What would your "perfect speaker" sound like.


What would your perfect speaker sound like. Not interested in the brand, or the a speaker you heard at a friends house or audio show This is a thought experiment. Simply conjur up the most divine sound in you mind and tell us what you are conjuring. 

Please be brief, 

sounds_real_audio

As a recovering DEQ neurotic, one that would morph into whatever makes each song sounds it’s best.

 

 

Probably wireless with built in amplification, and perhaps room correction. But it must sound as good as any planar/ribbon/dynamic speaker.

ozzy

Interesting how few people really know what their "dream speaker" would sound like. 

 

This is a thought experiment so no need. to treat the room, unless you are tired of thinking. lol

 

As one who has correctly treated my room, I can also point out the importance of the room.

BUT, the speaker is also extremely important. 

Sorry, but no matter how good one's room is, if a speaker is lacking detail, transient response, accurate timbre, is inherently colored, NO AMOUNT of room treatment is going to correct for that.

I have heard plenty of very high end speakers, in average sounding rooms, sound better than lesser speakers in well treated rooms.  

For example, I have heard Von Schweikerrt VR 55 mkII ($65K). in a typical living room sort of setting, sound substantially better than a pair of $14K Sonus Faber (not sure the model) in a professionally treated room. 

The Von Schweikert's had better attack and decay, had better transient response, had a bigger, deeper, more detailed soundstage, were more neutral, timbre was better.

Those things are inherent in the speakers themselves, and no amount of room treatment will get a lesser speaker, to do what it is not capable of doing.

Interesting how people envision a sound system.. Almost begging the question "what is a sound system"

Number one on my list is, does it make me happy? 

@campoly ....*G* Good.... ;)

...we will now tiptoe away from that, noting the deletion... 😏

.....and I've enough voices in my head....sans the 'mute' function at some junction....😜

@barts Hey, yeah....I Know that my drivers are Perfect, even if DIY’d....

And the others, aggregated to illume The Path to them, ditto....even if only 99.9%..

....and, as they come to take me away, in that lovely tight canvas coat on the handtruck I’ll try not to foam @ the mouth too much....🤪

....getting harder to escape, tho’...;)

The most perfect speaker is the one that you own and love

The rest is just a fools errand.

 

I prefer to think of it as "just music" and not a pursuit of the unattainable. 

Regards,

barts 

The best speaker/room is the one that gets you closest to the perfect one. The best is the most you can hope for with current tech. 

Since most rooms are seriously flawed this is unlikely to happen even with the finest equipment. 

You can not discuss loudspeakers without including the room, they are both part of the same transducer. The perfect speaker room would be the one that, with the best live recordings, could fool you into thinking you were at a live performance from the Melos String Quartet to Guns and Roses.

#Mahgister...... you are right.  Case in point, go to any show where they set up their equipment [speakers included] in a hotel room like Axpona.  Some of the most expensive speakers will sound crappy beyond belief because the space is too small or untreated.  I never have the heart to say much of anything, especially when they smile and act like it is golden.

I am flabbergasted by the facts that some believe that speakers choice matter more than the room...

For me the room matter as much...If not more... 😊

I prefer less performant speakers in a dedicated acoustic room than more performant speakers in a bad room ( most non dedicated room ) ...

Acoustician regard the specs of speakers as the quantitative aspects of a room only data they will use to create great sound...

Any speakers can sound if not extraordinary, optimal in any great room dedicated to them...

My favorite speakers is the only one paradoxically i never really listened to at his optimal possibilities then i never really heard them , and incredibly i owned them for 45 years and this was because i did not know about the importance of acoustic for so long...😁

Then my mythical Tannoy dual gold Mallorcan, had sounded way less good in my living room for 45 five years than my less well designed and inferior Mission Cyrus 781 in a dedicated acoustic room...is this not extraordinary ?

The room dont change the specs for sure but maximalize all there is that is good in a speaker on a high level...Or the room kill the best specs of any speakers and translate them in the worst ...

My 12 pounds of salt...

Give me the room first... 😁

And pick a good speakers for me...

I will live with them...

Why do you think i can be happy with a good but cheap pair of speakers ( 100 bucks) now with only a dedicated acoustic corner ?

Am i deaf?

