[Bill Baker]

I had a customer come in from out of state to listen to and pick up a very heavily modified pair of Usher CP-6311 speakers. Being a holiday and my wife working all day, I was only able to get to the store about 20 minutes before he showed up to get things fired up.

I turned on the amp, Reference Jolida 502 Custom, and let it warm up a bit. When he showed up, we sat down to listen to his new speakers. After a few tracks, I starting think to myself that this doesn't sound right. There was no sparkle or air up top and the vocals were kind flat. He agreed. We let things run another half hour or so. Nothing changed.

We decided to try another amp, then another....... all with the same results. Okay, let's try difference speakers, then another, and another. Everything had the same results with nothing sounding the way it was supposed to or even the way it did a few days back.
I have been listening to and breaking in these speakers for a few days prior to being picked up and they were sending chills down my spine. Today, they did nothing for me.
The only thing that I can think of is that the store was closed up all weekend and it was hot, humid and sticky inside. Without time to run the air, I am thinking it was the "dense" air that was taking the sparkle out of the listening session. I have had this happen to me in the past but not to this extent.
I guess I will have to wait till he gets them home in his own enviroment to evaluate their true potential and send me back some up to date feedback.
Your thoughts????

[Brian Cheney]

A similar phenomenon occurs in recording acoustical instruments and orchestras.  You can record the same performers in the same hall all day and have takes different enough sonically so as not to match.  This can ruin your ability to splice in make-goods and repeat takes done several hours apart, as they sound like different sessions.  

Usually you are forced to use the sonic misfits because it is too expensive to wait on hall acoustics to straighten themselves out again.

[DVV]

I had a customer come in from out of state to listen to and pick up a very heavily modified pair of Usher CP-6311 speakers. Being a holiday and my wife working all day, I was only able to get to the store about 20 minutes before he showed up to get things fired up.

I turned on the amp, Reference Jolida 502 Custom, and let it warm up a bit. When he showed up, we sat down to listen to his new speakers. After a few tracks, I starting think to myself that this doesn't sound right. There was no sparkle or ai ...

Since sound is air waves, it stands to reason that a hot, sticky, humid day will "sound" different from a normal one. At least, such is my experience, and I live on the brink of continental climate, so I have very hot summers and very cold winters. Which is why I use air con, in transition periods mostly to dry out the air.

There's another aspect to it - your power supply from the grid. The transformer is also sitting in humid weather, and as we all know, two things electronics and electricity as such don't take to kindly are heat and moisture, let alone outright dampness. Good power line filters help here.

Cheers,
DVV

[Jay S]

It could have just been your mood -- hard to sit back and get into the music if the room is hot and uncomfortable.

[Mag]

I've noticed this phenomina too. I tend to listen to music late at night after midnight. There are times when for no apparent reason the sound just sounds terrific. It could be that I was just in the right frame of mind for critical listening, but I think its due more to air pressure change from colder tempertures at night.

[joeling39]

Hi,

This humidity & air pressure is a pet hate of mine. I live in Malaysia where it is hot & humid all year round. I have noticed that whenever it rains or the weather is poor (i.e.very humid or expereincing a low pressure system), the stereo sound unlively & dull. Unbearable to listen to.

Note that the air-conditioning is always on during listening. This should help to drop the humidity a little but did not help with the sound.

Regards,
Joe Ling

[PhilNYC]

On hot/humid days, I notice that my AC drops (from normally around 120v to as low as 110v)...probably because of all the air conditioners on in the neighborhood.  As a result, I do find that my system doesn't sound "quite right", a little bit dulled...

[rbrb]

I agree with Mag. I live in a concrete high rise and I notice a definate improvement late at night when most people in the building are asleep and are not sharing the AC with me. That is the only time of the day that I can close to 120 volts.

The dense night air probably has an effect aswell.

[Dmason]

Bill, where you live, in the Great Lakes Basin, it can get pretty damn humid, where ambient humidity is often hovering close to the dew point even in the afternoon, where it can start raining with the temperature at 88'....water molecules in air have a distinct damping effect on the transmission of sound energy. I once noticed that thunder claps in drier regions seemed to have far more impact than in soggy ones, like where you are. Further, if it were that hot, all the air conditioners in the area would be on, if it were a weekday, all the process and control equipment of business and industry are on, and drawing down on available current. I have a voltage meter on, and am sometimes amazed at just how much juice can get sucked out of the system on a weekday.

