When choosing new speakers, what matters the most to me are the specs. I need to be able to anticipate how the speakers will sound in my room. Speaker design is not alchemy nor voodoo. It is a well understood science. Life is short, I have no time to listen to a speaker system whose designer could not bother giving me the specs. Then I listen to the speakers in MY ROOM with my electronics. If it pleases me I buy if not, NEXT. There are a lot of good ones to choose from.
When choosing new Speakers, what matters most to you?
When auditioning new speakers have you ever listened to a pair you thought you really liked only to realize you didn’t like them at all after seeing their measurements/specifications? And I’m not talking about speakers that would be too difficult for your electronics to drive but rather, you just didn’t like their waterfall plot, or their frequency response or some other measurement even though subjectively, you loved the way they sounded? Conversely have you ever listened to a pair of speakers you did not care for only to change your mind after seeing their specs?
Assuming speakers can be easily driven by your home electronics, in other words, no compatibility issues related to sensitivity or impedance, what is the single most important thing you look for when finding speakers you’ll enjoy listening to? How do you go about confirming the speakers you buy will be enjoyable to listen to in your home system?
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1. Price 2. If I've heard them and liked the sound, otherwise if I have a trusted friend who has. 3. Looks (size/dimensions) 4. Reviews 5. Specs 6. My other components and how they mesh I presently have the JBL L-100 Classic 75th Anniversary Edition. I heard the L-100's, liked them, then with the new look and special edition that was it, then built my system around them. |
That’s a very long question but for me, it is a simplified answer. I start my search comparing the specs, but that is not how I prefer to choose my speakers, those are just numbers on a fact sheet. I have listened to the speakers with the better specs only to walk away because the audio did not make me smile, it was rather a oh that’s not what I like. On the other side I chose speakers with the lesser speaks simply because their sound was brilliant or really fun to listen too, more lively than the flatness of the better specs, so now I only refer to specs to ensure compatibility with my receivers amplifier. Sound always first |
# 1 thing for me is I make a serious attempt to buy Built in America with as many USA components as possible. That limits my choices considerably, but that’s how I roll. My dad made it back from the Philippines, but his only brother’s body was never returned from Metz France for two years after the war. Dad raised me with a American first philosophy. And it kind of stuck. In 65 years, I have never bought a non-American owned, non-Union made car. Not a whole lot of people can say that, but it's one thing I can take to the grave and be proud of. At least I tried. BTW I ended up with all Legacys but considered a few others. My previous system was all Ascend Acoustics, and the one before they closed up shop and sold out, was Miller Kreisel’s.. |
+1 @imhififan Correctly matching speaker size to room size is the only thing that will get you anywhere close to a live venue sound. I personally could care less about measurements, only my ears matter. |
speaker criteria 1. If your married then I'd say the Wife Acceptance Factor is your most important criteria. 2. the more sensitive the speaker is the less powerful amp you need. Class D amplifiers generate more power with less heat. 3. do you have room enough to keep the speakers set back from the wall? Some speakers require that they be set back from the rear wall. If you have to place the speakers up against the rear wall, I'd recommend you look at the Harbeth brand or the KLH model5. 4. take a look at this video for a general overview.
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I was enchanted by a set of Acoustat 2 + 2 before I knew anything about high end audio. Immediately found out they took massive power I did not have. I spent over thirty years trying to recreate that sound and never really did. But I found I was pursuing a sound that enhanced electronic and small venue music at the expense of all others.
I started regularly attending the symphony and accidentally heard some Sonus Faber speakers… slowly completely pivoted to all tube with Sonus Faber… they sound natural, all music sounds better.
So for me, the sound (which what I was looking for changed over time)… but to fully get the sound all other components must be optimized. |
I will not look at the specs until I have heard the speakers in question. Many of the specs are stretched a bit so unless John Atkinson has tested them to confirm or deny, the specs don’t mean all that much to me. I am another believer in a higher sensitivity speaker. My current are 94db. Why make the amp have to work so hard? |
Small planars and ribbons. I made a choice 40+ years ago. I've never changed my preference. 70-80s I really liked Stratherans ribbons. I made 3 set of speakers to fund mine. I picked the drivers up from Brian Cheney at VMPS. 20 24" ribbons. I haven't found a single speaker manufacture that makes a line of planars or ribbon speakers at a 1/2 way reasonable price. I liked the Infinity IRS Betas when they had rear chambers added to the monitor section too. One of the best bang for the buck speakers EVER made. The servo system and added rear chamber made them the right size for any room. The size of the speaker in the room make very little difference if you design speaker cabinets to reduce resonance, and most of all not collect and deform the drivers face. WIDE baffles collecting distortion from all frequencies including the frequencies the drivers produce themselves is real good place to start. Phase plugs on cone/voice coil drivers and servo controlled subs. I don't mix BASS and vibration with my planar/ribbons just for the damage alone. I'm pretty sure most of the Ribbons will last as long as the magnets keep working and planars as long as the lamination holds up. 100+ years Then you can rebuild them.. BTW the Strathearns I built in the 70s were still going strong in 2010 when they were passed on to the son or grandson. They bought spare drivers from Magic Markey. Bottom line they don't make what I like any more. SO I'll stick with what I got. Nothing better so far. Same wife for 49 years too.. :-) Regards |
Bought a pair of speakers once that sounded great on demo, at least with what they were demoed with. Stupid me. If I had seen the measurements first, I would never have bought them. Got them home and no position, no toe-in, nothing would make them sound right with a wide range of music. Sometimes brilliant, sometimes just something wrong. Found out later that there was significant frequency response/directivity issues.
Learned my lesson. I never bought speakers again without having measurements even if that limited what I could buy. There are just too many things that can be done wrong in a speaker, driver resonance, port resonance, cabinet resonance, frequency response, distortion, distortion over volume, directivity issues, thermal compression, less than ideal cross-over design, etc. When listening to new speakers, there are so so many variables, that is hard enough to say "I like these", let alone pick up on the design flaws that may only become self evident with some music, and then being new speakers you think is is me, is it the room, is it the amp?
Speakers are one area where measurements are really critical. It is not going to tell you if you like it or not for the long time, but it can very much highlight flaws you may not encounter in early listening that you will eventually not be able to live with. At a more fundamental level, directivity plots will help you know how it will work out in your room, the range of toe-in you can use, even whether compared to your existing speakers they may be darker or brighter. Let's not forgot amplifier interaction as well.
When you write it down, you realize that buying speakers without any measurement is a really risky proposition.
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Ok, so if price is the same, I try to balance best sound quality with aesthetics and in a tie, the easiest speaker to position and move will win. We all know though that all things will never be equal. Ugly wont cut it in our home, impossible to move or position wont cut it either.
Judging by some of the system photos here on audiogon, its clear that aesthetics arent that importnat to some. |
You’re definitely right about that. I see a lot of guys with high dollar systems, where they have way too big a speaker for the size of their room. It’s like the tuner who dials up more horsepower than a chassis can handle. That same chassis with less power can in many instances go around a race track faster. |
If you know the characteristics you’re looking for and you hear a pair of speakers at a dealer that exhibits those characteristics better than others with your music (and any of your electronics you can bring to the audition), you’re probably in good shape unless your room is a disaster — but that’s on you and not the speakers. Short of auditioning at home that’s the best you can do and will minimize the chance for disappointment, but there are no guarantees — nature of the beast. If you go through this rigorous process and find “the” speakers that sound best to you and reject them on measurements alone I feel sorry for you. |
Good point, let’s say both speakers are in the same ballpark, not a significant difference between the speakers at all, or let’s even say they cost the same. How will you determine which ones sound best in your home? |