Or did i did what we must do to install them in the right way ?

This M-audio MV40 speakers i disliked them when i bought them 12 years ago...I was used to the Tannoy sound which was way over them even in a bad room..I sold the Tannoy which was an error because i needed smaller one on my desk and because i learned nothing about acoustic at the times...

The M-audio were used only for computer sake..l. I never considered them able to deliver music...I bought Mission to replace the Tannoy...

Till i lost my Mission speakers/dedicated room , because i sold my house 1 year ago...

In my new basement i created a dedicated acoustic corner shaped for these little M-Audio... What a surprize at the end of this process ...

i now can listen music and i have even a soundstage and a good imaging and good timbre with the right dac with good but very low cost speakers ...

i created more diffusive surface for them...

I used two foldable screens for that...

I dont have deep bass for sure with a 4 inches driver, but i have acceptable bass ....

Really the acoustic matter way more than the price of the speakers...

What was the use to have been lucky enough to own the Tannoy dual gold, a shining pair of speakers, if you have never been able to set them right as i was unable to do it for 45 years ?

You can laught at me.... But it is pure truth learned the hard way ...

 

Imperfect speakers in the perfect room for them matter way more than the perfect speakers in the most imperfect room....

Pick the speakers for me i will make them shine...

Acoustic rule...

Not speakers design alone and by itself...

Perfect speaker would be no speaker. Music delivered by Star Trek like transporter.

@asvjerry, it’s not just you.

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ONE INPUT TO RULE THEM ALL...

Alas, I'll pass.....it'd probably play hell with my TAVR valve, the pacemaker/defib onboard already...

....and whatever else I get Borg'd with....😖

Resistance isn't futile when inevitability beckons....

( Is it just me?  Why does DJT's smugshot remind me of the AntiChrist? ) 😎

@jasonbourne71 ....*L*  It'd be unlikely you'd want to hold it for very long, but I get your drift... ;) 

Mho, I think a direct neural input will beat yours to the marketplace, but we'd could place our bets as to which one will surface....🤷‍♂️

The big rabbit from the hat trick will be to stay alive long enough to find out the answer....😏

@czarivey 

@baylinor 

@mapman 

"Gentlemen, place your bets....bitcoin not accepted, no...."

"The highest rated loudspeaker is the least flawed, not the most virtuous." - Floyd Toole

I have owned this particular pair of Lascalas for over 20 years, and after my extensive damping of the " entire " design, everything stock , and the non popular AL crossovers ( built for a short time, but my favorite of them all ), I get out of them, whatever I feed them. Given my room, listening chair distance, and " my desired " sound characteristics, they work well, and produce a very enjoyable, intimate, truthful, ear opening, powerful, emotionally engaging, listening experience, all the while knowing, I am listening to recordings. Gummies help, too. Enjoy ! MrD.

With proper amplification and components the MBL Omni directional speakers come dam close to realism .

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It’s not only speakers, that’s just one part of the equation. Any audio system that can draw you into performance without drawing attention to its sum or parts is a winner in my opinion. 

The speaker would have to sound so good that I wouldn't have to pay attention to it when listening.

All the best,
Nonoise

Like no speaker at all and no amplification either...

There's no perfect world tho

It cannot sound better than the room...

Gives me any speakers  i will made the best of it...

 

😊

Natural, balanced, and they disappear into the performance.  Hope that’s brief enough. 

There is no such thing as a perfect speaker at ANY price bracket. When you have a few different speaker designs and realize their pros and cons, you would get a feel for 'perfection'  constrained by the limitations of an engineering design space (that any engineer is subject to).

Instead of looking for a perfect speaker, focus on building a perfect room. The latter is much more achievable than a perfect speaker.

It has to sound like live music.   Beautiful tone.   Wide dynamic range and ability to scale.  Elastic quality , fluid.    Is that asking  too much?  

Natural… not accentuated in treble or bass. Coherent top to bottom… I have owned a number of planar / dynamic speakers… while listening to them they don’t sound uncoherent… until you hear a coherent one. I would rather some bass truncation over incoherence with split technologies or subs with different character.

Musical with natural timbre. After over ten years with season tickets to the symphony in “the audiophile seats, row 7 center”… I know what natural and musical sounds like.