Negative show report posts... enough is enough.
- Thread starter Peter Breuninger
- Start date
So, does it take a real "expert" to know that a hotel room is always an awful place to judge the merits of any system? This seems obvious to me. Shows are about people, not gear.
I would also say that IF one hears a good sounding system at a show, one should say so and thank the folks in the room for finding a unicorn. It hasn't been often that I've even heard a good sounding room at a show. And I've never heard anything approaching the best sounding systems at a show. It doesn't exist.
Except when the system sounds really good, as appears to have been the case in a few instances at AXPONA. So if those systems sounded good under those circumstances, then why not others? This should be a valid criticism, even if it is clear that hotel rooms are not optimal by any stretch of the imagination.
I can only go by what I've heard and compare it to my own reference. However, if you know a little about room acoustics and wall construction, then it's very easy to know that few, if any, rooms even have a chance to sound good, no matter the setup.
Nobody expects a system to sound anywhere as good in a hotel room as in a great listening room, and I did not claim otherwise. But if there are some good sounding rooms as there seem to have been at AXPONA then this is a problem for those that aren't.
I'm pretty surprised by this post. It seems very strange to me that, as an audio journalist, Peter seems to be asking for censorship.
I emphatically agree with Al M. There is way too much positive commentary in the "official" audio press. Both Show Reports and gear reviews are rarely in depth, rarely comparative, and, more and more, simply extensions of a company's marketing department.
If anything, these forums are opportunities for the non-professional enthusiast to express his opinions, usually unencumbered by commercial interests.
"I've frankly had enough of" the overly positive "reviews" and Show Reports that do surprisingly little to explain how a piece of audio gear actually sounds or compares to similar products. The contrast between the amateur comments in forums and the professional reviewer comments in magazines and videos is really quite stark. I find these forums to be much more informative and frankly, interesting.
I'm also a bit perplexed as to why people expressing their opinions in forums about what they have heard at public audio shows are described as "cowards" and self proclaimed "experts". Do journalists really need to denigrate their readers?
I'm pretty sure your mbl's (same model as at THE Show, right?) in your house don't sound like the show's, do they? And your room as you have pictured it in the past looks more haphazardly set up and in general not as (potentially) nice as the room at the show.
Refreshing post.
@Peter Breuninger
What do you expect people to do. Incense any bad sounding product that is shown ? .... Really?
This is about Sound so if in the opinion of someone there is a lack of goodness from a given "sound"... It is fair to comment ... Not too sure where you want to go with this. It looks almost disingenuous.
Peter, what is knee jerk about attending a show, sitting down in a room, listening to a presentation, bringing your own music to compare what you have heard before and making a judgment on what you hear? Gee, spending money and the time to listen, to travel to Chicago, or Irvine, DC or Munich for the sole purpose of hearing all this equipment that the audio press waxes poetically about. That is a lot of effort also for us as well. But if we don't like what we hear, it is knee jerk and we should just shut the F up. As my friends in the UK say, BRILLIANT! I am rather tired of the audio press telling me that they know more about good sound than the rest of us. I guess the 30 or 40 concerts I see, jazz and classical , each year, here and in Europe mean nothing as I clearing don't know what I am hearing.
I think Peter's point is valid. The first audio show I went to, I thought I heard many "great" systems. I now know better. It does take some training and experience to know the difference between reference quality and a good hotel room system.
Having said that, I think the negative comments really only reflect poorly on the commentators themselves. In my eyes, they must not have ever heard a really awesome setup.
Having said that, I think the negative comments really only reflect poorly on the commentators themselves. In my eyes, they must not have ever heard a really awesome setup.
Um, no. I guess only positive comments count. I am have heard numerous "reference" systems in homes. Some I loved, others I didn't. I think I have a good handle on what a great system sounds like. If I hear a mega buck system at a show and am not impressed with the sound or actually find it brittle, I guess I should just chalk it up to the room and keep quiet? I think not. I am simply expressing an opinion on what I hear. Good or bad. Again, the point you have made can essentially be boiled down to you know better than the rest of us. The condensation and ego in this thread is amazing. I have learned over the years to take what I read from reviewers with a huge grain of salt. I have heard rooms at shows that I thought were dreadful that reviewers heaped tons of praise on, to the point of calling what I as well as others thought bright and harsh sumptuous.
Precisely, I am just as fed-up as you are, Peter. That is why I have blasted one 'professional' review in detail here because I could not take it any longer:
http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?17699-Review-The-Thiel-TM3-Monitor-3498
(Post #10)
Indeed.
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