Kal Rubinson

I would love to hear a subjective description of these "some pretty strange sounds."

Agreed. The ports are down about 10dB at 80Hz but not completely out and the side-mounted woofers are crossed over at about 400Hz.

This diagram predicts results from a speaker which emits sound only from its front surface. This is not the case for the Blades which emit bass from the sides as well as the rear-directed ports.

Of course, that has occured to me but my situation is more complex. First, my front wall has windows across the upper part and large built-in bass traps across the lower part behind the L and R speakers. In addition, I am using a 3rd Blade as a center channel and this gets different treatment. First, in order to achieve the same speaker-to-listener distance for all three speakers, the center one must be closer to the front wall than the L and R and, second, its central position places it adjacent to a segment of "real" wall (between the bass traps). With the correction of that small "sag" in the FR between 100-200Hz, the sound is neither cold nor dull nor closed.

I found this old measurement with Omnimic from one speaker on HF axis at 1m (not from listening position) and prior to the apartment renovations. I cannot recall exactly where it was situated and I do not have the info on the averaging or smoothing in effect. The trough in the 100-200Hz range is now corrected with DL. If/when there is time and inclination, I would like to do more.

I did not mention JA in this context and my interaction with Floyd on this was casual (although I always appreciate their comments).

Did he give any explanation? Not with the 36" but with the much smaller distance I was initially using.

Yeah. KEF recommends: A- Rear of speaker to front wall: 225mm (9")!!! B- Side of speaker to side wall: 1m (36") W- Distance between speakers: 2-3m (6-10 feet) D- Centerline distance to MLP: 1-1.2 x W The most curious item is how small A is but that may be due to the controlled directivity. I am planning to experiment with that as I now have them about 36" from the front wall. The others are not remarkable although Floyd Toole told me that he expected problems with "B." Turns out that it was not a problem for me perhaps because my entire setup is off center in the room resulting in different measures for "B" on each side.

I do agree that their unusual construction, specifically with regard to the placement and orientation of the four large drivers whose FR extends up into the midrange, makes placement a challenge. It took me months of experimentation to get my system to where I like it but I am not convinced that it is optimum yet. OTOH, the placement of those drives and of their loading ports also provides for bass sources from 12" to 50" off the floor which certainly makes their interaction with vertical and oblique modes different from the vast majority of speakers. So, I think it is this, rather than directivity per se, that makes setup not difficult but different.

Hope so. That is one of the motivating reasons that was offered.

Sunglasses are optical tone controls. 😎

I keep falling back on the analogy to rose-colored glasses.

Indeed. It is not that a piano can sound too natural but that a component can alter the sound such that it alters the sound in such a way that some (or even many) believe to be an enhancement of piano recordings. Such a coloration is likely to not do be as "complementary" to other instruments or voices but, despite that, it many appeal to some listeners. I will refer you to what I wrote in my review but will add that I do not believe that any coloration is beneficial and prefer transparency. There's a wide range of pianos (and other instruments) and they should sound different and not homogenized. The Blade 2s achieve that and the measurements (by JA and, also, in my room) confirm it. I would not trust my ears without the support of the measurements.

Too many variables! There is no one (imho) who can tell you with authority if you will be pleased with the Blades 1 or 2, Meta or not. Even the word "character" is a hot button term that is used equally with disdain or with approval. And the amp issue is secondary since (imho, again) amps should be transparent and neutral. Pick a suitable one after you have determined your speaker choice. Sorry not to have answers for you.

Perhaps there should be an "Out-takes" thread.

I agree but I don't think you will be satisfied by "simple" stereo system like this, even if supplemented with a pair of subwoofers. stereophile.com/content/kef-ls60-wireless-loudspeaker Multichannel should be considered.

Let's stop before we get to the cellular or molecular level and agree that the training of humans has its social limits.

From then onwards the sound coming out of different speaker topologies will interact with the room boundaries in a distinct manner in each different room, and heavily dependent on where in each different room one is sitting. The interaction with any particular room and seating position can be corrected, albeit imperfectly. Tag. You're it. 😉

I will expand your statement: From then onwards the sound coming out of different speaker topologies will interact with the room boundaries in a distinct manner in each different room. The interaction with any particular room can be corrected, albeit imperfectly.

I've re-edited my post but over the span of this backup, no files were skipped.

To answer my own question...................... HBS keeps a log of the filtered files for each transfer. I just completed creation of a new backup of about 37Tb of music (and associated info), ~150,00 files. None were skipped. Many ".@__thumb/" files were filtered but none of the music content files. FWIW.

Doesn't it tell you which files are filtered from the backup?

True but scientific technology evolves more rapidly than do humans. 😄

Indeed. As scientists, we know that personal experience, let alone memory, is not entirely reliable and yet we cannot deny it. What we can do, though, is to appreciate the value of objective, factual information and not deny it. How an individual does that balancing trick is specific to that individual. Exactly.

It's long story so, buy me a beer sometime.........................