Is the 'I can't hear the difference' myth killing the speaker business?
Do you really think they sound the same?
(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)Sophisticated baby boomers and Gen Xers pride themselves on their ability to appreciate the finer things in life. They're wine snobs, crave gourmet food, drive exotic cars, buy 1080p high definition TVs, but for some bizarre reason think low-end speakers are just dandy. At a New Year's Eve party I polled perfect strangers about their hi-fi systems, and the three men and one woman all said that, sure, music was once really important, but now it's mere background. And they now owned very small systems, because "I can't hear the difference anymore."
Hmmm, I sold audio from the early 1980s to the late 1990s and personally demonstrated hi-fi to thousands of people over the years. Folks in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and more than a few seniors, and I was able to demonstrate a "difference" to well over 80% of them. Many walked in doubting their ears, convinced that "they all sound the same," but once I asked them to focus on the sound they easily discerned even fine subtleties. It's not so different than learning about wines or food. The details become more significant as you become engaged in the subject at hand.
Once I asked my customers, for example, to listen closely to the believability of Eric Clapton vocal, they started to notice differences. Over one speaker Eric seemed to emerge from a box, and over another speaker he all but materialized between the stereo speakers. There was a three dimensional quality to the voice, he was more human. You could hear the body attached to the voice. Once you know what to listen for, the differences aren't at all subtle.
The same listening awareness can be applied to the sound of instruments, do the drums sound like bees buzzing inside a small table radio or can you feel the sticks beating skins, do you catch the bass drum's thump in your chest? Does the rhythm make you want to get up and dance? These aren't small things, and can make a gigantic difference in the way you emotionally connect with the music. Like I said, most people, when presented with bona-fide, better sounding speakers definitely can hear the difference. Sure, whether they want to spend the extra cash, or live with larger speakers is something else. But if you really love music, try to search out a high-end audio store and listen to some of your favorite tunes.
But once you've settled for "good enough" sound, well, who's foolin' who. You're missing out on something good.
Steve Guttenberg is a frequent contributor to magazines and Web sites including Home Entertainment, Playback, and Ultimate AV. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. 
I'm no audiophile, but it's (lossless) CDs and big floor speakers for me.
More so, beyond speakers, I really don't see the value in huge stereo systems or crazy sound cards in computers. A mp3 sound just as good as a CD, to me.
When I listen to Floyd, Clapton and Miller, I want the best sound I can get. So for these things, acabtp is correct.
On the other hand... If I'm jogging and listening to 'random rock band' or the "R" word, then it really doesn't matter how good the source is.
Simply enough, when the audio content isn't impressive enough to the listener, then what's the point of having a high-end, blow-out system? But for action movies and timeless music, I want the good stuff because that matters and truly makes a difference in the quality.
1. Bring to the store a CD of music that you enjoy and are familiar with. That way you can listen for things you haven't heard before-- higher highs, deeper base, distortion, etc.
2. Make sure that when you do a comparison, that it's done with the same music on the same equipment with the same settings; the only difference between A and B should be the speakers.
3. Turn off all equalization and set all tone controls to a 'flat' or neutral position.
4. Ask to see the speakers with the covers off, if possible. Unscrupulous dealers have been known to insert foreign objects in speakers to muffle the ones they don't want you to buy.
5. Bring a friend with you and have them (*not* the salesperson) switch between several sets of speakers while you have your eyes closed. Have them mix up the order in which they play them so that you can make a decision without knowing which speaker system is which.
6. Once you find some speakers that you like, arrange to take them home for a trial on your equipment in your environment. It makes no difference how good a speaker sounds in the showroom, if it sounds bad in your home-- after all, you don't live in the audio store.
Also, speaker placement is crucial. You may need to adjust your tonal controls to get the sound you prefer. If your speakers sounded great in the store, but they don't sound as good at home, don't forget to check the polarity of the wiring.
It seems to me that without an accessible middle ground, it should come as no surprise that lots of people are happy to settle for less in their audio equipment. Even I, as someone who can hear the difference between, have a limit as to what I want to spend.
And just because a stereo salesman tell us so doesn't make it true.
Good sound, like art, wine, and beauty are all in the senses of the beholder.
Theaters are projecting from DVDs? I had no clue because I don't go ... and now I know why. If this is true, we've definitely turned down the wrong road somewhere along the line.
