I have owned numerous low efficiency speakers until I heard 15'' Tannoys. The energy they gave me was a revelation. In my opinion, nothing can compare to high efficiency. I've tried many Tannoy and Altec speakers. Although a bit rough at first, I now prefer the Altec. These are the only speakers that made me feel like live music. I've owned Altec VOT (Voice of Theater). They we're among the best speakers I've ever heard, but phasing and fine tuning of the drivers was too complicated for me. That's why I chose the 620A monitors : phasing is perfect. You simply cannot reproduce the dynamic of an orchestra with small and/or inefficient speakers.
“If it measures good and sounds bad, it is bad. If it sounds good and measures bad, you’ve measured the wrong thing.” — Daniel von Recklinghausen, audio engineer at EAD and KLH
System edited: I replaced my old Hafler preamp with a TVC passive unit from Promitheus. The improvement over the Hafler was NOT subtile. For 330$, this preamp has NO competition.
Hello wwwrecords... Altec are not flat... neither is the human ear... Altec, and most high efficiency speakers, are in a different paradigm... To understand this, we have to know what is an acoustical watts. The legendary Mr Hiraga explained it in «La nouvelle revue du son», a cupple of years ago... The acoustical watt is a ratio calculated with efficiency and volume of a speaker. This is the best kept secret in hi-fi. The greater acoustical watt a speaker can deliver, the closer it will sound - in terms of impact - to the original instrument. This is why the world's top audiophile usually have high efficiency speakers like Altec, JBL, Tad, .... It is mathematically impossible to obtain a great acoustical watt ratio with a small and inefficient speaker. Since people wants small speakers, companies have no other choice than to focuss on image, timbres and ect. Many of these speakers may sounds better in terms of texture. They just don't deliver the energy of a musician playing, which is, for me, more important than the textures...
Alaindexe, you and I are using identical speakers, so I know what you are describing when you listen. These Altecs are described by today audiophiles as colored and not having a flat response thru the frequency range. But to me, it makes no difference, they reproduce very engaging lifelike music to my ears. I don't see many people on this site using Altecs, which kind of surprises me a little. I have listened to several of the newer more audiophile approved speakers and none that I have listened to so far compete with the Altecs in my opinion.
My 620 cabinets are a think oak veneer, what are yours?
