1. There are big companies around; they claim to have invested megabucks into R&D and designing speakers. Yet, you say that your speakers are better at half the price and less.
A. The long version of this answer is the Lithos philosophy and unique Q balance technology that you will get elsewhere on this website.
The short version? When you listen, you will realize for yourself. That, after all, is the ultimate test of our claims.
2. Why do speakers sound different when I bring them home?
A. A retailer’s outlet is simply one of two cases.
The first one is the typical showroom environment…where you will see many speakers on a shelf and on the floor. You typically stand and listen. Often, your listening is just about a few minutes with each speaker, with many interruptions. This kind of listening is absolutely the worst-case environment for choosing your system. The speakers that u think sound good in this environment are actually only sounding good on that song in that room. In addition, the retailer / salesman always sells you the product he wants u to buy, by tapering the demo.
On the other end of the spectrum is the hi-end showroom demo. Properly carpeted, with acoustic tiling, bass traps and other audio trimmings and very good room acoustics, but not your typical living room, even the speakers are positioned impractically. Further most of these rooms are sound proofed, almost like a studio - now is your living room anything like this? You hear sound that is going to be different in your living room.
Always understand the equipment that is used to play the speakers. Make sure that it is in the same price range as the speakers you are buying. Often salesmen play their cheaper speakers on very expensive system electronics, which you will never buy with those speakers. Speakers will sound different on these expensive electronics, but you take them home and play them on similarly priced electronics, you will be shocked again.
At Lithos, the philosophy is simple, we give demos in rooms that duplicate living rooms - Every Lithos demo is in a normal living room, a center table in the center, a showcase, and with minimum acoustic treatment - as soon as u enter, u will realize it’s your living room, nothing more - nothing less. The equipment amplifiers, CD players cables and interconnects are all matching in cost and compatibility. The sound you hear here will be the same as when you take it home…
3. Listening to salesmen and reading magazines is confusing. How am I supposed to choose ?
A. Welcome to the big bad world of marketing. The job of every salesman in the world is to sell. And he will sell the product that gives him the maximum commission. Not always the product he thinks is right for you. Magazine reviews are mostly the same - they are also based on the principles of economy. No magazine is going to criticize a product from a company that is giving them regular full-page advertisements. Consumer reviews? How many really expert and unbiased reviews are available? Therefore, what do you do? You have to learn to evaluate for yourself. Unfortunately or fortunately, the burden of a good choice lies solely with you.
4. How is Lithos different in their selling approach ?
A. Yes, we need to sell too…and that’s what we will do. But our philosophy of selling is based on educating and informing. Our demos are 1-on-1 listening sessions. Of course, they are held in normal listening rooms. In addition, because all listening sessions are pre-appointed, we know exactly what speaker to play for u, and so u will listen only to the product that is relevant. We make sure that you are sure.
5. Home theatre or audio? What’s the deal?
A. Yes, actually this is a basic question, made complicated by sellers of equipment, who with the advent of home theatre, now have the opportunity to sell more speakers, specialized center speakers, power subwoofers, dipole surrounds etc…and really, really confuse you and complicate your life. The bottom line is no speaker or amp knows what signal is being played, its job is to reproduce the signal. If it reproduces one - it will reproduce the other. For sure, a speaker that sounds good on music, will sound good on home theatre, all you have to be certain about is that it has the required full-range power handling for your room - that’s all!
At Lithos, we realize that most clients actually listen to music 80-90% of the time the system is on. The remainder is for theatre. Within this, maybe (depending on the movie) 25-50% of this time is devoted to special effects and other movie sounds. The remaining is once again for dialogue and simple speech and effect reproduction. Yet, home theatre demos in typical showrooms are all about special effects. But do you really know, whether the bass is sounding boomy or correct when that t-rex is walking around, or is that really how an earthquake is supposed to sound.
What about a bullet shot? How many of you have really heard any of these effects in real life?? But surely you know how a piano sounds - or what the sound of a guitar is mostly like - and the voice of your favorite singer. That’s why; the best evaluation is with music - where you have familiar evaluation cues. Kick back your favorite rock/pop/jazz track and let the sound sink in. Of course, we will throw in an occasional effect or two… but we know, that’s not what evaluation is all about. So, get ready to listen to music at a Lithos listening room. That’s the only way you’ll be sure.
6. Lithos doesn’t have specialized center speakers and dipole surrounds for home theatre
A. At Lithos, the sound of music is more important than the sound of marketing.
Take the center channel speaker in a Home theatre setup. Do you know, center speakers in mid and high-end home theatre packages are worst-case high-end speaker scenarios? The horizontally placed two-way system consisting of 2 mids/bass and a tweeter in the center causes high amounts of phase cancellation. It also gives maximum vertical dispersion while minimizing horizontal dispersion… exactly the opposite of what’s required. Furthermore, placed on top of your TV, this is the most undamped speaker placement you can have in your home, causing undue vibration to the TV, while the TV cabinet itself vibrates the speaker in various modes.
In fact, there is no worse center speaker than this…yet because it looks good on the TV, it is widely accepted even by audiophiles… The best center speaker is the one that is the same as the front and preferably, even the rear - this makes obvious sense when sound needs to be coherent across all 5 speakers. In addition, placed as least 6-8" away from your TV to prevent mechanical vibrations of one component adversely affecting the performance of the other. Today, high-end companies are realizing this and now making this version with sloping baffles and placing the tweeter at a slightly higher level than the mids to prevent phase problems…but you can’t improve on a wrong to make it right.
The thing with dipole surrounds is the same. You can only be in one correct position to enjoy it the most. If you shift away from that position, you will have an overdose of anomalies. Would you believe, in spite of having ‘wide dispersion’ dipole surrounds - we now have companies that are coming out with a third surround - placed in the center of the first two…so much for wide dispersion.
Note for note, we guarantee that the sound of a our vertical inline point source speakers will sound better than any of these special addition speakers that are being promoted for home theater.
