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  1. #1
    Join Date: Aug 2012

    Location: Eton wick

    Posts: 1,677
    I'm Philip.

    Default Deciding on speakers to keep/ comparing - hard work

    Hi

    i have

    upgraded JBL L26
    JBL 4312mk2
    Snell k an-spe silver wired fettled by audionote

    I have been trying to decide which to keep/i prefer this morning.

    Finding it nigh on impossible.
    I like characteristics of all of them.

    It doesn't help that they have different ideal positioning requirements.

    The JBLs on the floor next to each other make them easier to compare, but they are on the floor so bass is altered and comparisons become unreliable.

    The Snells at their best closer to walls.

    Never buy more than 1 set of keeper speakers unless you know you are going to keep all 3.
    It's a recipe for trouble

    I could honestly live with any of them, but which.

    Anyone else had this problem?

    Shame i'm not that close to many other members out here in east midlands, and possibly embarrassed by restrictive listening room
    I think i`d take a vote and be done with it!

    I think i drove my daughter crazy who became as confused as me.

  2. #2
    Join Date: Nov 2011

    Location: Seaton, Devon, UK

    Posts: 13,240
    I'm Adrian.

    Default

    What amplifier are you driving them with?
    Listening is the act of aural discrimination and dissemination of sound, and accepting you get it wrong sometimes.

    Analog Inputs: Pro-Ject Signature 10 TT & arm, Benz Micro LP-S, Michel Cusis MC, Goldring 2500 and Ortofon Rondo Blue cartridges, Hitachi FT5500 mk2 Tuner

    Digital:- Marantz SA-KI Pearl CD player, RaspberryPi/HifiBerry Digi+ Pro, Buffalo NAS Drive

    Amplification:- AudioValve Sunilda phono stage, Krell KSP-7B pre-amp, Krell KSA-80 power amp

    Output: Wilson Benesch Vector speakers, KLH Ultimate One Headphones

    Cables: Tellurium Q Ultra Black II RCA & Chord Epic 2 RCA, various speaker leads, & links


    I think I am nearing audio nirvana, but don’t tell anyone.

  3. #3
    Join Date: Aug 2012

    Location: Eton wick

    Posts: 1,677
    I'm Philip.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by AJSki2fly View Post
    What amplifier are you driving them with?
    Marantz pm4 in class a mode.

  4. #4
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,779
    I'm Martin.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by philv View Post
    Marantz pm4 in class a mode.
    Should be a good match for all of them. I can see your quandary.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  5. #5
    Join Date: Aug 2012

    Location: Eton wick

    Posts: 1,677
    I'm Philip.

    Default

    That is the quandry.
    Too much money in speakers and the pm4 sounds good with them all.

    Quote Originally Posted by Macca View Post
    Should be a good match for all of them. I can see your quandary.

  6. #6
    Join Date: Apr 2010

    Location: Bristol, since 1978. Current house since 1996!

    Posts: 909
    I'm Chris.

    Default

    Bigger house? (more rooms....)

    Looking round, I have 5 sets of speakers, -one dormant ; Leak Sandwiches I've had since '72! Others -one set for computer, one for Living Room/TV; one for 'best' underused in basement/hi-fi room; one small set in bedroom. And, no, I'm NOT single!
    Chris.

  7. #7
    Join Date: Nov 2011

    Location: Seaton, Devon, UK

    Posts: 13,240
    I'm Adrian.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by philv View Post
    Marantz pm4 in class a mode.
    Well the amp is a well respected and quality one which should do any of them justice.

    It's a tricky one with the speakers I used to have a pair of Snell K's and loved them, do you have them on Pirate stands(they weight a ton), I found this improved the bass and soundstage quite a bit, might be worth considering first before getting rid of them. I used to drive mine with an Audio Innovations Series 500 valve amp and these together were very well matched, dynamic and musical. The JBL's are great speakers but I believe will give more low down and if my understanding is right have a bit of a lift around 120hz, probably great for driving rock but maybe not so good for classical and more laid back stuff, but I could be wrong. IMO the Snells are probably the more accurate of the speakers and certainly should be good with all the fettling done.

    An approach I have taken several times is as below, and I found it helps to make some sense of it all.

    If it was me and I was confused I would pick 5-10 tracks that I know very well, make myself a little spread sheet and score each speaker for each track on top, mid, bass, musicality, separation/detail, attack and soundstage, scoring from 1-10 (1 poor, 10 can't be better). I would listen to all the tracks with each speaker and write down a score for each and at the end add them up. I would also make short notes along the way for each track and a summary at the end, so I did not forget my thoughts/feelings about them at the time.

