Bad Speakers

Joseph R.

Joseph R.

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Apr 24, 2017
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181
I mean no disrespect in starting this thread, but I continue to be flabergasted as to how many high priced bad speakers are out there. I do not mean to insult anyone or say what anyone is buying is not right for them. And like anything else, audiophiles come in many colors and flavors. We all have our right to our opinions. But I have lusted for many a speaker based on their “flooding the airways” with advertisements, or the many rave reviews. I would then hear the speaker at a store or audio show and be amazed as to how bad they are. Unlike electronics, anyone with enough capital can build a speaker with zero expertise or acoustical knowledge. I for one think it’s rare to find a person who can build a credible transducer. And just because a speaker company is well respected, does not mean they don’t produce a clunker now and again. In addition, when I attend audio shows I find more bad speakers than good ones. So I would ask that we don’t go into detail here, but to just express our opinion as to what speaker(s) make no sense to us. And just because someone gives a speaker a booby prize does not mean we all feel the same way. Hey, there are bad speakers out there that I actually owned. Hopefully we grow more discerning with the passing years. Two speakers I would like to give a dubious award to, are the Magnapan 30.7’s and the Kef Blades.
 
Joseph R. said:
I mean no disrespect in starting this thread, but I continue to be flabergasted as to how many high priced bad speakers are out there. I do not mean to insult anyone or say what anyone is buying is not right for them. And like anything else, audiophiles come in many colors and flavors. We all have our right to our opinions. But I have lusted for many a speaker based on their “flooding the airways” with advertisements, or the many rave reviews. I would then hear the speaker at a store or audio show and be amazed as to how bad they are. Unlike electronics, anyone with enough capital can build a speaker with zero expertise or acoustical knowledge. I for one think it’s rare to find a person who can build a credible transducer. And just because a speaker company is well respected, does not mean they don’t produce a clunker now and again. In addition, when I attend audio shows I find more bad speakers than good ones. So I would ask that we don’t go into detail here, but to just express our opinion as to what speaker(s) make no sense to us. And just because someone gives a speaker a booby prize does not mean we all feel the same way. Hey, there are bad speakers out there that I actually owned. Hopefully we grow more discerning with the passing years. Two speakers I would like to give a dubious award to, are the Magnapan 30.7’s and the Kef Blades.
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I can’t argue with your two picks. The Blade 2’s are vastly better than the original Blades. The Maggie 30.7’s are real stinkers.

There really isn’t much of main stream current production I haven’t heard. They go from good to bad to abominations.

My list of top speakers is pretty short.

Let’s keep in mind that speaker preferences are very personal. One man’s garbage is another man’s gold.
 
Having been in and out of this hobby for a long time I have heard many many speakers.
Time after time I read glowing reviews of a certain pair of speakers and then hearing the actual speakers I often wonder how it is possible that the reviewer could rate the speakers so highly. It certainly was not what I heard from those speakers.
Situations like this are not an isolated incident.
To me, there are some top rated speakers that I would not allow in my home. And on the flip side there are some underground/little known speakers that do not receive the praise that they deserve.
One of the most critical aspects in having speakers sound good is to get them to play well with the room. (to steal a phrase from Jim Smith),
This alone can make or break the speakers ability to properly strut their stuff and can distort your opinion on the true potential of them.
 
jadedavid said:
One of the most critical aspects in having speakers sound good is to get them to play well with the room.
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I agree, if not the most critical. But the speaker has to get past the initial listening session before it even gets close to a purchase.

At Axpona last (or the one before that), the Bang and Olufsen Beolab 90 was such a disaster I ran out of the room after five minutes.
 
Joseph R. said:
I agree, if not the most critical. But the speaker has to get past the initial listening session before it even gets close to a purchase.

At Axpona last (or the one before that), the Bang and Olufsen Beolab 90 was such a disaster I ran out of the room after five minutes.
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Joseph - those B&O’s were an attack on one’s hearing. I couldn’t believe the reps actually thought it sounded good. One of the funniest demos was a few years back when they demoed the new Paradigm speakers. There was about 30 people in the room. After a few songs, the rep says: “well, what did everyone think?” One guy yells out “bright!”, then the next guy yells out “sibilant”, the next guy yells out “thin”, then it went on...the rep was all flustered.

