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If you listen to anything other than Classic Jazz, don't read this.

:)  I'm a Jazz only intermediate audiophile looking to improve my system. i ONLY listen to jazz, and i think that matters. If you are of the opinion that great speakers make all music sound good then move on to the next post, because the premise here is that speakers for Acoustic Jazz ( Big Band to Post Bop) have different requirements. My jazz audiophile buddies and i hav A/B'd lots of different speaker/amp/turntable/cartridge combinations as a fun hobby for the last 3 years. i've gone through at least 3 whole systems to get where i am now:
All Rega System - Rega Exex-R, Rega P3, with upgrades, Rega MC Phono Pre,  Rega Apheta 2 Cartridge, Rega RX5 Speakers. 

It sounds really great, but want to get to amazing if possible, and have recently done some speaker comparisons with some Paradigms and Harbeths that show the RX5's could have a tighter, deeper bass and bit more high frequency... 

The challenge is threefold -
1 )information out there is hard to come by, often confusing and  i haven't found much information specifically on what speakers jazz heads prefer.
2) I want to be able to put them up against my current system in my room, which seems a difficult task
3) They have to look good. Aesthetics matter to me. Tektons and Magnapans are cool But Ugly AF, and not going to work for me.

i want someone to tell me this is the best my system is going to get and just enjoy it (which i do 82.5% of the time), or recommend a few things to try, hopefully with recommendation for speakers to try, but i'm open to other suggestions.

I look forward to your comments :)

sincerely,
Eric the Jazz Snob
128x128ericmbass
ericmbass's avatar
ericmbass OP
7 posts
 
thanks @tablejockey   - great suggestions.. P8 may be in my future :)

@m-db  - omg. hilarious!

@devilboy - a good friend has explored this and it has been fun to watch and listen... I like the concept and if i had a second listening room it would be great to explore on my own. thanks for the suggestion!!!
br3098
994 posts
 
douglas_schroeder said:
In reality a speaker is either good on all genres of music or it is not a good speaker.
atmasphere said: 
This is arguably the biggest myth about loudspeakers in particular- that they favor certain genres, the classic being JBL L100s are best at rock.
While I respect and admire both of these industry stalwarts, I disagree with their assertions. I do agree with atmasphere that no rational mind would purposely design a speaker to play only one type of music. But that does not mean that all speakers are equally good for all types of music.

I agree that if you listen to many types of music and you have some flexibility with your gear, many (most) speakers will work very well with all musical genres. But there are a lot of different speaker designs out there: full range vs. limited range, dynamic vs. planar/EL vs horns, unidirectional vs. bidirectional vs. polydirectional... I think you get the point. Not all speakers sound (as) good with different music to me and my ears.

Example: I love single driver monitors paired with small SET amps. This would not be my combo of choice for heavy metal or large orchestras. But for music that works in the 80 Hz-10 kHz (aka most music) they sound great. There is a special quality that I don't hear from other combinations. I love them for jazz music. But I don't find that they work well for "complex music" like large orchestral recordings and opera. Does this make them bad speakers or poor designs? You might say yes but I don't think so.

If there was a single speaker design, technology, size, manufacturer that was clearly best there would only be one speaker. In theory, of course. Then there are the contrarians, like me.

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,803 posts
 
While I respect and admire both of these industry stalwarts, I disagree with their assertions. I do agree with atmasphere that no rational mind would purposely design a speaker to play only one type of music. But that does not mean that all speakers are equally good for all types of music.
@br3098 If you have a means of designing a speaker to favor a certain genre of music, its likely that you also have derived a new branch of physics. At the very least you stand to make millions if you can figure out a way to do this. No-one has ever been able to do it before and so currently there are no loudspeaker examples.

On that account the simpler explanation, using Occam's Razor, is that the idea is simply a myth.

The absolute **classic** example of this is the JBL L-100 loudspeaker that has been the rock goto for 40 years. The only problem is, while it is a classic speaker, its not any better at rock than anything else. I find it colored (at least the earlier versions- the new one might be different) and the better the recording, the more the flaws of the speaker are revealed.

Some people say that Cerwin Vegas are what you need for rock as they play loud, but orchestras play loud too and need the same bass response. That bass response is needed for jazz if you're going to get the bass drums right; quite simply what makes a speaker great for one genre of music makes it great for all genres.

br3098
994 posts
 
@atmasphere: 
If you have a means of designing a speaker to favor a certain genre of music, its likely that you also have derived a new branch of physics.
Ralph, I believe I agreed with you in my last post regarding speaker design.

I will simply say that I have not yet found the "perfect" speaker or one that is absolutely best with all types of music. I wish I could, it would save me a lot of time, money and aggravation.

jon_5912
605 posts
 
The idea that particular speakers aren't more suited to some types of music and listening styles than others is absurd.  The most obvious is amplified bass and listening volume.  If you like listening loudly to music with a  lot of bass, you need a different speaker than someone who listens to string quartets.  Obviously.  At any given price point there will be a better speaker for string quartets and a better one for hip hop.  For small scale classical you want to pay for the best midrange and highs you can get, but are willing to sacrifice dynamic range, especially in the bass.  For hip hop, you want to be able to crank up the volume and get a deep bass massage.  A lot more of the money needs to go towards higher quality, bigger bass drivers, a bigger box.  
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