I came across an article and found it to be interesting. This may help our members audition ICE equipment better. I've put it here, since it would not be termed hijacking.
While auditioning a setup,
1. Expectations: If you expect it to sound good, it is likely to sound good. Vice versa, if you expect it to sound bad, it is likely to sound bad. Try to keep an open mind. Better yet, try to compare speakers without knowing which brands you are listening to. In this sense, the less you know about the speaker you're listening to, the better.
2. Second Speaker Sounds Best: In a comparison of two items, people tend to prefer the second item. This is one of the bases of the Pepsi challenge --- present the Pepsi second. This effect is sometimes used by dealers to favor a specific speaker.
3. The Louder Speaker Sounds Best: In a comparison of two speakers, people to to prefer the louder one. Of course, this is not true if the loudness difference is large. However, small differences in loudness are not perceived as differences in loudness - rather the louder speaker is perceived as better. This effect is sometimes used by dealers to favor a specific speaker. This effect can be minimized by demoing speakers at a variety of different volumes - fiddle with the volume control!
4. The Speaker with more Bass and Treble Sounds Better: In a comparison of two speakers, people tend to prefer the one with more bass and treble. Again, like loudness, slight differences are not perceived as due to frequency response differences - the increase in bass and treble is perceived as better. While increased bass and treble sound better in the short run, it can become extremely fatiguing in the long term. Many speaker manufacturers build a slight contour into their speakers to help them perform well in short casual demos, but the purchaser drawn in by this technique often lives to regret their decision. This effect is also sometimes used by dealers to favor a specific speaker. Playing with the bass and treble controls, and varying the volume (perceived frequency balance changes with volume), can help overcome this effect. If you find that, for some reason, you actually prefer increased bass and treble, most receivers have a loudness switch, and bass and treble controls, which accomplish the same thing. However, if the bass and treble boosts are built into the speakers, it is nearly impossible to cancel them exactly using bass and treble controls if you later find them tiresome.
5. Room placement. The sound of a speaker is greatly influenced by its location in the room, and its interactions with a room's acoustics. The sound is also influenced by listener position and listener height. For example, most speakers sound best if the tweeter is at the same height as the listener's ears, or slightly lower.
6. Mood. In particular, it is very hard to judge when nervous or under pressure.
7. Other factors. Color, size, styling, lighting, etc. can affect your judgements. I have even heard of dealers using small surround sound speakers - used properly, listeners will not perceive the additional separate speakers, but will instead perceive the main speakers as better.
Last edited by rocksterraghu : 27th September 2007 at 14:47.
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