‘In essence, if you don’t like the sound straight out of the box you were unlikely to change your mind at a later date

The thread starts .....

Following on from a recent post of mine (that was posted in the wrong place) I have decided to share with those interested the thoughts and findings of a good friend of mine who works as a consultant technician for a well known and respected loudspeaker manufacturer.

Over the last ten years or so the technology involved in designing and building speaker drive units have come along in leaps and bounds. New super strong lightweight materials coupled with advance forming and computerised milling techniques are making speakers that are better than ever

Years ago the British company KEF used to check and measure every drive unit. Those that were very close to spec were matched up and sold as “reference” speakers. With today’s technology every speaker is the same. You could take one off the line on a cold Monday in January and another on a hot day in June and both would be classed as reference speakers

So tight are the gaps that if one were damaged it would not possible to have it re-coned. A whole new drive unit would be required. Provided the other speaker was undamaged you would only have to buy one driver. And this is a very interesting point. Despite the fact the replacement drive unit was “new” it should still match the older undamaged unit

When I questioned him about the “burn in period” he said that any tests they had done did not support this phenomena. In essence, if you don’t like the sound straight out of the box you were unlikely to change your mind at a later date. This must be taken in the context that other smaller manufactures who to do not have access to the same level of technology may well need time for their drive units to settle down. That may indeed be a matter of opinion

Another interesting point is that of bi-wiring. All of the tests his company have done do not show any relationship between bi-wiring and an improvement in sound quality. The only reason they supply multiple binding posts is because the customer demands it. Although it ultimately adds unnecessary cost to the speakers they do not want to be the first manufacturer to remove them. They do however supply professional monitor speakers to industry without the bi-wire option.

So that’s about it, make of it what you will

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