Our sound philosphy - Further info - XTZ

Our sound philosphy - Further info

Our reference is natural sound
When discussing or informaing about the Hifi as a subject, we have to define what "correct" sound reproduction is. According to our philosophy natural sound is the correct way, or sound that comes as close to reality as possible.

This can simply be explained:

The only correct way to measure sound quality would be to compare it to reality. Anything else is subjective, and not possible to rate. Sound reproduction should be as close to reality as possible.

The impression of sound is personal
What you as an individual listener experience is something very personal and subjective. Independant tests show that most people prefer a neutral reproduction, and the more experienced the listener is the more he would appreciate a neutral and non coloured sound character.

The reason is that a neutral character provide different intruments and frequencies equal space in the sound stage, increasing the level of detail. This is a sound that is not likely to cause listening fatigue.
The opposite would be a coloured sound, elevating some frequencies and surpressing others. This is very likely to cause listening fatigue.

Appreciating a neutral sound can be compared to tasting fine wines, exquisite food or enjoying art. It takes experience and reference to compare with in order to fully appreciate a really good wine, or a valuable painting for example (that just like a better sound system generally cost more money).

What sound character is generally preferred?

Except experience and references there are also big variations when it comes to what types of sound characters you would prefer. For the midrange and treble regions the differencies tend to be smaller, and the majority of experienced listeners tend to prefer a neutral sound with a flat frequency response. Occasionally, some individuals prefer an elevated treble level which might give the impression of increased amount of detail. For the bass region however, there are big differencies:

People prefer different bass characters regarding level and frequency
Different rooms affect bass reproduction in different ways
The listening level greatly influence the way sound is experienced
You might prefer different settings for music and cinema

Bass for both music and home cinema?

A constantly common question about subwoofers is whether it´s intended for music or cinema use. Below you can read our opinion about this. We think that a subwoofer providing a flat and neutral response will be able to accurately reproduce both music and movie soundtracks. We use the same reference for music and cinema (the reality) and don´t think that the subwoofer should be different for one or the other. The subwoofer should be able to reproduce any material in an accurate and convincing way.

The inevitable influence of the room

The room is an essential part of a sound system, but not many people are aware of this. Finding an acoustically acceptible room can be a big problem. Normally you can´t change a living room as much as is needed, and we have to accept a non ideal sonic performance.

Another question is of course how much you are willing to re-arrange your living room to achieve optimum sound quality. Even the most ambitious enthusiasts have limits fo how far they will go.

Does the room really matter that much? Yes, it does! The room affects the end results just as much as the speakers themselves!

The art of compromising

A product is always a compromise as long as we have to consider the price. In the pursuit of the optimum compromise it´s easy to disregard some aspects, such as underdimension at a point where it would be a bad idea to save cost. To cut cost, It is equally important to save where it can be done without affecting the end result. This is a constant act of balance, where we benefit from the long experience.

A few examples:

The products options to be adapted to different room acoustics
In what type of room is the product supposed to perform its best
Optimization between quality and price
What would be the best choice of crossover filter?
What radiation pattern do we want for a certain speaker?
Bass reflex or sealed cabinet?
Efficiency vs sonic performance

Choice of filters

The choice of crossover filter is very important - even if we use the best drivers in the world they will sound bad without a proper filter. Constructing a crossover filter is an art of compromising. The challenge is to make all parameters work optimal at the same time, but at a reasonable cost.

The way sound spreads

Should the sound from a speaker be spread wide, or directed? There are several theories about this, and they do not always come together. Consequently, there are different ways to produce the "right" sound.

A. Let the sound spread in all directions to let the rooms acoustic properties help average out the energy, which helps achieve a good reproduction anywhere in the room.

B. Direct the sound as much as possible to reduce the influence from the room.

The advantage in the first alternative is the wider sound distribution, but the disadvantage is that different rooms affect things differently resulting in a random quality of reproduction. When sound bounces off walls, ceilings and floor the result is usually a large degree of phase errors causing a "diffuse" sound stage.

For this reason, we have chosen a directed construction of our speakers. The big advantage is that the room influence is reduced, enabling the speakers to perform better in a wider range of rooms.

Isn´t a center speaker supposed to have two midrange drivers?

We have several models using a single tweeter and midrange/bass driver instead of the more common approach with a tweeter placed between two midrange drivers. This is a compromise where both concepts have their advantages/disadvantages. Many people think that a center speaker is a special speaker with special featurs, but this is not true. Any decent regular speaker can be used as a center.

Bass reflex- or sealed construction?
Bass reflex cabinets have come to dominate the market. They deliver a relatively more powerfel bass compared to a sealed cabinet. The drawback is that the lowest frequencies may lack some precision. We have several models that you can alter between these two settings.

Effiency / Quality
Efficiency equals the function between input power and delivered sound pressure, and is largely dependant on the drivers properties, but crossover filters and cabinets play a important part as well. The efficiency cannot be too low as this would require very powerful amplifiers. Also, it cannot be too high as this can cause problems with sonic performance.
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How to know good sound performance
In order to measure, compare and discuss the optimum sound reproduction we need to have a reference. Without a reference the comparison becomes irrelevant. If we disregard personal preference during a comparison we still have to know the following:

The sonic character of the recordnings
The character of the listening room
The listening sound level - important to keep constant during the entire test
The character of additional equipment, and how it influences the sound

All of these parameters has to be considered in order to make a fair comparison. Who can do this? The answer is that very few people can, and it takes a lot of experience and highly accurate measuring equipment. For the same reason it´s important to take this into account when reading other peoples tests and reviews, but also when you listen to different products yourself.

