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?

128x128ted_denney

@vinylvalet, do you mean measurements or specifications? Specifications are for all intents and purposes meaningless when it comes to loudspeakers. How a speaker is going to perform is based almost entirely on it's design. Frequency response characteristics can be adjusted but to what end? This really needs to be done in the speaker's final location. 

Where is this size phobia coming from?  In order to make low bass a speaker needs to be larger. All those tower speakers with 6" woofers do not make low bass. A speaker's loudness limit is usually determined by it's tweeter. For arguments sake, lets say we have the worlds best 1" dome tweeter. I can put that tweeter in an enclosure with two 6" woofers and have a lovely little tower speaker or bookshelf. I can take the same tweeter and stick it in a much larger enclosure with two 6" midrange drivers and two 12" woofers. Both speakers will go just as loud but which one is going to make better bass? One guess only. Which speaker is going to be more enjoyable to listen to? Does the room size make a difference? The larger speaker is going to sound much better in any size room for two reasons, it makes more and lower bass and there is much less distortion in the midrange because those drivers have been relieved of the long excursions bass requires. As a rule of thumb bigger speakers are better. They are also more expensive so, you get the sour grapes attitude you frequently see and hear on this website. My speakers are HUGE and I love every square inch. There is not a single smaller loudspeaker I would care to own, even ones that are extremely more expensive. As most women know, size is everything:)

A Wise Man Once Opined:

Given enough time, all audiophile threads will become a discussion about cars or watches.

 

 

prof

A Wise Man Once Opined:

Given enough time, all audiophile threads will become a discussion about cars or watches.

You're really dating us, Years ago watches would have been replaced with Women. 

BTW, I respectably disagree with buying speakers based solely on measurements.

Agree here too; frequency response and other measurements are typically done in a controlled, maybe anechoic, environment.  They will measure much more differently in each of our listening rooms.

Except any decent speaker review would include a range of measurements both on axis and off axis, and if they have good equipment can give you an idea of total energy (estimated room curve). It is not perfect, but if you learn how to read those graphs, you can learn a lot about how it will interact with your room. You can also identify things that will almost always be a problem.