"The Best Speakers for the lowest price you will ever See - $2400" (Stow, MA)

[Bostown]

Don't you wish you were an audio engineer so you could separate out the 90% of stereo/home theater system marketing claims that is bull from the 10% that really matters?

Well, I am an audio engineer with an engineering degree from MIT and decades of experience in designing and selecting audio components.

I can help you own a stereo/home theater system that will give you a much larger "bang for the buck" than you will be able to select on your own if you do not have a technical background in audio engineering.

Here, I am going to cut through all the clutter and tell you what is really important and what is useless BS. Although I will use only simple language that almost anyone can understand and I will not try to bury you in technical jargon, I can back up everything I will say here with references to the engineering texts used at MIT and other organizations with worldwide reputations for knowing what they are doing such as the Audio Engineering Society whose members include virtually the entire Hollywood movie sound business and virtually the entire music recording industry. These are the people who make just about all the music and movie sound you can buy.

You may not know it, but when professional audio engineers select sound systems for large downtown movie theaters, churches, classical orchestras, rock bands, clubs, and even for the very recording studios which create the music you purchase, they NEVER use the same components that you would select. If they did, they would be fired.

You, poor audio consumer, are the target of an unrelenting marketing blitz by consumer audio companies to mislead you and bury you in an avalanche of BS designed to make you pay top dollar for the cheapest and lowest performance components they can induce you to buy. That way, the consumer audio companies make the most money. Unfortunately, it is at your expense.

The component in your stereo/home theater difference that makes the largest difference by far in how good your system sounds is the speaker system.

Audio engineers know that the science of speaker design was perfected as long aso as 1961. The fact is that virtually any audio engineer can now design a loudspeaker system that is as close to perfection as one can get. It only involves using some computer design, simulation, and speaker measurement programs that can be purchased for not much money.

The truth is that there are many, many speaker systems that all sound as close to perfection as one could ever hope. All I have to do to tell which systems will sound very good is to look at the frequency response curve that shows the total power the speaker radiates. If it is fairly flat and if it goes low enough and high enough, the speaker will sound great.

What the major audio companies neglect to tell you is that the problem with their speakers is that they do not play loudly enough with low enough distortion to match what is in live music. In other words, they only sound good if you play them at a much lower volume level than it takes to match live music.

Small loudspeakers can't put out loud, clean bass. Only large loudspeakers can. This comes from laws of physics that can't be changed by any audio company's marketing department. If you try to drive a small speaker to play low bass loudly, the distortion quickly becomes so large that you can't stand to listen to it.

So, when audio companies push some high priced, but small, loudspeaker on you, it is to push up their profits since small speakers are much cheaper to make than large speakers.

Major audio companies will go to any lengths to make you think that some types of new advances now allow small speakers to play as loudly and with as low distortion as large speakers. Sorry, but the laws of physics do not change. There is no more chance that a small speaker will equal a properly designed large speaker than there is that the next time something slips out of your hand it will fly up into the sky instead of falling to the ground.

One tell-tale giveaway that you are being targeted with BS by audio salesment is so-called "imaging". There is no such thing as "imaging". The location of a sound is entirely controlled by how loud speakers on the left side of your room play it compared to the speakers on the right side of your room. When a salesman tells you some system he is
trying to push on you has superior "imaging", he is using the same kind of catch-all malarky that doctors use when they have no idea what is wrong with a patient and use the catch-all "bipolar" to describe the patient's problem.

[ SEE PART TWO ] - this post was so long , It broke the 10,000 Character limit of Audio Karma.

 

[Bostown]

[Continued....]

Here is dirty little secret #2 that major audio companies don't want you to know. Their subwoofers ruin the sound. Here is why.

It is not rocket science to know that the stereo effect requires two front speakers. Don't be confused, this applies not just to a pair of stereo speakers but applies even to surround sound home theater systems because they too use a left and right front speaker for the stereo effect.

