Should Speaker Manufactures provide a Frequency Response Graph?


Eric at Tekton Designs has been battling two different reviewers who have posted measurements without his permission, using Klippel devices for their respective measurements.

It seems to me that if manufactures provide a simple smoothed out graph, consumers can see how much a speaker is editorializing with a frequency response that deviates from neutral.  

seanheis1

I have never been able to discern the voicing of a speaker from performance specs.  

Heck, even the humidity levels in my room change the sound. Let alone all the other variables. 

I have concluded that performance specs are for bench racing. 

I couldn't care less, simply because their measurements aren't in my room which is always vastly different. I also don't put much stock into the tech specs which tend to be off as well. 

So if they or ASR wants to post frequency curves that's fine, neither will tell me what they measure in my room.  


I have never been able to discern the voicing of a speaker from performance specs.

From manufacturer specs? That makes sense.
However, it is not difficult to do with thorough third-party measurements. It merely requires an understanding of how the measurements correlate to perceived sound quality. For example, take any two tweeters and provide a CSD/waterfall graph for each. Based on the graphs, I could tell you with certainty which one will sound cleaner and more refined.

Another example: a speaker with a wider horizontal dispersion over a large bandwidth will produce a bigger soundstage than one with a narrower dispersion over the same bandwidth.

“It merely requires an understanding of how the measurements correlate to perceived should quality“

Good luck with that.  A panel of listeners will rarely, if ever unanimously agree on the sound quality of a speaker or system.  On top of that, any speaker will sound different based on the room, the setup, the amps, the cables, the source, condition of the power coming into the system, etc.

“…take any two tweeters and provide a CSD/waterfall graph for each.  Based on the graphs, I could tell you with certainty…“. No, not with certainty.  You might guess right some of the time.

“… a speaker with a wider horizontal dispersion over a large bandwidth will produce a bigger soundstage than one with a narrower dispersion over the same bandwidth.“. Not really.  Careful, you are using lots of fancy terms here without context.

Have you actually designed and built a speaker?