Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Kudos to Alan, another floorstanding comparison !

Actually ... By the time we get this put together, my Garage cigar/sports lounge should be complete ... and, for this comparo, as Jack will not (likely) be able to attend, I think he will be getting a serious amount of pictures e-mailed to him ...

We do have three main areas for home theater plus the new garage system going in ...

Yes! Pics! Pics! Pics! Pics! Pics! Pics! You just happen to have a VERY beautiful photographer. I hope she'll take pictures of herself, too.

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To be honest with you I dont give a "Rats Rear" who wins either, and I'm not sure there will be an actual winner anyway.
Having heard almost all the speakers in your line-up, I believe they're ALL winners.

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I agree with you Bray. I posted the following over at av123 when the issue of "winner" or "loser" came up.

I don't think the terms "winner" or "loser" can be applied properly to this particular comparison, for the simple reason that we are dealing with peoples "opinions" rather than hard fact. People will be expressing which speaker they "prefer," based solely on their own ears, and inclinations, not on measurements or any other quantitative and/or qualitative parameter.

What I will find interesting is who prefers what. It will be interesting to see if there is a consensus among the participants as to a preferred speaker. If one speaker gets the vast majority of the #1 selections, THAT will be interesting. But, it's also possible the #1 selections will be nearly evenly distributed.

If the majority of speaker A's owners prefer speaker B, THAT will be interesting.

Craig has implied that there will be some participants who don't own any of the brands. It will be interesting to see if there is a consensus of preference among them. And, should there be, it will be interesting to see if THAT preference differs from the consensus of preference (if any) of those who DO own one of the brands.

Regardless, since it only a listener's preference which is being measured, it seems to me the only conclusion which can reasonably be reached, is "that speaker is the 'winner' and the 'better' speaker FOR HIM/HER," and NOT "that is the 'winner' and 'best' speaker for everyone."

If the Toyota Camry is the best selling car in America, does that necessarily mean it is a better car than every model that sells fewer?

I posted the same message on AV123 as well.

Just some suggestions:

1. Ideally, you should use people who do not own either brand. Once they own, they will be able to recognize the sound and that will introduce a bias in their selection. This obviously makes the data less valid. We call this "selection bias" in medical studies. In other words, the sample of listeners should be "naive" to the subject speakers.

2. The person conducting the study (?you) should not know which speaker the person is listening to. This may introduce bias in your recording the opinion. This is called "double blinding" and should be easy to do. Once you have everything setup, you can ask your friend who does not know which speakers are what to play and record the results. You can analyze them. You could blind the person analyzing also (called triple blind), but the value is limited.

You are doing a fascinating thing. Let's do this as scientifically valid as medical research.

Hey...I don't own any brands that are involved!!

I can do the switching and/or listening!

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The "rat's rear end" commment was meant to make you laugh

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oh, it did.. i guess i agree more with what tom and bray are saying. i dont really know if there is any way to choose a definite "winner" or "loser", cause everyone prefers diferent sounds. but, i am interested in everyones overall impression.

but, as i had said, regardless of what the outcome may be, i have no plans or desires to change anything about my HT right now.. well, i would like a bigger sub!!

bigjohn

It will be REALLY interesting to get a bunch of guys who claim to hear these HUGE differences when they are looking right at the speakers in question to post thoughts when they DON'T know which speakers are on.

Blind tests, especially level matched ones, are REALLY humbling ...

Blind tests are great. I don’t know how many times I’ve participated in blind wine tasting and came home with a case of $6.00 a bottle wine because it bested the $30.00 and up per bottle stuff. But, I’ve also been to other tasting where I knew what I was drinking and I’d always go for the more expensive stuff.

This speaker test could be very similar to wine tastings. Just be specific with what folks should be rating when they are listening. Give them a few things that audiophiles consider “criteria” that high end speakers should have and score them accordingly to these criteria’s. Most folks know what their listening preferences are. Some folks crank the treble up and bass down, some are just the opposite. Knowing how a speaker scores in the bass, treble, mid range compared to other speakers is very helpful when buying a speaker without ever hearing it.

........mike

Mike ... For each litening test, there will be a "performance sheet" filled out ... With scores of 1 to 10 for each: Bass, Mids, Treble, Soundstage, Pace/Rythym, Overall tonal accuracy, and overall performance.... These scores will be for speaker "A" - "B" and "C" ...

When each session is done, the sheets will be turned into me. Before the test begins, I will have a log as to which speaker was "A", "B" and "C" each time...

By the time we are done ... we will have perhaps 12 sheets per person with scores on them ... THEN the tallying will be done ...

Most excellent!! I'm really looking forward to seeing the outcome. It's been a long time coming. I applaud your efforts.