Speaker priority: high or low???

Common Audio Sense -- (Apparently) A Minority Perspective

To say that the transducer is the most important part of a system is understatement.

I would wager that most of us would have little problem in identifying speaker "A" over speaker "B" from two rooms away. I would also wager that those of us who believe that the amplifer is what molds the sound of a system would not be able to consistently determine the differences between or identify one quality transistor amp from another in a controlled double blind --- or to conssistently diifferentiate between one high quality tube amplifer and another under the above described conditions. This position, of course, assumes that the amplifiers measure well and are of the same approximate wattage and current ratings as well as input sensitivities.

System synergy? I don't deny it exists. However, all too often it is a euphemism for the equivalent of an equalizer. That is "compensating," for example, for an overly bright forward sounding speaker with a polite and rolled off tube amplifier.

On a more positive note, I do agree, in part, with Beemer. The room is very important and sometimes the only way to upgrade is to move. ;>

Cliff

Yes, David, you are right. The speaker cannot "improve" the signal presented to it. As I understand it, what Karls, Unsound and others have said (more ably than I) is that the speaker is the component that is least linear and most apt to impart its "sonic signature." There are clearly demonstrable, relatively gross (objectively and subjectively) differences between speakers. There are not such gross, subjectively and objectively demonstrable differences, for example, between a $500 CD player and a $2,000 CD player. A pair of AR3s is going to sound like a pair of AR3s with $20,000 worth of electronics and will sound like a pair of AR3s with $1,000 worth of electronics. --- The identifiable "quadness" of a pair of ELS 57s will remain regardless of the electronics. A bad amp may muddy the midbass, and present unacceptable colorations to the revealing midrange of the quad. And to be a bit hyperbolic: a deaf man would not mistake the AR3s for the Quads regardless of the electronics used with either or both.

Nrchy,
You wrote earlier today: "What are the speakers going to add to the music that was not retrieved from the source or translated to the speakers? I just don't get it."

Are you playing Devil's Advocate and trying to stir the pot, or do you REALLY "just don't get it."? As Unsound explained, speakers commit both sins of omission and sins of commission. A sin of omission is a "forgivable" transgression. For example a speaker may do a credible, or even an outstanding job reproducing the midrange and the top end as well as the mid-bass but may have no information under, say 50 Hz. On the other hand a speaker may "add" colorations and distortions which make it difficult to tell the difference between a guitar and a dobro, a guitar and a lute, a violin and a viola, etc. A speaker may be "tilted up" in the upper midrange and present an aggravating, ultimately unlistenable signal which causes listener fatigue.

I trust that you mispoke yourself when using the phrase/concept of what does a speaker add. It implies that the upstream components ADD something to the signal. (And that ADDING someting to the signal is a good thing!) The designer's goal and the music lovers bliss is a component that does NOT add ANYTHING to the signal. A component that reproduces the original source with sufficient accuracy to look good on a graph and, more importantly, to "suspend disbelief" of the music lover and transport music lover......to the music is what we look for.

Twl,
I do not disagree with any part of your comment. We may disagree as to whether or not multi-thousand dollar digital source components produce a signal that is appreciably different (either objectively or subjectively---in a controlled test environment----) than the signal from a modestly priced digital source. Your main point that a speaker, no matter how good, is not going to "overcome an earlier loss in the signal chain" is right on. On the other hand an excpetonally transparent and quick speaker with outstanding macro & micro dynamics will reveal low level information and nuance that are present in the signal but which are not audible through a lesser speaker. Thanks for your thoughts, explinations and diplomacy.

Hello again all:

This is really kind of pitiful. What kind of poor excuses for opinionated machismo are we, when the best we can do is to pretty much agree with each other?

I think I'll go slip my Veritas into a groove. And groove.

Thanks to all of you for the party.

Cliff