Posted by ToFo [ 12.76.215.35 ] on August 26, 2004 at 20:18:18:

In Reply to: Pi speakers are not just "fun" speakers posted by James W. Johnson on August 25, 2004 at 14:25:00:

I agree so far with the thread and I want to tell you about my Brother the musician. My brother has never had a "Hi-Fi". He has been playing forever and heard a lot of nice gear at various friends/bandmates houses as well as my stuff, but never been moved to replace his awful gig PA he used as stereo. One day while we listened to my Theater 4's. we played some disks that he knew well. At one point he stood up and said "holy crap! Thats it. Thats really what it sounds like." He usually talks through a CD, but now he was attending to it and hearing things he had never heard. I knew I had to build him some. I gave him Theater 3's for Christmas and now I get a call every few weeks where he tells me how amazing it is to hear yet another (his music collection is enormous) classic as it was meant to be heard. He has since invested in decent electronics and collects music even more avidly than before. As for his appreciation for the nuances, it comes out differently from an audiophobe. He can now clearly hear if the lead vocal is double tracked or which guitar/amp is being used (and where the pickup switch is set for that matter)and it is fun to see him hear a part way back in the mix that he never heard before. I have had many speakers that do these things and some better, but have never gotten his reaction before. I am convinced that it is the Pi's "total package" quality that does it. I still have a great soundstage and detailing, but I have clean, loud power, with dynamics and a smooth presentation that I never got from the small cone and dome stuff. I think that some of my old speakers were amazing, but the problem is they sound bad with close miked and compressed material. in other words almost anything recorded in a studio or since the 60's. I like a lot of classical, Jazz and what I call salesmans cd's, but dammit, sometimes I want to listen to a label other than Chesky or Deutche Grammaphon (nothing against them, but you know what I mean). I have had only one speaker to clearly beat the Pi's at something. For microdynamics and quiet listening my Acoustats have never been beat, but they are tedious to listen to otherwise. They take a 20 foot room to sound good, "sweet spot" the size of a nickle and they don't go anywhere near loud, yes they are in the storage room and I do love my Pi's.
Thomas

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