I definitely thought that article was not quite on the up and up, especially since they were using a 5 yr old machine that is not for sale as a review sample.
Earlier I posted the wrong link, here’s a recent review on the Expert Pro 220 with SAM:
and after reading that article several months ago I really wanted to get some new speakers that were SAM Capable, so I bought a the LS50s for my bedroom but tried them with and without SAM, and I can vouch for that article, as without SAM, the LS50s were nice, but not nearly as good as my Thiels, but after I turned on SAM, I’m ready to sell my Thiels, SAM is that good, well at least for the 1 set of speakers I tried it on, now I want the Blade 2s.
There are numerous positive reviews from loads of different websites and magazines on Devialet products. Negative reviews are very much the exception. If you read deeper into the thread I gave you, you’ll find that the methodology of that ASR Review is significantly flawed. It’s not worth the pages it is written on. Infact, read the full thread of that ASR review and they more or less conclude that for themselves.
Stereophile came to the same conclusion of flaws in higher frequencies depending on the power output delivered…
Maybe in the newer versions it is better…What I want to mention is, that for me there is no supperior amplifier, despite the one which just amplifies without altering the output…
Not more or less to expect from an amplifier, the other gimmicks are nice…
The SAM feature is nice, but measured exactly in one room at Devialet. So the correction curve is working just for that room…
Better to use an Antimode 2.0 or any DSP SW with own measurement of the room at home.
SAM is not room depending. They are measuring speaker movement.
Still, there can be mistakes, like using speakers without burn in, ignoring some hidden bass reflex etc.
Doesn’t make your ASR or Stereophile’s test/review right. It doesn’t reflect the other 99% of reviews out there. Consider: you took a second hand obsolete product, set it up incorrectly and then, in the course of your test, you broke it.
As for SAM and what you regard is better. Better is room and speakers that do not need electronic filtering or correction in the first place.
A room is a room and room modes are there just physics thats it…
The speaker is the weakest in the chain alwyas except active ones with proper DSPs…
Then put it in a room an voila physics kicks in and does mostly bad things in the lows under double of the Schroeder frequency…of the room.
Best regards,
Armin
I heared so many systems which owners focused on price and not proper setup/correction in the room…
I enjoy to listen in a proper way, which includes setup in any listening room…
Some easy steps and sure maybe SAM can help there in some rooms…better than nothing…
I think you misunderstand SAM. It is about timing and bass extension. The room is a completely different thing altogether. When I read about people who don’t like SAM because it ‘muddies’ the bass, I try to explain that it’s not SAM that’s the issue.
From a practical point of view you should see SAMed speakers just as if they’re a new set of speakers; they go deeper in the bass and therefore need to be set up in the room as if you have just bought new speakers that go deeper in the bass.
When you start to use SAM and you have adjusted where you set your speakers up, then, if you want to do room correction, go ahead. Just don’t get SAM confused with room correction or think SAMed speakers should automatically sound better in the same room and position.
One thing I can say about SAM. It’s not a gimmick. It’s really clever and it makes an already good sounding amplifier sound even better, given proper speaker setup.
There might be better amplifiers out there but when Devialet came out with SAM they were miles ahead of the competition. Don’t forget this is quite a few years ago now. Almost any amp that competes with the Experts is made in the last few years or massively more expensive.
How should the Bass of a loadspeaker go deeper with a DSP??? The room gives the boundaries of the speakers, thats just plain physics…I wonder and for me a amplifier does not “sound” because that would be a bad issue with an amplifier for me…It should just amplify the input signal without any noise/distortions if possible…SAM alters the output curve of the amp in a way…like a DSP…
And a proper (and lets call it professional DSP) are not too expensive. Used in studios and in live concert enviroments…Thats why i call all others for Home Hifi (I use an Antimode 2.0) gimmicks since they are quite limited in comparison with pro equipment.
I’m curious about the technology here. As a concept I’m viewing SAM as “speaker correction”. That is using correction in the amp to compensate for known speaker characteristics, similar to headphone correction. Room correction could/should be layered on top depending on your viewpoint. At least you’re starting with a better behaved speaker.
Hah, I’d read that but was looking to summarise the marketing hype and clarify the concepts. TBF it would have been a good idea to publish the link, thanks.
Thanks for trying @Pim and @DanielAvasilichioaei. Mr Moesslacher is obviously very opinionated and in the context of SAM, wrong. If Robert E. Greene’s article doesn’t explain SAM to him he either hasn’t read it properly or…
My own experience with SAM was only positive. I ran room correction (Audiolense XO) on my SAM enabled speakers driven by a Devialet 250 Pro and had bass reproduction I could never achieve before.
To use a car analogy about the way he’s thinking; You have a car with a 200kiloWatt engine and traction control. You test the car but on the test bench the car’s traction control kicks in at 150 kiloWatt because the test bench isn’t built to run cars with traction control. The publish that the car doesn’t perform to its published specs.
There’s always two ways to interpret measurements. Only those who care to and understand the technology should comment on measurements. Those who don’t should just use their ears and comment on sound.
What speakers are you using, I am still floored by my KEF LS50s using a SAM profile. Again my story is I had Thiel CS2.4 speakers, for years, that do no have a SAM profile. I requested Devialet create a profle, but no luck, and I was not about to buy a new set of speakers just to try out SAM.
I recently I picked up a set of LS50s for my bedroom system and once I got them home and hooked up I noticed they had a SAM profile available from Devialet. I moved them to my Stereo Room and hooked them up, testing with no SAM profile and felt they were nice little speakers, but not a replacement for my Thiels, then turned on SAM and that was it, game over, Out with the Thiels and in with the LS50s.
I’m in a large room, 19x24, and am still stunned at how good it sounds. Now I’m interested in a new set of floor standing speakers with a SAM profile, so I’m limited to what is available on the Devialet Site, Blade 2, Focal Sopra 2 or 3s, Revel Salons… and the list goes on, I just need this Pandemic to end so I can go shopping and personally listen to some speakers.
The speakers are Monitor Audio MA-201 from around 1990. They are heavily modified so when I got them measured for SAM in 2017 the SAM profile was sent to me on e-mail. The speaker is not part of the online data base as the changes I’d done made them too different from the standard model. Even though the speakers were cheap (around 200 GBP for the pair in 1990) I got them to sound rather wonderful. The SAM profile did remarkable things too.
I am not using the speakers at the moment as I sold my Devialet amp early 2020. I do miss both
Lovely little beasts! These were the ones that reanimated my interest in music in the early noughties. (After some dark years in the home theatre camp)
