Good for you 👍I don’t believe in a break-in period.
Good for you 👍I don’t believe in a break-in period.
Hello Ben, let me first offer my sympathy to you regarding your Tinnitus. I too suffer from relentless Tinnitus. At first in my twenties, it would come and go, but then one night in 1993, it started, increased in loudness, and never went away. That night is etched into my memory, as though it only happened yesterday.A lot to read, a lot to consider, my 2cts:
The break-in period is more about our ears getting accustomed to the sound rather than changes in the equipment itself. Measurements can provide data, but if human ears cannot perceive a difference, I'll leave that aspect to the lords of marketing.
Considering the decision to invest 2.4k in speakers with previous listening session : the incredible, the smart, the generous designer : Alexandre Chamagne let you the possibility to try them a full month.
Secondly please let me quote Lemmy : « do you want to play the game ? » I would reply : « hell yeah at any time ».
I lost money when I was young by purchasing old cheap stuff. When someone buy a good product and if it does not pleases that guy, he can sell it shortly. Once again I have nothing bad to say against these speakers. It’s just a personal feeling, due to habits and a particular room.
Considering that, if after two or three weeks the sound still does not meet my expectations, I have to accept that the new equipment is not suitable for me. Initially, I was taken aback by the overwhelming sound—it was invasive, heavy, and overpowering in every way. I could not listen my music softly. I needed to pump up the volume.
The positioning of the speakers is different.
The volume is different.
The response varies from vinyl records to streaming.
The behavior is different compared to my previous speakers.
The sensitivity is different.
Everything is different!
One thing to consider, at first, even before the equipment and room setup: I suffer from tinnitus, a f***g relentless, high-pitched buzzing, especially when I'm tired. My doctor says I'm exhausted, having slept only a few hours each night over the past three months (personal challenges I have to face, hard work, negative trends ahead…).
It has now been half a week with significantly less work and anxiety. Medication is helping me getting decent amount of sleep and the situation is starting gradually improving.
I cannot make a decision for the moment due to a lack of rest. I listened to several brands like JMR, Apertura, and JMLab, sometimes far more expensive and they can compete easily. The last brand I cannot find in my neighborhood is a pair of Proac D20R. They are known being quite smooth.
I need a soft, smooth, and articulate sound this is why I selected my heed amp. Firstly, it was in my budget, and secondly it was smooth enough for my injured ears. Give me Klipsch sound, and it would be unbearable for me even with the sweetest amp available.
My latest trial yesterday evening was to listen barroque. I was feeling good and was at just a few movement to relax enough to fell asleep. I could not for my own reasons but, this trial is quite interesting to me.
Thanks. I think my hearing damage was caused by working with strimmers, chainsaws, pneumatic hammer drills, disc cutters, etc for prolonged periods, because most ear protectors don't work particularly well, and loud music at rave events in the late 80s. I can't listen to my music all that loud at home, it exacerbates the tinnitus.Good evening/night John,
Thank you for your message and your experience. I wish you the best living condition possible with tinnitus.
The best system I had the chance to listen to, are in auditoriums with a huge amount of money I cannot afford. The latest biggest emotion was a month or a month and a half with Kayzer speakers (35K I guess) a Vertere (20K) a incredible cartridge at about 15K and a double mono block from heed + phono stage... At a quite low volume.
I have to face the truth and get a pragmatic approach : does 2,4K affordable to me? Do these speakers are game changers compared to my AE 120 mkII? It's not night and day.
The main trouble is the hig pitched buzz strengthened when I listen loudly and do these speakers increase the painful effect? These speakers are excellent. I am not at home anymore this week, I cannot listen to them. Cannot wait to be on Monday to go back home and make up my mind. Things have to be set on Monday.
Wish you a super good health and safe ears.
Oh genuinely thanks "Jasonovich" 👍Happy belated Birthday Stuart!
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Hi Jim,...AE509's a try?
... hearing damage was caused by working with strimmers, chainsaws, pneumatic hammer drills, disc cutters, etc for prolonged periods...
And me yours and the same back. Courage, patience.Hi Jim,
I have considered a lot the 509's before ordering the current ones. They are 3K€ on this side of the Channel. I can understand the gap due to saler margin, distribution, R&D, logistics... I cannot reach a 3K€ par of speakers.
I am very sorry to read that. After some medical analysis, my worries would be linked to long music sessions and most of all : exhaustion. This is not serious as yours. I need rest.
@RoA : I sympathize for you tinnitus. Good courage and patience.
These Recital Audio speakers are incredibly well engineered and manufactured. My questioning is to be able to listen to magnesium & aluminum. Maybe I just cannot due to my Tinnitus (ribbon tweeters? Silk dome?)
I think it’s bit of myth to link the metallic cones and domes to harsh sounds. I’ve heard metal tweeters as sweet as can be, and harsh silk domes too.These Recital Audio speakers are incredibly well engineered and manufactured. My questioning is to be able to listen to magnesium & aluminum. Maybe I just cannot due to my Tinnitus (ribbon tweeters? Silk dome?)
the ones who can reproduce high´s the more far from the 1khertz frequency, as far it reproduces the high´s the less you feel them hurting our hearing also the range of sound can make them sound softer, like class A amplifiers , the real good ones or built in the 70´sAnd me yours and the same back. Courage, patience.
Pax Vobiscum.
