Soft Europeans

February 19, 2019 by Paul McGowan

"Hi Paul, I went to the RMAF last October and found that the European speaker manufacturers products had a soft sounding mid-range presentation. I asked a few of their reps about this and they explained that the listening rooms over there are smaller and made of very hard materials. No wall to wall carpeting etc. I must say, I preferred the softer sound." Roger

Thanks, Roger and I love this thought because t brings up something near and dear to my heart. The way we tailor sound to match our environment. If you take the 50,000-foot view of this notion that manufacturers of speakers in countries with smaller rooms soften their products it might cause you to scratch your head. Why not simply make flatter speakers that work for everyone and ask the hometown folks to add a little carpet or sound deadening to their walls? The answer to that question goes deep to the heart of what I love about our industry. The great manufacturers build products that work in their homes. This, in contrast to the big consumer audio companies that homogenize their offerings, is a key component in what separates high-performance audio from the oatmeal vendors trying to cater to everyone and being remarkable to no one. High-End Audio is personal.