Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Blind Listening Tests

For everyone wondering about blind listening testing; we have a panel of regulars (the so called golden ears). This panel consists of Peter and Mike from the lab, Alan Lofft when he is in this neck of the woods, Joe, Brent, and myself. We have a standard score sheet for everyone to fill out and a ballot box for the results. We also do a lot of testing with "novice" listeners to test the results against the golden ear crowd. We have our main listening room equipped with a master switcher to allow for complete equal level home theater comparisons. So when we are conducting listening we are always looking for listeners.

That's really neat.
Now all you need is a sign up sheet outside the axiom doors.
If i were in the area, which i am now and again, i would love to get a tour.
Ya ya, liability issues i know, but i can dream can't i?

Ah, but the part I would be interested in, would be the outcomes of the blind listening test. I don't suppose that type of information is attainable is it? Living in the "states" has many at a disadvantage with respect to being able to listen to the full line-up vs. reading a comparison here and there. Now getting objective subjective feedback from others with relation to comparing several different towers or bookshelves would be invaluable. Of course the "golden ears" info would be doubly appreciated.

One would think that would be a large undertaking, that is to say, providing all the data gathered by daily testing for the perusal of customers. I'm also thinking it could potentially give away some of the more intimate details on how Ian produces a good speaker as well.
Perhaps if Ian can tell us if he has published any results or papers we could look up his findings in peer reviewed journals.

My reply may have hinted toward a total review of the blind listening tests and all listeners, but I was actually pointing to those "golden ears" in specific. While each listening session is a subjective event, you can nonetheless get information from a group of people whom have experience listening and inventing speakers for a profession. To me that is valuable. Sure there are going to be differences, and a specific group of individuals whom work toward a similar goal at one company may share many similar views and thoughts, but they are probably going to give you more objective thoughts with relation to subjective hearing. That is what I would appreciate, since I can not demo several of the kinds of speakers which I am considering.

The results from bind listening testing have been published in peer-reviewed journals but these results are based around proving out various correlations between lab measurements and the double blind listening results. The speakers used are always referred to as product A, B, C, etc. I think Alan will be giving a lot more detail on blind listening testing and the exact results in the future. Further to our panel of listeners that I mentioned in my last post, one of the most interesting tests is one we do with up-and-coming Toronto band, Boyce’s Road. It is very revealing to have a band listen to their own music, as they are able to compare not just speaker-to-speaker, but how the music matches their live performance.

That would be interesting and informative to read about feedback from actual bands and how they think the sound out of the speakers compares to what they feel is the "original" sound.

My original thoughts are still there. It would be invaluable to get feedback from the creators/engineers/builders of a given speaker line with respect to the different models they have to offer. I realize every person feels their "castle" is the best castle in the land, but they may feel a little stronger to a given room within that castle. How better to get feedback than from the source as well as from others whom have listened/compared the spectrum of speakers within a given company. Without having the advantage to listen to several different speakers from a line, one tends to wonder which one would afford them the best bang for the buck in their application. Sure that is in part subjective, but you can bet within the speaker line, some are favored over others in-house. IE, does the M60 give you 90% of the M80? If so, is it lacking a bit in the lower regions which a good sub might cover. I am always looking for the best dollar to performance ratio, and that is usually there in each line. Having owned magnetic, planar, large floorstanders from different countries, small/large monitors, etc. I have learned to appreciate the overall sound, and the best bang for the buck within that company's product line.

Ian: Care to go e-mail? Thank you.

When it comes to various models and combinations there is another huge element to the equation which is the best model for your environment, system capabilities, listening preferences, and budget. I am current re-writing the wizard, which will be able to sort through all this by asking pertinent questions about your specific circumstances.