I don't really know the answer to which tweeters are softer on the ears
That’s what he did, but it didn’t work a treat! Maybe you missed the relevant posts?This thread and topic have been an interesting read for sure. The tinnitus aspect is a real shame however, as others have stated, you really need to take your amp and listen to each shortlisted speaker with music you know well and how it should sound to you.
The suggestion of getting some speakers delivered for a home trial is well worth it and this is what I did last time I was in the market for speakers. It worked a treat.
AHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!that is goodYou simply cannot make a speaker choice based on published specifications alone. The specifications provided tell you nothing about how the speaker will sound. eg one speaker could be very neutral and another have a recessed treble etc. basic frequency specs as provided won't give you that information.
You absolutely MUST listen to any speakers you're thinking of purchasing. No debate. For that reason alone I would never buy any "direct from manufacturer" speaker if I couldn't hear them first (at the very least in a demo room), especially at the prices the manufacturers you're looking at are asking. That's way too much money to make a random purchase, in my opinion.
If there is absolutely no way to listen to any speaker before you purchase it, then purchase a model from a well known brand. At least that way you have some hope of being able to sell them if you don't like them. For example Monitor Audio do a model that is at the £2.5k price point and other slightly smaller and cheaper models too (look at their Silver 7G series).
Speaker specification, like all specifications can help a great deal in creating a shortlist to audition.AHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!that is good
specifications do tell everything a speaker is , no more no less, you can say is that most of the users do not understand what is written in the specifications
so you say everybody understands what´s written in the specifications and i was thinking that almost no one follows electricity or electronics , even i that started to buy speakers in the 80´s sometimes i get confused by the scale being used now or like the sensivety in db´s very low to what it used to be , saying are great speakers in the past if bellow 100db´s no worth buying them but than i understood by looking at the frequency response having a limited range that when they say great bass sound covers only 50 to 60 hertz but those come well defined and now see if the type of music you or i hear the bass when equalized uses more midlow frequencies well defined than just bass like untill 30 hertz at least. which is already hard to listen this to myself or feel only the vibration which is already felt in old furniture with ancient wooden framed glassSpeaker specification, like all specifications can help a great deal in creating a shortlist to audition.
You only need to understand a few fortunately and they are simple enough.
To say that most users do not understand them is nonsense.
Absolutely they don't. At least the ones the OP provided don't. If you think they do, then please tell me what is the +/- dB frequency deviation from flat from the 1khz output level for any of the speakers, (except manufacturer 1) which has already provided that information)?AHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!that is good
specifications do tell everything a speaker is , no more no less, you can say is that most of the users do not understand what is written in the specifications
This is true.. to a point. It will very much depend on how detailed the specs are to start with (the ones the OP provided are about as useless as saying one speaker is red, the other is green).Speaker specification, like all specifications can help a great deal in creating a shortlist to audition
You have a point but those aren't the sort of specs I was referring to when drawing up a shortlist.This is true.. to a point. It will very much depend on how detailed the specs are to start with (the ones the OP provided are about as useless as saying one speaker is red, the other is green).
There is also the question about were the measurements made, where they made in an anechoic chamber or "in room" (and if so what size/dimensions room)
EG.
Manufacturer1 states: bandwidth (±1 dB) : 40 Hz – 22 kHz, from which we can say it's a very flat measuring speaker between 40hz and 22khz, but for example what is it's output at 30hz? or 20hz?
Manufacturer2 states: 30 Hz – 25 kHz (-3dB) as it's bandwidth. But what is it's output level at 40hz( relative to 1khz)? is it higher or lower than that of Manufacturer1?
How quickly the bass drops of depends a great deal on the driver resonance frequency and Q as well as if it's a ported or sealed enclosure speaker. Same applies for Manufacturer 1's speaker. It's entirely possible that Manufacture 1's speaker will have notably more output at 20hz than manufacturer 2's speaker and there is no way to know from the specs provided.
You have a point but those aren't the sort of specs I was referring to when drawing up a shortl
Let your ears measure it not the charts or graphs .This is true.. to a point. It will very much depend on how detailed the specs are to start with (the ones the OP provided are about as useless as saying one speaker is red, the other is green).
There is also the question about were the measurements made, where they made in an anechoic chamber or "in room" (and if so what size/dimensions room)
EG.
Manufacturer1 states: bandwidth (±1 dB) : 40 Hz – 22 kHz, from which we can say it's a very flat measuring speaker between 40hz and 22khz, but for example what is it's output at 30hz? or 20hz?
Manufacturer2 states: 30 Hz – 25 kHz (-3dB) as it's bandwidth. But what is it's output level at 40hz( relative to 1khz)? is it higher or lower than that of Manufacturer1?
How quickly the bass drops of depends a great deal on the driver resonance frequency and Q as well as if it's a ported or sealed enclosure speaker. Same applies for Manufacturer 1's speaker. It's entirely possible that Manufacture 1's speaker will have notably more output at 20hz than manufacturer 2's speaker and there is no way to know from the specs provided.
iAbsolutely they don't. At least the ones the OP provided don't. If you think they do, then please tell me what is the +/- dB frequency deviation from flat from the 1khz output level for any of the speakers, (except manufacturer 1) which has already provided that information)?
The most any of the speakers provide in terms of spec are bandwidth at a given -3dB point (usually this is from the 1khz measurement). Even that doesn't tell you how even the response is between those limits.
is nonsense after telling here that specifications show nothing, what are you talking about?Speaker specification, like all specifications can help a great deal in creating a shortlist to audition.
You only need to understand a few fortunately and they are simple enough.
To say that most users do not understand them is nonsense.