the big one: how do you choose speakers? By what features, data?


I am curious how the experts choose speakers when upgrading? What are the priorities, what would make you stretch your budget?

Based on e.g....

  • brand/company’s reputation
  • price
  • sensitivity
  • crossover frequency
  • compatibility with existing amp, etc.?

I don’t have buyer’s remorse for my last pair but I sure made some stupid choices until I got there, that I could have avoided if I had known about this forum sooner.

 

grislybutter

@grislybutter Over on the local classfields. If it ain’t Yamaha, Marantz, Pioneer, Focal, Cabasse or JBL people don’t care or want it. 

My two cents: figure out what you like, not what reviewers like. Define what you like as much as you can. Do you like laid back smooth sound or higher detail, do you like huge sound stage, are looks important (for me for sure), what’s your budget, etc. Then demo, listen at dealers, buy, return, and sell until you are satisfied—being satisfied for me will last just as long it takes to get accustomed to my system and then I want to change something!

I’ve had a huge variety of speakers—vintage Marantz, Polk, Cambridge, Q Acoustics, Dynaudio, Tekton, and Sonus Faber. For me modern Sonus Faber is my choice. Sensitivity matters most if you have low powered tube amps.

 

w123ale

72 posts

 

My two cents: figure out what you like, not what reviewers like. Define what you like as much as you can. Do you like laid back smooth sound or higher detail, do you like huge sound stage, are looks important (for me for sure), what’s your budget, etc. Then demo, listen at dealers, buy, return, and sell until you are satisfied—being satisfied for me will last just as long it takes to get accustomed to my system and then I want to change something!

 

+1. There is no short cut. You will have to put up the work and the time. As long as it’s fun, and not a chore, it’s all worth it

@w123ale @thyname 

Understood. It's fun. It's just that there are 70+ hifi speaker companies to choose from, price narrows it down to about 40, looks to another 20 and then I have to find a way to filter it further as to which ones I listen to.