Quite possibly square_wave. But then, I would risk saying that most members' living rooms will closely resemble mine, possibly with the addition of a carpet. Keep in mind this is not a professional review but of a user. On the other hand, quite a few of the professional reviewers in stereophile and audioholics perform reviews in their home environments which I would say are quite normal (by North American standards) with very few acoustic treatments.
Could you please explain how the reviews should be done, especially by an end user? esantosh posted a link where in an end user had done a very scientific review by measuring voltage outputs, frequency responses, error corrections etc but that was done over a period of 6 weeks time. I had mentioned in the review that it was subjective since I do not have the equipment or time to do any sort of technical reviews.
Again probably yes. But my listening environment does not contain reference grade equipment nor a treated room. I expect the CD player I purchase to perform well in my setup and in my environment. It is possible that a CD player that performs brilliantly in a reference level setup could fail miserably in my untreated room. But then I would never purchase such a CD player that cannot perform well in a normal environment simply because I do not have a treated environment nor do I intend to do acoustic treatments in my listening environment.
Also, if I may add, the term reference level is open ended as what one considers as reference level may well be considered as just mid-fi by another who owns much more expensive equipment! By the same analogy, while I consider my setup as mid-fi, I have seen members here with much more expensive setup mentioning theirs as mid-fi! Hi-fi is a path to infinity after all
Unfortunately the Diamond 10.7 has not been tested well enough to get the roll-off numbers. However, a German hi-fi site tested the 10.7 and found that the speakers are pretty linear except for a dip in 150 - 600 Hz which is usually midrange. And the site mentions that the dip in the mid range does not sound bad at all. Please see here: Wharfedale Diamond 10.7 review
Besides, if we were supposed to hear roll-offs, then we did not hear any roll-off in highs. Both the CD players did produce the highs. It's just that the soundstage created by the Emotiva was so much more better and clearer than the Marantz.
Neither of the CD players sounded boomy at all. Again I am not a professional reviewer but at no point did we feel that the Onkyo 876 had any problems producing required bass.
The frequency response of the Marantz starts from 2 Hz and the Emotiva starts from 0 Hz. However there are a few things to consider even before the low end roll-off. First,the frequency response of the speakers. The frequency response of Wharfedale Diamond 10.7 (which I own) is 30 Hz - 24 Khz. Secondly the human ability to hear anything below 30 Hz. If I am not wrong, humans cannot hear any frequency below 30 Hz and one can only feel it. Even to feel it, one requires a subwoofer that can actually go below 30 Hz in a controlled manner - very few subs can do that and they usually are expensive. I do not have such a subwoofer and hence my mentioning in the review that I did not use a subwoofer for testing.
And, most of us have our own roll-offs as we get older, i.e., our ability to hear the low-lows and high-highs reduces as we age. While I am in very early 30's, still we need to consider the factors I have stated above when we discuss about roll-offs and the ability of the stereo system to produce clean extreme lows & highs.
Bottom line is, while the CD players may perform differently in reference level system setup in an acoustically treated environment, all it matters to me and I dare say, a lot of members is how it performs in a typical listening environment. My living room is a typical listening environment. And while it is quite common to disrespect an AVR for it's stereo performance, I will post a comparison of the stereo performance of the 876 to a decent amp such as Marantz PM8003. Hopefully that comparison will settle it.
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