Speaker Analysis for Armchair Critics

"... for consumers, this is a decent introduction, not a comprehensive guide."

It is a FAR MORE THAN DECENT introduction!

The process I use is pretty much what the author did. Once the first iteration is built, even if the measurements look good, I use my ears to tell me whether it’s "right" or not. And if not, then I gather data to figure out what isn’t right, which in turn points me towards what to do about it.

Duke

@avanti1960

The diy community has a very different take on what a great loudspeaker should sound like compared to mag reviewers.

As I have said more than once, the high end sound has been driven by king makers to something very far from neutral and for old ears.

Kill the Buddha (reviewer) and find your own nirvana.

Boy I disliked the old B&W speakers with those ugly yellow kevlar cones. I’m thinking of speakers like the CDM1, a perfect example of a speaker that sounds exactly like it looks - tweeter frequencies sounding detached and too bright. Yuck.

I did not read the article but everything is usually built to a price point so the possibility of improving the B&W cross-over is not out of the question.  Very few manufacturers use the top line capacitors, resistors, wire, etc.  I have been repairing audio components with my partner for a long tome now.  There are so many ways to swap out some parts to improve the sound in many areas.  I recently repaired an old Counterpoint power amp that had both the Plitron transformer and Plitron choke upgrades.  At the same time I had the same amp without those upgrades in stock form and another amp with just the Plitron transformer.  Being a comparison person, I was able to listen to each and get handle if there were any improvements. So now I know what each prat contributes.  So the B&W X-over could be improved IMO.

I was recently at an Audio Society where I met the owner and speaker designer of Genesis.  The amount of time, research and development he went through to make the current line was incredible.  Over $3 million spent.  I learned so much I never imagined. He also spent time researching and understanding the recording and playback processes for vinyl.  He brought along different vinyl recording to demonstrate the process.  I was amazed at what I heard and what I learned.

So I take everything as a learning process that can only help me develop a better system for me.  I also don't always believe that speakers are the cause of brightness, or bass issues.  To me the causes is what is feeding them.  For example I placed one of my power amp designs recently on Thiel speakers.  Everything improved.  Installed my DHT DAC and the sound was even better, last my preamplifier and I have to say that now I realize the potential of Thiel speakers were before I mostly read that they were bright sounding.

So IMO don't take what you read of advise you receive for granted, there is something to learn from each and everyone of us.

Happy Listening.

I think these particular speakers are a real good example of how disjoint the driver development can be vs. the crossover and system.