I live in a much drier climate now, and had thought my systems sounded somehow better, but just chalked it up to the better drugs.  Always better at night, where there is less junk in the system. If electricity were water, our stereos are drinking from a sewer. I am sure your client will be very happy once he gets his hotrod Ushers all set up.

[grundy]

Now that I know what my system is capable of, I have learned that there is a much better chance of a good listening session if the room is dead quiet...  

That means no air conditioning, no fridge, no dehumidifier in the basement, and not even a ticking clock two rooms away!  I live in the country.  I don't know how people who live in a noisy city cope with the constant racket.

I have also tried using shorting plugs on the unused inputs of my preamp to minimize crosstalk.  I used the plugs for about a year until I realised some recordings weren't delivering what I knew they were capable of.  The shorting plugs seemed to be limiting the dynamics or high frequencies?  Apparently I have a poorly designed preamp, or this would not be happening?  The Preamp is a Krell KRC-2 Line stage, the amp is an OCM-500, speakers are Legacy Covergence.

In the past I have thought my system had problems until I went out and  listenened to some real high dollar systems, (including some in Big Bear Lake CA-years ago)!

[bundee1]

I don't know how people who live in a noisy city cope with the constant racket.

The constant city noise keeps us company and drowns out the other thoughts and voices in our heads. It keeps us sane.  

[Hantra]

Ya know really, I think sometimes it's all in our mind.  I mean the other day I went up to listen, and nothing sounded right.  

I can't really say if there were temp, or humidity differences, but I tried a few things and a few tracks, and I just gave up.  Next day, all was well.  I am sure it's just mental.  Sometimes it's not the right time to listen. . .

[ohenry]

Like Hantra, I too, think that biological variances far outweigh the nuances of power, weather, etc.

If I'm not content, there's not much reason to light up the LEDs and tubes.  There's little talk here regarding the effects of decent nutrition, a good night's sleep and some inner peace on how we perceive the sound of our favorite toys.  That's a tweak that is paramount to enjoyment and can't be mail-ordered (thank God, I couldn't afford it    )

[gonefishin]

I had a customer come in from out of state to listen to and pick up a very heavily modified pair of Usher CP-6311 speakers. Being a holiday and my wife working all day, I was only able to get to the store about 20 minutes before he showed up to get things fired up.

I turned on the amp, Reference Jolida 502 Custom, and let it warm up a bit. When he showed up, we sat down to listen to his new speakers. After a few tracks, I starting think to myself that this doesn't sound right. There was no sparkle or ai ...

   Any time during this entire process of break-in to the last audition day...have you changed the source player at all?  If you tried changing the amps and even the speakers...the only thing I can think of to cause this much trouble would be the source.  

    Hmmm...ok...had the speaker positioning been changed at all during this period?

  good luck!

[viggen]

I am very sensitive to changes in air pressure, humidity and "stuffiness" for a lack of a better word.  And, the air feels much heavier, wet and stuffy these past few days.  It has put me in a really bad mood.  I didnt 't notice any changes in my stereo though.  In fact, it is the only calming presence during my pms.

[Corbin Johnson]

What a coincidence to read this thread.  I was planning to start a thread asking this same question.  Just last week I lost HVAC in my back guest house in Orlando where I have my stereo.  The temperature was in the upper 80's and the humidity was high.  I listened to the stereo and found the sound to be very flat.  I tried moving the speakers, tuning them some (I have VMPS RM40's with adjustable pots for mids and highs) and nothing improved the sound.  I came to the conclusion that it must be the high relative humidity.  Now the power's off from Hurricane Frances, but once power comes back and I get the HVAC fixed I plan on setting the AC to low 70's to see if I can improve the sound over my typical temperature setting of upper 70's to low 80's.  I wonder if the sound is temperature sensitive or humidity sensitive.  I suspect that it is humidity and air density,  but also wondered if temperature has any significant impact on the coeficient of expansion of speaker materials.

I'll do some experiments and report back.

Corbin