How to evaluate speakers?

Using the A/B speaker selector switch should not make a difference. Just make sure that you listen to the speakers at the same volume level, because most people will choose the louder speaker as the better sounding speaker. So you may need to experiment a bit before you get into serious listening, for example volume level 3 for speaker A may be the equivalent of volume level 4 for speaker B.

Good luck, Rich

First, it would be helpful if you do some blind listening - that is, where you don't know which speaker is which. Use single speaker vs. single speaker, as it probably won't be posssible to position two pairs of speakers for comparable sound in your room. Ideally, have an assistant put the two speakers side-by-side behind a thin curtain and switch back and forth between them at your signal, adjusting the volume as necessary so that you won't know which is which.

It's perfectly legitimate to listen to single speaker vs single speaker, as there is a very strong correlation between single speaker preferance and stereo speaker preference. If you don't have a mono switch, buy a Y-jack from Radio Shack to make sure both speakers get the same signal. You can switch from one speaker to another easily by feeding the split signal into different inputs (say CD and AUX 1). Using a Radio Shack SPL meter and a pink noise test disc, make sure you match up the levels.

Also during your listening tests, try this: Turn the volume level down way lower than normal, and see if one speaker sounds better than the other. There's a good correlation between low-level enjoyment and long-term fatigue-free listening. Then, turn the volume level up a bit louder than normal, and leave the room. Listen through the open doorway. Is there a convincing illusion of live music happening back in there? If so, that indicates smooth reverberant field response and good dynamic contrast, and is a very good predictor of long-term listening enjoyment.

Best of luck to you!

Duke

Take notes!

I would suggest three ways to go, two of which involve forming some kind of opinion: 1) Decide which speakers sound most enjoyable to you, using the music you most enjoy and will play most often, played at the volumes you will typically favor, and positioning yourself anywhere and everywhere you're likely to be found when playing music 2) Decide which speakers offer reproduction that most resembles your preconception of how real music ought to sound, using primarily your most naturally-recorded acoustic/vocal source material, played at the most realistic-seeming volumes to suit each program, and positioning yourself in the sweet spot 3) After trying both #1 and #2, if you still can't form an opinion and still like both models equally, then just buy either the less expensive pair or the most attractive pair and be done with it, because you'll know you couldn't have gone far wrong (at least until you come to the point when you've gained some more critical listening experience and may want to upgrade again down the road).

The other important things to stress are that you play the same choice of audition material through both speakers, not just randomly hunt and peck through your collection based on mood, etc., and that you attempt to compensate for any inherent volume differences between the models and then hold it constant between same-program comparisons. I feel that at this time, it would likely be premature and possibly counterproductive to try and give you a laundry list of audiophile attributes or specific audition passages to listen for, rather than just advising you to listen for enjoyment and/or realism as outlined above, or to start talking about optimizing room positioning for each set of speakers individually. With advice from the dealer, just pick one set of L/R spots for your speaker positions that should theoretically work for both models and still be practical for you, and then audition each pair set up in those same spots (you might mark the spots with masking tape on the floor to help switchovers go more quickly). The A/B switch idea is not bad, but actually moving the speakers is better, with one pair 'onstage' and the other 'offstage' at any one time. Try to do both some fairly rapid comparisons, using single musical selections repeatedly, and also some relaxed long-term sessions, maybe on alternating days, just to see if anything crops up that might start to bother you about either of the two models over the long term. Have fun and best of luck!

To be a complete simpleton about this, forget about analyzing which does piano better, etc., etc, and focus on which speaker gets you off the most. It's a simple as that. Which is the one that causes you to want to stay up all night pulling out recording after recording and trying things you haven't listened to for years? Go with that one. There's some risk, but less so, I think.