meagain Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 The A vs. B thing is haunting me. Blind a/b on 2 hidden speakers. One I would describe as 'bigger', one as 'narrower/thinner'..... I sat in twice, once by myself then once again with my husband later on. 'A' was first of course, switched to B. B both times seemed more accurate to me. It also seemed that B was lower in volume by a smudge than A. A was 'bigger' maybe a wider field, but the bass seemed a bit boomy to me, etc. A would be a more instant gratification at a party, but honestly, I felt B was more accurate or cleaner despite perhaps being a tad lower volume, and less soundstage, and 'feel'. In the end, I'm thinking they are the same speakers! If not the same speakers - I say B. Later I checked with my husband after we submitted our sheets and darned if he didn't same the exact same thing. Exact same comments. Did ANYONE think at all they might be the same and Klipsch was having fun with us and there was just some eq or ??? going on? Or, minimally, did anyone feel B (the less 'big' sounding one) better? Speak.... I'm going to bed. I am utterly dumbfound as to how cool Klipsch and this whole event was. Kinda freeked me out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 The A/B test was for real. You were lead through exactly the same type of session that our listening panel of employees goes through when auditioning a Klipsch product in the design stage. It is always a Klipsch product versus a competing brand, usually of the same type (floorstanding, bookshelf, 2.1 system, etc.) Thanks for playing. And it's nice to know that Meagain is for real too! [] M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meagain Posted June 24, 2007 Author Share Posted June 24, 2007 Well, we liked the sound of the 'thinner' 'narrower' 'perhaps a tad less volume' version (..... but want the width & soundstage of the 'bigger' one. It was hard in that I had a hangover & was very tired the whole weekend. Lots of brain input going on. But it was interesting to do. It's interesting hubby and I had the exact dead on same opinion. I guess this is why we're married huh? I'm anxious to hear more from Klipsch at some point as to which is which. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 Last time we did an A/B it was pretty unanimous also. We liked the Klipsch speaker! Imagine that! [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 It was hard in that I had a hangover & was very tired the whole weekend. Lots of brain input going on. But it was interesting to do. I Yeah, but you had GREAT hair! It's always about the hair, you know! [][^o)] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meagain Posted June 24, 2007 Author Share Posted June 24, 2007 OMG! Way to freek me out! I was going to start a thread on KlipschFest impressions and was going to give a special shout out for YOUR hair. Serious! LOL Actually I was having a bad hair weekend. Sort of forgot my products. Thanks C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Amy Posted June 24, 2007 Moderators Share Posted June 24, 2007 Lisa, It was great to finally meet you....I'm just sorry I was unable to stay longer. I'm so glad you had a good time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoudnClear Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 It was said that the letter codes were switched at various times. However, the config for meagain and me appears to be the same. I liked A though, the field was wide and clear, the B sounded extremely narrow, almost like all the tracks were mono. A showed them to be stereo though. I did notice that I like B better than A on a couple tracks, but on the others, I liked A much better than B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meagain Posted June 24, 2007 Author Share Posted June 24, 2007 Oh Dang! Loud & Clear is the Neil Young avatar guy. LOL Well hi. Now I know who you are! After the fact. Yea, almost mono-ish. Felt B was more accurate. Like the instruments - Sax, Trumpet. More proper real sound for that than A had. It was an odd test IMO. But when I take away the ambience, depth, width stuff - B for me (and hubby). I want B but with the 'feel' of A. Make sense? But I still think they could actually be the same speaker if tweaked a bit different like via EQ, effect, stereo/mono, placement, etc. I could see that happening. But I guess A seemed more bloated, more boomy in bass too. I did have a conspiracy theory running in my head that Klipsch was playing with us a bit. If not - I'm a B gal. I want to hear what Larry C picked, and everyone else. I love A/B tests. I didn't listen to the country songs. I would have been FAR more cooler if I could've put in a track or 2 of MY music. Something I'm familiar with or a song that's universally familiar to most everyone. Actually, I've never heard any of those songs before. I might've skipped some of the Krall also at least on first listen. Sarah McLaughlan's voice sounded better on B for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meagain Posted June 24, 2007 Author Share Posted June 24, 2007 So is Klipsch officially stating that there were no tricks on us here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill H. Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 When I first listened, A sounded almost to Bright, but after different tracks, I got the impression that A was Clearer and Cleaner - B sound good at first, but It later seemed muffled and almost muddy sounding and boomy in the Bass area............ I came away with the feeling that A was more acurate and clearer with just enough Bass to be comfortable...................JMHO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplummer Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 Meagain, I'm also in agreeance, I believe they were the same speaker with changing electronics. Usually when switching back and forth on a A/B comparison, you can easily tell the soundstage shifts slightly. I was very confident that the soundstage did not shift. I believe this because back in the early 80's, I bought, and still have a Panisonic boom box cassette deck. It had a selector switch that could be instantly switched from mono, stereo, and wide (Panisonic called it "Ambience"). I found this test VERY similar to my experience with that boom box. I too liked both speakers, but I liked each for different reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meagain Posted June 24, 2007 Author Share Posted June 24, 2007 Bill - It would be interesting to know if they switched a vs. b when you heard them. One can kinda tell which was which via width of soundstage, etc. I also think the 'narrower' one might have been a db or 2 less volume. I want to know what was behind the curtain!