Audiophile Speakers for Rock, HipHop and Techno

@tmac1700, are you just looking for new speakers or do you want your rock, hiphop and techno tracks to sound better?

You mention boomy bass, that is normally a room acoustics issue, usually handled quite well with multiple subs, room treatments and possibly some parametric e.q. Most times when using subs it is works best to plug any ports in your main speakers.

Are there other issues that are bothering you, or is it just the boominess?

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

@jjss49 

If a speaker is 'brash' at some point you'll eventually tire of that even with electronia or rock. What's being ignored is that there are some excellent recordings in these genres that easily reveal speaker problems. Once revealed you'll always hear it and it won't matter the genre!

(here are some examples:

'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath; get the white label Vertigo pressing to really hear what that recording is about

'Mystical Experiences' by The Infinity Project big bass, lots of fun details hidden in the mix; get the Blue Room Released LP pressing if you can find it)

The idea that a certain speaker can favor a certain genre is the biggest myth in audio. If its good at rock but sucks at classical, you'll find that if you play enough rock recordings it actually sucks at rock too.

This really is an issue of common sense. Oh and any good speaker is "voiced" toward neutrality or it isnt a good speaker. Nothing makes me laugh more than the idea that you should use a wood for a speaker cabinet that is the same wood as is used in instruments. Sure issues of scale and SPLs come into play but only as a long list of characteristics for each speaker type.

@jjss49

If a speaker is ’brash’ at some point you’ll eventually tire of that even with electronia or rock. What’s being ignored is that there are some excellent recordings in these genres that easily reveal speaker problems. Once revealed you’ll always hear it and it won’t matter the genre!

The idea that a certain speaker can favor a certain genre is the biggest myth in audio. If its good at rock but sucks at classical, you’ll find that if you play enough rock recordings it actually sucks at rock too.

like i said earlier, i don’t entirely disagree, but it really depends on use case/frequency/duration - imo to call it a myth is a little strong ... lots of people with nice hifi’s don’t sit there for hours listening intently, some want the excitement of live music, listen for a while, get their thrill, turn it off

we need to be careful not to impose our own usage behaviors and patterns, think all folks do as we do - pleasure from a hifi comes in many forms, usage occasions, situations

not to mention people hear differently, some clearly more preferring or more sensitive to some forms of distortion/tonality than others

I haven't owned a pair of speakers since my JBL's or Definitive Techs that sounded good for the majority of rock recordings but think that's partially to most rock isn't recorded that well to begin with.

The Dynaudio's I had were the worst.