Audiophile Speakers for Rock, HipHop and Techno

Simple logic dictates that there exist no speakers better suited to particular genres of music. Bad and good tendencies apply across the spectrum.

yes and no, in my opinion

some speakers do better with some musical genres than others because their strengths and weaknesses are more befitting and tolerated with certain kinds of music

example:

klipsches tektons zus - these are ’lively’ brash sounding speakers, excel with drum snaps, forward presentation, not the most refined, not the best at imaging - so they work well with electronic music, rock, ’party tunes’ - they are good with the beat, impact, energizing, in-your-face sound which is the essence and goodness of that kind of music

conversely, speakers of that ilk can be found to be too unrefined, sloppy, inexact for properly re-creating small ensemble jazz, acoustic music/piano/guitar/woodwinds, sparely accompanied vocals, classical/orchestral music ... they don’t image well enough, everything is up front in an even plane no depth, distortion can be heard around leading edges (a plus in rock music) and thus, listeners like me find them rather intolerable and unable to deliver the purity of sound i seek in serious and long listening sessions

audition__audio

1,155 posts

05-28-2022 at 08:32am 

Did you guys read what Ralph said earlier? Simple logic dictates that there exist no speakers better suited to particular genres of music. Bad and good tendencies apply across the spectrum.

Sorry but don't care what "ralph" says, not even sure what he said but what you just said is a false statement.  Even now that I notice he said he can only do bookshelf speakers, there is still a difference in how a speaker is "voiced" that lends itself to sounding better with certain types of music.

klipsches tektons zus - these are ’lively’ brash sounding speakers, excel with drum snaps, forward presentation, not the most refined, not the best at imaging - so they work well with electronic music, rock, ’party tunes’ - they are good with the beat, impact, energizing, in-your-face sound which is the essence and goodness of that kind of music

100% wrong

In-yer-face sounding speakers are dreadful for electronica. A presentation that fatigues is the opposite of what's required.

You need musicality, scale and control.

I have enormous respect for Atmasphere, but he's also wrong on this.

I've lost count of the number of speakers ($ power amps) I've heard that might excel with jazz or classical- and utterly fail to capture the scale, bass slam and extension, and overall dynamism required for electronica. Bookshelf speakers are equally irrelevant to the successful presentation of the genre.

You need big floorstanders and big, solid state power amps. 

Don't take the word of otherwise knowledgeable people who don't know the genre. 

Two examples of what you are missing ☺

Apologies for my earlier bombasticity

To be sure we're even talking about the same thing, and more importantly 

If you'd care to enjoy a quasi religious experience this weekend, and perhaps be reminded why you love this hobby?

Find some time when everyone's out.

Pour yourself a stiff one, wrap yourself a fat one. Whatevs floats your boat.  Once you've consumed and warmed your system up, play the second track above, 'Freak' at the maximum volume you consider enjoyable.

( Its incredibly well produced so you can safely crank it. Transients are well controlled)

I promise you a thrilling ride

Then come back and say whether electronica requires a system to throw a soundstage?😁

If you're driven to buy the album, would recommend cd over vinyl, in this instance.