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After the thrill is gone

I think we all understand there is no “perfect” speaker. Strengths, weaknesses, compromises all driven by the designer’s objectives and decisions. 
 

Whenever we make a new (to us) speaker purchase there is a honeymoon period with the perfect-to-us speaker. But as time wears on, we either become accustomed to the faults and don’t really hear or hear past them, or become amplified and perhaps more annoying or create minor buyers remorse or wanderlust.

I am guessing the latter would be more prevalent when transitioning to a very different design topology, eg cones vs horns vs planars etc.

While I’ve experimented with horns, single drivers, subwoofer augmentation …  I’ve always returned to full range dynamic multi-driver designs. About to do so with planars but on a scale I’ve not done before, and heading toward end game system in retirement.
So I just wonder what your experiences have been once the initial thrill is gone? (Especially if you moved from boxes to planars)

inscrutable

Showing 2 responses by sbank

sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 

Over decades moved from sealed bookshelves to ported to numerous dynamic floorstanders, some with subs, to small planars to a couple of partial open baffles to large full electrostatic planars. Don't ever wanna go back. When I recently moved, I pondered long and hard with what I'd do if I landed somewhere where I'd have to switch to a smaller speaker. Was leaning towards full open baffle as the best compromise for my preferences and system, but I'm really relieved to be keeping the Soundlabs. Cheers,

Spencer

sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 

All the posts connecting rooms and speakers hit on a key to end game satisfaction. Room design and room treatment are a bigger deal than many are willing to admit. If budget isn't a consideration, designing a room is a big challenge with large potential rewards.

If not, a thoughtful approach and some experimentation with room treatment will go quite a long way. Many praise DSP vs room treatment, which might be effective for some, but I prefer not adding more boxes, cables and potential signal degradation to the path. Panels, etc. might be more of a PITA and less attractive to many...so listen with your eyes closed ;-) or take your time finding or making something that appeals to you. 

For every speaker type, I've heard plenty of systems of modest cost outperform others at multiples higher cost, mostly due to serious room treatment and optimized speaker/seating placement. Cheers,

Spencer

 

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