The two most common mistakes are bass and treble


OK, so I know many of you will have a knee jerk reaction to that with something like "well you've just covered most of the spectrum!" but I mean to say more than what I can fit in a headline.

When first purchasing speakers the biggest regrets, or sometimes bad choices without regret, is looking for a speaker that is too detailed. In the store over 10 minutes it mesmerizes you with the resolution of frequencies you thought you would never hear again.  You take the speakers home and after a month you realize they are ear drills.  High pitched, shrill sounding harpies you can't believe you listened to long enough to make a choice.

The other mistake, which audiophiles life with far too long is buying too big a speaker for the room.  The specmanship of getting 8 more Hertz in the -3dB cutoff is a huge factor in speaker purchases.

What do you think the biggest mistakes are when buying speakers?
erik_squires

Showing 1 response by bob540

An important factor in my enjoyment of music is sound pressure level.  I’ve seen that others here tend to listen at higher SPL than I do, and I find it hard to relax at higher than medium-to-low levels.  If I’m up doing things around the house, then louder is fine, but just kicked back enjoying the music, I like the music to be an element in the room and not consume the room.

When I first got into higher-level equipment a year ago, friends and family assumed that I would be rocking the neighborhood.  I think some believe I over-spent if all I was looking for was mellow.  But I can hear everything fine without the music bellowing at me.  

Like knighttodd, I have the ML 60XT’s but paired with the Parasound A21 amp. I also have two subwoofers, but sometimes I forget to turn them on and the sound is still pleasing.  They are efficient at 94, so not hard to drive even at 4 ohm impedance.  Everyone likes something different.