How insensitive
March 3, 2007 | 12:00am
Last Tuesday, I had an interesting web chat with our online readers in New York, Jimmy Hunter and Harold Matthews. Thanks to the Internet, audiophiles across the globe can read this column. It’s typical for me to receive e-mails from international readers, but it was the first time I was requested to exchange views with some of them on the web.
Jimmy and Harold share the same concern that the phenomenal demand (mainly caused by the analog renaissance) for analog audio gear worldwide has spawned too many unscrupulous vendors who trick consumers into buying something that they do not necessarily need.
And because audiophiles, including us, are laymen, people who are just starting out with the hobby are especially vulnerable to exploitation by imaginary and shameful claims made by some vendors.
To make matters worse, the spectacular economic growth in China has given its audiophiles the buying muscle that is oftentimes being used inappropriately. "These people do not even care about the price. They just gobble up everything," Harold complained. True enough; prices of vinyl being sold on eBay have gone up significantly. Vinyl copies of Eiji Kitamura’s "Swing Sessions," for instance, are being hoarded. The last copy sold fetched US$500 on Tom Port’s dccblowout.com.
Another worrisome development, according to Jimmy, is that in Asia the quest for sound quality is becoming remote or separate from the love of music. "These audiophiles are purely interested in the equipment, and music is just a means to test how their equipment works," he said. The Chinese refer to this phenomenon as "fever outbreak."
I believe that Jimmy and Harold’s concerns are valid. I certainly wouldn’t want to see an audiophile community with overpriced music systems and devoid of music appreciation.
But what must an aspiring audiophile do to avoid these pitfalls? To start with, where you are going to place your sound equipment dictates what type you have to buy. Ordinarily, a stereo, TV or home theater system is placed in the living room.
There’s no problem with this if your living room is acoustically treated. Frustration arises when the system you bought does not perform as well in your home as when you first listened to it at the audio store. Chances are, the showroom is treated well enough to produce the sound you want to listen to. This is why sound purists would rather build a separate music room designed to maximum specifications.
In my earlier columns, I discussed how your music room accounts for 60 percent of the effort you put in building up your dream audio system. Once you’ve decided where to put your system, scout for audio gear that matches the size of your room. Obviously you wouldn’t want to place humongous speakers in a small room, or vice versa.
Check out the sensitivity of the loudspeakers being offered to you. Modern-day loudspeakers have sensitivities of only between 85 and 87 dB, and only a handful of amplifiers can make them work. This has resulted in a mournfully underpowered stereo system incapable of producing the desired in-room results. An underpowered system clips or distorts and reproduces sharp, edgy and confined sounds.
The lower the sensitivity, the harder they are to drive. Thus, low-sensitive speakers need higher amplifier wattage to drive them with ease, while highly sensitive speakers need less power to reproduce sound. You can ask the dealer for the speakers’ sensitivity, or if you doubt them, go read the gear’s manual. Be warned, though, that loudspeaker sensitivity ratings are mostly overstated by two or three dB (manufacturers will surely deny this, but I’m willing to stick my neck out on this); always give that elbowroom when scouting for the right speakers.
After determining the right speakers that match your music room, it is now time to match your speakers with your amplifier(s).
Musical Fidelity recently released on its website a guide that you can use when shopping for the right match between amplifiers and speakers.
Speaker sensitivity Amplifier wattage per channel
83 dB 800
85 dB 500
87 dB 320
89 dB 200
91 dB 130
Source: musicalfidelity.com
Note that it takes 130 watts per channel to drive the most sensitive loudspeakers today. This is where vintage (1960s) speakers such as those made by JBL and Altec Lansing excel. If you have the money and a large room to put them in, I would recommend that you grab them. Vintage speakers have more than 100 dB in sensitivity, which can be driven easily by an amplifier with only 9 watts in power rating. Where to buy them? There’s a music store in Dau, Pampanga, specializing in vintage speakers (e-mail me for details).
(To be continued)
For comments or questions, please e-mail me at vphl@hotmail.com.
Jimmy and Harold share the same concern that the phenomenal demand (mainly caused by the analog renaissance) for analog audio gear worldwide has spawned too many unscrupulous vendors who trick consumers into buying something that they do not necessarily need.
And because audiophiles, including us, are laymen, people who are just starting out with the hobby are especially vulnerable to exploitation by imaginary and shameful claims made by some vendors.
To make matters worse, the spectacular economic growth in China has given its audiophiles the buying muscle that is oftentimes being used inappropriately. "These people do not even care about the price. They just gobble up everything," Harold complained. True enough; prices of vinyl being sold on eBay have gone up significantly. Vinyl copies of Eiji Kitamura’s "Swing Sessions," for instance, are being hoarded. The last copy sold fetched US$500 on Tom Port’s dccblowout.com.
Another worrisome development, according to Jimmy, is that in Asia the quest for sound quality is becoming remote or separate from the love of music. "These audiophiles are purely interested in the equipment, and music is just a means to test how their equipment works," he said. The Chinese refer to this phenomenon as "fever outbreak."
I believe that Jimmy and Harold’s concerns are valid. I certainly wouldn’t want to see an audiophile community with overpriced music systems and devoid of music appreciation.
But what must an aspiring audiophile do to avoid these pitfalls? To start with, where you are going to place your sound equipment dictates what type you have to buy. Ordinarily, a stereo, TV or home theater system is placed in the living room.
There’s no problem with this if your living room is acoustically treated. Frustration arises when the system you bought does not perform as well in your home as when you first listened to it at the audio store. Chances are, the showroom is treated well enough to produce the sound you want to listen to. This is why sound purists would rather build a separate music room designed to maximum specifications.
In my earlier columns, I discussed how your music room accounts for 60 percent of the effort you put in building up your dream audio system. Once you’ve decided where to put your system, scout for audio gear that matches the size of your room. Obviously you wouldn’t want to place humongous speakers in a small room, or vice versa.
Check out the sensitivity of the loudspeakers being offered to you. Modern-day loudspeakers have sensitivities of only between 85 and 87 dB, and only a handful of amplifiers can make them work. This has resulted in a mournfully underpowered stereo system incapable of producing the desired in-room results. An underpowered system clips or distorts and reproduces sharp, edgy and confined sounds.
The lower the sensitivity, the harder they are to drive. Thus, low-sensitive speakers need higher amplifier wattage to drive them with ease, while highly sensitive speakers need less power to reproduce sound. You can ask the dealer for the speakers’ sensitivity, or if you doubt them, go read the gear’s manual. Be warned, though, that loudspeaker sensitivity ratings are mostly overstated by two or three dB (manufacturers will surely deny this, but I’m willing to stick my neck out on this); always give that elbowroom when scouting for the right speakers.
After determining the right speakers that match your music room, it is now time to match your speakers with your amplifier(s).
Musical Fidelity recently released on its website a guide that you can use when shopping for the right match between amplifiers and speakers.
Speaker sensitivity Amplifier wattage per channel
83 dB 800
85 dB 500
87 dB 320
89 dB 200
91 dB 130
Source: musicalfidelity.com
Note that it takes 130 watts per channel to drive the most sensitive loudspeakers today. This is where vintage (1960s) speakers such as those made by JBL and Altec Lansing excel. If you have the money and a large room to put them in, I would recommend that you grab them. Vintage speakers have more than 100 dB in sensitivity, which can be driven easily by an amplifier with only 9 watts in power rating. Where to buy them? There’s a music store in Dau, Pampanga, specializing in vintage speakers (e-mail me for details).
(To be continued)
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