On 10/01/2010 15:24, bcoombes wrote:
Keith Garratt wrote:



In summation - if the 'sweet spot' is so bloody small you can wreck it
by moving a speaker only slightly, you are using the wrong type of
speaker!

Is my view....

I see what you are saying but in these straightened times many of us are
'stuck' with the speakers we have (For whatever reason). So making the
best of them is the only option.


Fair comment.

Speakers get better the longer you have them, in my book. Actually, I
would go as far as to suggest that most people who make a significant
effort to *upgrade* speakers end up invariably disappointed..??

Keith Garratt wrote:

In summation - if the 'sweet spot' is so bloody small you can wreck it
by moving a speaker only slightly, you are using the wrong type of
speaker!

Is my view....

I see what you are saying but in these straightened times many of us are
'stuck' with the speakers we have (For whatever reason). So making the
best of them is the only option.

Fair comment.

Speakers get better the longer you have them, in my book. Actually, I
would go as far as to suggest that most people who make a significant
effort to *upgrade* speakers end up invariably disappointed..??

I don't suppose they keep on getting better, because eventually some of
the materials may start to harden or dry out. But I've definitely heard
new speakers improve significantly over a period of 48 hours or so.

Daniele

"D.M. Procida" wrote

I don't suppose they keep on getting better, because eventually some of
the materials may start to harden or dry out. But I've definitely heard
new speakers improve significantly over a period of 48 hours or so.


More likely you adjust to their sound, just as a piece of music grows on you
the more you listen to it.

David.

David Looser wrote:

"D.M. Procida" wrote

I don't suppose they keep on getting better, because eventually some of
the materials may start to harden or dry out. But I've definitely heard
new speakers improve significantly over a period of 48 hours or so.

More likely you adjust to their sound, just as a piece of music grows on you
the more you listen to it.

It could be.

These were new speakers, and sounded really a bit raw and harsh, and we
were talking about taking them back and swapping them for something else
a bit smoother. The next day we remarked almost simultaneously that the
sound had changed, and the rawness had gone.

So who knows? All the same, the fact that I never noticed that harshness
again even on subsequent visits suggests to me that in this case
probably the speakers had changed, even if we'd changed too.

Daniele

On 10/01/2010 17:39, D.M. Procida wrote:
David wrote:

"D.M. wrote

I don't suppose they keep on getting better, because eventually some of
the materials may start to harden or dry out. But I've definitely heard
new speakers improve significantly over a period of 48 hours or so.

More likely you adjust to their sound, just as a piece of music grows on you
the more you listen to it.

It could be.

These were new speakers, and sounded really a bit raw and harsh, and we
were talking about taking them back and swapping them for something else
a bit smoother. The next day we remarked almost simultaneously that the
sound had changed, and the rawness had gone.

So who knows? All the same, the fact that I never noticed that harshness
again even on subsequent visits suggests to me that in this case
probably the speakers had changed, even if we'd changed too.

Daniele


I usually post about once a year that I had a pair of Ruark boxes a
while back that said something about 'running in for 36 hours' (or
somesuch) printed on them and I was on the phone to Ruark and asked what
happens during this time? The reply was to the effect 'nothing much, it
just takes most people about that long to get used to them'!!

But that's different to when speakers get old and 'tired'....

D.M. Procida wrote:
Keith Garratt wrote:

In summation - if the 'sweet spot' is so bloody small you can wreck it
by moving a speaker only slightly, you are using the wrong type of
speaker!

Is my view....

I see what you are saying but in these straightened times many of us are
'stuck' with the speakers we have (For whatever reason). So making the
best of them is the only option.
Fair comment.

Speakers get better the longer you have them, in my book. Actually, I
would go as far as to suggest that most people who make a significant
effort to *upgrade* speakers end up invariably disappointed..??

I don't suppose they keep on getting better, because eventually some of
the materials may start to harden or dry out. But I've definitely heard
new speakers improve significantly over a period of 48 hours or so.

Yeah, I *think* I've had that happen with new headphones too but I wouldn't like
to stake my life on it. ...Subjective judgement etc.

On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:03:46 +0000, Keith Garratt
wrote:

Speakers get better the longer you have them, in my book. Actually, I
would go as far as to suggest that most people who make a significant
effort to *upgrade* speakers end up invariably disappointed..??

Within the same general price range and (particularly) size, I suspect
you're right.

It amuses me sometimes how people who are prepared to spend hundreds,
even thousands, on equipment and cables have a blockage regarding what
can REALLY make a difference - letting speakers be physically large
and placing them in the optimum position.

Laurence Payne wrote:
On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:03:46 +0000, Keith Garratt
wrote:

Speakers get better the longer you have them, in my book. Actually, I
would go as far as to suggest that most people who make a significant
effort to *upgrade* speakers end up invariably disappointed..??

Within the same general price range and (particularly) size, I suspect
you're right.

It amuses me sometimes how people who are prepared to spend hundreds,
even thousands, on equipment and cables have a blockage regarding what
can REALLY make a difference - letting speakers be physically large
and placing them in the optimum position.

Quite so, there's no substitute for cubes..as our American friends would
say...admittedly when talking about internal combustion engines in which context
it's not entirely true; but then you can't turbocharge speakers AFAIK.

On 10/01/2010 18:03, Laurence Payne wrote:
On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:03:46 +0000, Keith Garratt
wrote:

Speakers get better the longer you have them, in my book. Actually, I
would go as far as to suggest that most people who make a significant
effort to *upgrade* speakers end up invariably disappointed..??

Within the same general price range and (particularly) size, I suspect
you're right.



Trust me, there are posters and (I suspect) lurkers here that I could
name who have done that - spent lots of money on 'better' speakers only
to be disappointed!

;-)



It amuses me sometimes how people who are prepared to spend hundreds,
even thousands, on equipment and cables have a blockage regarding what
can REALLY make a difference - letting speakers be physically large
and placing them in the optimum position.


Absolutely.