The stereo effect works because when a sound comes out of one of the two front speakers louder than it comes out of the other front speaker, the sound appears to be coming more from the direction of the louder speaker. Just try moving the balance control on your receiver all the way from one extreme to the other and you will hear the sound
appear to move from one of your front speakers across the front of the room all the way towards the other front speaker.

So, relative loudness of a sound coming from each of the front speakers is what controls imaging, not anything to do with the speakers themselves. There is no such thing as speakers that have "good imaging" or "bad imaging". If anyone pushes "imaging" on you, walk away.

Since it takes two speakers for stereo, how can they get away with using only a single speaker for a subwoofer? Wouldn't using only a single speaker make all the low bass seem like it is coming out of the subwoofer instead of from wherever it came from when it was recorded?

Subwoofers are supposed to be able to get away with only using one speaker instead of a stereo pair because the human ear can' tell the direction that low bass comes from. It is true that the human ear cannot tell the direction that
low bass sounds come from.

But dirty little secret #2 that the major audio companies don't want you to know is that their subwoofers leak out higher frequency sounds than just the low bass. They shouldn't, but they do. They leak out enough of those sounds so your ear can tell where the low bass is coming from. That ruins the stereo effect.

Here is another secret. Speaker systems need to use equalizers to have extremely accurate sound. The speakers by themselves can't be designed to be flat enough in total radiated power response.

Now before you fall for more audio company marketing BS and get tricked into thinking that somehow equalizers aren't "pure", you need to realize that the people who produce and record all the music you buy and the movie theaters where you hear movie sound ALL use equalizers themselves to make the music and movie sounds!!! If equalizers were bad, do you think they would be used to create the very music and movie sounds you hear?

What separates the men from the boys in speaker systems is the ability to output loud, low distorion, low bass. The cost of the speakers needed for the rest of the sound, the midrange and high frequencies, is very small so just about all manufacturers make loudspeakers that sound very good in those frequencies. If you've ever looked at photos of what is in a loudspeaker, you have already noticed that the bass driver (woofer) is much, much larger than the midrange and high frequency driver (tweeter). It should come as no surprise that large drivers are expensive and small ones are cheap. It only takes a few bucks to make great midrange and high frequency sound, so just about everyone does it since it does not affect their bottom lines much.

I know it is hard to admit to yourself that you've been taken and played for all these years by marketing departments, but face up to it, you have been. Before I studied audio engineering, I had been taken and played myself, so I know what it is like.

It only took listening to a live organ in a large church, live music in clubs and concert halls, and sound in an Imax theater for me to quickly realize that the supposedly amazing components sold by the major audio companies didn't measure up to the hype.

Stop trying to fool yourself. The sound you have at home right now doesn't compare to the sound in an Imax theater and you know it.

Now is the time to move on from past mistakes and to own the stereo/home theater components that will give you the kind of sound you deserve. It is never too late.

Now, let's put everything you have learned together, plus a few new facts, and see what really counts if you want to have truly great sound is to:

1. The speaker system should have a flat extended total radiated power frequency response.

2. The speaker system should be large enough to put out low bass that is as loud as it needs to be with low enough
distortion to sound the same as live music. This requires:

a) a large, costly cabinet

b) large, costly low frequency drivers (woofers) which also have large costly magnets

3. No subwoofer should be used and therefore the left and right front speakers should put out the entire range of
frequencies including all the low bass

4. The speaker system should use an equalizer to achieve the flattest possible total radiated power frequency
response

5. Since 95% of your buying dollar pays for marketing and overhead and only 5% goes towards the speaker system
itself when you buy a speaker system from a major
company through a store, you can only get a lot of bang for the buck by buying direct and cuttin out all
middlemen.

I can make this all happen for you so that you can have the same accurate, big pro sound that audio engineers have in the systems they select. For the first time in your life you will have sound that is as great as live music in your home. Once you hear it, you will never go back to using the kind of speakers you own now.

I have designed a speaker system, the AI-18, that gives you all five of the above "must haves". I will give you the sound of an Imax theater in your home. I won't give you "home theater" sound. I will give you "real theater" sound.

