And unbelievably after all of those threads I still haven't gotten a straight answer, some people have vaguely pointed toward the answer being "yes" (in very convoluted and unclear ways), yet NO ONE has explained why in a clear way. Unbelievable.
It's the pivotal question in an upcoming 5000$ audio purchase, so obviously I'm going to post a lot of threads about it in different places if I still don't have an answer
The reason you have not got the answer you want, is because it is an idiotic question. There is no definite answer to it. You just have no clue about any aspect of this problem.
What I can say, is that frequency aberrations in speakers have a multiple causes often times with varying degrees of phase aberration directly related to the frequency response aberration.
All speakers even full ranger designs have some phase aberration. Most speakers have a lot of time and phase aberrations that have nothing to do with frequency response aberrations.
The frequency response says nothing about the phase response.
If I took a speaker and did a sine wave frequency response test but put a half second delay on the woofer or tweeter, the frequency response could be perfect, but the speaker would make a complete hash of anything fed to it, and speech would be unintelligible.
The next issue is EQ. These have often times been referred to a quality spoilers and they are.
The next issue is can you make a good speaker out of a lousy one that has a bad frequency response with an equalizer? The answer is a resounding no. The reason relates to retained energy especially in response peaks.
It takes a myriad of test and data to describe a speaker other than just frequency response and then you still have to listen to it.
Each designer has, or should have, an object in view when designing a speaker.
A smooth on axis is a prerequisite to a good speaker. In addition the off axis response to at least 30 degrees off axis must mirror the on axis response.
The we get to the issue of how resonant you want the LF response to be and how extensive.
This gets to how you want to load the driver and where you want Q. This describes how resonant the unit will be. I like speakers essentially non resonant with a q of around 0.5.
A lot like a little false warmth with a Q around point 0.7. I think most are agreed that q increasingly above this are tubby horrors.
The impulse response gives excellent insight into resonant over hang and phase and time response including inter driver delay.
The water fall is very revealing in showing up response anomalies and the excellence of the dispersion of the speaker, as well as revealing the excellence discontinuities in the crossover regions.
We are not done yet, as we get into power compression. Good expensive drivers can get the hear away from the voice coil fast so heat does not build up in the VC, and increase its resistance, lowering power output as volume increases. This can only be revealed by looking at output versus input.
The impedance plots are also revealing if you know what to look for. In addition looking at the impedance plot in conjunction to the phase relationship between driving voltage and current will tell you pretty much everything about how difficult a load the speaker will present to an amplifier.
The we have not got to sensitivity, and efficiency which are related but not the same thing. The problem here is that there is an inverse relationship between sensitivity and bass extension.
However if the speaker in insensitive, it will take a lot of power and have thermal compression problems.
Then you get into driver layout and optimal crossover design, which relates to the sort of sound stage you want.
I like accurate speakers, that perfectly preserve the tonal characteristics of voice and instruments in their own acoustic space. I like a wide and deep sound stage with the illusion of a believable acoustic space.
I want the bass deep, tight and non resonant.
After being at it for 60 years or so, I know how to get it.
In the end there are always compromises in every design. Good designs are the sum of intelligent choices with deft handing of the compromises required to complete a pleasing and functional design. This is where art, science and engineering intersect.
I hope this helps you, and makes you understand there is little to no point or relevance to your question.
