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What matters most in speaker design?

So...What matters most in speaker design?

A. The Drivers
B. The Cabinet / Enclosure
C. Crossover / Internal Wiring
D. Cost / Quality of Raw Materials (Drivers, Cabinet, Crossovers, etc.)

Yes, I realize the "right" answer is "all of the above" or better yet "the design that optimizes the trade-offs of the given variables / parameters that achieves the goals set forth by the creator." However, indulge me...

Can a great sounding speaker get away with focus on only 2 of the 4 above choices? Can a high cost of raw materials trump a sound design that focuses on inexpensive (but great sounding) drivers, a well engineered cabinet, and a decent crossover?

I was thinking about speakers that use relativly cheap drivers, but are executed in a genius enclosure with a good (but not exotic) crossover - and they sound absolutely amazing. This made me wonder...

What matters most in speaker design?
128x128nrenter
ojgalli
165 posts
 
It's been said that the Achilles Heal of loudspeakers is the passive crossover.

Consider the massive amounts of time and money spent fussing over the CDP, TT, DAC, preamp, amp, cables, interconnects, and more.

Why, after all that effort, is the beautiful, pristine, nearly perfect signal put through a passive crossover?
johnk's avatar
johnk
1,976 posts
 
The design maters most.
shadorne's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Perhaps the look matters most.

A great paint job or veneer, tall and narrow with sloped baffle and loaded with several mass produced shiny metal drivers and impressive copper phase plugs to boot....all sure to impress. What people see is what they hear - for the most part. So the "Industrial Design" aspect is probably the most crucial - if it is ugly but sounds really good then it won't sell easily when lined up against the beautiful competition.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,379 posts
 
Shadorne, I suspect you are right assuming the target audience is the general population. No doubt that beauty is the ultimate marketing tool.
audiokinesis
2,748 posts
 
Up until the analog signal reaches the loudspeakers, it's a two-dimensional signal: Variations in intensity (voltage) over time. The loudspeaker has to deal with six dimensions: Variations in intensity (SPL) over time, across three dimensions of space (including reflections), and finally the signal processing of the ear/brain system.

Now the ear/brain system does not hear waveforms as such; it deconstructs the waveform into a series of excitations along the cochlea in a manner that is non-intuitive. So waveform preservation is relatively non-critical. In many cases audible benefits attributed to waveform preservation may well be due to other factors that matter more, such as minimizing diffraction or avoiding abrupt changes in the power response. I can explain why these things matter to the ear/brain system if anyone is interested.

Duke
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