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The two most common mistakes are bass and treble

OK, so I know many of you will have a knee jerk reaction to that with something like "well you've just covered most of the spectrum!" but I mean to say more than what I can fit in a headline.

When first purchasing speakers the biggest regrets, or sometimes bad choices without regret, is looking for a speaker that is too detailed. In the store over 10 minutes it mesmerizes you with the resolution of frequencies you thought you would never hear again.  You take the speakers home and after a month you realize they are ear drills.  High pitched, shrill sounding harpies you can't believe you listened to long enough to make a choice.

The other mistake, which audiophiles life with far too long is buying too big a speaker for the room.  The specmanship of getting 8 more Hertz in the -3dB cutoff is a huge factor in speaker purchases.

What do you think the biggest mistakes are when buying speakers?
erik_squires
ghdprentice
7,199 posts
 
There are a lot of potential mistakes those new to the audio world. Yes, there is a natural propensity to mistake too much treble for detailed and therefore better. It was the first rule I learned in the late 1970’s. I certainly have heard my share of ear drills. However, If they are really good speakers the drill experience can come from the electronics driving them.

Yeah, the quest for bass can drive us to make dumb decisions on speaker size. It is guys and speakers... pretty predictable... bigger is better.
Two very common mistakes.
knighttodd's avatar
knighttodd
206 posts
 
I have a pair of Martin Logan Motion 60 XT driven by an Parasound A21+. The ML are 4ohm. The paring makes awesome bass even at 65-75 dbl.
djones51
4,947 posts
 
Nowadays the biggest mistake is not looking at as many measurements as possible including klippel NFS so you have a good idea where your problem areas will need to be addressed. 
speakermaster
738 posts
 
The biggest mistake is buying a low impedance non efficient model that taxes an amplifier to the point that the sound suffers badly and the speakers o modern times all seem to have drive difficulty problems that you need a superamp to overcome.
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,202 posts
 
to say low a lower ohm speaker that doesnot have a high sensitivity are not worth buying is  not a very sound statement 
there are many excellent Loudspeakers that are 4 ohm or lower 
this would eliminate all planer and Electrostat speakers ,as well as some of the best in the world like MBL 101s.  That is why there are many exceptions to the rule !!
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