KEF LS50s - demos?

[Macca]

But, rather anomalously, and it has caused concern, the Betas at 100dB do produce rather high mid distortion at 3%. However I have been reading a thread on the YG acoustics Anat speaker, which claims to be the best in the world, and which is criticised for the same level of distortion but at 95dB. It costs a hell of a lot, over £100k. The discussion also says that quite a lot of high end, read expensive, do have quite high distortion, and that this factor does not really correlate with a good or bad sound.

Most of the market in TV probably uses standard speakers, necessarily of limited bandwidth I think.
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100 dB? That's a very high level, have to say I don't listen at anything like that, about 75dB average level. I agree 3% distortion in a speaker is not a large amount but who listens at 100dB? That shouldn't be an issue in normal use surely?

The speakers built into my TV are terrible and intelligibility was massively increased just by replacing them with some JBL Control One which can be bought new for about £70. One of the rare occasions I have heard a true 'night and day' difference.

Replacing the JBLs with the 3 way B&O MC120.2 was another step up. I just can't buy into the idea that using a better speaker will make things worse except for the edge case I described previously.

[walpurgis]

The speakers built into my TV are terrible and intelligibility was massively increased just by replacing them with some JBL Control One which can be bought new for about £70. One of the rare occasions I have heard a true 'night and day' difference.

Same here. My new telly was unlistenable, the worst I've ever heard. Plugging in my 'Cyruslink' 2.1 sub/sat system sorted it.

[Pharos]

You say Martin;
"I agree 3% distortion in a speaker is not a large amount but who listens at 100dB? That shouldn't be an issue in normal use surely?

My concern is that 3% IS indeed high, the Quads are 0.1% as is the Yamaha NS1000.

It must be self evident that a restricted bass extension will benefit if it removes masking resulting from low bass noise, and many mics have bass cut switches to reduce proximity effects.

The 100dB is just an arrived at standard used to measure, as are 90 and 95, and I do not listen much above 75.

[Pharos]

Thinking further, the commercial speech bandwidth is chosen for intelligibility and is 300Hz to 3400Hz, and is used for landlines.

The upper limit is probably chosen for economical reasons, and the bottom end to reduce bass masking.

[Macca]

You say Martin;
"I agree 3% distortion in a speaker is not a large amount but who listens at 100dB? That shouldn't be an issue in normal use surely?

My concern is that 3% IS indeed high, the Quads are 0.1% as is the Yamaha NS1000.

It must be self evident that a restricted bass extension will benefit if it removes masking resulting from low bass noise, and many mics have bass cut switches to reduce proximity effects.

The 100dB is just an arrived at standard used to measure, as are 90 and 95, and I do not listen much above 75.

Are you sure that NS1000M have 0.1% distortion at 100dB? I know they are a very low distortion speaker, but even so that seems unlikely.

If you look at the 95dB distortion tests on ASR most of the speakers tested have a lot of distortion at that level. The NS1000M isn't tested yet though.

Anyways if your never playing at 100dB does it matter?

[Barry]

In using the GE-Zenith system for FM stereo broadcasting, the absolute maximum audio frequency is limited to 15kHz.

The distortion created by the system depends on the volume of the audio, i.e. the depth of modulation. http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/HFN/BandwidthBlues/page.html


Given the levels of distortion that even the best vinyl replay system can produce (up to 12 - 15%), it is surprising what the ear finds acceptable.

[Pharos]

It is a long time ago that I looked at it Martin, and probably at 90dB. Many small Hi-Fi Choice books back.