Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site

It is one thing to swap caps in a pre-amp, or ICs; it is another thing entirely to swap transducers.  Nothing brings change like a speaker, and it may be that nothing is less understood in terms of the pure sound that is - ultimately - the only thing that defines it.

It's been a long time since I thought I could just buy a better speaker system, and I did not start out thinking I would be "done" in 6 months, or anything like that.  Still, now that I have gotten into this "natural sound" thing, it is just as well that I held my expectations in check, because it looks like the months will be piling up while I develop the truly useful working knowledge I will need to continue, based on my current level of sonic and musical "expectations".  Sure, everyone else already gets it, but I never stop being surprised by how profoundly ignorant I am about the recurring relationships between what I will call for now "the various interactive elements" of the speaker system.  No matter what we hear about these things, the actual hearing and systematizing of sonic results for ones self is another matter, entirely.

To state the obvious: If to truly begin to understand them, just like any other component, each driver must be singled out, analyzed and developed on its own and then re-evaluated in the context of a system that is, per force, changing.  I have already gone through a pile of candidates that I have heard about, and I have kept some stuff for further development.  "Development" might mean exact placement with or near other drivers, or it might mean keeping only one part of the driver to build another one with.  If I were't married, I'm afraid my house might be full of speakers and speaker PARTS, since there are plenty enough lying around, as it is.

One thing I have learned so far is that while there is some truth to some rumors about some drivers, none I have heard so far is anything like a ready-to-go, stand-alone unit.  If I can be objective about this, ALL the drivers I have heard so far want some sort of special "consideration" in order for me to get what I want from them and, more importantly, no single "treatment" will certainly "fix" any particular driver, according to what I have heard so far.  I can say at this point that there are certain markers that rule certain drivers out entirely, at least for my purposes.

I remember writing the "It Takes Balls to Shop" thread, thinking about obtaining "parts" in general.  And so far it looks like it is possible to learn from the various speaker and driver cults... as long as one keeps it all in the context of personal experience.

Paul S

Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site