East Side >West Side

[jimmymcfarre]

East Coast >West Coast

Forgive my ignorance, but as a UK based member of this forum (who joined for & posts predominantly in the British Audio section) would someone care enlighten me what the main differences between East and West Coast manufacturers are please? What are the most common examples of each & how does their sound differ? Is it fair to say there is a similarity between all manufacturers from the East coast and similarly all manufacturers from the West coast & as such how do they differ from each other?
And as an aside to this how would each compare / differ from the gear I'm used to in the U.k? I know homes in the US have larger rooms in comparison to those in the UK, so is it fair to say kit from US manufacturers is designed to fill a larger space (so bigger speakers /more powerful amplifiers) when compared to equivalent kit from the UK.....
As i said forgive my ignorance but as a long running fan of British audio I'm well versed in Linn turntables and speakers, Naim amps, IMF monitors, Rega turntables and BBC designed/influenced speakers but all the kit that's popular in the US is all pretty new to me & a crash course in it would be much appreciated -who knows what I'm missing out on.

 

[HTWillie]

I'll give it a whack...

In the vague bits of I've gathered over the last year or two, the East Coast and West Coast divide has been about speakers and not about other gear. I think this notion began in the late 1960's or early 1970's.

The general impression I get is that East Coast manufacturers of the era preferred a mellow and restrained presentation, while West Coast manufacturers made speakers with a more forward, in-your-face sound. Naturally, these qualities were ascribed to the owners of said speakers as well.

Other than JBL being known as a West Coast speaker, I'd only be guessing to name a speakers representing the East Coast sound. (AR? KLH? a\d\s? McIntosh?)

To further confuse things (for me anyway) most of the speakers I saw on the West Coast growing up were Pioneer, Sansui, Kenwood, AKAI, Sony, Yamaha - all of which I thought were Japanese imports. How, or if they never became common on the East Coast is beyond me. Practically everyone I knew growing up in the 1970's and 1980's was connected to the military so I just assumed these imports were brought back from overseas.

As for house sizes and gear made to accommodate them? Maybe there's something to that. I've travelled a fair bit through the U.S., and my very general estimation over the last 35+ years, is that in typical suburban areas, houses around 800-1200 sq.ft are on the modest end of the scale, around 1800-2200 sq.ft. has been a very common house size since the 1960's-the early 1990's when sizes began to increase, and now it seems difficult to find newly built single family detached dwellings that are less than 2800 sq.ft.

Again - that's just my general impression based on my mostly West Coast travels. As far as other gear - more opinions ahead - since the early 1980's when I began paying attention, the commonly available gear in the U.S. I've never thought of as anything special. Pioneer, Kenwood, Sony.... Marantz and Denon are two that come to mind that always had a bit higher reputation I think. Beyond that, I don't know, McIntosh?

The marques you mention: Rega, Linn, Naim, I've never seen them in real life. I know they're British and have a strong reputation for high quality. I just assumed that's what everyone in the UK gets to enjoy. Come to think of it, your market probably has ordinary nothing-special cheap crap as well, but the above-mentioned gears were the only ones good enough to let off the island.

 

[TudorTurtle]

The West Side stops at 11th Ave. At least according to us NY'ers.

 

[bobins08]

Refers to philosophical and technical design differences between American made speakers from Altec Lansing and JBL (west coast) versus AR/KLH/ADVENT etc.

West coast designs would employ horns and ports, East coast were sealed box.

Sound differences have been discussed in detail. East went for flatter response, less boom, more like Brits. Favored for jazz and classical. West was referred to as rock speakers. To some they are colored and boomy, to others they are not.

West tended to have higher efficiency too.

 

[Hanleyster]

West Coast vs. East Coast is sort of like a Dodge Viper vs a Porsche 911.

What the Dodge does with brute force, the Porsche does with finness.

 

[hjames]

Then again, some think the whole East coast speakers (New England based speakers like AR, Advent, Bose, KLH, etc) sound kind of laid back, conservative and frankly dull ...

The west coast speakers like JBL have some sizzle - bringing out the shimmer of cymbals in jazz, the rush of guitar chords in rock, the plucked strings of the bass ...
the impact of a kick drum on your chest ...

But I'm not partial one bit

Darned if I know where the Von Schweikerts I just bought belong ... the old ones like my VR-4s were made in Watertown, Connecticut,
but their newer ones are made in California!