what lpv has written here
https://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/qu ... ew-and-ipv is as bad as what was written on the AVI forum bake-off thread. His words in italics.
I've stopped to form any opinions about audio components if I'm not familiar enough with the sound they produce.
The bake-off lasted over 6 hours. It was level matched. Same tracks played on each system. A wide variety of music was used. 2 different amplifiers and 2 different sources were used on the EV's. Incidentaly, I could hear the difference in the EV's when the amplifiers were changed, lpv has never made any comment on the different sound of each amplifier.
since the bake off I've moved from dm10s to dm12s..
After that bake-off, reading between the lines, I could tell that he was looking to move on from the DM10's. I would have been too if I'd been in his position. I wouldn't have moved onto another AVI speaker. There's the cliche about the definition of madness being to try the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
they are just right in my small front room and ev's would never work as good as in bigger Andrew's room when the bake off took place.
How does he know? He's never tried them in a smaller room. I've tried the EV's in smaller rooms than Andrew's, including a Wigwam bake-off where they comfortably sounded better than every other speaker there, including a horrible shouty little pair of American 2 ways. Sonically I'm confident they'd sound better than dm12's in lpv's room. They would, however LOOK "stupid" in such a room, but then they look "stupid" in every room.
horns produce lively sound.. whether you like it is another matter
It's more a case that his AVI's produce a shut-in sound.
Live music is a lively sound. When playing live recordings through a hi-fi (as we did during the bake-off) they should sound lively. The shut-in over smooth sound of the AVI's is a form of distortion. A noticeable one because it makes them boring and soporific to listen to. Anyone not prefering the lively sound of the EV's over the AVI's hasn't got a clue about hi-fi and is someone that nobody should take any notice of. There are a few of them about. Arkless being another example.
what I didn't like? ( again, don't forget it was short demo)
On what planet is a 6 hour volume matched bake-off a short demo?
I realised that the EV's were a markedly superior speaker within the first few seconds of the first track played on both speakers.
piercing mids and highs.. false impression of clarity?
False impression of clarity? No the AVI's were oversmooth and not as good at low level detail resolution. No false impression of clarity. They simply had better clarity than the AVI's.
piercing mids and highs? Yeah it's called dynamics. Something lacking in the oversmooth AVI's.
A few weeks after the bake-off I went to the ballet. There were plenty of times I had my "ears pierced". That's what music sounds like every time someone in the orchestra blows on his piccolo etc.
If he's claiming that the EV's were piercing because of their voicing or some distortion, he's talking a load of bollocks. They are not, for example, sibilant speakers.
it can be good with some electric guitar.. piano sounded good but it would with any bigger cabinet where violin sounds much better thru dm10 ( and especially thru new dm12) as these are smoother in the mids and highs yet preserve all the clarity..
Fantasy statement time again. The EV's sounded better on violins on the day. AVI's do not preserve all the clarity, as I've already mentioned.
violin was a pain from ev's and it's never a pain live as violin is a uber smooth instument even when played hard..
Violins can be smooth. They can also be quite stringent live.
The only pain at the bake-off from the EV's was that they were kicking the AVI's butt, track after track after track.
By the way, we played the classical tracks with the Creek amp only. This amp is somewhat crude in the midrange. I could turn around and say that for better violin reproduction - more natural and more low level detail resolution - use a good SET (which would bring the price up to DM10 level and below DM12 level)
while I could sort the piano by going for 2 subs I could not smoother ev's horns for satisfying violin reproduction.
Again mere fantasy speculation. He has never compared the EV's against AVI's with 2 subs. The oversmooth nature of the AVI's would still be there regardless of how many subs he used.
the sound of symphony orchestra was shouty too.
Bollocks. He's just made that up.
By the way, in all this he hasn't mentioned that the weakest area of the EV's is the bass. That could be because although it is the weakest area, it was still at least as good as the AVI's plus sub and noticeably better than the ATC 11's (without sub). And he doesn't have the experience to realise just how good bass could and should be.