Bloated speakers/weight wise

Bartokfan: I assume that what you're referring to in B&W speakers, which is shared with many other speakerers, must be their internal bracing? If so, yes, internal bracing is pretty much mandatory for any speaker that asipres to minimal resonance, but the need for it can be lessened by employing curved outer surfaces, an approach which reduces weight.

I don't know what the percentage range would be for typical audiophile box speakers in terms of cabinet contribution to their total output, but you have to remember that energy reradiated from the cabinet has been shifted in frequency and time -- in other words, it's heavily distorted in relation to the desired goal of the output signal closely matching the input signal. As we know from various kinds of distortion is our electronics, if the effect is musically unconsonant or obscuring, distortion can be audible at very low percentage levels. True, within the signal chain speakers in general have much higher overall distortion percentages than do electronics, but if you want to make a better-performing speaker, you need to address these limitations wherever you can.

I'm in agreement with you that for me, any speaker I can't hump around comfortably by myself is just something that I'm personally not interested in owning, but I do think imposing such a limit probably puts a ceiling on the performance that can attained with typical speaker designs if part of what you like to play is full-range, dynamic music at higher volume levels.

Zaikesman, true for those interested in high SPL listening, then cabinet resonance may be an issue. i rarely listen with my amp vol at more than 1/4 - 1/3. Plenty of muisc going on. These audio club meetings in New Orleans with high/super high SPL listening sessions make no sense to me. But the group seemed (past, not sure where the New Orleans club is now scattered to) to get a kick out of it.

Bartokfan: I was saying that for those who like to listen at higher volumes, the smaller size that usually goes along with lower weight may put a limit on performance. But I don't agree that cabinet resonance, as its own issue, is a problem only for listening at higher volumes. IMO cabinet talk makes its unwanted contribution at all volume levels, and minmizing it, whether through brute-force construction or something more weight-efficient, pays sonic dividends no matter how soft or loud you like to listen. (I also should mention though, that I'm one of those who feel listening at unnaturally low levels, while sometimes unavoidable, does constitute its own form of distortion that renders reproduction less lifelike. Of course the same thing goes for listening too loud as well.)

(I also should mention though, that I'm one of those who feel listening at unnaturally low levels, while sometimes unavoidable, does constitute its own form of distortion that renders reproduction less lifelike. Of course the same thing goes for listening too loud as well.)

I would think most speakers are designed for accuracy at the realistic listening volume. I remember talking to John at Ohm Acoustics many years ago about the different models he had back then and he said that he has this particular model that sounded really good a low listening volume. He also said that he did not understand why this was so, he not intentionally designed it to do that, but it also sounded good at realistic levels. I do not remember the model, but it was not a Walsh and I doubt if it's being made at this time.

Finding a speaker that sounds 'good' at low levels is notoriously tough, but it is also rarer to find a speaker that can play at truly lifelike levels on large-scale material without seriously faltering than most audiophiles seem to assume. (My own speaker accomplish neither.) Either that, or probably most of us almost never listen at truly lifelike levels, but speakers that aren't large, driven by amps that aren't high-powered -- both of which are common in this hobby -- can't really get that done for the most part. Which is okay, because most listening rooms can't support that kind of volume anyway. Of course, if you mainly listen to a guy singing and playing an acoustic guitar, or string trios, the lifelike volume factor doesn't present as much of a problem. I coined a term I use to describe this theoretical factor (to myself, 'til now), "absolute amplitude distortion". But this concept really only applies to acoustic material, since there is no truly 'correct' volume setting for multitracked studio rock/pop, music which always depends upon electronic sound reinforcement in live performance. Still, no matter what kind of material you're playing, if you listen too low you'll miss musical detail and impact, and if you listen too loud you'll hear non-musical detail that's not an intended part of the performance, and most systems will throw the tonal balance off-kilter in either case.