I recognize that many high-end audio dealers can only display one of the top speaker brands available. This may be due to economic limitations (inventory is expensive) or often, it is because the manufacturer may sanction dealers and pull their product line if they feel their product is not in the most vaunted position inside their retail store. (Case in point- how many dealers carry both Wilson and Magico?) Yet the consumer is often at a disadvantage because he cannot hear two or more fine brands he might be considering for purchase in the same store under similar conditions (even if they are not ideally set up under identical conditions). I recall that a little over a year ago, Steve and I journeyed to a dealer in Arizona because we thought we’d be able to demo the Wilson XLF and the Sonus Faber Aida at the same time. Unfortunately the speakers were in different rooms with different electronics so conditions weren't ideal, but still, we found the experience beneficial.
It seems unbelievable that the consumer typically has so little opportunity to hear competitive speaker products simultaneously. Let’s consider the following high end speakers: Wilson Sasha; Rockport Avior; Vivid’s Giya 3, Magico S5 and Sony SSAR-1. (Add your favorite 30K speaker to this list if you wish), These are all in a similar price range but how many dealers will display more than one of these for a potential buyer to hear? Wouldn’t you want to be able to hear them all under more or less identical conditions before making a decision?
Let’s step it up a notch. What if you wanted to hear the Vivid G1, the Wilson Alexia and Rockport’s yet to be released Cygnus or Magico’s yet to be released M concept speaker in a head to head environment? Probably just not going to happen anytime soon for the very reasons cited above.
I realize these shootouts have their limitations. But one can’t deny that there are also terrific advantages in being able to compare and contrast any number of formidable loudspeakers at the same time, if only to get a sense of the strengths or liabilities of the speakers in either relative or absolute terms. Of course, one can rationalize all the reasons for not doing a comparative speaker shoot-out. In the end however, you just have to ask yourself, would you rather have the opportunity to hear or participate in one of these, or not? I think we can all guess the popular answer the that one. Yet under the current rules of brick and mortar audio salons, such comparisons will almost never happen. I guess there is no reason why individuals such as distributors can't do this, but let's get real, I don't think Philip O'Hanlon wants a scourge of audiophiles swarming in his home for such purposes. If he did, hell, just give me the word and I'll begin the pizza and or the scotch, or whatever it takes to make that happen!
Here is where I think our specialty publications can be a huge asset to prospective buyers. I’d love it if some of the big boys- you know who they are- TAS, Stereophile, etc., would take it upon themselves to undertake some of these comparison shootouts and report the results. (They will often do this for inexpensive gear, but rarely will they do this in a rigorous and meaningful way for SOA gear; particularly loudspeakers). They can be done with one listener or with a listening panel. The purpose is not necessarily to crown a “best” but, rather, to provide comparative information that might truly help a prospective buyer. By way of analogy, this sort of comparative evaluation has been done successfully for years in the car industry. Motor Trend and Road and Track routinely compare similar types of cars (sport cars, sport sedans, SUVS) in all price ranges, with a limited panel of drivers and then report individual preferences as well as overall performance and value recommendations. I assure you that nobody is coming down hard on the motoring magazines for doing this, or threatening to withhold new models for evaluation if they say less than wonderful things about the current model. The value to consumers here is immeasurable. I formally call upon audio publishing leaders such Rob Harley and John Atkinson to institute this feature in future issues of their magazines. I’d be shocked it weren’t a huge hit with readers.
Let’s take it one step further. I would love for somebody representing audio enthusiasts such as the WBF or other audiophile list servers to try and arrange a test case shootout at RMAF or a high-end trade show next year. Perhaps space can be obtained either at the meeting forum, or at a dealer off site, whereby identical listening sessions can be arranged for the public, or a listening panel invited by the sponsor, whereby the voting can be recorded and reported. My prediction would be that this sort of event could grow into one of the highlights of each show. Let the manufacturers and sponsors do their single product demos at shows as they usually do. But a 2 or 3 speaker shootout of some popular speaker brands with evaluation by the public or invited listening panels would be a feature that would surely gain popularity very fast. And by the way, WBF, my bet is that you will be able to raise enough support to fund such a project very easily among manufacturers, or attendees. If I were at a show and was asked to pay $5 or $10 to participate in a thoughtful well-designed evaluation of 2 or 3 top speakers under very good conditions, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
It certainly beats the crap out of paying for a one day round trip airline ticket from DFW to Arizona to hear something similar under less than ideal circumstances.
