winograd@nbires.UUCP (Steve Winograd) (04/06/84)
Here are the results which I heard in conducting the "extra speaker test"
on my system (see previous article for test methodology). The extra
speaker was the 4" monitor speaker in my portable cassette deck.
I hope you will neither dismiss me as a crackpot nor unquestioningly accept
what I say without trying the test on your system with your favorite music!
I have listed the records which I used in the test and the specific selection
from each. All comments indicate how the music sounded with the extra speaker
present, using the sound without the extra speaker present as the reference.
Differences are presented with the most obvious first and least obvious last.
Lee Ritenour, "Rio", Musician E1-60024, "Rio Funk"
- Unstable pitch in all the instruments, especially in long notes on piano.
- Reduced percussive impact, especially for snare drums.
- Poor ensemble when two instruments double a line, as if the musicians
were not quite together.
- Reduced dynamic range.
G. F. Handel, "Messiah", (Davis, London Symphony) Philips C 71 AX 300,
"For Unto Us a Child is Born"
- Violins out of tune throughout.
- All the voices sound slightly flat, as if someone were pressing a finger
lightly against the turntable platter as it rotates.
- Difficult to distinguish the end of one note from the beginning of the
next in low strings and bassoons.
- Instability in dotted rhythms, as if the musicians were not quite together.
- Reduced dynamic range.
Beatles, "Abbey Road", Apple SO-383, "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"
- The bass lost most of its jaunty, bouncy, "oom-pah" quality and became more
of a sequence of notes each just like all the others.
- Reduced percussive impact, especially for cymbals and cowbell.
- Unstable pitch in long bass notes.
These are the results I heard on my Linn/Naim system. I then set up my old
Dual/Pioneer system and repeated the test. The extra speaker degraded its
sound in similar ways, but the magnitude of the effect was much smaller.
The better the system, the more an extra speaker degrades its sound.
Steve Winograd
{ucbvax|hao|allegra}!nbires!winogradron@brl-vgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (04/06/84)
How about a blind test.