Best speaker brands for transient response

I am assuming that on average a sealed design at any given price point will outperform a ported speaker in this area of performance, but 

Not necessarily true, (many variables, probable confusion on what ties in with transient response).

Try a Borresen speaker if it is workable for your wallet.

From a measurements perspective, improved driver impulse response could be equated (to some degree, one component) to improved transients.

This translates to small drivers playing respective frequency band, and increased number of drivers to achieve sound power.

Drivers themselves can’t be too compliant (signal reversal, phase shift ) or too stiff (resonances, stored energy, waterfall). Many poor drivers i’ve tested that go into some "high end" speakers don’t cut it, it’s one thing or the other.

A poor crossover design will introduce big electrical phase shifts and so on (nullifying benefits accrued from the above mentioned).

It appears that some big horn speakers mentioned on this thread have defied all physics, engg design, material science, etc and achieved unmatchable transients, as per the sales crew. No, they did not, but, whatever helps to sell your stuff.

What you sell is apparently always the best at everything, no exceptions indeed! (They don’t just win some/lose some as the engineers would admit, but, they just excel at everything according to the sales crew....NOT)

As to the relevance of transient abilities in a speaker and all that implies, it seems that area has now become a bit washed out, subjective in nature and with brands rather than general physics and design as the prevalent factor. That being said, if we’re speaking leading edge cleanliness/transient prowess in most of the audible frequency spectrum, and effortless at that at most any desired SPL (i.e.: easy of reproduction is not trivial here), large size and efficiency in addition to proper design/technology - from my chair - is inescapable.

@phusis . I think my last comment was fairly self explanatory.

There are several metrics that play into audiophile nirvana, transients being one of them. As long as a speaker tackles several of these metrics above a certain acceptable threshold, one might start raving about it. But, when you are locked into a design space, you can’t excel at everything.

I understand you’re a horn connesieur, speaking of horns, I had the older K2 9800 for a while. I have some big unheard of Yamaha PA in storage that probably beat that older JBl into dust (or what i remember of it). I may aspire to a Meyer Sound bluehorn or something similar at some future date. There are others who seem to do horns better than jbl, imo.

Can/does something like a Borresen transient wonder do the same things (other enjoyable things) as some of these big horns? NOT...different designs, different compromises.

The avg audiophile thinks that he gets the best of everything if he just spent enough on his 1 wonder pair of speakers....NOT. (he probably doesn’t have enough space or cash to accommodate more than 1 pair of very different types of speaker designs. Hence, he may either start lying to himself or the sales guy lied to him.)

I’m not a JBL fan as is (kinda was in my early youth though), certainly not of their wider range of domestic offerings, but they’re one of the few originally pro manufacturers to still provide a home line of speakers where their pro origins can "bleed" into, and for that I find they deserve some credit.

@phusis Agreed.

My take: cost isn’t the real issue here, but rather the extent to which one is willing to go to materialize a potential from a specific, fitting design path. Vanity, dogma and/or conjecture are other issues; many won’t wade into the pro arena with functional looking (and sometimes cheaper) products in addition to, as mentioned earlier, large size.

It’s about the optics, prestige, brand name snobbery and what not (other bizarre stuff)...or they heard 300 dollar plastic trash PA at the bar and made up their minds. Play anything full tilt and all their "prestigious" audiophile goober stuff just falls to dust. But, somehow, these guys are constantly talking about the real thing, live, 3D etc (boggles my mind).

I came to my senses a bit after i heard the Daniel Hertz M1, kills everything high end for my musical tastes...but, literally a Pro speaker with the ’audiophile approved’ pricing, i.e., only a measly 200k. Other seriously engineered core pro stuff is never heard of.

My eventual goal is to build a separate sound shed on my property (to prevent high SPL related divorce) and...possibly setup a atmos rig around Meyer Sound’s higher end stuff and a stereo rig around just Pioneer or Yamaha. The cabinets will get their pristine looking wood stain/finish whatever and things should start to look just fine. It really isn’t that hard or labor intensive to spruce up some baltic birch. Funny thing...Wilson, Avantgarde, etc looked "just fine" somehow (hell no!) in this neck of the woods.

@deep_333 @phusis -- I am curious, what is it about JBL that makes you not a fan?

Imo, home audio could learn a lot from a certain category of the pro audio space...like Levinson/Daniel Hertz tried to do more recently. For example, Meyer Sound and pro Yamaha (specific models),  Pro Pioneer/TAD (to some degree) spend a lot of time and energy in getting the phase characteristics, slope, etc correct  even in passive builds, which changes the whole design methodology. This tends to affect coherence, accuracy, spatial nuance etc when there is more than one speaker contributing to a soundfield. You are always listening to more than one speaker in a living space,  i.e., not sitting around with 1 speaker (mono) in an anechoic chamber with your head in a vise. Ever wonder why a huge Klipsch sits there like an incoherent sore thumb while a huge Meyer disappears like a piece of cake and sounds like you deployed some object based codec?

JBL PA plays loud and clean, good for the price..but, not as nuanced as above mentioned. Their engineers are not foolish, just a bit arrogant sometimes (think they already know everything, nothing more to learn). Home audio...Wilson, Faber, etc seem to be genuinely ignorant/unaware in their approach of above mentioned..

To be fair, the avg home audio enthusiast/audiophile is not that picky, but, a percentage of the pros or the ones who spend the big bucks (at the least) are extremely picky ...it's their livelihood. Look at the guys who do installations at the multi/multi million dollar grand acoustic halls, etc. It is a world that's not known to many.

Do you find that the Yamaha pro strengths find their way into their premium home audio models like the NS 2000/5000?

Yamaha is a bit unique in the pro scene since they are also a instrument manufacturer. In the 2000s, they made a decision for their musical instruments division to collaborate with the hifi division... and the NS5000 - other speakers and electronics in the series came out of that collaboration. I do some recording at home, etc...and have other use for it besides hifi listening. 

Their higher end PA stuff is different, would remind you more of Meyer, etc than the above mentioned.