General Audiophile = snake oil?

[Greenbean]

are there any audiophiles here? The reason I ask is because I'm in the market for some clean sounding speakers. I have some great sounding monitor audio 8 tower speakers and a bangin Svs 13 sub with some cheap ass surround speakers for my surrounds. It sounds amazing.

now I'm looking at new towers for music in another room and I'm reading all this bullshit online and I don't know what to believe. I know that my monitors sound much better than my old Bose 301s they replaced, but I'm not sure some of this stuff is believable. Personally I think there are terrible speakers, good speakers and great speakers... all the rest is bullshit.

I've been watching online reviews of people being double blind tested to see if they hear a difference between cds and (gasp) iTunes. It's a mixed bag and most people cannot tell the difference. I guess.... what's a good amount to set aside for nice speakers that will sound good before I'm just spending more on placebo effects?

 

[Greenbean]

I came across this Reddit thread while searching


View: https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/1b6jnm/have_you_met_any_audiophiles_crazies_heres_my/


Some of this shit is undoubtably pure b.s.BUT I do understand not all quality high priced products are b.s. And are based on reasearch and physics. I just wonder at what point there is an audible difference and what point is just gimmick.... my local audio guy is telling me he's not sold on hi res audio and it's gimmick... that he can't tell the difference between hi res and cd and that hi res is mostly Inaudible since our ears aren't capable of hearing the frequencies

 

[IschKabibble]

If you're compressing music with a lossy format, audible information is dropped for the sake of conserving storage space. Whether or not you can tell is up to your ears, but the data is dropped nonetheless. Notice the hard 20k cutoff with this 320 kbps mp3. Now, nothing above 20k is supposed to be audible to the human ear, but the question is whether or not the overall timbre of the sound is changed with compression.

My opinion? It's definitely noticeable, but you've gotta really focus on cymbals and high hats to tell the difference.

 

[IschKabibble]

Hard to say with speakers because they all sound different. I'd try to listen to a pair before making any kind of big investment. You definitely don't want to skimp on wiring though. You don't need $100 monster cables, but be sure to get at least a nice thick 8 gauge to run from your amp to the speakers.

 

[IschKabibble]

@Greenbean, my ultimate recommendation would be to get a set of Klipsch reference speakers. They're pricey, but very well worth it. Bought myself a set a couple years ago and couldn't be happier.

 

[Greenbean]

Hard to say with speakers because they all sound different. I'd try to listen to a pair before making any kind of big investment. You definitely don't want to skimp on wiring though. You don't need $100 monster cables, but be sure to get at least a nice think 8 gauge to run from your amp to the speakers.

I have some 12 gauge that my guy threw in with the order and it has the gold connection at each end. I guess what I'm trying to say, my monitors were $1600. Am I going to be floored if I drop some serious coin on some "audiophile" speakers? i have a nice amp on the way right now, but I'm having second thoughts as to weather I'll hear an audible difference to make it worth the money. Reviews are all top notch across the board, but I'm unsure how keen my ears are or if all the reviewers are full of shit. I'm slowly finding that a lot of this stuff is just to show off how much money they have by their audio equipment.

 

[Greenbean]

@Greenbean, my ultimate recommendation would be to get a set of Klipsch reference speakers. They're pricey, but very well worth it. Bought myself a set a couple years ago and couldn't be happier.

I am using a klipsch center channel with my monitor audio silver 8s and it sounds very good... but some of these guys would say not to use different brands in a set up as they are matched to sound right when paired with the same line of speakers. I'm unsure whether someone blindfolded could come listen to my system and tell that I have a klipsch center and monitor audio fronts.

 

[IschKabibble]

I am using a klipsch center channel with my monitor audio silver 8s and it sounds very good... but some of these guys would say not to use different brands in a set up as they are matched to sound right when paired with the same line of speakers. I'm unsure whether someone blindfolded could come listen to my system and tell that I have a klipsch center and monitor audio fronts.

It's hard to say if there would be a noticeable difference. Probably not a drastic difference considering you have two towers and a sub woofer already. Maybe slightly "cleaner" sounding, but that would be up to you if you think it'd be worth upgrading for. If you used a place like Best Buy you could try them out for 30 days and return them with no questions asked. I know that was their policy in 2005 when I worked for them.

