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 Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:10:27 -0000, "TonyL"
wrote:

I'm currently trying to work out why my IPL TL speakers are giving
disappointing results and I suspect placement problems. Main problem is lack
of a well defined stereo image. Phasing is OK, levels are OK, listening to
test tones reveal large volume fluctuations as I move around the room,
presumably due to reflections and cancellation. I know there are some rules
of thumb to give optimum speaker positions but I'm limited by room/furniture
layout...and wife.

What's to work out? First thing to do if you want a stereo image is
optimise speaker placement. If you can't get an iPod and one of those
playback docks. You'll still hear the music, and won't waste money on
pretending it's "hi-fi". (If you really want to ostentatiously waste
money, I expect Bose make one :-)

On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:24:18 +0000, bcoombes bcoombes@orangedotnet
wrote:

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.

The best is often achieved by placing small speakers at ear height,
away from a wall or corner and rather closer to the listening position
than you might have thought. This isn't a cure-all, but it's a good
starting point.

On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:28:05 +0000, Keith Garratt
wrote:

That may demonstrate just how MUCH room effects matter, as compared to
direct sound. Though I'm a little surprised they didn't notice any
hf drop-off as the tweeters moved out of view.


Yes, the wall behind the speakers is only painted - doubles as a cinema
screen!

Lack of HF would, I'm sure, be put down to using LPs (if I did each and
every time) and the speakers that were used on different occasions were
my Ruark Paladins a long time ago and more recently the JM-Labs I got
from Rob.

Interesting point. The ear is very adaptable and forgiving. I have a
theory that in the days of vinyl we might have subconsciously filtered
the surface noise and, along with it, any real hf content. There was
the common preference for mellow "tone" rather than hf extension - no
bad thing considering what was likely to be happening in the hf range!

Speaker manufacturers would be delighted to hear that in fact treble
propagated equally in all directions. But I fear it just isn't so.

On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:00:34 +0000, Keith Garratt
wrote:

I don't get the 'sweet spot' thing - the speakers I am listening to
right now usually seem to get louder the further I move away from them!!

"Sweet spot" is about the stereo image, not volume. And it's
generally reckoned to be a lot to do with how tightly hf beams from
the speaker.

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.

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 10/01/2010 18:00, Laurence Payne wrote:
On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:00:34 +0000, Keith Garratt
wrote:

I don't get the 'sweet spot' thing - the speakers I am listening to
right now usually seem to get louder the further I move away from them!!

"Sweet spot" is about the stereo image, not volume.


Yep.


And it's
generally reckoned to be a lot to do with how tightly hf beams from
the speaker.


Indeed, but we are open plan and what I am alluding to is that I listen
to and hear music as though the stereo image was (is) a solid object
that I can walk away from or even listen to from another room (when of
course it has become mono'd) and I am not aware of the music becoming
drastically 'unrecognisable' - whatever may be happening to the actual
sound!

In the final analysis, no two people in the same room hear exactly the
same sounds no matter what the source, do they?

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'....