I use British speakers mostly that figure cabinet resonance into their design,from my understanding.Speakers that have so called dead cabinets,aren't a guarantee for the best sound.The drivers themselves are a primitive way of making music,but that's what seems to work the best.Even 70-90 years later.A lot of musical instruments make their sound by cabin resonance. I go by what my ears like,not what electronic measuring devices say I'm supposed to like.A technically good speaker usually sounds poor.Is thick car paint fantastic sounding?If they were that dead,we could put them in a corner,or against a wall.In the 70s or 80s,a dealer had a pair of speakers that measured the best at the time. He asked me what I thought of them,I listened awhile and said ok to be polite.He asked if I would by them,I said no.He said that's why they're close to the door,to get rid of them as quick as possible.Go by your ears,and forget the rest.You must like,and enjoy them.This is just my two cents.
Speaker cabinets: How important is inert
First let's assume that the best school of thought is for speaker cabinets to have zero characteristics of their own, i.e it's completely silent.
A lot of the premium speakers like Rockport, Magico, YG, Kharma, Wilson all boast custom cabinets which are supposed to be "dead," which will let the drivers do their jobs without having the cabinets interefere. There are also premium speakers that uses braced MDF like TAD, Tidal, the lower Rockport lines, Avalons, etc which are supposed to be almost as good.
I'm not in the market for speakers, but everytime I look and listen to different speakers, I almost always prefer the big heavy duty cabinet speakers, and not the slim shaped refined looking speakers.
So my question is - do these custom epoxy or sandwiched or aluminum or whatever cabinets make a HUGE difference over plain MDF or braced MDF, or is it just marginal? How much of the secret to a good sounding speaker is in the cabinet engineering versus the drivers?
A lot of the premium speakers like Rockport, Magico, YG, Kharma, Wilson all boast custom cabinets which are supposed to be "dead," which will let the drivers do their jobs without having the cabinets interefere. There are also premium speakers that uses braced MDF like TAD, Tidal, the lower Rockport lines, Avalons, etc which are supposed to be almost as good.
I'm not in the market for speakers, but everytime I look and listen to different speakers, I almost always prefer the big heavy duty cabinet speakers, and not the slim shaped refined looking speakers.
So my question is - do these custom epoxy or sandwiched or aluminum or whatever cabinets make a HUGE difference over plain MDF or braced MDF, or is it just marginal? How much of the secret to a good sounding speaker is in the cabinet engineering versus the drivers?