    I would then have a break before moving onto then next pair of speaker so to avoid being influenced by what I had just listened to. Once I had listened to all 3 pairs I would compare notes and decide which was tops and to keep.

    For example tracks I use are, obviously you could just do yours:-

    10cc - Sheet Music, The Worst Band in the World - very dynamic and great separation of instruments

    Alan Parsons - I Robot, I Robot - a classic with lots going one, you will know if it sounds right

    Paul Simon - Graceland, Boy in the Bubble - a great pacey track with lots of drumming, listen out for the backing singers, should be clear

    Sinead O’Connor - I Feel So Different - a very telling track, her vocals are easily mucked up with sibilance if something is not right, you should be able to hear her breathy vocals, the bowed string sections should be clear and there is plenty of bass. The drumming on the following track has loads of attack to check out the speakers.

    Peter Gabriel - Security - Rhythm of the Heat - drumming and bass abounds on this track, his voice should be clear in the mix, and there is a lot of bass extension at the beginning and end.

    Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold - this is probably one of the most telling vocal tracks I know of, her voice should sound natural and unforced, if sibilance is creeping in it then its not right, listen to her acoustic guitar should sound warm and natural like it is in the room, the electric guitar as some subtle harmonics going on in several places which can be easily lost.

    Ravi Shankar - Portrait of a Genius, Tala Rasa Ranga - all natural instruments, a superb track to check out reproduction of drums, you should be able to clearly hear the two hand drums and how they interplay, the sitar should sit in the middle of the mix with the high ringing drone clear, there is hand percussion which should sound clean and crisp with a ring to it. The flute should sound smooth and natural.
    Listening is the act of aural discrimination and dissemination of sound, and accepting you get it wrong sometimes.

    Analog Inputs: Pro-Ject Signature 10 TT & arm, Benz Micro LP-S, Michel Cusis MC, Goldring 2500 and Ortofon Rondo Blue cartridges, Hitachi FT5500 mk2 Tuner

    Digital:- Marantz SA-KI Pearl CD player, RaspberryPi/HifiBerry Digi+ Pro, Buffalo NAS Drive

    Amplification:- AudioValve Sunilda phono stage, Krell KSP-7B pre-amp, Krell KSA-80 power amp

    Output: Wilson Benesch Vector speakers, KLH Ultimate One Headphones

    Cables: Tellurium Q Ultra Black II RCA & Chord Epic 2 RCA, various speaker leads, & links


    I think I am nearing audio nirvana, but don’t tell anyone.

  8. #8
    Join Date: Aug 2012

    Location: Eton wick

    Posts: 1,677
    I'm Philip.

    Default

    Thanks.I may try this.
    The snells are luvly, always liked them and the silver wire and audionote refoaming take them to a different level.
    But at the same time the jbls have great listenability, accurate or not. Fun!

    Today was tne first time i trued comparing tnem.
    I sort of didn’t want to in case it was not the result i expected.
    Quote Originally Posted by AJSki2fly View Post
    Well the amp is a well respected and quality one which should do any of them justice.

    It's a tricky one with the speakers I used to have a pair of Snell K's and loved them, do you have them on Pirate stands(they weight a ton), I found this improved the bass and soundstage quite a bit, might be worth considering first before getting rid of them. I used to drive mine with an Audio Innovations Series 500 valve amp and these together were very well matched, dynamic and musical. The JBL's are great speakers but I believe will give more low down and if my understanding is right have a bit of a lift around 120hz, probably great for driving rock but maybe not so good for classical and more laid back stuff, but I could be wrong. IMO the Snells are probably the more accurate of the speakers and certainly should be good with all the fettling done.

    An approach I have taken several times is as below, and I found it helps to make some sense of it all.

    If it was me and I was confused I would pick 5-10 tracks that I know very well, make myself a little spread sheet and score each speaker for each track on top, mid, bass, musicality, separation/detail, attack and soundstage, scoring from 1-10 (1 poor, 10 can't be better). I would listen to all the tracks with each speaker and write down a score for each and at the end add them up. I would also make short notes along the way for each track and a summary at the end, so I did not forget my thoughts/feelings about them at the time.

    I would then have a break before moving onto then next pair of speaker so to avoid being influenced by what I had just listened to. Once I had listened to all 3 pairs I would compare notes and decide which was tops and to keep.

