Should Speaker Manufactures provide a Frequency Response Graph?


Eric at Tekton Designs has been battling two different reviewers who have posted measurements without his permission, using Klippel devices for their respective measurements.

It seems to me that if manufactures provide a simple smoothed out graph, consumers can see how much a speaker is editorializing with a frequency response that deviates from neutral.  

seanheis1

"Nope.  I buy speakers based on my hearing, not a graph made in a testing lab."

This! I agree completely.

"The full measurements that the kipples spit out are super valuable. " In what way? Do these measurements tell me I will like what I hear? No! I am not an ASR minion that needs to be told whether a speaker sounds good or not.

The only figures I look are is the efficiency and the nominal impedance as they will give me an idea if my amplification will drive a speaker without any issues, then I just listen.

If graphs are important to you, check out Ascend Acoustics. They provided them and even included a copy of my specific pair of raal towers in the shipping box. That was more than 10 years ago. I even discussed it with the owner. They were just slightly off the one published, but even better. I no longer own these but have only good memories of them.

 

 

Graphs and measurements can be important - but they are not the be all and end all.  I remember reading a long review on Audio Science Review Forum that gave an exhaustive analysis of a myriad of measurements and then made conclusions and recommendations based on those measurements.  Nowhere in the review did it mention how it sounded.  It left me scratching my head in wonderment.  

Imagine a restaurant review that tells you how the food was cooked and what it looked like, but never mentions how it tastes.