Isabel’s impressions with the Duet15 Horn1

00:00:02 [Music] The making of today’s show was kind of an accident. It wasn’t planned out. It just happened. So, here’s the story. Uh, I have a neighbor, Isabelle. She’s 22 years old. She considers herself to be something of an audio nerd and she just happened to be passing through the lobby of the building when she saw these PureAudioProject Duet15 Horn speakers being delivered and she freaked. I mean she was really really really excited. She had no idea what they were. I mean, she knew they were speakers, but she never saw anything

00:00:49 like that. So, she kept touching them. She put her fingers in the horn. I mean, it was just it was so much fun to just watch her trying to process what the hell was going on. So, I said to her, “Hey, when I set them up, you want to come up to my apartment and listen to them? I want to I want to see your reaction, like a first reaction to the sound of a speaker like this.” And she said she would. So she did. She came up, listened, and then we shot this interview and it went very, very well. You’ll get it when you see how she

00:01:23 describes the sound of the speaker. Mind you, she’s not at a phone. Definitely not. But she has some very interesting insights about the sound of this speaker. Stick around for that. But first, I want to give a shout out to my friend Herb Riker. Yes, you guys know him. Anyway, he’s taking calls. He loves talking to audio files about audio stuff and lots of other things. And anyway, uh this is your opportunity. So, you have to work it out with Herb exactly the details of these chats. But anyway, I’m

00:01:56 putting his address on the screen right now. Email Herb. Oh, and in the subject line of your email, put audio. He gets a lot of emails, so I want yours to stand out and work it out. work it out with her. And now without any further ado, let’s see what Isabelle has to say. Isabelle, this is incredible. All these years we’ve known pretty much your entire life, you’ve lived in this building. Yeah. And I’ve been in this building somewhere in Brooklyn. And now we’re actually talking. I know. We’ve talked a little before, but not like

00:02:33 this. This is the most in depth. And you saw these speakers being delivered yesterday. Yeah. The look on your face of fascination like what is that thing? Yeah. You kept touching it which I thought was amazing. Well, yeah. I mean, I’m curious about it. I’m curious about the wood and the shape of it. I mean, the horn is beautiful. So, yeah, did intrigue me for sure. Then the audio dude came in and um I thought he was taking them away instead of instead of uh dropping them off and I got really scared. I was like, wait, no. So yeah,

00:03:09 thank you for letting me hear them. Yeah. So the big question is uh so you’ve never heard anything like this before. Not that I can recall. Maybe without knowing that I have at some point, but nothing but not like in somebody’s audio system in their house. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s a whole different thing. Yeah. It’s a different experience. And you’re you have a background in audio. You’re studying audio. Um, I went to audio engineering school for a year, so I wouldn’t say I’m as seasoned as those who are 10, 20, 30,

00:03:43 40 years in, of course. But definitely I am a nerd about it. Yeah. I mean, you’re, you know, you’re above average. Yeah. And I’m learning. I’m learning. That’s your whole Yeah. You’re going to start a podcast now. Yes. I’m a very curious person. Yeah. And you sing. I do sing. Yeah. So, you’re you’re multi-talented. Thank you. So anyway, uh here we are. You heard these speakers. I played different kinds of music with them. And so what the purpose of doing this video is this is a reaction video they said, right? So what is your

00:04:14 reaction to this sound? Well, I think it’s interesting because you want when you’re listening to new when you’re listening to something new, you want it to sound how you want it to sound or how you’re expecting it to sound. But then a big factor is how the audio was recorded. Whatever that audio is that you’re initially listening to. I think in general it’s a cool experience because the horn and the woofer have great cohesion and it’s a very literal sound. You know, it can almost sound like you’re right there with a band

00:04:53 that’s playing or you’re right there with the singer. But I think ultimately it also comes down to how those people were recording themselves. But so far I’m finding that I’m listen I’m picking up so many details that sound na very natural. Um it’s like very uninterrupted sound. It’s a very as it is type of way to let something exist and be. So, I like that they’re not um limiting. They’re they’re it’s a very open sound. You’re using all the right words. Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely. That’s just how

00:05:37 I feel. Yeah, that’s the that makes it even better. Yeah, that’s the idea of doing this like reaction. Well, I guess that means that the that these are what they advertise and try to be, you know, like cuz uh I mean, you can say that you’re one thing as a company and end up being another. So, it’s nice that they’re doing their job. Wow, that’s fantastic. You get it. I do. You got it. That’s really good. and you’re putting it into words that you know because it’s it’s you know this is my job talking about

00:06:14 sound with words but I’ve been doing this a very long time and this is your first shot at it so to speak and there you go you’re on yeah I mean it’s it makes it’s you know it’s kind of paradoxical or like meta in a way because to explaining these speakers how these speakers explain what they play does that make sense I’m just straight straight on about it. These are pretty straight on about whatever is behind them. So, picking up their energy right now and channeling it. Wow. This is good stuff. So, yeah.