On the flip side, I will NEVER forget hearing the big Quad’s with MSB or MBL’s this year or MSB with Magico M3’s. Lots of great demos to remember too.

At shows there has been so many funny moments too. I will never forget the Lampizator room and the Vapor audio speakers at RMAF 2015 (I think). That was a classic. The Lampi amps weren’t working at the time, so they had some $500 cheapo backup solid state amp. It played fine for a while and then made a BANG and a puff of black smoke came out of the backup SS amp and it stunk up the whole room. Listening to one of the “booth babes” describe it (all serious) had me on the floor laughing. “Well, it was sounding awful, then it made this loud bang and all this black smoke started piling out the back. Then this horrible smell.”

My friend Bart raced down the hallway to find a backup (to the backup) amp. Jeff Rowland graciously loaned them a 625 S2. Bloody hell did that sound good. That amp was incredible. If anyone has met Jeff, you know how tall he is. Well, given how high the drivers were on the Vapor speakers, Jeff was the only one who could hear the full audio spectrum of those speakers. The drivers were like 5 feet high. The Vapor audio speakers did sound good though, you just had to sit a little further back.

So many funny stories.

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Hope I don’t insult people here. But speakers I don’t like are often hybrids. Like MBL with the strange mid high units and more or less conventional woofers. I’ve never heard speakers like that sound homogeneous. The mid and high can sound wonderfully and the low end will sound bonk flubber bonk.

Also I have no love for BBC type speakers.
 
I remember when one of our club members had a bunch of us over to his house to listen to the new $30k (I think) electrostatic speakers that he was going to be reviewing. No one liked the speaker and I think most of us thought there was an issue, out of phase or something. His older much cheaper Martin Logan sounded better.
 
Mordante said:
Hope I don’t insult people here. But speakers I don’t like are often hybrids. Like MBL with the strange mid high units and more or less conventional woofers. I’ve never heard speakers like that sound homogeneous. The mid and high can sound wonderfully and the low end will sound bonk flubber bonk.

Also I have no love for BBC type speakers.
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A member of our local audio club has a new set of MBL. I felt they were very amazing; then again at $70k they had better be.

I have never been a fan of electrostatic speakers... to me they seem too bright and way to directional. I also do not like ribbon tweeters much (although I have not listened to any recently) and I have never been a fan of horn loaded speakers. I am also sure there are very good version of each of these categories that I would like :)... I just have not heard them.
 
Interesting post. Of course, audio is mostly subjective and lots of things can influence sound with the main culprits being the room, speaker and listener position. And we must not forget synergy of the electronics and cables.

I don't have the same experience as many of the people here with $20K plus speakers but the speakers that I have heard that I thought were meh, are the Martin Logan Neoliths, Jantzen (which were god awful), ML CLX, Golden Ear and Rockport, Philharmonic.

I certainly have an open mind about these speakers, that they can sound good in the right environment but they may not be my cup of tea.

I am surprised about the lack of love for the Maggie 30.7's after reading glowing reviews professional and non pro. Of course I am a Maggie fan but have heard them sound terrible when not set up properly and when the wrong electronics were used. They are a polarizing speaker for sure. You either like them or not.

I do like the sound of Wilson Alexia's, Tidal, Dyn Audio, Harbeth and the higher end Revels.
 
Come on guys. Although I love taking about great vintage speakers, I am also finding this topic equally enjoyable. Even in disagreement I can appreciate and respect other audiophile opinions. This is a great hobby that we all enjoy. Let’s stop censoring ourselves and finally call a spade a spade. We all think it. Why not just say it once and a while. We may find ourselves closer to the mark than we once thought.
 
I already stirred things up on another thread with my opinion of Yg, although reviews of the Karmel sort of shows I was correct. One reviewer used about four amps to try to get them to sound "right" and ended up using the least expensive which was an Arcam. A reviewer got the larger model to sound decent after the company came to set them up, no easy task from what was written.

So far Joseph and I have similar hearing. That $80k B&O thing sounded like the world's largest boombox and very strained. The Blades aren't terrible but I couldn't listen to them for myself, I much prefer the Reference series.