My AI-18 speaker system consists of two front floor-standing towers for the left and right front channels along with an active equalizer.

Each AI-18 tower contains a huge 18" woofer with an enormous magnet, four midranges, and a tweeter. The sound is as accurate as that of any speaker system ever made, but it will play far, far more loudly with much lower distortion than any other speaker system I know of for home use.

The AI-18 is actually a pro speaker system that is built into furniture grade cabinets that look good enough to be in the best living rooms in the best homes.

Each AI-18 tower speaker is approximately 42" tall, 21" wide, and 11" deep.

If you have a home theater system, you can continue to use your existing front center channel speaker and your existing rear speakers. That is because the sound send to those speakers is never loud and so even though those speakers are small, they can handle the sound sent to them.

However, do not use your existing subwoofer anymore. Sell it. You'll never again need it. You'll be glad you got rid of it.

Because I have almost zero cost for advertising and overhead by selling on Ebay, Craigslist, and elsewhere on the Net and because I have no dealers or other middlemen, I can sell the AI-18 system to you for a price that is so low that no store can compete with it.

Let's talk about trust, because not trusting me is the only possible reason you would not replace your current underperforming speakers with the AI-18 speaker system.

Please check out my Ebay feedback rating. My Ebay user name is audioresearch. You will see that it is close to 100%. I would not have such a high rating if I did not always tell the truth in my advertising.

If you are local to the Massachusetts area, I am also happy to arrange a demonstration of the AI-18 speaker system for you to attend in person.

The AI-18 speaker is shown in the photos and there are two of them in the system. Some customers buy four AI-18 speakers. It is a little known fact that two pairs of speakers will play four times as loudly as one pair. The sound performance of two pairs is truly staggering and hearing it is virtually a life-altering experience if you love music and/or movie sound.

Contact me and come hear the sound you've been missing. Also, feel free to ask questions or request that I send you technical material to back up what I have stated.

Audioresearch
Stow, MA

 

[Bostown]

I think we should invite this person to the next New England get together for a demo.

 

[mhardy6647]

Stow is a hoot 'n' a holler from Clinton - from Walpole... not so much.

 

[baco99]

I think we should invite this person to the next New England get together for a demo.

couldn't hurt?

 

[Ohighway]

Well now I know why my system sounds so shitty. My subwoofers are 'leaking'.

 

[stereofanboy]

Damn, my balloon just got away from me!

 

[janikphoto]

couldn't hurt?

Yes. Yes, it would. This guy is full of do much arrogance and assumption they he'd be the human equivalent of nails scraping down a chalkboard. His text is based on some fact, but it is presented in such a poor way - both grammatically and socially - that the facts are overshadowed and lost. He makes me want to toss out all my best audio gear, and just use a $20 Coby brand boom box for all of my critical listening.

And, it's a lie that we've reached near perfection for audio reproduction. What we've reached is a pleasant facsimile. I think perfect, or even near-perfect, is not achievable on earth within our lifetime.

 

[Bostown]

Stow is a hoot 'n' a holler from Clinton - from Walpole... not so much.

If a person is SERIOUS about their business, a few miles isn't going to stop them from being able to market their product to a targeted audience. at $2400 that's a no brainer. I'd want as many people to hear what no other speaker designer has ever done before in the history of audio reproduction. Ok so maybe that wasn't what the ad said but it certainly leaned in that direction.

 

[Bostown]

Well now I know why my system sounds so shitty. My subwoofers are 'leaking'.

ahhh the remedy for that leaking is probably here for $1300+ dollars and you should always use them in multiples.. just place a few around your equipment and everything will be better.

 

[Bostown]

I'm not trying to start one "those" threads. I'd sincerely like to keep an open mind and let my ears experience what this person is talking about. it's an opportunity to think a bit differently about the claims that folks make ( like the "black body Ambient Field" thing above). the person wants to demo his product, and I'd like to facilitate that for him and what better group of people to experience a demo ? - No attack, just a demo. and I'd hope we'd go into it with the intent of a positive outcome. Could be the best thing any of us have ever heard. Can't knock it until you try it right?

