2 Speaker testing Questions.

H

HardOfHearing

Junior Audioholic
Purchased 2 sets of speakers and testing this weekend.

Question 1 - Currently testing with the Sub woofer turned off to be able to focus on the speakers themselves.
Will test afterward with the sub but curious if its safe to assume that if Speaker A sounds good without the sub that it will still sound good when the Sub is added.?

When testing 2 different speakers, does it make sense to attach one from each?
Currently swapping wires for each set but its not only time consuming, but by the time its reconnected and back to the music and listen to the 2nd set, I find it hard to recall how the previous ones sounded.
What if I attached Speak A to the left and Speaker B to the right and have both pointed directly toward the backwall and move from left to right while listening?
 
XEagleDriver

XEagleDriver

Audioholic Chief
Purchased 2 sets of speakers and testing this weekend.

Question 1 - Is it safe to assume that if Speaker A sounds good without the sub that it will still sound good when the Sub is added.?
It depends. For arguments sake, lets say Spkr A sounds better w/o sub. If this is due to a fuller bottom end, it may not sound better than Spkr B with a sub in the mix where Spkr B's mids and treble are better.
When testing 2 different speakers, does it make sense to attach one from each?
. . . attach Speak A to the left and Speaker B to the right and have both pointed directly toward the backwall and move from left to right while listening?
Definitely an option, but it precludes evaluating the more esoteric aspects like imaging, depth, instrument localization, etc.

A preamp, integrated, or AVR with balance control; or even better, Spkr A/B outputs and switch would be helpful for this.

Time permitting, I would try and listen to each set in the intended room and configuration after adjusting position, toe in, X-over, and EQ to the best of my ability.

Cheers and have fun,
XEagleDriver



Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Eagle covered some of what I was gonna say. Bass response can make speaker A sound better without a sub, but speaker B might sound better with a sub in the mix.

Another thing that's worth noting is speaker sensitivity. If speaker A is more sensitive it might sound better than speaker B if you compare both using the same setting on your volume dial. The way we hear a slight difference in volume isn't always obvious, but it's enough to skew perceptions. So it's good to level match with a spl meter so you know which volume setting will be the same spl switching between speakers.

I gotta say, you're going about this the right way, and it's good that you recognize how short audio memory is. You do forget pretty fast. If you have some way you could instant switch that would be best.
 
H

HardOfHearing

Junior Audioholic
You just reminded me, I have a Sound Meter App on my phone, will that work???

Good call on the Sub. Originally I was favoring Speakers A, but with the Sub I am leaning more toward Speakers B.
With the Sub, Speakers B seems to blend the all the sounds better (if that is even a proper term).

Speakers A seem to break it down into separate parts possibly but there seemed to be a gap. It didn't blend together and seem to have too much tweeter work going on.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Also if you're going to compare two different speakers at the same time be sure to do that in a mono mode, stereo wouldn't be a good way to compare (unless you actually want to compare the left to right channel mix). What crossovers are you trying when using the sub? Are you testing bookshelf or tower speakers?
 
H

HardOfHearing

Junior Audioholic
Currently testing 2 sets of Bookshelf speakers (Chane & HTD). The 3rd (Ascend) is on its way.
The sub is set to LFE for crossover and 0 Phase.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Currently testing 2 sets of Bookshelf speakers (Chane & HTD). The 3rd (Ascend) is on its way.
The sub is set to LFE for crossover and 0 Phase.
I meant the actual crossover in hz. LFE mode in the avr enables bass management when your speakers are set to small....
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Currently testing 2 sets of Bookshelf speakers (Chane & HTD). The 3rd (Ascend) is on its way.
The sub is set to LFE for crossover and 0 Phase.
Interesting shootout. I have all Ascend speakers right now. Which one are you testing?
 
H

HardOfHearing

Junior Audioholic
I meant the actual crossover in hz. LFE mode in the avr enables bass management when your speakers are set to small....
Sorry, not sure how to answer that or where to find that info.
 
H

HardOfHearing

Junior Audioholic
Interesting shootout. I have all Ascend speakers right now. Which one are you testing?
Hi,
You also posted in my previous thread.
These are the speakers being tested.
  1. Ascend CMT-340 SE
  2. Chane A2.4
  3. HTD Level THREE
 
H

HardOfHearing

Junior Audioholic
Are your speakers set to small? That enables a crossover to the subs. HD is asking what crossover setting you're using.
Yes, the speakers are set to Small....just checked to verify.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Yes, the speakers are set to Small....just checked to verify.
Okay, then there is a crossover set. Next question is where it's set in hz? Could be anywhere from 40 hz to 250 hz with my avr. A good starting point is usually 80 hz.
 
H

HardOfHearing

Junior Audioholic
Okay, then there is a crossover set. Next question is where it's set in hz? Could be anywhere from 40 hz to 250 hz with my avr. A good starting point is usually 80 hz.
Here are the settings under the Crossover menu:
All 80Hz
Front 150Hz
Center 110Hz
Surround 120 Hz
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Here are the settings under the Crossover menu:
All 80Hz
Front 150Hz
Center 110Hz
Surround 120 Hz
Well it's either "all" or individual settings per channel pair it sounds like, and not sure which way you're going with those cited.....what avr is it?
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Denon X1600h
I have a couple older Denons and if I choose All on the speaker selection bar, it will just show one crossover (80hz e.g.) and all the other figures are grayed-out (but faintly visible). Is this the case, your 80hz is in highlighted lettering and the other choices are grayed out?
 
H

HardOfHearing

Junior Audioholic
I have a couple older Denons and if I choose All on the speaker selection bar, it will just show one crossover (80hz e.g.) and all the other figures are grayed-out (but faintly visible). Is this the case, your 80hz is in highlighted lettering and the other choices are grayed out?
Good catch.
I just went back in and took a closer look.
The very top menu is set to ALL and when I moved the cursor down, only all is selectable and the others are not.
I could change from ALL to INDIVIDUAL then when I moved the cursor down, each other setting was selectable except for all.
Based on this I would have to say the ALL @ 80hz is correct.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
80 is a decent starting point and probably among varying speakers as fair as anything but you might experiment a bit with both higher and lower and see if there's a preference....
 
H

HardOfHearing

Junior Audioholic
Hi,
You also posted in my previous thread.
These are the speakers being tested.
  1. Ascend CMT-340 SE
  2. Chane A2.4
  3. HTD Level THREE

For those following along, I have opted to go with the HTD Level THREE speakers out of the 3 options above.
The Ascends & Chane speakers sounded about the same to me.
 

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