Speaker design customer feedback


Hello, i'm Lawrence, and i'm looking for a source of unbiased, trustworthy information and, most importantly, opinions for my A level speaker design. Hence why i came to this audio forum, and i would like to ask for any personal opinions, and soon in the future, answers to a survey, all in order to really sharpen my design, and consequently, my final product. 
So my question is, what are your biggest issues with speakers, and in what areas would you really want something to be changed?
Your answer doesn't have to technical, it can be do with portability, overall use, connectivity, or even simple aesthetics.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, just a small bit of knowledge is all i really need, anything worth sharing would really help. 
Thanks,
Lawrence.
dtstudentlawrence

Can you elaborate on your design goals as to what target system your after and sound ideas your after. What size Speaker are you designing?


I look for a speaker that engages me that is musical and invites you into the music apposed to overly analytical. I do like it to be detailed but not in your face. I'd also like it to have high efficiency and an easy load on the amp. Also something that is not designed to impress you in the show room but over the long term is unsatisfying. most times this is when they boost bass or other areas. I like a realistic sound that is true to the source. Having options as to placement would be nice. I also  like a speaker that disperses into the room more I'm not a fan of the pin point sweet spot as I like to move around when listening.

Nowadays there are plenty of speakers that performs musically speaking, Too many competitions, my preference is musical speakers , aesthetic second, good example Elac B6 2.0 And Wharfedale 10.1. Price is third. 

You might do better here.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/loudspeakers/

The biggest problem is of course the exponential cost of superior loudspeakers.  You can find a competent floorstander for $1000, a good one for $5000, and close to superlative for $10,000.  Now if only those multiples were 1, 2, and 4.

Man, the speaker market is so competitive with so many options out there from established manufacturers and direct sellers that I'll just wish you the best of luck in finding some point of differentiation.  Kind of like introducing a new craft beer at this point.  Is it too late to go back and just design and sell cables instead?  To me this is more like the razor blade replacement cartridge of audio with relatively high profit margins and more ripe for disruption.  Sorry I'm not much help here, but I'm rooting for ya!

What I look for in a speaker:

1. Absolutely no distortion. Use the female voice as you standard. If you can reproduce the voice going from high to low note without the tizzy, staticy "shadow" distortion, you're on the right track.
2. What I call "eagerness". Sound that jumps out at you like your dog when you come home from work. A sense that the speaker WANTS to please you (related to high efficiency?).
3. Balanced sound. Highs not favored over lows, etc.
4. Smoothness.
5. Dynamics. Orchestra playing full tilt but that barely perceptible drum fill or chime can still be heard.
That's a good start...
Easy to drive for sure.....   that would hopefully mean dynamic and big sense of scale.   Engaging .... they make you want to listen til 2 AM

As far as aesthetics,  magnetic grills please.   
You would have to build a speaker that has a price performance value.  IMO you have to have a speaker that when someone compares it to what they already own they go WOW right away, not a back and forth thing where they go I think the bass was better, etc.  Too many other speaker manufacturers in todays market.  Happy Listening.
 Do you want to build by yourself?  Or looking the company Who can build it ? take a look www. bacheaudio.com
I agree with Bigkidz....  what ever the price point the listener needs to say "Wow" or it is just another speaker in a pool of many.   That's the problem with speakers, there are so many to choose from it is mind numbing.     I wish you luck. 
Coherence first: all frequencies come from similar technologies. I can't abide a speaker which presents a piano's top octave one way, and the bottom octave another. ESL's have coherence, Magnepan used to.

Fast: ESL's are the classic. Also ribbons and other planars, plasma.

Undistorted: most speakers use crossovers which could have been scavenged from a dump. It shows, or, more precisely, it sounds that way.
We need speaker designers to take more consideration of the following:

1. Speakers that sound good at low volume. So many only open out at high volumes.

2. Also speakers that don't demand to be situated in free space - in the uk we have small rooms, the average size of a new-build room has declined 20% over the past 20 years, and is now barely 15 square metres. There is no way an average uk room can have a speaker sitting away from the wall.  

3. Reduced bass - again small UK rooms have real problems with bass.  Bass booms in the mass of reflections small rooms have. Speaker designers think people want bass, and I guess many do, but many don’t.  

4. Make the speakers active with digital room correction software built in.  Active speakers are the future. And with digital sound processing built in to the speakers the problems of (2) and (3) above can be overcome.  

The future as I see it for the wider market is a single box streamer/dac/preamp into the active speakers fitted with dsp.  This connected to the TV too for streaming video through the active speakers - it is the future and the speakers are at the heart of it.