Column

“In most cases, you’re not even close to what’s on the disk,” a brutally solemn Lee Landesberg said about the average living room sound system.

From his Clifton, New Jersey, office and showroom, Landesberg sells and installs high-quality home audio equipment.  His company, Landis Imports, has been building, importing and selling speakers for 30 years.  But it’s not a cold-hearted cash-for-product transaction for Landesberg, and he is more than a retailer of fine audio gear.  Landesberg has assumed a role as an educator.

“[Customers] are not being specific with their wants and needs because they don’t know what their wants and needs are,” said Landesberg.

He uses his extensive experience in the speaker business to help customers find what they want.  When the prices breach five digits, you want the right guy holding your hand.

“You shouldn’t be playing guess with money and you shouldn’t be playing guess with your clients,” he said.  “The very first thing you have to do is qualify them.”

Most of Landesberg’s qualifying process isn’t what you might think.  He doesn’t sit customers down and fumble around a plastic speaker model with dissectible parts.  There are no diagram posters, laminated pamphlets or slide shows.  Instead, Landesberg qualifies his customers with goose bumps.  He sits them down in front of his finest speakers, lets them hear the difference, then waits for their reaction.  His favorite seems to be the goose bumps.

Among Landesberg’s finer producers of goose bumps is Ars Aures (Latin for the art of listening).  This Italian speaker company made it to Landesberg’s living room, so they’re the choice of a guy who has access to pretty much any high-quality speaker made.

So, what makes Ars Aures and the other brands of speakers Landes Imports carries so nice…and expensive?

“[Ars Aures] listens to an awful lot to live music,” said Landesberg.  “It's compelling to listen to.  It's not a gimmick, it has to do with the crossover and the cabinet tuning...it's magical.”

Landesberg explained music is all about depth.  It’s about hearing the tonal qualities of each instrument as if they are in front of you.  He has great advice to achieve this audio privilege.

First, component matching is critical.  Finding the right amp, cables and speakers that are meant to work together will ultimately mean the world of difference in a system.  Finding one company that makes all three components may help you find the best corresponding parts.  Check the ohms of your speakers and the impedance of your cables.

Next, speakers are a system within a system.  Landesberg pointed out that the best type of speaker is one speaker or horn that covers the entire audio frequency spectrum, however impractical.  Multiple speakers set in one cabinet are codependent and need to work together.  In many cases, the speakers are out of phase and, consequently, deliver competing audio signals.  Landesberg’s advice is to check all the components of the speaker system: cabinet, terminal, drivers, crossovers and any other parts.  This information should be available through the retailer.  If they don’t know, check with the speaker company.

“The closest thing to snake oil is speaker cable,” said Landesberg.  Selecting the right cord, to him, is an underestimated step.  That selection process is essentially separating the cable companies from the very talented marketing teams. Matching the cables’ impedance within the system makes for a transparent conduction of audio.

The final frontier of getting the right sound is finding the right placement for the speakers.  Each room has different acoustic qualities, and to take full advantage of the system’s 360 degree sound, the speakers need to be away from the walls.  You can further embellish the quality of the speaker by isolating its vibrations.  This is easily achieved by an after-market stand that slightly elevates the speaker and absorbs its vibrations.

After the right components are selected and the gear is in place, Landesberg suggests intently listening to the music, not the system.  His suggestion is a live recording.  That way, if you’re not very familiar with the tonal qualities and harmonics of the stage instruments, you can at least listen to the audience cheer and gage the realism from there.

Ultimately, realism is the desired goal.  The point of elaborate speaker systems seems to actually eliminate the speaker system from the music.  With the right setup, Landesberg said you shouldn’t be listening to a live concert, you should feel as though you’re there.