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

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.

 

One of my favorite brands is Vienna acoustics and they measure below average so nope, i couldn’t give a rats a$$ what they measure like as long as they sound good in my room with my gear.

buying speakers without any measurement is a really risky proposition.
 

+1

Small planars and ribbons. I made a choice 40+ years ago. I've never changed my preference. 70-80s I really liked Stratherans ribbons. I made 3 set of speakers to fund mine. I picked the drivers up from Brian Cheney at VMPS. 20 24" ribbons.

I haven't found a single speaker manufacture that makes a line of planars or ribbon speakers at a 1/2 way reasonable price. 

I liked the Infinity IRS Betas when they had rear chambers added to the monitor section too. One of the best bang for the buck speakers EVER made. The servo system and added rear chamber made them the right size for any room.

The size of the speaker in the room make very little difference if you design speaker cabinets to reduce resonance, and most of all not collect and deform the drivers face. WIDE baffles collecting distortion from all frequencies including the frequencies the drivers produce themselves is real good place to start.

Phase plugs on cone/voice coil drivers and servo controlled subs.

I don't mix BASS and vibration with my planar/ribbons just for the damage alone. I'm pretty sure most of the Ribbons will last as long as the magnets keep working and planars as long as the lamination holds up. 100+ years Then you can rebuild them..

BTW the Strathearns I built in the 70s were still going strong in 2010 when they were passed on to the son or grandson. They bought spare drivers from Magic Markey.

Bottom line they don't make what I like any more. SO I'll stick with what I got. Nothing better so far. Same wife for 49 years too.. :-)

Regards

I will not look at the specs until I have heard the speakers in question.  Many of the specs are stretched a bit so unless John Atkinson has tested them to confirm or deny, the specs don’t mean all that much to me.  I am another believer in a higher sensitivity speaker.  My current are 94db.  Why make the amp have to work so hard?