    For example tracks I use are, obviously you could just do yours:-

    10cc - Sheet Music, The Worst Band in the World - very dynamic and great separation of instruments

    Alan Parsons - I Robot, I Robot - a classic with lots going one, you will know if it sounds right

    Paul Simon - Graceland, Boy in the Bubble - a great pacey track with lots of drumming, listen out for the backing singers, should be clear

    Sinead O’Connor - I Feel So Different - a very telling track, her vocals are easily mucked up with sibilance if something is not right, you should be able to hear her breathy vocals, the bowed string sections should be clear and there is plenty of bass. The drumming on the following track has loads of attack to check out the speakers.

    Peter Gabriel - Security - Rhythm of the Heat - drumming and bass abounds on this track, his voice should be clear in the mix, and there is a lot of bass extension at the beginning and end.

    Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold - this is probably one of the most telling vocal tracks I know of, her voice should sound natural and unforced, if sibilance is creeping in it then its not right, listen to her acoustic guitar should sound warm and natural like it is in the room, the electric guitar as some subtle harmonics going on in several places which can be easily lost.

    Ravi Shankar - Portrait of a Genius, Tala Rasa Ranga - all natural instruments, a superb track to check out reproduction of drums, you should be able to clearly hear the two hand drums and how they interplay, the sitar should sit in the middle of the mix with the high ringing drone clear, there is hand percussion which should sound clean and crisp with a ring to it. The flute should sound smooth and natural.

  9. #9
    Join Date: Jun 2015

    Location: London/Durham

    Posts: 6,869
    I'm Lawrence.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by AJSki2fly View Post
    Well the amp is a well respected and quality one which should do any of them justice.

    It's a tricky one with the speakers I used to have a pair of Snell K's and loved them, do you have them on Pirate stands(they weight a ton), I found this improved the bass and soundstage quite a bit, might be worth considering first before getting rid of them. I used to drive mine with an Audio Innovations Series 500 valve amp and these together were very well matched, dynamic and musical. The JBL's are great speakers but I believe will give more low down and if my understanding is right have a bit of a lift around 120hz, probably great for driving rock but maybe not so good for classical and more laid back stuff, but I could be wrong. IMO the Snells are probably the more accurate of the speakers and certainly should be good with all the fettling done.

    An approach I have taken several times is as below, and I found it helps to make some sense of it all.

    If it was me and I was confused I would pick 5-10 tracks that I know very well, make myself a little spread sheet and score each speaker for each track on top, mid, bass, musicality, separation/detail, attack and soundstage, scoring from 1-10 (1 poor, 10 can't be better). I would listen to all the tracks with each speaker and write down a score for each and at the end add them up. I would also make short notes along the way for each track and a summary at the end, so I did not forget my thoughts/feelings about them at the time.

    I would then have a break before moving onto then next pair of speaker so to avoid being influenced by what I had just listened to. Once I had listened to all 3 pairs I would compare notes and decide which was tops and to keep.

    For example tracks I use are, obviously you could just do yours:-

    10cc - Sheet Music, The Worst Band in the World - very dynamic and great separation of instruments

    Alan Parsons - I Robot, I Robot - a classic with lots going one, you will know if it sounds right

    Paul Simon - Graceland, Boy in the Bubble - a great pacey track with lots of drumming, listen out for the backing singers, should be clear

    Sinead O’Connor - I Feel So Different - a very telling track, her vocals are easily mucked up with sibilance if something is not right, you should be able to hear her breathy vocals, the bowed string sections should be clear and there is plenty of bass. The drumming on the following track has loads of attack to check out the speakers.

    Peter Gabriel - Security - Rhythm of the Heat - drumming and bass abounds on this track, his voice should be clear in the mix, and there is a lot of bass extension at the beginning and end.

    Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold - this is probably one of the most telling vocal tracks I know of, her voice should sound natural and unforced, if sibilance is creeping in it then its not right, listen to her acoustic guitar should sound warm and natural like it is in the room, the electric guitar as some subtle harmonics going on in several places which can be easily lost.

    Ravi Shankar - Portrait of a Genius, Tala Rasa Ranga - all natural instruments, a superb track to check out reproduction of drums, you should be able to clearly hear the two hand drums and how they interplay, the sitar should sit in the middle of the mix with the high ringing drone clear, there is hand percussion which should sound clean and crisp with a ring to it. The flute should sound smooth and natural.
    Personally I wouldn't choose between speakers before also hearing some orchestral, chamber and choral music on them.