 

[kfalls]

"There is no such thing as "imaging". The location of a sound is entirely controlled by how loud speakers on the left side of your room play it compared to the speakers on the right side of your room. "

No such thing as imaging? So we've been lied to all these years. OH THE HUMANITY!

I wonder what voodoo his speakers use to project depth, placement and movement?

To me he sounds more like Ron Popeil ("it slices, it dices, it juliens") than an Audio Engineer. If not "imaging", what does he call the effect of accurate placement of sounds within the soundfield? Maybe "The left/right loudness comparison effect"?

I agree active crossovers would be a plus if implemented properly. The whole tone of the post sounds more like he spent the night at a Holiday Inn Express than being a true audio engineer. I'll look at his speakers on ebay, but not before I implement my snake oil filter.

 

[kansei]

DIY speaks for $2400? I'm sure he means well. You could buy two pairs of Cornwalls for that, and they're proven to be really good and pretty much follow his "big speaker" paradigm.

 

[hammr7]

The guy may be full of it, and his product may be worse than Bose (sorry, but after years of dealing with a few of their "pro" installations I have no regard for their products).

But his rant has grains of truth, and his rant is directed at aspiring audiophiles who have none of our vintage audio experiences.

For anyone whose idea of perfection is a typical mass market surround sound system with a single, mediocre sub-woofer, what he offers may well be a step up. I tried a number of sub-woofers, even better ones on my audio systems. I was never pleased with single subs on my system. I ended up with custom-made pairs, and use a Marchand active crossover network to tightly limit frequency range.

What he claims to have done, with a three-way system, is the same as many high end niche speaker companies have done, and done well. VMPS comes to mind.

You should ask him too come to the next New England get together. If he is glorified white van he will decline. If he has achieved audio nirvana he will definitely show up. What better way to get street credibility than a favorable buzz from fellow audiophiles.

You need to be optimistic. Just be sure to do your due diligence. As Reagan said, "trust, but verify!"

 

[mhardy6647]

Don't you wish you were an audio engineer so you could separate out the 90% of stereo/home theater system marketing claims that is bull from the 10% that really matters?

Well, I am an audio engineer with an engineering degree from MIT and decades of experience in designing and selecting audio components...

[Continued....]

...Each AI-18 tower contains a huge 18" woofer with an enormous magnet, four midranges, and a tweeter. The sound is as accurate as that of any speaker system ever made, but it will play far, far more loudly with much lower distortion than any other speaker system I know of for home use.
...

I sure hope he wasn't absent from class at MIT that day when they talked about comb filtering.

If a person is SERIOUS about their business, a few miles isn't going to stop them from being able to market their product to a targeted audience. at $2400 that's a no brainer. I'd want as many people to hear what no other speaker designer has ever done before in the history of audio reproduction. Ok so maybe that wasn't what the ad said but it certainly leaned in that direction.

Sorry, I was being wry.

In keeping with a more serious take on that ad... yes as others have invoked above there are kernels of long-established truths in his ad copy. It's interesting that he points to 1961 as the year in which loudspeakers were perfected. I think a good case could be made for 1919 (the original "Magnavox" dynamic driver), or the early 1930s (Western Electric drivers, horns, and enclosures) or the early 1940s (Klipschorn and Altec Duplex). It is almost tempting to accuse the author of plagiarism, as he espouses P.W. Klipsch's admonitions about driver distortion (especially LF distortion) as the primary bugbear in "bad" loudspeaker design. Klipsch, famously, quipped that "you cannot miniturize the wavelength of a 16 Hz tone" (or words to that effect... possibly saltier). In the current world, Wayne Parham (Pispeakers) is treading pretty similar ground. Beyond Col. Klipsch and James B. Lansing... I wonder if he knows about guys like Harry F.Olsen, John Hilliard and Douglas Shearer, or Peter L. Jensen?

Heck, I use Altec studio monitors in large cabinets, so I am a believer, of sorts. Come to think of it, though, I have less than 2.4 kilobucks invested in them. Considerably less.

