Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions NRC fidelity scores, does anyone have other scores

Just wondering of anyone has NRC loudspeaker fidelity score compilations. The handful I have are from the Canadian Sound & Vision magazine, but I know the NRC lab tested hundreds of speakers from the 70's to the 90's.

I understand that only speakers considered very good will score in the 7.0-8.0 range, and the few exceptional speakers scored even higher. The highest scoring stereo pair I've seen is 7.9 for a $7000 model, but various 5.1 packages have score beyond that.(Axiom Audio had a package that scored 8.5!)

As you can see, there was no relationship between price and fidelity score from this small sampling group.

This is what I have so far, not including imaging and surround/spatial impression numbers (all are discontinued models):

S&V Issue/ NRC Fidelity/ Brand/ MSRP/ Model(s)

Home Theatre
02/1997 8.8 Sound Dynamics $1,585 THC-22 main/centre; THR-BP1 surround; THS-1000 sub
09/1996 7.5 PSB $2,600 1000main, Stratus C5 centre, Ambient II surround, Subsonic II sub
08/1996 8.1 Celestion $1,999 Home Theatre in a Box
05/1996 7.1 Cerwin-Vega $2,150 HT-MDC main/centre; HT-S5 surround; HT12-PWR sub
04/1996 8.5 Polk $4,350 RT16 main, CS350-LS centre; LS f/x surround; PSW200 sub
09/1995 8.5 Axiom $700 AX1.2 main/surround; AX1.2 centre, AX120 sub
09/1995 7.2 Monitor Audio $3,197 300 Home Theatre system: 202 main, C300 centre, 302 surround; no sub
02/1995 N/A Bose $2,799 Lifestyle 12 Home Theatre
03/1994 7.1 Cerwin-Vega $1,770 HT-S6 main; HT-CTR centre; HT-S5 surround; HT-12D sub
10/1993 7.3 Paradigm $890 Titan main, CC-200 centre, Atom surround, SB-100 sub
04/1993 7.3 Energy $1,400 Home Theatre system: ESAT-2 main/surround; ECC-1 centre, ESUB-2 sub

Stereo Pair
02/1997 7.4 Acoustic Profiles $999 PSL-8835
04/1996 7.6 Acoustic Profiles $799 PSL-8825
11/1995 7.8 Energy $600 Energy C-2 Connoisseur
11/1995 7.7 Paradigm $360 Mini-Mk3
11/1995 7.8 PSB $1,500 Stratus Silver
09/1995 7.2 Paradigm $450 ADP-150 dipole surround
10/1994 7.5 B&W $4,600 Matrix 802 Series 3
10/1994 7.9 Energy $7,000 Veritas v.2.8
09/1993 7.2 Harman Kardon $3,198 Harman Kardon Sixty
09/1993 7.2 Mirage $500 M-290
07/1993 7.3 Acoustic Profiles $699 PSL 66.2
07/1993 7.3 Paradigm $320 Phantom
04/1993 6.6 KEF $550 K140
04/1993 6.5 Wharfedale $439 Diamond V
02/1992 6.5 Acoustic Research $799 M4
02/1992 7.2 Audiosphere Profile $349 PSL 6.1
02/1992 7.4 Castle $3,660 Winchester
02/1992 7.1 Ethera $2,700 Vitae
02/1992 7.3 Mirage $750 M-490

Ham, welcome. I'm aware of the scores that you're referring to, which Dr. Toole and his colleagues at the NRC(including Ian and Alan)devised to rank the accuracy of speakers. If you're asking whether those are currently available on present speakers, they aren't to my knowledge. However Alan was also the editor of S&V(Canada)and would be able to inform you more completely. I assume that you're aware that for about the last four years SoundStage has been using the NRC for many of its speaker reviews and publishing the NRC results on its site. Although the "score" format isn't used, this is still probably the most reliable source of speaker measurements.

Thanks, nice to be here.

I was hoping someone kept an archive log, or had the back issues of S&V I didn't have (they printed speaker reviews at least half the year).

I'll trust the NRC measurements of Soundstage, but not the content nor reviews. When you grow up reading Ian G. Masters, Alan Lofft, Larry Klein, Tom Nousaine, Peter Aczel, Daniel Kumin, etc. it's hard to accept the mostly tweako crowd.

The NRC fidelity scores seem to show price doesn't correspond well with sound quality. My own story, I had a dealer who let me compare A/B my $300 Paradigm Phantoms (NRC = 7.3) with his premium speaker lines. Unfortunately for him, the Phantoms crushed every speaker 3x to 13x the price, particularly in midrange clarity.

I found out afterwards that the Phantoms had a blown tweeter and a boxy midrange, yet they still won all those rounds. Loudspeaker buyer beware, there's dogs everywhere.

Even if no one replies to my query, at least it would implant the thought: what if my Axiom system really did sound as good as or better than those fantasy $5000, $20,000, or $50,000 systems on the market? Previous NRC lab results show that it's not so far fetched.

I assume then that your Edmonton library doesn't have access to those back issues or at least copies. I don't know if Alan would know of a good source, but if he hasn't noticed this and replied in the next day or so you might try sending him a message.

Our reading preferences seem rather similar(may "Hip Boots" rise again)and I learned early-on that there's very little correlation in audio between price and sound quality. Axiom speakers are certainly among the prime reasonably priced examples of this.

Hi Hambrabi,

Thanks for the nice comments on previous issues of Sound&Vision (Canada) as well as the program of NRC measurement and double-blind testing, the protocol for the latter refined and overseen by Dr. Floyd Toole, who later became president of the Audio Engineering Society world-wide, in part because of his pioneering research on relating precise technical speaker measurement to subjective sound quality in double-blind tests. Many of those tests were orginally commissioned and paid for by AudioScene Canada magazine, edited by Ian G. Masters, then Sound Canada, which I edited and relaunched as Sound&Vision in 1986. Alas, there is no central data-base of all those NRC-based reviews. Being editors, and pack-rats, Ian and I do have back issues stacked in boxes . . .but unless a Canadian library logged those issues on micro-fiche or computers, they can only be manually accessed.

The CBC-Radio/TV network in Canada also commissioned a long series of listening tests at the NRC to choose new monitors for their recording and broadcasting facilities. Those reports were issued to the CBC and might be accessible.

And you are correct about the lack of correlation of price and sound quality noted over the years. I recall several Canadian brands, including Axiom, priced in the $1,000/pair range, that bested several expensive tower speakers from England, including a Kef 105, later a 107, which sold for $7200/pair Canadian.

Regards,

It's nice to know that I wasn't the only one who noticed the lack of a price-to-speaker relationship. Floyd Toole hinted at it in some of his Harman International articles, but his current employer still seems to be a prolific source of those dogs.

The truth is a letdown, because I have an emotional need to believe that more money = less compromises, and therefore, better sound. (I'll admit I love hi-fi equipment more than I do music. After all, everyone's just one more purchase away from audio perfection.)

A local audio salon holds regular wine and cheese parties for patrons to audition their stereo speakers, usually priced between $20k and $150k (Cdn), and I didn't think they really sounded better than other Canadian speakers I've auditioned for 1/100th the price. Louder and more bass, yes. Prettier, oh yes. More neutral and smoother, no. Of course, you can't mention that to the attending cognoscente, b/c they'll think you're unworthy of their special club.

In reply to:

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Of course, you can't mention that to the attending cognoscente, b/c they'll think you're unworthy of their special club.

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Ain't that the truth. Well said.