GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Horn-Loaded Speakers
In the Thread: Living Voice Loudspeaker

Post Subject: Herbs and SpeakersPosted by de charlus on: 6/13/2013

Romy,

It is indeed an interesting subject; I am instinctively drawn to it due to the fact that the majority of orchestral instruments - the majority of my listening is orchestral/chamber/classical soloists - produce their own sound through the resonance of a semi-sealed enclosure. Of course, to connect this with the ability, or otherwise, of a speaker system to reproduce music in any remotely synergistic fashion positively reeks of hocus-pocus, which is not to say that it's completely without virtue. It can be no coincidence that the presentations I most dislike come from those speakers whose emphasis is on massive inertia, mass, internal bracing/dampening and sundry other things geared towards "neutrality" (it will be a woeful day indeed when stringed instruments become "neutral") and although the dislike of one thing should not, I hope, be synonymous with the liking of another, I tend to find those speaker systems wherein the pursuit of "neutrality" is not sui generis to be more rewarding than otherwise.

You will find that the Wilson/Magico-type-thing as alluded to above to be uncommon in the UK, perhaps in part because, not being voiced for the type of houses (brick/stone-built with thick walls) common in Europe, such speakers can seem "neutral" to the point of utter emasculation, whilst those such as Living Voice, Harbeth, Spendor and the numerous hornspeakers available tend to strike a finer balance of detail and bloom in such settings. Because of this, the cult of high-power solid state amplification that the former speakers (together with the cult of reviewers) seem to demand is also rarefied. Of course, the xenophobia endemic in any culture to a certain extent popularizes the likes of Naim, Linn, Roksan, Quad, Croft, Canary, Nottingham Analogue and the aforementioned speaker manufacturers to a degree that might seem incomprehensible to an outsider, yet you will find that the radically different building traditions in the US and UK explain all that xenophobia does not - "our" kind of audio presentation makes sense to considerably more people in the UK than merely the anointed cabal who appreciate horns, SETs etc etc in the US.

The AK151 does indeed sound remarkable in the V.O., as does the S2, but having read your own take upon the former driver, it would seem that this is a unit capable of sounding remarkable under any number of different circumstances (such as has been my experience with the S2, hence my decision to base my own DIY project on these drivers). If the answer to the V.O.'s excellence (this is but my opinion, but I would be most surprised if you did not come to share my belief that this speaker stands alone atop the summit of commercially-produced speakers) lies indeed in the controlling, rather than the quashing, of cabinet resonance, then this is a still more remarkable achievement than I had at first thought. The rotation of the driver units cannot but affect the resonances of which we speak, and this would go some way towards elucidating the dramatic effect that rotating said drivers to the extent that they moved laterally only a millimeter or two had, since I do not believe it plausible that my acquaintance, despite having had the system very professionally set up, could possibly have alighted upon the DPOLS so lightly. Most of us not possessing laboratories, the science of cabinet resonance is not a sand-pit into which we DIYers and tweakers can enter in any way save that of trial-and-error, although those who are accustomed to wrestling with the resonances of horns are better-equipped than most to do so. More than ever, the differences between US and UK houses clarify for us the necessity of tailoring audio systems to the homes and rooms in which they are employed, be we consumers of herbs or 'erbs. I do not know what you mean by "injection channel", although I will doubtless find a germane thread upon seeking it; "rosin bite," on the other hand, I am very familiar with, and consider it a "coloration" much more commonly found in the UK school of speaker design than that of the US.

No problem as regards the London thing. There is, however, one thing that the visitor to London should consider essential and of which your wife may be unaware; the Martinis at Duke's hotel on St. James' St in St. James. In my very considerable experience, they are the best in the world. Oh, and to catch the LSO at the Albert Hall, together with the ROC at the Covent Garden Opera House, are experiences that should be sought out if at all possible. Oh, also, on Hampstead Heath there is a C17th Robert Adam mansion with a fine art collection and beautiful grounds; they stage orchestral performances on summer nights, the orchestra playing on an island in the middle of a small lake, the audience pic-nic-ing on the slope opposite. Of course, the acoustics are not ideal, but the experience is the thing, and laying upon a blanket, replete with a Fortnum's picnic and a bottle or two of Krug whilst the strains of something beautiful wash over one is really one of those experiences that stay with one for a long time and fuel one's passion for the pursuit of music. Exquisite....

Regards

de Charlus

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