so many speakers

My Silverline Preludes are great midrange producers and get most of the punch of drums, but benefit big time from a REL sub (Q150e) that puts the mojo into drums (and everything else). A favorite John Scofield recording called "Grace Under Pressure" (killer Bill Frisell 2nd guitar stuff) has drummer Joey Baron smacking a gigantic bass drum here and there that seems to come outta nowhere...just cool.

With so many speakers on the market, I think the better assertion is that there are specific speakers that work better with specific hardware and cables.

As a result of a proper synergy above, will one enjoy a pleasing result across most,if not all, music genres.

Answering in the most useless way, yes there are. Musical instrument speakers work better for live music from an instrument rather then from a stereo. Although some have used them that way, for what we are thinking about the gamut of hifi speakers does quite well with all the variations. Some far better than others. Now we have to understand what "better" is. Thanks for enduring my reply.

Just posted this OP. See above. In a way we're asking the same question. I also think my OP touches on may of the points raisd in this OP.

" This post is directed to the more technical members of A'gon.

I've been reading numerous posts and audio reviews which compared various brands and models of speakers against each other. For example, in one thread a member said he was sure speaker A sounded all-around better then speaker B because when the two speakers were compared at a dealer's shop, they were in the same sound room, driven by the same equipment, same source material, and so forth. For discusion purposes, let's just accept that all relevant conditions were the same.

Here's my question. Even if all relevant variable factors were controlled and the same, can one still fairly say they "A/B'ed" two speakers??

And here's the basis for my question. As I have been reading and trying to understand the science and technology behind what drives input signal to speaker output, I have come to appreciate that there are many other variables that can affect what comes out as sound.

For example, every speaker on the market has it's own electronic fingerprint so to speak that can affect how it interacts with the amp being used, e.g., efficiency, impedance, phase angle, and so forth -- all of which change over the frequency range. I'm not even touching on home room acoustics.

Another case in point, one member (M-1) commented that a certain speaker (A) he listened to at a dealer sounded hot and caused hearing fatigue as compared to another speaker (B). He fairly concluded that speaker B was the better sounding speaker.

Interestingly, another member (M-2) questioned how M-1 could come to such a conclusion. His experience was totally opposite.

I don't recall that either member mentioned the type of equipment that was being used. However, M-1 was certain that the dealer listening conditions were identical.

Many of the more technical A'gon members have posted numerous threads about the synergy or lack thereof between tube amps and solid state amps with varioius types of speakers that present certain loads to the amp.

If such is the case, then I'm back to my origianl Q. Is it really possible to compare (A/B) speakers even if conditions and variables are identical??

If the answer (or consensus) is "NO," then how can one in the market for new speakers make an intelligent and informed decision?"

"If the answer (or consensus) is "NO," then how can one in the market for new speakers make an intelligent and informed decision?"

There is NO CONSENSUS concerning ANYTHING on this site. Ask ANY question about ANYTHING and you will see. You cannot use the posts / answers on this site as factual evidence about anything!! It's a big waste of time to try. Find speakers you might like based on size, cost, looks and specs and listen to them. If you like them, case closed, Phase angle and crossovers and impedence notwithstanding. Can you hear phase angle? We as a species can barely hear a full grown male lion coming thru the grass. All of our senses suck! Get what you like and be done. For every person that says buy A, there will be just as many saying buy B, and a few saying buy Z.
And nothing you asked has anything to do with technical expertise. If all 'opinion'. And trust me, EVERYONE here has one of those.
Cheers.