THE PRICE WE HAVE TO PAY FOR REALLY GOOD SOUND

[♔Chello]

THE PRICE WE HAVE TO PAY FOR REALLY GOOD SOUND

As a long-time HiFi fanatic, I have learned that everything has its price.
A moderately good or better sound system presents most things in a uniformly good way, and you get a certain amount of pleasure from everything, regardless of the quality of this.

As you raise the quality of the audio system's individual components, "weird" things start to happen - much of what used to be quite good suddenly becomes worse or even worse, while a little becomes better or even better.

This tendency degenerates as you get better and better components, until you find that almost everything sounds terrible, while a few recordings sound insanely fantastic.

I had my first experience with this phenomenon 40 years ago, when I acquired a really good amplifier; it was extremely analytical, exposing every negative detail mercilessly.
But when everything was right, the experience was all the better.

I have been working on developing loudspeakers for 40 years, but only a few years ago I experienced something very unusual:
I had constructed my first version of horn speakers, which sounded fantastic almost no matter what music I played.

When I recently changed speaker units and amplifiers to far better ones, I ended up like many other enthusiasts before me:
Everything was like the first experience with the amplifier - details were mercilessly exposed and bad recordings sound awful, but when everything is as it should be, the sound is almost surrealistically good.

The experience with arrangers has been like having an average sound system; the sound has never been like that of a state of the art system.

The experience with OASYS, Kronos and Nautilus, on the other hand, corresponds to the experience with the best sound system.

The experience with the Pa5X surpasses all of the above, because almost everything sounds better than ever - it's an insane distance down to the Genos.

[⚅Graham UK]

Chello. Yes...Yes...Yes.  Remembering you have the experience to hear small differences. 

Even moving speakers positioning very small amounts within a room can transform one listening experience.
We have obtained very enjoyable sounds from low cost speakers which out performed higher priced ones. 
A little embarrassing if one is trying to sell a customer the more expensive speakers !!!.

[♔Chello]

Chello. Yes...Yes...Yes.  Remembering you have the experience to hear small differences. 

Even moving speakers positioning very small amounts within a room can transform one listening experience.
We have obtained very enjoyable sounds from low cost speakers which out performed higher priced ones. 
A little embarrassing if one is trying to sell a customer the more expensive speakers !!!.

You are so right; constructing multi-way loudspeaker systems with passive crossovers requires a certain ability to hear the smallest differences.

And my horn speakers change the width and depth of the perspective at the slightest change in position - a few cm makes a difference, even if they are in the middle of the room like now.

Price is also no guarantee of high sound quality, because it is largely the number of working hours and weight that determine this.

Many constructors choose expensive and poor units that require many working hours and components to function reasonably well.
For many years I used the cheapest units I could get my hands on, but made sure the impedance response was linear in the range I was going to use them, which required a minimum number of hours and components and produced a sound that amazed those who listened to them.

I well remember Jamo, which in the 70s and 80s shocked the world with its cheap speakers with acoustic diffusion lenses.

Inspired by Jamo and their many spreader lenses, I have developed a spatial spreader lens that has the shape of a tube that stands inside the horn.

I am currently making a hemisphere lens to be mounted in front of the full-range unit in the horn.
Horns and diffusing lenses can perform miracles.