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Rectangular versus fancy design speakers?

Many of us grew up with basic rectangular speakers which seemed to work fine. And as I look around the landscape I see lots of higher quality rectangular speakers that look very nice.

I like the pretty speakers with their stylistic designs.

Right angles are a bad thing with curvy surfaces being better for sound, so they say.

Does it really matter and I would think a rectangular speaker which probably has more of a budget to spend on the quality of what goes on inside versus spending so much money on the looks may be better.

Any higher-end rectangular speakers worthy of a recommendation?

emergingsoul
roxy54's avatar
roxy54
7,932 posts
 

Three letters...ATC; and there are many more like Harbeth, Spendor etc.

emergingsoul OP
1,074 posts
 

harbeth seems nice.

Rectangular speakers are generally a lot less than the fancy speakers is there a reason for this other than the looks?

can anyone really tell the difference between rectangular speaker and one of those fancy shaped things?

Marketing hype?

gunderwood
3 posts
 

It is much cheaper to build a rectangle box then anything with compound curves.

emergingsoul OP
1,074 posts
 

@gunderwood

This is true but do the other more creative designs really help noticeably change sound.

I have a rectangular speaker from 20 years ago, a very heavy piece of wood, and it does a great job transmitting sound throughout the room.

grislybutter
2,801 posts
 

having looked at close to 500 speakers,

https://speakerchoices.com/ rectangular speakers are generally cheaper to make/ and are priced lower. Small boutique shops in the lower price range won’t make curvy speakers.

You won’t find a significant SQ difference attributed to shape is my guess. Most "fancy speakers" tend to have a teardrop top profile - narrower at the back, which is embracing the shape of the driver. It’s more pleasant to look at, exudes higher quality, therefore can be sold at higher prices.

Contradicting that is the vintage look (boxy with wooden surfaces) that also sells to a certain clientele. The loser of this race is the boxy modern look.

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