How to Evaluate Loudspeakers for Sound and Accuracy

A

admin

Audioholics Robot
Staff member
On the face of it, evaluating loudspeakers is pretty straightforward: you just have to listen to them. If only it were that simple... What do you listen for? What source material do you use to evaluate loudspeakers? What role can measurements play in the evaluation process? In this article we lay out a plan for evaluating the sound quality and accuracy of a speaker system including what to listen for to help identify a good from a great speaker. This guide will help you make an educated purchasing decision by allowing you to more carefully evaluate sound quality during your listening tests.


Discuss "How to Evaluate Loudspeakers for Sound and Accuracy" here. Read the article.
 
E

exlabdriver

Guest
The lowest note - B0 - on my 5 String Electric Bass is actually 30.868 Hz. These instruments are now widely used in modern music; however, while playing an open 'B String' is not all that common, the potential is there.

My Sat Bookshelves + each with its own 8" Sub can easily reach down to that range with authority that makes music reproduction very satisfying...

TAM
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
The lowest note - B0 - on my 5 String Electric Bass is actually 30.868 Hz. These instruments are now widely used in modern music; however, while playing an open 'B String' is not all that common, the potential is there.

My Sat Bookshelves + each with its own 8" Sub can easily reach down to that range with authority that makes music reproduction very satisfying...

TAM
TAM did you find a typo/misstatement in the article that needs to be corrected? Let me know and I will edit. thx.
 
M

markw

Audioholic Overlord
"... But at the very least, start off with critical, concentrated two-channel listening. If you feel the need, you can move on to multi-channel music or video soundtracks later. But remember—a speaker that sounds great with demanding, difficult musical material will do a fine job with video soundtracks. However, the reverse is definitely not automatically true."

I've been saying this for years. It's nice to see it valiated.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
"... But at the very least, start off with critical, concentrated two-channel listening. If you feel the need, you can move on to multi-channel music or video soundtracks later. But remember—a speaker that sounds great with demanding, difficult musical material will do a fine job with video soundtracks. However, the reverse is definitely not automatically true."

I've been saying this for years. It's nice to see it valiated.
Regardless if this correct or not (and I DO agree - pure direct stereo is great choice for evaluating individual speakers) just because it's published doesn't make it "validated".

Getting published now a days is so much easier than it ever was. Most people are lazy and anyone who's producing any original content should be considered published author and receive recognition and fame? By this logic I should be world renown expert in my field. After all I had over 420k unique page views on my humble blog

[/Minor rant]
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
The lowest note - B0 - on my 5 String Electric Bass is actually 30.868 Hz. These instruments are now widely used in modern music; however, while playing an open 'B String' is not all that common, the potential is there.

My Sat Bookshelves + each with its own 8" Sub can easily reach down to that range with authority that makes music reproduction very satisfying...

TAM
TAM, I found the statement and changed it to:

This is lower than the vast majority of so-called “full range” speakers can play on their own without the aid of a subwoofer. The lowest note on a 4 string electric bass, which is the lowest musical note in most popular music, is low E at 42Hz and Bo at 30Hz on a 5 string bass.

Thanks for letting me know.
 
zieglj01

zieglj01

Audioholic Spartan
I always test in 2 channel stereo mode for music - if they cannot pass that, then forget it.
The main thing is to have good resolution, dynamics and not annoy/distract me. If they can
handle this, then I find they will also perform well for Home Theater and TV. A lot/most HT,
TV and games have a lot of artificial sound to begin with.
 
M

markw

Audioholic Overlord
Regardless if this correct or not (and I DO agree - pure direct stereo is great choice for evaluating individual speakers) just because it's published doesn't make it "validated".

Getting published now a days is so much easier than it ever was. Most people are lazy and anyone who's producing any original content should be considered published author and receive recognition and fame? By this logic I should be world renown expert in my field. After all I had over 420k unique page views on my humble blog

[/Minor rant]
Yeah, it kinda does. But I'm not actually the first person to say it.

Perhaps it's new here but, in the overall scheme of things, it's not a new observation. And, I have said it here, just not recently.
 
E

exlabdriver

Guest
Gene:

The change covers the electric bass low range perfectly...

TAM
 
FozzieT

FozzieT

Enthusiast
Thanks for a great article. It really helped me identify things to focus on when evaluating my speakers and system set-up. In particular, the advice on how to evaluate the bass performance by following the bass line in a jazz trio or quartet has been extremely helpful.

I'd recommend the Vince Guaraldi Trio's "A Charlie Brown Christmas" CD as at least one recording to use to evaluate your bass set-up. Not only is it just a lot of fun to listen to, but it has great bass lines running through most of the songs.

Anyway, that's my $.02. Thanks again for a helpful article!
 

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