Marty
It seems unbelievable that the consumer typically has so little opportunity to hear competitive speaker products simultaneously. Let’s consider the following high end speakers: Wilson Sasha; Rockport Avior; Vivid’s Giya 3, Magico S5 and Sony SSAR-1. (Add your favorite 30K speaker to this list if you wish), These are all in a similar price range but how many dealers will display more than one of these for a potential buyer to hear? Wouldn’t you want to be able to hear them all under more or less identical conditions before making a decision?
Let’s step it up a notch. What if you wanted to hear the Vivid G1, the Wilson Alexia and Rockport’s yet to be released Cygnus or Magico’s yet to be released M concept speaker in a head to head environment? Probably just not going to happen anytime soon for the very reasons cited above.
I realize these shootouts have their limitations. But one can’t deny that there are also terrific advantages in being able to compare and contrast any number of formidable loudspeakers at the same time, if only to get a sense of the strengths or liabilities of the speakers in either relative or absolute terms. Of course, one can rationalize all the reasons for not doing a comparative speaker shoot-out. In the end however, you just have to ask yourself, would you rather have the opportunity to hear or participate in one of these, or not? I think we can all guess the popular answer the that one. Yet under the current rules of brick and mortar audio salons, such comparisons will almost never happen. I guess there is no reason why individuals such as distributors can't do this, but let's get real, I don't think Philip O'Hanlon wants a scourge of audiophiles swarming in his home for such purposes. If he did, hell, just give me the word and I'll begin the pizza and or the scotch, or whatever it takes to make that happen!
Here is where I think our specialty publications can be a huge asset to prospective buyers. I’d love it if some of the big boys- you know who they are- TAS, Stereophile, etc., would take it upon themselves to undertake some of these comparison shootouts and report the results. (They will often do this for inexpensive gear, but rarely will they do this in a rigorous and meaningful way for SOA gear; particularly loudspeakers). They can be done with one listener or with a listening panel. The purpose is not necessarily to crown a “best” but, rather, to provide comparative information that might truly help a prospective buyer. By way of analogy, this sort of comparative evaluation has been done successfully for years in the car industry. Motor Trend and Road and Track routinely compare similar types of cars (sport cars, sport sedans, SUVS) in all price ranges, with a limited panel of drivers and then report individual preferences as well as overall performance and value recommendations. I assure you that nobody is coming down hard on the motoring magazines for doing this, or threatening to withhold new models for evaluation if they say less than wonderful things about the current model. The value to consumers here is immeasurable. I formally call upon audio publishing leaders such Rob Harley and John Atkinson to institute this feature in future issues of their magazines. I’d be shocked it weren’t a huge hit with readers.
Let’s take it one step further. I would love for somebody representing audio enthusiasts such as the WBF or other audiophile list servers to try and arrange a test case shootout at RMAF or a high-end trade show next year. Perhaps space can be obtained either at the meeting forum, or at a dealer off site, whereby identical listening sessions can be arranged for the public, or a listening panel invited by the sponsor, whereby the voting can be recorded and reported. My prediction would be that this sort of event could grow into one of the highlights of each show. Let the manufacturers and sponsors do their single product demos at shows as they usually do. But a 2 or 3 speaker shootout of some popular speaker brands with evaluation by the public or invited listening panels would be a feature that would surely gain popularity very fast. And by the way, WBF, my bet is that you will be able to raise enough support to fund such a project very easily among manufacturers, or attendees. If I were at a show and was asked to pay $5 or $10 to participate in a thoughtful well-designed evaluation of 2 or 3 top speakers under very good conditions, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
It certainly beats the crap out of paying for a one day round trip airline ticket from DFW to Arizona to hear something similar under less than ideal circumstances.
Marty