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meagain Posted June 24, 2007 Author Share Posted June 24, 2007 Meagain, I'm also in agreeance, I believe they were the same speaker with changing electronics. HA! So I'm not crazy? Awesome! I hope this theory doesn't piss off Klipsch. So Klipsch guys, if not the same speaker..... and forced to choose.... I'm with B. I was around 1:45pm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplummer Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 Meagain, It was nice to meet you and your hubby. I just wanted to remind you that you listened to Flim and the BB's "Big Notes" album, track 4 "Funhouse" on the Klipshcorn's. I agree with you, I have heard them in a better presentation, I think is was the amp that was hurting them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSport Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 Meagain...that's just what they did...Trey said that they changed up the speakers (same two speakers but "A" was not always "A"...sometimes it was "B")... Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customsteve01 Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 Lisa, The funny thing is that Caroline was picked so I tagged along and did it with her, as you and your husband did Caroline and I both pretty much wrote the same coments and we never discused or talked with each other during or right after. we turned in or papers and then found out what each other thought. Our impressions were that A was the better choice it had a bigger sound stage and the clairity was alittle better. We both thought B had a little more bass but it was muffled a little. A was more in your face and B was more off in the distance. It will be interesting to learn what it was that we were listening to. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch Employees Trey Cannon Posted June 24, 2007 Klipsch Employees Share Posted June 24, 2007 The setup was a custom built preamp switcher driving a Crown k1. The source is a Tascam pro CD player. Analog from the cd to the pre and to the amp. The amp runs back to the pre which switchs the speaker level. This is done with high voltage 40 Amp relays. There were many pr of speakers in 2 six foot tables. Only 2 pr were working. Pr 1 was called A for a time and then it was changed to be called B. Each pr of speakers were labled A and B at some point in the test. One of you say A the other, B and you both may be talking about the same speaker. We will look at the data and then give you the info on what you heard and what you say you liked. Or didn't. The only tricks were to keep you in the dark as to what product you heard. this makes the data more valid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 I was lucky to tag along with someone else who was extremely sympatico in deciding when to switch between speakers, move to the next track, or start over with a track in order to hear a particular bass passage. Now I wish I'd kept some notes.... At first, it was hard to tell a compelling diff between Speaker A and B, and overall I thought these were very close -- quite a bit closer, imo, than the Cornwall III vs Reference in the A vs. B of two years ago. Initially, this B sounded a little more forward in the treble, while the other sounded almost reticent in the same range, so I thought speaker B was clearer at first. However, extended listening made me recall the ol' Class A deception -- its "reticence" will fool you because it isn't as edgy and prominent in the highs -- but when you listen further, a greater clarity, realism and naturalness that don't depend on prominent highs will start to show. So it was here: I gradually came to conclude that A had a more natural, more accurate sound to guitars, cymbals, trombones and trumpets, and vocals. This meant that those instruments sounded slightly fuller (because the treble edge was less). A also had slightly more detail -- you could hear that in faint background percussion and a stealthy electronic organ on one track that sounded a little clearer, more realistic, and natural on speaker A. I came to conclude that the reticence was A sounding more linear than B. Because I only have hearing in one ear, I couldn't tell much about how soundstaging differed between the two. However, I did think there was a greater blossoming, or 3-dimensionality, of the sound in speaker A, which I associate with greater clarity and detail. By the end of the test, I felt I was hearing the same characteristics and differences between the two speakers in all the tracks, even though the selections and types of music differed somewhat, so I felt I had a good handle on how the two differed. Incidentally, I feel it's a little short-sighted of Klipsch not to include classical music selections in such tests, since I believe there's great value in being sure that Klipsch products sound good on all types of music including classical as well as the rhythmic, high transient-response demo material that seems to dominate. I couldn't tell why the one seemed to be better than the other. They both seemed to be 3-ways, or at least to have the same number of drivers on each side. I thought the clarity difference it might lie in the drivers, but perhaps a crossover difference could account for A's greater linearity. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whatever55 Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 Could the test speaker be a Belle II ... a re release of a Heritage speaker like the Cornwall .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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