a less expensive sub and how successful was the integration?
We recommend not buying any Subwoofer until you've owned the speakers for a month or two and got used to them. Rooms vary and ADM9.1s don't have less bass, they have less distorted bass, which is different and you may find you prefer it because you're used to headphones that also tend to be better control at the low end. Neither do they (or ADM9.1s) have the distortion caused by crossovers in passive speakers, so I think you may like them.
Ashley James:Subjective evaluations of anything are not really satisfactory. Measurements dictate precisely how your hi fi will sound and they are what its designer will have used to be sure he has achieved an acceptable standard. One very good reason for measurements is that our ears interact with our brains to give the result we need. Some years ago the Cambridge University Auditory Dept did a series of tests to show how the process worked. This consisted of distorting some speech so that few if any people could understand a word of it. They played this to a series of people who confirmed that it was unintelligible, then they played the undistorted recording, so everyone knew what had been said and finally they played the distorted sound again and this time people could completely understand. The ear brain combination had learnt how to decode the distortion. Now if you ask anyone how good his hi fi system is, he'll tell you it is as good as he has heard and he'll be right, simply because he can no longer hear its faults. This is good because perfect hi fi doesn't exist, but it can be bad too. If this imaginary person were to be presented with something that measured a great deal better than his system and therefore sounded much better, he may not immediately hear this because his brain is still trying to decode his system, he has to adjust first before he can make a value judgement. Some people adapt very quickly and others have real problems of which the change from vinyl to CD is a clear example. It's probably possible to show that vinyl has one thousand times as much distortion as CD, but to try an convince a vinyl addict of this would be starting a war. Boom is a regular topic for discussion on all Forums, but no one actually knows when their speakers are not booming. All speakers do to some extent, cheaper ones more so, low powered amps make it worse, bad port alignments worse still and even rooms can exacerbate the problem. The big difference between active speakers and passive ones is that boom is reduced by a factor of at least one hundred and it could be as much as one thousand. This is because the power amplifier is connected straight to the driver and not through a crossover. A crossover is resistive and acts like a spring in the speaker wire. The lean sound of Active speakers is simply less distortion, NOT less bass, which means great clarity/quality once you've adjusted. I apologise for interfering with a thread not directly related to our speakers and I hope this explanation is considered useful in a general sense. Ashley
Thanks for the reply, Ashley. I'll definitely try and give the 9.1s a listen before I part with any money. As regards the bass issue, I do most of my listening at the moment through my Shure E4Cs (without any sort of bass-boost), so am probably used to a more lean, controlled sound already. By the sounds of it the 9.1s shouldn't disappoint on detail. Unfortunately my budget won't stretch to the £1800 for the speakers + sub package - if I decide I need to add a little punch to the lower end, has anybody tried to combine them with a less expensive sub and how successful was the integration?
We recommend not buying any Subwoofer until you've owned the speakers for a month or two and got used to them. Rooms vary and ADM9.1s don't have less bass, they have less distorted bass, which is different and you may find you prefer it because you're used to headphones that also tend to be better control at the low end. Neither do they (or ADM9.1s) have the distortion caused by crossovers in passive speakers, so I think you may like them.
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