Crutchfield's pushing the envelope on loudspeaker audition

mhardy6647
mhardy6647 Posts: 33,909
edited February 2019 in Speakers
This is even on-topic for this site's forum, since one of their beta test loudspeakers is a Polk model!

Did y'all see this? Crutchfield's developing (experimenting with) a system to allow on-line, in-home "demos" to compare the sound of different loudspeaker models using headphones.

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-t4ofsY9beNg/speakercompare/?source=pjn&subid=43737

I am skeptical (imagine that?!) of the real utility of this, but, in fairness, it is a clever attempt to address a pretty profound problem -- how to audition loudspeakers in the absence of a brick-and-mortar environment to do so?

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I doubt that I own a calibrated headphone from their list (I haven't checked yet, but the headphone pickins' here are pretty slim) but if I had access to a pair, it would be fun and potentially instructive to try (IMO).

17ghhp6ov0l9.png

EDIT: full disclosure, I originally saw this posted at:
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/crutchfield-allows-you-to-test-speakers-on-line.858967/
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Comments

  • DaveHo
    DaveHo Posts: 3,536
    I saw this as well. A marketing ploy & nothing else. No way you can accurately demo a pair of speakers through a pair of headphones. Maybe overall tonal balance can be somewhat conveyed. What about dynamics, soundstage, imaging, etc? B.S.
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,909
    edited February 2019
    DaveHo wrote: »
    I saw this as well. A marketing ploy & nothing else. No way you can accurately demo a pair of speakers through a pair of headphones.
    Gotta be better than those folks who post YT videos, taken with their cell phones, to demonstrate how good their hifi sounds :) There's a whole thread of such at another fairly popular hifi forum ;)
    Maybe overall tonal balance can be somewhat conveyed. What about dynamics, soundstage, imaging, etc? B.S.
    The former is exactly what might (?!?) be conveyed. The latter is a different kettle of fish entirely. For better or worse, first and foremost, I care about tone and how far into the mix I can hear when I evaluate a loudspeaker. I.e., it might work for an evaluation of tone. I think comparing a Polk and a Klipsch loudspeaker at "equal volume" might be illustrative.

    EDIT: I shouldn't have lumped dynamics in with that "imaging/soundstage" thing. :p
    Dynamics is (are) important, and can only be assessed in situ with a pair of loudspeakers, fo' sho'.

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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,654
    Pffft.....I simply ask Alexa.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,909
    She would know, wouldn't she?

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  • rooftop59
    rooftop59 Posts: 8,121
    On the one hand, sure, it’s a martketing ploy. On the other, how good of an audition do you get in Best Buy? Dynamics, soundstage, imaging?!! Nah. This will please the average joe who wants to feel like he is making an informed decision...
    Living Room 2.2: Usher BE-718 "tiny dancers"; Dual DIY Dayton audio RSS210HF-4 Subs with Dayton SPA-250 amps; Arcam SA30; Musical Fidelity A308; Sony UBP-x1000es
    Game Room 5.1.4:     Denon AVR-X4200w; Sony UBP-x700; Definitive Technology Power Monitor 900 mains, CLR-3000 center, StudioMonitor 350 surrounds, ProMonitor 800 atmos x4; Sub - Monoprice Monolith 15in THX Ultra
    Bedroom 2.1     Harmon Kardon HK3490; Bluesounds Node N130; Polk RT25i; ACI Titan Subwoofer
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  • K_M
    K_M Posts: 1,629
    Possibly a bit useful, if you are familiar with one in home, and you can then sorta compare against a known.
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  • delkal
    delkal Posts: 764
    I have seen dozens of Youtube videos demonstrating new cables, interconnects, power cords or other products that will improve the sound of your audio system (for many $$$'s of course).

    The funny thing is I can usually hear the differences with my laptops single 1 inch (maybe) speaker!

    Not saying the products don't work.............but either I have the best laptop "audiophile" sound system ever made or I call shenanigans.
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  • WLDock
    WLDock Posts: 3,073
    edited February 2019
    The only thing I've gotten from listening to speakers on youtube is that some are much better with their close mic recording techniques and gear than others. Some don't even use a close mic!

    Other than that, this at least is coming from the same source but who know how effective it is. Maybe it will help sell more speakers? They are a $250M/year outfit so maybe they know what they are doing? Or maybe have the have money to throw against the wall to see what sticks?
    2.2 Office Setup | LG 29UB55 21:9 UltraWide | HP Probook 630 G8 | Dell Latitude | Cabasse Stream Amp 100 | Boston Acoustics VS 240 | AUDIORAX Desk Stands | Mirage Omni S8 sub1 | Mirage Omni S8 Sub2
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,909
    I am planning to try it out with their canned demo (of four speakers) and whatever headphones I can dig out (nearly speaking literally) here.

    Was gonna do it yesterday -- but yesterday got away from me :p
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  • K_M
    K_M Posts: 1,629
    WLDock wrote: »
    The only thing I've gotten from listening to speakers on youtube is that some are much better with their close mic recording techniques and gear than others. Some don't even use a close mic!

    Other than that, this at least is coming from the same source but who know how effective it is. Maybe it will help sell more speakers? They are a $250M/year outfit so maybe they know what they are doing? Or maybe have the have money to throw against the wall to see what sticks?

    The thing I have gotten, is a lot of people have rooms that are too live sounding, and they believe cell phone mics can capture 110 decibels of loud music without overloading.
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  • K_M
    K_M Posts: 1,629
    edited February 2019
    mhardy6647 wrote: »
    I am planning to try it out with their canned demo (of four speakers) and whatever headphones I can dig out (nearly speaking literally) here.

    Was gonna do it yesterday -- but yesterday got away from me :p

    Again, if you know one of the speakers first hand, it may be somewhat useful to compare other unknown speakers and be able to at least get an idea of how the tonality is different than the one you are familiar with, otherwise might just be fun to do.

    Edit: Just tried it quickly, and found it to be more useful than I thought.
    They do not record the output of the speaker but use a profile to alter the tonality of the sound being sent during the comparison.

    Even the loudness can be compared between models.
    Not the best comparison, but somewhat accurate with 2 speakers we have at home and compared with their "device".

    You can get a decent idea of tonality and sensitivity.
    But the rest.....obviously not.
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,200
    I messed around with it, it really isn't a good way to figure out what speakers you may like or not. I get it for some who can't get out and demo, which by the way is getting harder and harder to do with so many AV stores going out or out of business these days.
    In many ways it makes me sad this is where we are at.
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,909
    mantis wrote: »
    ...
    In many ways it makes me sad this is where we are at.

    Can't disagree with that.

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  • joecoulson
    joecoulson Posts: 4,943
    Alexa?! What the heck are you talking to her for? She’s mine!!
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,654
    You can have her, she's got an attitude problem.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • WLDock
    WLDock Posts: 3,073
    As far as youtube sound reviews. I think Z-Reviews technically does about as best as one can expect from a one man show for speakers and headphone. He's I little amusing as well. :smile: I'm not sure how much difference more effort will make all things considered.

    As with all reviews, to be taken with a grain...

    https://www.youtube.com/user/ZeosReviews/videos
    2.2 Office Setup | LG 29UB55 21:9 UltraWide | HP Probook 630 G8 | Dell Latitude | Cabasse Stream Amp 100 | Boston Acoustics VS 240 | AUDIORAX Desk Stands | Mirage Omni S8 sub1 | Mirage Omni S8 Sub2
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