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Is there a Northern and Southern California Sound

Hi everyone,
I've been slowly making the rounds of LA stereo shops. Before this I was in the San Francisco bay area.

Ages ago, speakers were divided into two camps: East Coast and West Coast sound.

East coast was Audio Research, Boston Acoustics, KLH, etc. West coast was Altec, JBL.

After listening and thinking about it I am wondering if there is a preference for sound quality in northern Caslifornia vs. Southern california?

I got to hear systems in the north at Magico, Music Lovers and Audio Visions. Here in the South I've heard a couple of places, and I found the sound harder and brighter.

Of course, this is a small sample, and all electronics were different, but I'm wondering, has anyone else heard the same?
erik_squires
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
2,164 posts
 
I prefer the Wizard of Hanford....Mid California Vandersteen!!!

maybe go to Sunnys ( Covina ), Optimal Enchantment ( Santa Monica ), Brooks Berdan ( Monrovia ), Stereo Unlimited ( San Diego ), Alma also SD.
IF you get down here Eric, come visit in Carlsbad, hear my Treo...putting a Triplaner on my Basis, so bring some vinyl...
Jim
nekoaudio's avatar
nekoaudio
105 posts
 
I'm going to say no? I'm located in Northern California but am using equipment from Northern California, Southern California, Canada, France, the UK, Japan, China, Germany, ...
ebm
5,165 posts
 
Thats only in your mind  as there is no such thing.However speakers from Brooklyn and the Bronx have different sounds.
erik_squires OP
5,268 posts
 
You know, I don't think this is about where the speakers are made, but I've sensed a trend in dealer preferences.

Could be just me.

Best,
E
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
4,908 posts
 

When I got into advanced hi-fi, planars were the only serious choice. David Fletcher (co-founder of SOTA, and designer of the Sumiko MDC-800, "The Arm") was selling the Canadian-made Dayton-Wright ESL’s in his Berkeley shop, Walter Davies (now LAST Record Care Products) was selling Magneplanar Tympani’s in Livermore, and Sound Systems in Palo Alto the Infinity Servo-Statics.

When I moved south, Brooks Berdan had the Eminent Technology LFT’s and Quads, and Martin Logans and Maggies were in a few stores. But as dynamic designs starting getting real good (Richard Vandersteen being a primary and hugely influential designer), planars started to fade. They require a lot of room, and the younger buyers with big incomes like speakers that "rock" more than do planars.

When dealers found out how much money they could make selling, oh, I don’t know, say Wilson speakers (;-), the writing was on the wall.

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