NRC speaker article on Test & Measurement World
|
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 294 Likes: 23
local
|
OP
local
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 294 Likes: 23 |
It's online at: http://www.reed-electronics.com/tmworld/article/CA475937.html?industryid=3125
The reporter interviews Dr. Floyd Toole of Harman International, a competitor of Axiom. Still, makes an entertaining read. If you read to the end, Dr. Toole makes an interesting comment at the dollar figure a speaker needs to sell for before reaching the point of diminishing returns.
Author of "Status 101: How To Keep Up In A World That Keeps Score While Buying Into Buying Less"
|
|
|
Re: NRC speaker article on Test & Measurement World
|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 6,379 Likes: 7
axiomite
|
axiomite
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 6,379 Likes: 7 |
M60ti, VP180, QS8, M2ti, EP500, PC-Plus 20-39 M5HP, M40ti, Sierra-1 LFR1100 active, ADA1500-4 and -8
|
|
|
Re: NRC speaker article on Test & Measurement World
|
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 6,331
axiomite
|
axiomite
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 6,331 |
To wit:
""We can build the best loudspeaker in the world," said Toole, "and we can build the best speaker available at a given price." It's the latter, he said, that's most interesting from an engineering perspective. Toole said that the law of diminishing returns comes in to play at $1800 per pair, and that you can do well at $700 per pair if you're willing to sacrifice some bass. "We take pride in the fact that we can produce the best-sounding inexpensive loudspeaker in the world. If you can't build a good sounding speaker for $10,000 a pair, there is something seriously wrong with you. But if you can deliver comparable sound quality at a fraction of the price, then you really know what you're doing."
Jack
"People generally quarrel because they cannot argue." - G. K. Chesterton
|
|
|
Re: NRC speaker article on Test & Measurement World
|
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 10,654
shareholder in the making
|
shareholder in the making
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 10,654 |
Interesting article, Daniel, which again makes the point that many fail to grasp, i.e. that in audio there's little correlation between price and sound quality. If you haven't read it in the past the revised version of Dr. Toole's paper which is shown as reference 1 in the article is very informative. In particular the discussion and fig.4 on page 10 demonstrates the necessity for blind tests even of items, such as speakers, which have significant audible differences. As Dr. Toole put it at an AES meeting: "If you can see what you're listening to, you can't hear it".
-----------------------------------
Enjoy the music, not the equipment.
|
|
|
Re: NRC speaker article on Test & Measurement World
|
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 845
aficionado
|
aficionado
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 845 |
This is the same company that "bought" JBL's home audio division,..........and have all but ruined right?
If so, I would like to see those speakers in the article.
LIFE: "Choices, balance, and timing"
(Larryism)
|
|
|
Re: NRC speaker article on Test & Measurement World
|
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 294 Likes: 23
local
|
OP
local
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 294 Likes: 23 |
I'm not a fan of JBL nor Infinity. Both are available at Futureshop or Best Buy, and my initial impression with other peoples' music is that they're average, though I'm open to think otherwise in a fair A/B fight. JBL always struck me as a brand cross-shopped with Cerwin Vega by college dorm students impressed by the brand at their last stadium concert. Not sure what Infinity's marketing strategy is, b/c they have no sales angle (Internet sales channel w/ 30 day return policy, unique construction techniques, high tech tweeters) and they're not mass market, niche, nor high end. It's not a surprise that I keep hearing rumours that Infinity will be phased out. I have no qualms about the Revel line though.
I wouldn't be surprised if all this testing by Harman Int'l is parallel to what grocery stores do: send people out to competitor stores and read barcodes and prices of their competitors so that they can raise their prices and increase their margins without charging too little.
After all, if a company is capable of scientific speaker design, and they have the measurement facilities, wouldn't it be the ultimate competitive sales advantage for JBL, Infinity, and Revel to publish their frequency response curves in their literature, and force inferior companies with inferior performance curves to respond or die? Or maybe I'm being too cynical...
>This is the same company that "bought" JBL's home audio division,..........and >have all but ruined right?
Author of "Status 101: How To Keep Up In A World That Keeps Score While Buying Into Buying Less"
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics24,945
Posts442,486
Members15,617
|
Most Online2,082 Jan 22nd, 2020
|
|
1 members (rrlev),
1,125
guests, and
2
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|