Posted by Bob Ratner on September 08, 2003 at 00:05:14:
In Reply to: DISRESPECT posted by Al Sekela on September 07, 2003 at 14:17:12:
Dear Al Sekela,
A SECOND CLOSER LOOK AT ZERO and miss communications
The ZERO dialogue was very enlighten to me and I hoped for all other SOLGER's as well...I took special care, to re-read all the SLOG Posts concerning ZERO...Even before you mention your concerns ,to make sure I was giving ZERO a full objective look...?. And I can tell from your love for ZERO it must be a special product & brings special joy to your system...And I respect that feeling...
The posting that I re-read that was the most persuasive to me was: a SLOGER mentioned that there was a specific amplifier that he loved the sound of... above all others...And he also loved his Sound Lab ESL speakers...And sadly they did not match up !...If one is not able to consider the Bi-Amp option or changing to an amplifier that has a closer impedance match?...Then there is a clear positive need I might recommend application ZERO....Where one is Locked in to an amplifier & and a un-matched speaker combination...
Other SLOGERS mentioned the Sound Lab IMPEDANCE MODIFICATION as a possible solution,which I would like to know more about?...And other SLOGERS mentioned the Term: BAND-ADE,which I thought fare more offensive to ZERO than anything I ever tossed out...Admitted,I had no idea that ZERO was so loved and used that much? And,I intend to ask Dr.R. West what is his view of ZERO ? And I think his answer may have been the "Impedance Modification"?
PLEASANT & LOVED DISTORTIONS...the good side of distortion...
Because I have had experience with audio manufactures in house design terms, I am aware of Pleasant Distortions that are used to sell equipment and products..
And I'll give some examples : All moving coil phono cartridges have some level of Hi-Frequency ringing / over shoot...[Grado discusses this ringing distortion extensively] The moving coil cartridge ringing is a pleasant distortion that can add sonic color to a dull cone / dome speaker needing some extra added sparkle...Or it may help out an older under equalized record giving rise to subtitle timbers and making the record much more enjoyable....All good things,from special kind of distortion...The ring distortion of a moving Coil cartridge may be a quality that record listeners choose a Moving Coil for..? For it helps out another part of the total system...Making final system sound better....
A moving coil cartridge with a heavy ringing distortion in the hi-range audio region may not be a good thing played through a set of Sound Lab ESL Speakers, that can actual reproduce accurately the last three octaves ,And can be a very unpleasant kind of distortions which can be a fatiguing & uncomfortable experience...Special Cartridge Loading may help this ..?
Here is where a Tube Amplifier & Solid State amplifiers may do really different things with the same moving coil cartridge ringing distortion..? Some good & some bad?
The Shure SM 58 Microphone has out sold every other microphone in the history of the audio world. And every other microphone manufacture has copied The Shure SM58. The SM 58 has some serious frequency distortions ,but they all fall where it makes the human singing voice sound really good....Pleasant Distortions....Many studio microphones have special pleasant distortions characteristics that enhance certain instruments : Drum mike,String mike, Piano mike.etc....Recording.Studio Engineers spend a lot of time discussing the just right microphone for each recording session. Sonic Painting...
When the Mustang GT goes flying buy and the Bass Boom is heard three blocks preceding his passing.. That is a bass frequency distortion.. that the driver / listener perceives as a good thing...When Cheri sings "BELIEVE". and her lead vocal is passed through a Phase Ring Vocal Processor....that is a Pleasant Distortion effect that sold 10 million records....NOT ALL DISTORTIONS ARE BAD....
All products have inherent distortions. If they didn't have small distortions, all products would sound exactly the same...Sonic Signature is just another way of saying pleasant combinations of minimal distortions..And we know as audio products are get better and better... to the point they are sounding more & more a like...
It is a tribute to Sound Lab ESL speakers that they are so good that they can reveal minute differences in every thing that in used in association with them......From power cords ,Brand of tubes,Turntables with supper sub rumble specifications...and electronic equipment with noise floor levels below 100 db...
The first time I heard one of my CD recordings on Dr. Roger West's Large ESL speakers at his factory, I was stunned & amazed that I could hear every subtitle characters of each microphone I had selected for each different musical instrument...And all the mixing board equalization I had also applied to try to bring out each special instrument timber...Nothing hides behind Sound Lab ESL speakers ESL.....
I hope I have addressed you major concerns....And I hope I've shown to some extent ,there has been no malice intended within anything I have written....If I have done anything remiss it may have been through miss communication... And also may be because I've been knocking around the Audio / Video business for way many years..and seen a lot of stuff come and go..Over-N-Over and forgotten that not everyone has been where I've been....That may be why Dr. Roger & I have so much in common......
Please consider this as an apology ,and I'd like to say it will never happen again,but because I may not always pre-recognize something I may write that may offend someone?...That is a hard promise to keep...I more than welcome anyone to take issue with anything I contribute ...I really believe in the concept : "Through collision with error we find truth"......
In the right room & with Sound Lab Speakers I think I could hear ZERO.....And If I ever get an invite to hear an A / B test of a ESL SPEAKER BIAS POWER CORD..and I actually hear something?....I'm not sure what it will do to my composure ,but I'll deal with that when it happens...