    Sent from my BLN-L21 using Tapatalk

  10. #10
    Join Date: Nov 2011

    Location: Seaton, Devon, UK

    Posts: 13,240
    I'm Adrian.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Lawrence001 View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by AJSki2fly View Post
    Well the amp is a well respected and quality one which should do any of them justice.

    It's a tricky one with the speakers I used to have a pair of Snell K's and loved them, do you have them on Pirate stands(they weight a ton), I found this improved the bass and soundstage quite a bit, might be worth considering first before getting rid of them. I used to drive mine with an Audio Innovations Series 500 valve amp and these together were very well matched, dynamic and musical. The JBL's are great speakers but I believe will give more low down and if my understanding is right have a bit of a lift around 120hz, probably great for driving rock but maybe not so good for classical and more laid back stuff, but I could be wrong. IMO the Snells are probably the more accurate of the speakers and certainly should be good with all the fettling done.

    An approach I have taken several times is as below, and I found it helps to make some sense of it all.

    If it was me and I was confused I would pick 5-10 tracks that I know very well, make myself a little spread sheet and score each speaker for each track on top, mid, bass, musicality, separation/detail, attack and soundstage, scoring from 1-10 (1 poor, 10 can't be better). I would listen to all the tracks with each speaker and write down a score for each and at the end add them up. I would also make short notes along the way for each track and a summary at the end, so I did not forget my thoughts/feelings about them at the time.

    I would then have a break before moving onto then next pair of speaker so to avoid being influenced by what I had just listened to. Once I had listened to all 3 pairs I would compare notes and decide which was tops and to keep.

    For example tracks I use are, obviously you could just do yours:-

    10cc - Sheet Music, The Worst Band in the World - very dynamic and great separation of instruments

    Alan Parsons - I Robot, I Robot - a classic with lots going one, you will know if it sounds right

    Paul Simon - Graceland, Boy in the Bubble - a great pacey track with lots of drumming, listen out for the backing singers, should be clear

    Sinead O’Connor - I Feel So Different - a very telling track, her vocals are easily mucked up with sibilance if something is not right, you should be able to hear her breathy vocals, the bowed string sections should be clear and there is plenty of bass. The drumming on the following track has loads of attack to check out the speakers.

    Peter Gabriel - Security - Rhythm of the Heat - drumming and bass abounds on this track, his voice should be clear in the mix, and there is a lot of bass extension at the beginning and end.

    Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold - this is probably one of the most telling vocal tracks I know of, her voice should sound natural and unforced, if sibilance is creeping in it then its not right, listen to her acoustic guitar should sound warm and natural like it is in the room, the electric guitar as some subtle harmonics going on in several places which can be easily lost.

    Ravi Shankar - Portrait of a Genius, Tala Rasa Ranga - all natural instruments, a superb track to check out reproduction of drums, you should be able to clearly hear the two hand drums and how they interplay, the sitar should sit in the middle of the mix with the high ringing drone clear, there is hand percussion which should sound clean and crisp with a ring to it. The flute should sound smooth and natural.


    Personally I wouldn't choose between speakers before also hearing some orchestral, chamber and choral music on them.

    Sent from my BLN-L21 using Tapatalk
    I would agree, I was just giving some good examples.

    For orchestral I would choose a good rendition of Also Sprach Zarathusa (Richard Strauss) - some great deep bass and lots of dynamics.

    A good cello concerto is always a good one, cellos can be telling on the mid range.

    Choral music is not really my forte, but one piece that I think is good is Tenebrae Responsories for Holy Saturday - Carlo Gesualdo (The Tallis Scholars) CD CDGIM015, some superb harmonies and a lovely sense of the church acoustics where it was recorded.

    Bach organ music can sort out the men from the boys speaker wise that is.
    Listening is the act of aural discrimination and dissemination of sound, and accepting you get it wrong sometimes.

    Analog Inputs: Pro-Ject Signature 10 TT & arm, Benz Micro LP-S, Michel Cusis MC, Goldring 2500 and Ortofon Rondo Blue cartridges, Hitachi FT5500 mk2 Tuner

    Digital:- Marantz SA-KI Pearl CD player, RaspberryPi/HifiBerry Digi+ Pro, Buffalo NAS Drive

    Amplification:- AudioValve Sunilda phono stage, Krell KSP-7B pre-amp, Krell KSA-80 power amp

    Output: Wilson Benesch Vector speakers, KLH Ultimate One Headphones

    Cables: Tellurium Q Ultra Black II RCA & Chord Epic 2 RCA, various speaker leads, & links


    I think I am nearing audio nirvana, but don’t tell anyone.

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