An example:

A "bright" character can be down to the room or too high treble level of the speakers. This can perhaps be cured with an expensive cable slightly reducing high frequencies so the end results is improved. Is this a good cable then? No, we just cure the symptoms but look away from the cause.

Testing equipment
When listening to a single unit, perhaps in comparance with another unit in the same system, it´s easy to make the conclusion that the unit that sounded the best has to be the best one. But is it really that simple? No, absolutely not.

Normally you would listen to the entire chain from recording session, mixing and mastering process (all of these are obviously influenced by the monitors used) to the following chain: signal source, preamp, power amp, speakers and listening room. It becomes very hard to know where colourings occur and subtle details in the music disappear. The competens lies in being able to pinpoint a single units influence compared to another one.

An example:

A cable with a "dark" character can be compensated with an amplifier that has a brighter character. Considering that we need a external reference, things are suddenly not as easy anymore.

Personal perception of sound

Anybody have the right to a personal opinion about sound of course, but without a proper test- and measuring procedure, it´s hard to put too much of weight into one single persons judgement. This is what fuels the everlasting discussion about hifi and what sound is "right" and how to achieve it. It can of course be great fun discussing, but if the discussion doesn´t lead to anything else than discussing personal preference, we can just as well discuss what colour is the nicest, what music is the best and so on.

Important to have good references
Another question is how to define a good reference? It is an objective reference that most people can understand being important to be a reference.

An example:

- Good recordnings -

Without a good recording, any comparison between equipment becomes very hard or even misleading as even a good recordning can be coloured in some direction, so when experiencing some product as "not neutral" it might actually be the recording. Some people always using the same record when testing products are in danger of making the wrong assumptions. If you want to use the same record all the time, make sure you have listened to it in a transparent and neutral system in a good room. Preferrably, use several good recordings to "spread" the types of sound used for evaluation.

- Good rooms -

The room has to be as neutral as possible, and the system setup should also be as neutral as possible to avoid room influence to colour the sound. Measuring the room properties prior to testing other equipment is a good way of taking the room into account.

Subwoofers that reach very deep are often a problem due to room gain

Subwoofers that reach below 20 Hz are often a problem in regular rooms with plenty of room gain. This is a dilemma when aiming to construct a perfect subwoofer.

A subwoofer that´s linear all the way down to 20 Hz is perfect in theory, but in practice it only works in very large rooms or rooms with very high energy absorbtion ratios. All normal rooms suffer from room gain as a result from decay time. Basically this means an general amplification of bass frequencies and standing waves that can cause severe problems for the sound to be reproduced accurately.

Good advise when purchasing hifi (listening prior to buying):

When it´s time to buy new equipment, many people usually run around in stores, listening to lots of products to find the "right" sound. Here are some generall hints and tips to keep in mind:

Make sure you listen at the same level for all speakers
Make sure the amplifier is set to "flat" frequency response so you listen to the speakers character and not the amp
Make sure you use a neutral amplifier, and not one that colours the sound by itsels. For instance, tube amplifiers should be avoided as these often add a lot of distorsion.
Different characters of speakers might make it difficult to set the same listening level. If the speakers have a very different character, listen for a bit longer between changes.
The classic "loudness" sound is easy to fall for when listening in a store, but remember it´s a sound that quickly cause listening fatigue
Listen to your own records that you know the sound of, preferrably a wide range of musical styles
Make sure you use records that are neutral in their character

We offer Buy & Try, giving you a full three weeks of "test time". This way, you can evaluate your speakers in your own home. Buy & Try is the best way to ensure you will be fully satisfied with your purchase.

Tonal matching

You don´t need to buy all speakers from the same manufacturer or brand, unfortunately too many people says this is necessary. You can use different brands, the most important thing is to make sure you get the best possible sound for your money.

An example:

If you have 5 identical speakers of lower quality, these will be fully matched tonally. If you replace two of these with considerably better ones, the total end result will be better but the speakers are no longer fully matched tonally.

The importance of tonal matching is very individual. The quality and character may differ between front and rear system and you might not experience any big diffference, but for another individual this might be very annoying - which would of course suggest using tonally matched speakers.

A subwoofer cannot be matched tonally with a satellite speakers as they are used in completely different frequency ranges.

Room Tuning

We have chosen to make our speakers flexible with a range of tuning options to offer the possibility to adjust them for the room character and your own personal preferences. On most models you can adjust the tweeter level in steps and in some cases also the bass level, and the boundary frequency by plugging / unplugging bass reflex ports with foam bungs. On subwoofers you can also adjust the level and crossover frequency the same way, and by using the electronic settings you are provided with a wide range of options to achieve the sound you want. For the DSP products, such as the 99 W12 DSP, we have taken this concept to a new level where everything can be adjusted with extreme precision without having to compromise.
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