A big thank you to M. Bucci for such a well though-out analysis and commentary. By the way ... I am old enough to have noticed that the details are being ignored ... and yes, I have noticed, too.
She hears the difference and every chance she gets she's downstairs in the sweet spot with Maggies in the round, and all big watt tube amps.
So will she part with her cash or continue with the hi-fi speakers he Dad builds for her? Remains to be seen but she can hear it.
I suspect most people are too busy these days. I have a sophisticated system and a lot of my audio buds are opting for a simpler system, aka the Levinson or Krell one box reciever approach. I get it but I'm NOT THAT LAZY YET!
Making sound work for you in your home space is worth the time and energy if think that you give a flip. Are you a wine snob? Then you should expand your ego.
YMMV
Young folks today have so much music available to them, and so much of it for free (if you know where to look), that it's all mind numbing. There truly is not enough time to go through it all, let alone listen to it critically. When I was a kid in the 70s, if it wasn't in a record store, playing on the radio or being performed on TV (which was all of 3 channels plus PBS!), then we didn't know about it. There was a lot less music.
Today there is way too much (over 35,000 albums released a year now). Kida today don't have the time to really get into artists like I remember doing. We would study the album covers like they were scriptures, memorize all the song titles, knew all the names of all the members of all our favorite groups and knew what instruments they played and their whole history.
Try going through these GenX and Y'ers' playlists and ask them all about each band they listen to, and see what they'll be able to tell you. Also, when they show you what they listen to, pay attention to how long they listen to each song. Chances are they don't listen to many entire songs, and certainly not an entire album from one artist in one sitting! There's not enough time, and too much to go through.
Like the point of the article states, music to these generations are just backgrounds to be called up from a car stereo ir iPod, and about as important as wallpaper.
I also have to admit how I listen to music today has changed as well. Rarely now days do I put in a cd and just sit on the couch and listen. Today I also have electronic input from my broadband equipped computer and an ever increasing number of TV channels and DVDs. The time I'm most likely to listen to music is in the car. Perhaps my appreciation for music has declined, or perhaps the world is too busy to just listen to music without multitasking.
While an expensive audio setup can bring a lot to Jazz and the like, modern pop and hip hop is mostly computer generated instruments which have no nuance to glean. Drum and bass simply requires just one big bass unit, as bass is not directional. Then of course Radio and TV are not broadcast with enough fidelity to justify specialized equipment. So the truth is that modern music and audio offers nothing that one would need fine tools to disseminate.
The bottom line is there is less incentive than ever to purchase a high end audio system. Baring music changing to a form which takes advantage of higher fidelity I don't see a boom market for speakers anytime soon.
The issue is how many of them are willing to pay B&W prices when what they have is "good enough".
I don't blame them, though, as I'm not willing to pay $30k for a car when base models do just a good of a job getting me to work.
Now your average consumer thinks Bose's trademark tinny highs and boomy lows are what account for "high end audio".
I am still enjoying my pair of Paradigm Mini-Mk3s, Adcom GT-350 preamp, and Parasound GTA-500 amp that have served me well for over ten years. With my modestly-sized living room, I don't need much else, and despite all of the multi-dimensional super-systems out there, I don't find my setup wanting, whether I'm playing CDs, Lossless AAC, or DVDs.
Given that most consumers, even when buying 'toys' don't have a proper imaging setup (I see lots of blank walls and hard surfaces surrounding $5k audio setups) I simply enjoy the fact that a little knowledge and a little bit more money will buy an audio system better that 9/10s of what most people hear at home - and that only cost about $1.3k back in 1997.
http://www.zoliblog.com/2006/05/25/bose-buy-other-sound-equipment/
- by jragosta January 2, 2008 2:19 PM PST
- I agree that there are differences between speakers (to my ears, Infinity speakers always sound more 'real' than their competition in the same price range). But in the end, I also agree that the differences are so minor that you're not likely to hear them in your home after a while. First, you need to have the volume at a reasonably high level and be focusing exclusively on the music - which I almost never do. Second, even when you're focusing on the sound, the difference is smaller than the contribution of many other factors (room dynamics, equalization settings, particular CD characteristics, individual hearing differences, etc). Of course, ALL of these factors are much larger than the effects that audiophiles insist we should concern ourselves with - super deluxe low oxygen gold plated 6 gauge wires, etc.
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Showing 1 of 3 pages (71 Comments)Bottom line is to listen to speakers and buy the ones that you like the sound of - and then stop worrying about it.