An encounter and lesson in speaker prices ...


Not to long ago, in a shop I like but will remain nameless I got to observe a customer evaluate a pair of systems side by side. The buyer had an eastern European accent. First they listened to the larger system, $50k speakers, equivalently priced amps and digital.


It sounded _really_ good. Then we moved to another system. Slightly smaller speaker pair, around $20k, completely different DAC and amp. Sounded like crap. The digititis was unbearable and the speakers were clearly out of phase. On top of that, the treble and bass balance were now all wrong.


The buyer was "I like them, what colors do they com in? " and that was that.

After the buyer left I looked behind at the amp. Yep, I was right, the pahse was reversed. The darkness of the room and angle made this an easy and common mistake to make. But the rest was unbearable.


What is my point? The people buying the top end gear are not necessarily the one’s with decent ears, so we really cannot trust price points to be any sort of guide to value. If you develop your taste on your own, independent of prices, you can score some fabulously performing gear at a fraction of what this buyer was going to end up with.


Best,

E
erik_squires
You lost me.  How can you determine whether the speakers are connected to an amp out of phase.
You lost me.  How can you determine whether the speakers are connected to an amp out of phase.


By looking at the color coded speaker terminals and comparing them to the wiring.

Also the loss of bass from 'out of polarity' speakers. at the listening position. And if walking around the other end of the room from the speakers 'interference pattern' of the bass strength. One spot no bass at all, mover over a foot and blam! bass galore.. then another foot over no bass...
In this case, the bass was weak, but also wonky. It sounded like it was reverberating in a giant hall. Like a bass echo.

In any event, that was my clue, but the confirmation happened when I walked behind the amp I was auditioning.
Anytime I have mixed up the speaker wires it has been immediately noticed . The imaging was nonexistent .