 

[Greenbean]

It's hard to say if there would be a noticeable difference. Probably not a drastic difference considering you have two towers and a sub woofer already. Maybe slightly "cleaner" sounding, but that would be up to you if you think it'd be worth upgrading for. If you used a place like Best Buy you could try them out for 30 days and return them with no questions asked. I know that was their policy in 2005 when I worked for them.

Thanks for all your input. Can you give me your opinion on the amp that I've picked out? It's recently been discontinued, but I plan on transferring my movie speakers (monitor silver 8s) and I have a jl e110 on the way to fill in the bottom end since I listen to hip hop, jazz, bass heavy material and I like the deep stuff. But anyway, I have the anthem integrated 225 on the way and I hope it makes a difference. Right now I moved the towers from my movie room to the room that I've been spending more time in and I have this very basic denon 70w 5.1 hooked up to them and they sound ok, but not as good in the theater with the bigger pioneer elite pushing them.

Ok, so for the original question. Obviously I want a pleasing sound and know the difference between good and horrible, but beyond that, I'm not too in tune with the nuances. Do you think the amp will be a good addition?

 

[IschKabibble]

Thanks for all your input. Can you give me your opinion on the amp that I've picked out? It's recently been discontinued, but I plan on transferring my movie speakers (monitor silver 8s) and I have a jl e110 on the way to fill in the bottom end since I listen to hip hop, jazz, bass heavy material and I like the deep stuff. But anyway, I have the anthem integrated 225 on the way and I hope it makes a difference. Right now I moved the towers from my movie room to the room that I've been spending more time in and I have this very basic denon 70w 5.1 hooked up to them and they sound ok, but not as good in the theater with the bigger pioneer elite pushing them.

Ok, so for the original question. Obviously I want a pleasing sound and know the difference between good and horrible, but beyond that, I'm not too in tune with the nuances. Do you think the amp will be a good addition?

70 watts seems awfully low for two tower speakers. What are they rated at? If you've been underpowering them you may notice a pretty significant difference when you hook them up to the more powerful amp.

 

[IschKabibble]

As far as that particular amp, you could probably get away with using a $500 Yamaha amp with the same effect. I have this one and it works perfectly for powering my Klipsch set.

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio-visual/aventage/rx-a740_black_u/

 

[Greenbean]

70 watts seems awfully low for two tower speakers. What are they rated at? If you've been underpowering them you may notice a pretty significant difference when you hook them up to the more powerful amp.

That's what I'm hoping for. Though, I don't need crazy output. I just want clean, clear, and to be able to hear all the notes and instrument separation is a must. Among all of the audiophile terms thrown around, the one that I get is separation because with a bad pair of speakers, all the sounds blend together, but my monitors do a good job of separating the instruments so if you wanted, you could really focus on the horns or strings or whatever. Also, headroom is important because I want them to last long and i think if they are capable of more (louder) than what I will be normally listening to, they won't be stressed and I can enjoy them for a long time.

 

[Greenbean]

70 watts seems awfully low for two tower speakers. What are they rated at? If you've been underpowering them you may notice a pretty significant difference when you hook them up to the more powerful amp.

Speakers are recommended 80 - 200 watts and are 4 ohm so they are probably drastically underpowered right now.

 

[IschKabibble]

That's what I'm hoping for. Though, I don't need crazy output. I just want clean, clear, and to be able to hear all the notes and instrument separation is a must. Among all of the audiophile terms thrown around, the one that I get is separation because with a bad pair of speakers, all the sounds blend together, but my monitors do a good job of separating the instruments so if you wanted, you could really focus on the horns or strings or whatever. Also, headroom is important because I want them to last long and i think if they are capable of more (louder) than what I will be normally listening to, they won't be stressed and I can enjoy them for a long time.

I think you've got the exact right idea. It's hard to say "audiophiles are a joke" in general, because there's definitely room for vast improvement over the shitty quality music and speakers most people use today, but a lot of it does start to enter meme territory. This kind of shit is useless imo.

