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When choosing new Speakers, what matters most to you?

When auditioning new speakers have you ever listened to a pair you thought you really liked only to realize you didn’t like them at all after seeing their measurements/specifications? And I’m not talking about speakers that would be too difficult for your electronics to drive but rather, you just didn’t like their waterfall plot, or their frequency response or some other measurement even though subjectively, you loved the way they sounded? Conversely have you ever listened to a pair of speakers you did not care for only to change your mind after seeing their specs?
 

Assuming speakers can be easily driven by your home electronics, in other words, no compatibility issues related to sensitivity or impedance, what is the single most important thing you look for when finding speakers you’ll enjoy listening to? How do you go about confirming the speakers you buy will be enjoyable to listen to in your home system?

128x128ted_denney
mrklas
441 posts
 

Actual weight - I've not pursued speakers because the weighed over 100 lbs.

ghasley
2,489 posts
 

Ok, so if price is the same, I try to balance best sound quality with aesthetics and in a tie, the easiest speaker to position and move will win. We all know though that all things will never be equal. Ugly wont cut it in our home, impossible to move or position wont cut it either.

 

Judging by some of the system photos here on audiogon, its clear that aesthetics arent that importnat to some.

ebm
9,311 posts
 

Cabinet,crossover and drivers that is why I own MAGICO.

jerryg123's avatar
jerryg123
3,429 posts
 

Cabinet,crossover and drivers that is why I own QLN.

Also helped having the ability to demo them in my listening room with my kit.

Have a great day.

I Robot.

cindyment's avatar
cindyment
351 posts
 

Bought a pair of speakers once that sounded great on demo, at least with what they were demoed with. Stupid me. If I had seen the measurements first, I would never have bought them. Got them home and no position, no toe-in, nothing would make them sound right with a wide range of music. Sometimes brilliant, sometimes just something wrong. Found out later that there was significant frequency response/directivity issues.

 

Learned my lesson. I never bought speakers again without having measurements even if that limited what I could buy. There are just too many things that can be done wrong in a speaker, driver resonance, port resonance, cabinet resonance, frequency response, distortion, distortion over volume, directivity issues, thermal compression, less than ideal cross-over design, etc. When listening to new speakers, there are so so many variables, that is hard enough to say "I like these", let alone pick up on the design flaws that may only become self evident with some music, and then being new speakers you think is is me, is it the room, is it the amp?

 

Speakers are one area where measurements are really critical. It is not going to tell you if you like it or not for the long time, but it can very much highlight flaws you may not encounter in early listening that you will eventually not be able to live with. At a more fundamental level, directivity plots will help you know how it will work out in your room, the range of toe-in you can use, even whether compared to your existing speakers they may be darker or brighter. Let's not forgot amplifier interaction as well.

 

When you write it down, you realize that buying speakers without any measurement is a really risky proposition.

 

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