The conclusion I've reached about speakers


After years of listening to box speakers the conclusion I have come to is that:

All speakers sound the same

A big speaker does more bass and goes lower. A bookshelf gives no bass and cant go as loud. 

Any other differences are either imaginary or DELIBERATELY contrived to make them sound better to the unsuspecting buyer.

The ONLY other differences aside from sound quality are the price and appearance. Prices can vary substantially and so can the way a speaker looks.

In other words, everything we thought about speakers is all wrong. 
kenjit

Showing 7 responses by kenjit

One man answered an add for the piano teacher.
"Sir, what are your credentials?"
"I don't have any. I don't know music and I don't play piano"
You have to remember that the same audiophiles that think they hear a difference in speakers are the same people that think they hear differences in cables. Audiophiles have very poor credentials when it comes to judging sound quality.  
After years of reading Kenjit's posts the conclusion I have come to is that:
They all sound the same
That is exactly my point. There is nothing new to be said. There are no breakthroughs its all the same. The posts on here have been the same over the last ten years. People asking: "Is speaker A better than speaker B?" 

How many of those have we had? How many more will there be?

Kenjit obviously doesn't have enough money to buy better speakers.
That doesn't change the conclusion I've reached does it? I have given speaker dealers many opportunities to demonstrate their super expensive speakers to me and they all sound the same. 

If the speaker designer decided to do a 2db rise in response around 6-10khz you will hear more brightness. But that doesn't make it better does it? That doesnt justify the price being $50k does it? No it does not. 
Why not to admit that your hearing apparatus is inferior.
Because I dont believe it. That is the opposite conclusion I have come to. The conclusion I have come to as Ive already stated is that any differences heard can be one of two things. Either it is imaginary or the difference is contrived. The frequency response graphs often show these obvious differences between different speakers. Are you trying to tell me these cannot be heard? If so, who is deaf, me or you? 
Imaginary differences are certainly plausible. Why do you think they spare no expense in achieving such beautiful looking speakers? It is because THEY know that WE will fall for it.

 If you cannot hear any difference - just say it. Instead you go into denial claiming nobody can hear it.
I didnt say nobody can hear differences. I am saying that it can be due to imagination or due to contrivances. There are many tricks at the disposal of speaker engineers in order to make us believe that we are hearing better sound. If that subsequently enables them to sell more speakers they will do it. The differences people claim to hear also need to be considered in the context of differences in peoples hearing loss, poor listening environments, room treatments, listening position and so on.
If this hobby we all love (as in everyone but you apparently) is such a fraud why haven’t you moved on?
I have moved on and I implore YOU to do the same. Why haven't YOU moved on yourself? 

Musicians and audio lovers are far from tone deaf.
You would think that but you'd be surprised. Ive been to more than one demo where speakers were put in horribly echoey rooms and wired out of phase but nobody seemed to hear it or care except me. I ordered them to put them back in phase and they immediately complied. 
Perhaps a hearing test might be worthwhile....
It would not I'm afraid. Ever heard of a fellow by the name of Beethoven? He had bad hearing but it didnt stop him being a great musician. Conversely, having perfect 20-20khz hearing doesnt make you a brilliant audiophile. You could still be tone deaf.
A  BBC LS3/5A sounds world's different from a Klipsch Heresy! I have both.
What are the frequency responses?