The titular speakers in this thread probably sound pretty good. In fact, they probably sound pretty good for 2400 bucks. I am guessing Eminence drivers... but who knows? I do have to say that good horns with excellent compression drivers is where I'd go if I were aiming to fill this perceived market niche - but doing that in a three-way system for 2400 probably wouldn't be possible.

... The sound performance of two pairs is truly staggering and hearing it is virtually a life-altering experience if you love music and/or movie sound...

Hmm... somehow this seems out of whack with his early comments on "all that is important in stereo reproduction is how loud one channel or the other plays" (obviously I am paraphrasing)... to quote the ad:

The stereo effect works because when a sound comes out of one of the two front speakers louder than it comes out of the other front speaker, the sound appears to be coming more from the direction of the louder speaker. Just try moving the balance control on your receiver all the way from one extreme to the other and you will hear the sound
appear to move from one of your front speakers across the front of the room all the way towards the other front speaker.

So, relative loudness of a sound coming from each of the front speakers is what controls imaging, not anything to do with the speakers themselves. There is no such thing as speakers that have "good imaging" or "bad imaging". If anyone pushes "imaging" on you, walk away.

OK... where do the other two speakers go if I buy four? And, if I buy six, would it be even more life altering - or do I have to go all the way to eight for the next quantum of life-alteration?

He is - I think - right to say that four speakers can play four times louder (6 dB louder) than one... "four times louder" isn't really all that much louder, as our sense of hearing is not linear in its dynamic range.

 

[Ohighway]

I realize this isn't a perfect 'system' , however this is the filter I apply to separate the good from the bad.

The more a person brags and raves about their stuff and writes reams of glowing descriptions, etc. .... well..... the further away I run.

IMO truly fine products tend to speak for themselves, and if anyone is going to write glowing descriptions and reviews it's gonna' be the folks who bought them. They'll also tip off their friends via word of mouth advertising.

If the seller is the one bragging and beating his own drum, then it's likely the only thing he has to offer is words, and little else.

 

[meewoo]

I have no knowledge in sound reproduction. Can some gurus enlighten me how much truth in this audioresearch guy's statement? Despite his pitch for his speakers, there must have some truth that big company and even critic magazine won't tell us. Thanks!!!

 

[Bostown]

Marketing isn't his strong suit for sure. first glaring issue is the name:
AudioResearch - I see a lawsuit in that alone.
Then the pitch line. "The best speakers for the lowest price you'll ever see" - it's a mixed metaphor at best. It doesn't make sense. kind of like " all your bases are belong to us" - but in his case ( if the product is less than stellar) "all your cash are belong to us"

So first thing.. the owner/designer/engineer is banned from talking about the product in all forms. and Audio as a hobby is like religion .. it's the We're right , everyone else is wrong mentality, which kind of works as the theme for a brand name. JIHAD Audio Technologies! - "Our sound blows you away". - whooomp There it is!

 

[frankxbe]

Leaky subwoofers eh yikes!! better plug up my ported subs never would have thought about that I wonder why they made them that way?

 

[robgmn]

I realize this isn't a perfect 'system' , however this is the filter I apply to separate the good from the bad.

If the seller is the one bragging and beating his own drum, then it's likely the only thing he has to offer is words, and little else.

I think they call it "advertising", and I believe hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on it by people promoting both legitimately excellent products and many truly shi**y ones.

Legacy Audio started in a barn in (?)Iowa.
Apple started in a basement.
Polk Audio was started by three "nerds" who knew little of hi-end audio.
Saul Marantz was a graphic designer who built his first device based on a car stereo pulled from his own vehicle.
Conrad & Johnson were two economists who wanted better sound systems.

As for imaging, it's based on accurate sound reproduction by the speaker.
He's right in that speakers don't "image"; they reproduce sound.
The "imaging" is a sonic illusion facilitated by the accurate reproduction of the sound and the correct hardware setup (speaker placement, room setup, etc.) that allows it to happen.

I wouldn't knock him or his speakers until I experienced them myself.