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?

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Except any decent speaker review would include a range of measurements both on axis and off axis, and if they have good equipment can give you an idea of total energy (estimated room curve). It is not perfect, but if you learn how to read those graphs, you can learn a lot about how it will interact with your room. You can also identify things that will almost always be a problem.

ANY speaker review, measurements or not, is just a nudge in the event you are shopping and wish to demo something. Its ok to buy gear without hearing it, however, I believe strongly that the purchaser should never whine about it working or not working out well in their system. Especially if they don't take a system approach and buy the gear to use in the manner that the manufacturer intended. I scroll right on past when someone can't understand why a certain well reviewed 4 ohm/85db rated speaker sounds bad with their 2 wpc tube integrated amplifier.

Quite an interesting range of responses. I always look at frequency response first and it must designate the 3db roll off point. I don't want to have to use a sub. As opposed to what someone else said about size. I recall a statement that Nick Mason made of speakers. "They ought to be big enough to put your granny in." seems like good advice to me!