 

[Greenbean]

Though they are coming from the movie room which has a 140wpc amp and they sounded nice in there

 

[Greenbean]

I think you've got the exact right idea. It's hard to say "audiophiles are a joke" in general, because there's definitely room for vast improvement over the shitty quality music and speakers most people use today, but a lot of it does start to enter meme territory. This kind of shit is useless imo.

I wish I could locate this review that I always found funny. It was from a year or two ago and he said (from what I remember) "these speakers are the only ones I've heard that gave you the feeling of music being transferred from the speakers, floating inside of a box and waiting to open up and rain down musical bliss upon you from above your head."

I mean, it's good imagination, that that's not how sound waves work... that I know of.

 

[IschKabibble]

I wish I could locate this review that I always found funny. It was from a year or two ago and he said (from what I remember) "these speakers are the only ones I've heard that gave you the feeling of music being transferred from the speakers, floating inside of a box and waiting to open up and rain down musical bliss upon you from above your head."

I mean, it's good imagination, that that's not how sound waves work... that I know of.

I get it though. Sometimes that's what it feels like when your system sounds that good.

 

[Onetrickpony]

I have a set of these in my basement but don't have the right amp to run them. They were my brothers so I don't want to sell them but I don't want to buy an expensive amp to run them either.

 

[Greenbean]

I have a set of these in my basement but don't have the right amp to run them. They were my brothers so I don't want to sell them but I don't want to buy an expensive amp to run them either.

Well, again, I am not claiming to be some authority on audio, but from all reviews I've read, those types of speakers are hard to beat. My audio guy has a set in his store, but I'm pretty sure they're outta my price range.

 

[Onetrickpony]

Well, again, I am not claiming to be some authority on audio, but from all reviews I've read, those types of speakers are hard to beat. My audio guy has a set in his store, but I'm pretty sure they're outta my price range.

I've read up on them and they're supposed to be quite good but im not an audiophile like my brother. He had a bunch of Rotel equipment that I gave to one of his friends. I still have a little tube amp iPod dock of his that I found buried under a bunch of crap in his closet.

 

[Filthy]

http://gizmodo.com/363154/audiophile-deathmatch-monster-cables-vs-a-coat-hanger

If there's not a defect in the connector, there's no difference in cables.

 

[Onetrickpony]

http://gizmodo.com/363154/audiophile-deathmatch-monster-cables-vs-a-coat-hanger

If there's not a defect in the connector, there's no difference in cables.

Best part about that article was the comments section where the audiophiles got their panties in a knot.

 

[Greenbean]

http://gizmodo.com/363154/audiophile-deathmatch-monster-cables-vs-a-coat-hanger

If there's not a defect in the connector, there's no difference in cables.

I'm not sure I believe this. The reason I started this thread was to in fact out the snake oils in the marketplace... however I do not think all wires are created equal.

I have a cheap $10 iPod cord hooked up to my trucks stereo and after a month the left speakers stopped working. Then they start to work after I adjust where the wire goes into the iPod.... then the left speakers cut back out if I hit a bump. I don't think the cheap wires use good conductive metals on the ends, likewise, I don't think you can hear more music on a $400 cable. I think there is a happy medium where you're paying a extra to get quality cables, but beyond that it might be a rip off.

Also, cmon, a wire hanger? I think thats leaning a little on the troll side.

 

[Filthy]

I'm an RF Engineer, double majored in EE and Physics. The focus of my work is electromagnetic interference.
I've spent a lot of time studying the propagation of waves, and as long as the cable has a properly constructed connector (e.g. nothing from Apple), there's no difference in quality of sound.

 

[Rambo John J]

@Greenbean, my ultimate recommendation would be to get a set of Klipsch reference speakers. They're pricey, but very well worth it. Bought myself a set a couple years ago and couldn't be happier.

I have some of these

I also have speaker far better and worse sounding....all of high quality

It really depends on you Ear....without a good ear you simply won't be able to tell much difference

grew up in my dads recording studios listening to many different bands and genres and I developed a pretty nice ear

Klipsch makes a very versatile speaker...can play anything

I have JBLs from 70s that I am trying out...studio monitors, my dad gave them to me...really amazing...cost 125 to get one re built though