00:06:52 No, I mean it’s beautiful. It’s something that we don’t get to see as often. Yeah. Well, now now you can now that we’re pals. You know, I have this uh this thing. So, you I am an audio file. You know that word audio file, right? An audio file is someone who likes the sound of music. They like music and they also like sound, right? And the catch is is that every system, every speaker, every amplifier that the signal goes through sounds different, right? So that the the what what many audio files are trying to do throughout

00:07:22 their lives is to find the sound, you know, that makes them happy, that does everything they wanted to do. Now, this is almost impossible, but it’s it’s the quest of trying to get there that makes it worthwhile. Yeah, it’s not it’s not the getting there, it’s the it’s the journey. I understand. I mean, I think for me that’s like my headphones have a very neutral frequency response and what are they? They’re Bose 700’s and sure the noise cancellation is cool, but I feel like I’ve never heard at least on affordable headphones for most

00:08:02 consumers. I’ve never heard any headphones have the same translation of audio as the Bose 700’s just because they’re very literal, you know? Okay. Um I feel like they play sound the best. But yeah, for me that’s my version of it. Okay. Yeah, I mean, you know, there’s a lot more to learn. There are a lot of different mediums to hear sound through, but I understand that. I mean, we don’t even know what like even our ears distort sound for us, you know. So, I guess everybody the same way we all see colors differently, we also probably

00:08:42 hear everything differently. And also it depends what we want to consciously pick up. What we focus on. Yeah. What we focus on. Right. So like in in for audio files, right? Audio files focus on different things. Some of them focus on bass. Yeah. You know, powerful it is. Some focus on mid-range. So how natural do voices sound? Some people focus on sound stage. You know what that is? It’s like where things appear, right? And and many other things, right? So they they they get hung up on those things and

00:09:13 they sort of ignore the other things, you know. So everybody does that in a different way. Whether they consciously do it or not isn’t the point, but they absolutely do it. Every every human does it. But uh I I’m fascinated by and I also think that listening to the space around you in real life, you know, like hearing this room or if you’re Yeah. your church, it has great acoustics and stuff to be really open to hearing it because a lot of people just ignore that. They just it’s just there, right?

00:09:42 But when you are aware of the space you’re in, uh you you you hear it in a different way because it’s contributing. You can never hear the sound of a of a singer uh without in in real life without the space around the singer, you know, the concert hall, club or whatever it is, right? So, it’s all part of it. But most people nonauudio file people, they listen to just that source, the singer or the drummer or the trumpet players, right? They don’t think about all that other stuff. But they’re actually

00:10:12 missing out on a lot, you know, because it all it’s all part of it. Yeah. But I’ll tell you, I was working in a recording session once and the uh the saxophone player came in early because because he had all these different mouth pieces that he could use on his on his sacks, right? So some were rubber, some were plastic, some were metal. And he’s just playing and it’s a church. It’s not a studio. So he’s hearing this sound fill the stu fill the church, you know. And then he play take it off, put on another one, play some

00:10:41 more. Listen to the sound coming back. And I was like, that is so cool that you’re interest you’re interested not in just the sound of your instrument, but how it sounds in this space. Yeah, it’s important. It’s super important. It’s like one of the things that separates good recordings from not so good recordings is how much of that you get, you know. Yeah. I mean, I have a personal thing against our apartment layout. So, yes, we live in the same building. We have and we have the same Yes, we do live in the

00:11:10 same row of apartments. I think for me that’s where my personal thing comes in with listening in this apartment is that it it is exactly the same as my apartment and I don’t feel like sound translates the best in the shape that these apartments are even like the walls and the you know Yeah. But I mean, who am I to complain? You know, you’re you. Yeah, that’s enough. You’ve made the best of this space and it it’s really amazing. No, but what you don’t understand is that because the wall that my viewers never see the other

00:11:49 side of this room, right? The other side of this room, the wall is going at a really sharp angle. Yeah. Meaning that the front wall that you are on that you’re on and the back wall are not parallel. And because they’re not parallel, the sound doesn’t bounce back and forth like it does in in most rooms. And that’s what makes this room actually really good sounding. Yeah, I lucked out. I mean, yeah, you did luck out. I was thinking about that. And then your your rug um I don’t know if you did this intentionally has like

00:12:17 these these almost triangle shapes, if you want to call it that. And then so when you have something here and here, it’s kind of like a guide, you know, into the back of this triangular shaped room. I mean, for me, yeah, we have one big wall right here. So, it’s always done exactly what you’re talking about. We also have mirrors lining this wall. It’s really bad. So, it’s so bad. It’s really bad. But yeah, that’s why I’m saying it’s my personal thing with the apartment. Has nothing to do with your

00:12:46 apartment really. But, you know, it’s just funny because I understand the energy of the building and the space. So, but soon you’re leaving. I am leaving. Wait a minute. Now that we’ve had our first conversation, you’re leaving. Yeah. Weird. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I’ll be back and maybe this can be my excuse to come back. There you go. That would be nice. I mean, I have nobody else left in this building, so Well, that’s not true. Sad. But yeah, I know. It’s It’s sad. It is sad. But I’m excited to move. Yeah, I bet. First

00:13:17 apartment. First apartment. So this is my childhood apartment. Yeah. And then my parents moved out and left me here. Yeah. You’re an orphan. Yeah, I’m an orphan now. No. So it’s my turn. Fantastic. Yeah. I mean, it’s nice to be able to make use of a new space and to get rid of everything I don’t want and fill the new space up with only things that are mine. Fantastic. Yes. Doesn’t get better than that. Okay, I think we’re good, right? Unless there’s something else we should talk about. No, no, we’re good. Okay, I think so.

00:13:52 All right, we are Well, I think I think my uh my fans are going to be very interested in what you say because you’re the I’ve never done an interview like this. So, yeah, there’s going to be a lot of comments. Cool. Well, I’ll have to see it. I’ll be I’ll be watching you guys in the comments. Cool. Behave yourself. Nice to meet you. Behave yourselves. Yeah. And uh well, to be continued. Thank you, Isabelle. Thanks for having me. Bye bye.