Old thread, good topic!
I find often when vocals are clear and easy to understand, the rest is pretty good as well.
Vocals are a great test in that one knows when the words can be understood or not, since people themselves and not some foreign device designed by people are the instruments. Plus the human voice is a fairly broad range instrument compared to most others I believe.
Its much more cut and dry than assessing most other attributes of good sound.
Good clear vocals are a very good omen for good sound overall I think.
I have heard a lot of variation in ability to deliver vocals clearly using different gear in my system.
Best speakers for vocals of the ones I own and use often:
1) OHM walsh
2) Triangle Titus
3) Dynaudio Contour 1.3mkII
All are pretty good but some better than others.
I find I like speakers that crossover at higher frequencies in general best for coherent and understandable vocals. OHM and Triangle do this. REf3A is another I can think of that I recall takes that approach as well. Most good quality single full range drivers should do an excellent job as well but overall frequency bandwidth would likely be more limited.
Others may do well also but there is a lot that can go wrong when crossovers come into play in the primary frequency range of the human voice.
I find often when vocals are clear and easy to understand, the rest is pretty good as well.
Vocals are a great test in that one knows when the words can be understood or not, since people themselves and not some foreign device designed by people are the instruments. Plus the human voice is a fairly broad range instrument compared to most others I believe.
Its much more cut and dry than assessing most other attributes of good sound.
Good clear vocals are a very good omen for good sound overall I think.
I have heard a lot of variation in ability to deliver vocals clearly using different gear in my system.
Best speakers for vocals of the ones I own and use often:
1) OHM walsh
2) Triangle Titus
3) Dynaudio Contour 1.3mkII
All are pretty good but some better than others.
I find I like speakers that crossover at higher frequencies in general best for coherent and understandable vocals. OHM and Triangle do this. REf3A is another I can think of that I recall takes that approach as well. Most good quality single full range drivers should do an excellent job as well but overall frequency bandwidth would likely be more limited.
Others may do well also but there is a lot that can go wrong when crossovers come into play in the primary frequency range of the human voice.