How important are the Speaker Cabinets?

The volume of air inside (and porting) as well as stuffing will create a resonant system with the woofer. Cabinet volume and porting are matched to a particular driver. This is extremely important for the woofer.

Furthermore the edges and shape of the speaker may influence the edge diffraction of frequencies above about 500 Hz.

Furthermore cabinet resonances may color the sound and increase distortion.

Jaybo

Interesting so do you believe people are choosing speakers based upon how they look and are willing to pay for that look even if their is a comparable speakers that cost less but doesn't look as good?

Absolutely. How many audiophiles do you see using ugly pro black ash speakers? How many audiophiles do you see using aesthetic looking speakers with fine veneers?

On average, it is more about aesthetics than everything else combined. This is self evident the moment you step into a high-end consumer store versus a pro sudio store.

Drew,

Thanks for the link. The article proves what most people inherently feel or know to be true (if they are ruthlessly honest about it): aesthetics is more important than sound quality to most audiophiles.

This is why audiophile manufacturers make costly and beautifully finished speaker cabinets and stuff them with very cheap but pretty looking drivers...sound is awful but nobody notices.

In contrast a sturdy but obviously DIY speaker armed with expensive drivers looks like a POS and will be judged that way even if it sounds fantastic.

Shadorne, the article does not prove that looks are more important than sound quality

Well the way I read how the selection process went blind versus sighted (choice is so utterly dependent on visual cues even though they were instructed to rate only sonic quality), it is hard to see how one could not draw this simple conclusion: what audiophiles see is what they hear.

Shadorne, why limit it to just what can be seen? Better it's what the audiophile knows is what they hear.

Yes absolutely. What I meant to say was that when an buyer sees the product and knows who makes it then he/she becomes influenced by all the reviews and aura around the product, as well as the aesthetics. You are right to correct me - it is not ONLY aesthetics but a whole bunch of factors - including testimonials people have read on the web...

In fact I was playing Golf this morning and I am still amazed at how many brands of Golf ball there are (and clubs) - I got to wondering if most of these are just OEM sourced equipment from a few large volume manufacturers that get a different cosmetic look and logo (is the Nike Golf ball really that different from Pinnacle)....much like many speaker companies using the same North European third party low cost drivers...much like cable manufacturers that don't make their own cable but simply add logos to what an OEM makes.