I'm not the biggest Wilson fan, although I'd take them with Doshi or top ARC, like 160M's.

I know someone hear owns them, so keep in mind this is all subjective. A speaker that had me scratching my head when I learned they were $100k was the Marten. Many things contribute to an audition but I was anxious to leave. Another speaker used the same type drivers and my ears felt the same way, wish I could remember the name.

In contrast I was an instant Magico fan and have yet to hear them sound bad. A first listen and love was TAD. Although I've never heard much music I'd listen to played through them, the Tidal speakers are incredible. I like Revel's Untima 2 models, not so much a fan of Performa 3. I like the JBL Synthesis I've heard. I like what I've heard of the Monitor Audio newer models, especially the Platnum.

I heard an all Quad set up a couple of years ago and although I could find certain aspects I could criticize, I think I could have sat an listened to that system all day. Hard to describe, it just sucked you in and felt comfortable.

I like MBL, first audition was a master Reel-to-Reel of Telarc's James Newton Howard & Friends, blew me away, clean, clear and powerful without anything sounding offensive.

I don't think we have any owner's, I am a Dynaudio fan. I like Sceania. So many more.

Anyway, more about my taste than you wanted to know, smiling
 
I hated Dynaudio C1 Platinum when I had them for a couple of months (felt they were shouty), but I love Dynaudio BM5A MK2 and still use dearly for my desktop system. As a comparison, I felt Focal Electra 1008 Be and 1038 Be, which I owned after C1 Platinum were much more relaxed and pleasing.
 
Mr Peabody said:
I already stirred things up on another thread with my opinion of Yg, although reviews of the Karmel sort of shows I was correct. One reviewer used about four amps to try to get them to sound "right" and ended up using the least expensive which was an Arcam. A reviewer got the larger model to sound decent after the company came to set them up, no easy task from what was written.

So far Joseph and I have similar hearing. That $80k B&O thing sounded like the world's largest boombox and very strained. The Blades aren't terrible but I couldn't listen to them for myself, I much prefer the Reference series.

I'm not the biggest Wilson fan, although I'd take them with Doshi or top ARC, like 160M's.

I know someone hear owns them, so keep in mind this is all subjective. A speaker that had me scratching my head when I learned they were $100k was the Marten. Many things contribute to an audition but I was anxious to leave. Another speaker used the same type drivers and my ears felt the same way, wish I could remember the name.

In contrast I was an instant Magico fan and have yet to hear them sound bad. A first listen and love was TAD. Although I've never heard much music I'd listen to played through them, the Tidal speakers are incredible. I like Revel's Untima 2 models, not so much a fan of Performa 3. I like the JBL Synthesis I've heard. I like what I've heard of the Monitor Audio newer models, especially the Platnum.

I heard an all Quad set up a couple of years ago and although I could find certain aspects I could criticize, I think I could have sat an listened to that system all day. Hard to describe, it just sucked you in and felt comfortable.

I like MBL, first audition was a master Reel-to-Reel of Telarc's James Newton Howard & Friends, blew me away, clean, clear and powerful without anything sounding offensive.

I don't think we have any owner's, I am a Dynaudio fan. I like Sceania. So many more.

Anyway, more about my taste than you wanted to know, smiling
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I find this interesting since IMHO YG sounds very much like Magico. This weekend I listened to the YG Hailey and Magico Q5 and found them very similar in sound. The YG high was not as good as the Magico but the YG had better bass.


where can I find the YG discussion.
 
Mordante said:
I find this interesting since IMHO YG sounds very much like Magico. This weekend I listened to the YG Hailey and Magico Q5 and found them very similar in sound. The YG high was not as good as the Magico but the YG had better bass.


where can I find the YG discussion.
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Magico has evolved so much more since Q5.
 
Mordante said:
I find this interesting since IMHO YG sounds very much like Magico. This weekend I listened to the YG Hailey and Magico Q5 and found them very similar in sound. The YG high was not as good as the Magico but the YG had better bass.


where can I find the YG discussion.
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Q5, ugh. Wait until you hear the latest S and M series.


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