NBPK402 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 (edited) A friend of mine came over last night and we got into a little discussion about speakers... Here is what started it: My friend has listened to my setup several times, and then went home, and listened to his Yamaha NS1000 Studio Monitors. He has found that when he listens to the same 2 songs on his system the songs are brighter...But both songs are equally brighter than mine. When he listens to my setup with the same 2 songs, one of the songs is much brighter than the other. Question: Why is it that on his setup the 2 songs sound almost the same, but on mine the top end is significantly brighter on one of the songs but not the other (my setup also is not as bright as his setup sounds normally which i understand). I was thinking that maybe because of my setup being with horns (112DB efficiency), that maybe it is due to the efficiency, and dynamics of the horns. I know that the differences in speakers, amps, and rooms will make the speakers sound different (as it should), but why don't the 2 songs sound significantly different on the top end on his setup when mine does? Any ideas? Edited February 18, 2015 by ellisr63 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 You're thinking its the speakers, but I'm thinking its the source component. Maybe your playback device "interprets" the sound differently? The only way to isolate the variables would be to play the same recording on the same device in both places, and then see if there is a difference at the speaker level. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Yes, to many variables to say for sure. Either way, it sounds like you should be happier with the sound of your system. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ski Bum Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 (edited) Your speakers are bringing lower distortion and wider dynamic range, by wild margins, revealing these dynamic contrasts and giving a closer glimpse into the recordings than Yamaha NS1000 can do. Probably less "room" influence by virtue of horns, too, where the NS are spraying high frequencies everywhere. I mean, really, comparing a pair of Yamaha monitors to your Cinema style rig is kind of unfair. Edited February 18, 2015 by Ski Bum 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NBPK402 Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 Your speakers are bringing lower distortion and wider dynamic range, revealing these dynamic contrasts and giving a closer glimpse into the recordings than Yamaha NS1000 can do. Probably less "room" influence by virtue of horns, too, where the NS are spraying high frequencies everywhere. That is sorta what i was thinking... Dynamic range of a horn compared to a conventional speaker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NBPK402 Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 Yes, to many variables to say for sure. Either way, it sounds like you should be happier with the sound of your system. I am very happy with the sound of my setup... My friend even said he liked my setup better than his. It was just something that we were trying to see why they acted differently to the same songs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 I am very happy with the sound of my setup... My friend even said he liked my setup better than his I like your setup, lol. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NBPK402 Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 On another song... "Hush" by Toni Childs... Every setup i have ever heard has had her voice rising to the point of distorting at her Crescendo where as on my setup it goes up to a point, and just levels off, never distorting at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NBPK402 Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 (edited) I just re listened to the song... Streaming from my NAS. I listened to it in Direct, Stereo, and in Pure Direct all of which had the same effect on this part of the song. I also listened to it off of Youtube, and it sounded the same. I did notice significant amount of increase in bass when I was listening in stereo since the DTS-10s kick in at 80Hz. Edited February 18, 2015 by ellisr63 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NBPK402 Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 Could the T chip amp be effecting the extreme top end? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveWJr Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 You will find very often that two speakers even having the same frequency response will not sound remotely similar. The reasons for this are innumerable, but the power response tends to be a prominent factor. The power response of the speaker is going to tell you how much sound is put into the room. Your Klipsch setup does not have an inherently "superior" power response, rather, it's much more controlled due to the directivity pattern of the speaker. The Yamaha monitors, however, for all we know could be spraying HF off nearby walls, or are toed in just so that a hotspot in the upper treble hits your ears rather than direct on-axis sound. Too many factors to consider. It's much harder to do this with horns since the acoustic output isn't directly from the transducer, but rather is from the horn mouth. You therefore know quite quickly if the setup is incorrect as the imaging is off. This is both a horn's "piece de resistance", and downfall. Poorly designed horns may have a ragged power response (due to poor loading of the horn). Properly designed ones, however, should let you easily pick out dynamic details that direct radiators may struggle with. Having seen the hand calculations and plots PWK did for his horn designs, I'd say this is definitely something he took quite seriously. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NBPK402 Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 You will find very often that two speakers even having the same frequency response will not sound remotely similar. The reasons for this are innumerable, but the power response tends to be a prominent factor. The power response of the speaker is going to tell you how much sound is put into the room. Your Klipsch setup does not have an inherently "superior" power response, rather, it's much more controlled due to the directivity pattern of the speaker. The Yamaha monitors, however, for all we know could be spraying HF off nearby walls, or are toed in just so that a hotspot in the upper treble hits your ears rather than direct on-axis sound. Too many factors to consider. It's much harder to do this with horns since the acoustic output isn't directly from the transducer, but rather is from the horn mouth. You therefore know quite quickly if the setup is incorrect as the imaging is off. This is both a horn's "piece de resistance", and downfall. Poorly designed horns may have a ragged power response (due to poor loading of the horn). Properly designed ones, however, should let you easily pick out dynamic details that direct radiators may struggle with. Having seen the hand calculations and plots PWK did for his horn designs, I'd say this is definitely something he took quite seriously. This not with the Klipsch speakers, but my JBL 2360a/EVDH1A driver, and 1/4 pie speakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveWJr Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Oh I know, I'm just making sure people know that PWK knew that a horn in itself is not a good thing (ever hear a crappy re-entry horn on a megaphone? Yuck.). A properly designed horn is the only one worth making. JBL's engineers know much the same thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzannucci Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Maybe the crossovers in the NS1000s needs a rework. Also the frequency responses of each speaker will be much different. Horns get rather ragged which might be what you hear. On even a 1/3 octave sweep, you might not pick up the peaks and valleys. If the NS1000s are in good shape and redone along with enough horsepower, they are likely just smoother across the board and not as peaky in areas (particularly based on axis). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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