sound practices reading club /14

Today’s article kicks off our next topic: speakers (first stabs). Yep, that title does imply that there will be a second segment on speakers later on at the reading club. It also implies that we will focus now on first-order, rough ‘n’ ready attempts to obtain speakers to match them single ended amps.

So here we go: Confessions of a Junkyard Dawg by Steve Melkisethian, from sound practices issue 9. It starts with Steve examining under which circumstances listening to low power single ended amps can work out. Noting that the choice of speakers is limited, he also claims that it is not that limited and all relative in the ears of the beholder. What follows is a long list of speakers that in Steve’s (customers’) experience may work out for you: between cheap and plush, vintage and current production, pro-sound, hi-fi and build-it-yourself.

teaser quote: ‘We were repeatedly told that none of the puny little amplifiers favored by Japanese audio ‘cultists’ could possibly drive big, bulging American speakers to satisfying volume levels in the average American home. After all the propaganda, local audiophiles are usually shocked when they finally get to hear this stuff and find out how loud it can actually go.’

a gift from Joe Roberts, SP editor: from the sound practices CD, here is the original article.

my take

I was pleasantly surprised how much ‘big picture’ content there is on the first page of this article, pointing out that it is the amp + speakers + room + musical programme + expectations complex that makes low power single ended work out or not.

One thing I realised here is that it is completely relative how loud loud is and how large a large room. Some folks would kill to have my living room and office as listening rooms, others would find them a bit poky. At the last ETF I got really fed up with some of the bleeding ears levels playing in some of the rooms and at the same time was chastised by a french rookie for asking if the jazz played at mumbling levels could be turned a bit (6dB) up. No way, he did not want us to get our ears damaged. Everything being so relative makes that there is a varied field of speakers that might work out for you.

What surprises me is Steve stating that for some folks 8 Watt will never be loud enough on any speaker. On a 105dB/W/m horn 8 Watts puts out 114dB—OK, at one meter from the speaker—pretty close to threshold of pain territory. Maybe they like an extra 10dB (10 times more power) on top? Pity their neighbours.

Enjoy Steve’s recommendations and humour. Do not get hung up about the exact models mentioned, try more to find out what it is that makes them work out.

Now go and read the article, see you next week.