Originally Posted by
shane55
...There is more of a difference between these two than I would have imagined. The imaging is completely different as is the tonality and timbre. I haven't put much of this into concrete thoughts (let alone words) yet, but I still feel that the 170's are probably the most neutral speakers I've heard. They are almost scary flat (and that's a good thing in my book). The 340's are not. The 170's are clear, clean and revealing.
As I said on another post comparing the 170's to the PSB Image B25's, the 170's have a cold precision to them. They do nothing wrong. Their soundstage, however is somewhat thin and narrow, and slightly directional. This is fine, but holosonics(?) and dimensionality was better in the PSB's.
The 340's are an odd bird. Similar to the PSB's, they sound amazingly good with some music... and not so with others. They have some deficiencies and exaggerations in their tonal range. I.e. certain frequencies are extenuated and others are diminished. This gives a false quality to certain recordings, but can 'improve' others. On the whole, they are excellent speakers, but are far from 'monitor' quality as the 170's are. They are not neutral. They are colored, but not as much so as the PSB's. The 340's seem to dump some of the high mid-band and pump up the extreme high's and the low mid-band. This leaves a bit of a void... right where the middle violin strings are, but gives a 'loudness' impression. They sound more 'rich' and 'warm' than the 170's. In that regard they somewhat between the 170's and the PSB's... which is actually what I was hoping for.
Even after almost three days with the 340's, they are still an enigma. Movies are fantastic with them. Actually, I prefer them to the 170's for most loud, action-type soundtracks. Listening to the 340's during the gunfight near the end of Open Range (DTS) is a fantastic experience. Each shot is felt in the gut, and it provides a tremendous 'presence' to the sound. Underworld, Hellboy, LOTR, etc... all kick butt with these. The 170's were also excellent, but proved the slightest bit 'harsh' and fatiguing *in comparison*... after many hours.
I'm not through putting these through their paces. The imaging on the 340's is 'interesting'. I'm going to need to move them around to see if it's positional, or if they really do what I've experienced. I don't want to get into that too much as it may not be relevant...