My Munich Notes with Western Electric Lowdown and music

Peter Breuninger said:
I found the WE room to be lacking this year, just a touch bland sounding on my reference track (Vanessa Fernandez), I preferred the Voxativ Arpeggio Duo and the Living Voice room. The WE just sounded a little too vintage movie theater to me. It was good on voice but still not up to the Living Voice room. Different strokes for different folks. Last year's WE system was far superior.
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Yep, One mans Euphoria is another s anathema, have you picked a favorite yet Peter ........?
 
Peter Breuninger said:
Sorry Joe, but I call em as I sees em.

You got the skin in this game, no disrespect intended.
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So do you, but note that I am, in fact, agreeing with you.

Also, note that last years system was more vintage than this one, i.e. 90 years old. I listened to both years' systems all day / many days in the MOC and I have spent extended time with two superior 12A/13A installations at Silbatone Korea over the past years. Neither one is among my personal top WE speaker choices, but the show is about the visitors and it is rather interesting to tally impressions.

Hard to understand crowd reactions sometimes, maybe most times, but I calls my analysis as I sees it. I'd say it was 65-45 for this year.

There is simply no "right" answer. Maybe most people like the one that is in front of them?

A more penetrating question is why am I seeing more Jack Daniels T shirts here in Schwabing than I would in Kentucky? Just saw the third one for the day. That is just weird.
 
All other speakers were hifi - better crossovers and integration, smoother - the WE kicked their ass just by being real. Deepest and widest soundstage, and then listen to a brass instrument and violin and it becomes impossible to listen to the other speakers. Also no room treatment, just quality music. Last year's WE was better, sure
 
bonzo said:
All other speakers were hifi - better crossovers and integration, smoother - the WE kicked their ass just by being real. Deepest and widest soundstage, and then listen to a brass instrument and violin and it becomes impossible to listen to the other speakers. Also no room treatment, just quality music. Last year's WE was better, sure
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Interesting observation, i have a few friends who dont have hi-fi systems, but are ardent concert and symphony goers,( they travel world wide ) if you place them in the sweet spot, they get fidgety and after a few minutes get up, mostly because it does not sound real to them, imaging,sound stage, things coming from no where, etc, it sounds abnormal to them, set them way, way back in the room or off to the sides and then it sounds real to them , much close to what they are accustomed to hearing , at a live performance..
 
a.wayne said:
Interesting observation, i have a few friends who dont have hi-fi systems, but are ardent concert and symphony goers,( they travel world wide ) if you place them in the sweet spot, they get fidgety and after a few minutes get up, mostly because it does not sound real to them, imaging,sound stage, things coming from no where, etc, it sounds abnormal to them, set them way, way back in the room or off to the sides and then it sounds real to them , much close to what they are accustomed to hearing , at a live performance..
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I average a live concert a week to 10 days, mostly at the Barbican or Festival Hall, with arias and chamber at Wigmore hall. This week I am going to Scherazade (again), Nigel Kennedy, and will probably try to get tickets to Eric Clapton at the Albert Hall.
 
I liked last year's presentation better too. But part of that is last year there was not a channel imbalance problem. I was really interested to hear how the old WEs would image and by luck got the center seat, to my disappointment everything was skewed to the right.
 
Peter Breuninger said:
I found the WE room to be lacking this year, just a touch bland sounding on my reference track (Vanessa Fernandez), I preferred the Voxativ Arpeggio Duo and the Living Voice room. The WE just sounded a little too vintage movie theater to me. It was good on voice but still not up to the Living Voice room. Different strokes for different folks. Last year's WE system was far superior.
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Good to read your comments and thoughts Peter. Thanks.
 
atmasphere said:
I liked last year's presentation better too. But part of that is last year there was not a channel imbalance problem. I was really interested to hear how the old WEs would image and by luck got the center seat, to my disappointment everything was skewed to the right.
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Wow, first I heard of that! I only checked it when setting up and I got a good center image in the middle front seat.

Even though we had a dedicated three phase 32A AC line that we broke down in-room to single phase with our Silvercore netzfilter, it seems we got a wicked spike that took out a 12v heater regulator and who knows what else. We rigged it up to work on sunday but more damage than recognized could have been done.

Odd that nobody complained, but I guess imaging expectations are lowered for an 85 year old speaker!
 
Joe Roberts said:
Wow, first I heard of that! I only checked it when setting up and I got a good center image in the middle front seat.

Even though we had a dedicated three phase 32A AC line that we broke down in-room to single phase with our Silvercore netzfilter, it seems we got a wicked spike that took out a 12v heater regulator and who knows what else. We rigged it up to work on sunday but more damage than recognized could have been done.

Odd that nobody complained, but I guess imaging expectations are lowered for an 85 year old speaker!
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Stuff happens. It's a show with very little rehearsal.
 
According to John, Primedia/SP discontinued the attendee voting sometime in the '00s when he no longer had time to compile the results.
 
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So, is anybody handling GIP Stateside? here's a piece of an old WE stack that was stashed away- have no idea of condition, but it was imposing in the flesh.
 

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Joe Roberts said:
Odd that nobody complained, but I guess imaging expectations are lowered for an 85 year old speaker!
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I did complain (I really wanted to hear what the setup could do) but I think the young Asian lady did not understand English; when I mentioned the channel imbalance, she simply said 'yes'.
 
Show results are all over the place , not only is there no consensus (expected) but the differences are all over the place, never seen the sound meter dance all over the place like this before, from Best of show to one , bad or worst sound to another..





.:skeptical:
 
They had pretty good sound last year, and it was obvious that if the channel balance had been correct it would have done well this year as well.
 
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