Boston Acoustics A360 Tower Speaker Review

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admin

Audioholics Robot
Staff member
Review: The Boston Acoustics A-360 is a 4 driver, 3-way Tower Speaker System. For $800/pr you get dual 6.5" bass drivers, 1 3.5" midrange and a 1" soft dome tweeter. This is a highly competitive price point for tower speakers.



Boston Acoustics A360 Tower Speaker Review

Do the Boston Acoustics A360's have what it takes to make it on your shopping list? You will have to read our review to help decide. Let us know if you own these speakers or have had the opportunity to listen to them.
 
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shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
The polar response graph is interesting. How was that measurements taken? If I understand that graph correctly, an ideal speaker measurement would make that graph just one solid color? It looks like the A360s do pretty well out to 45 degrees.
 
Steve81

Steve81

Audioholics Five-0
The polar response graph is interesting. How was that measurements taken?
OmniMic has an option to take multiple off axis responses and build a polar plot like that, which is what was done here. Never used that option personally though.

If I understand that graph correctly, an ideal speaker measurement would make that graph just one solid color?
Typically you're aiming for a reasonably smooth off axis response free from flares (say a big patch of isolated red at 5kHz or something) and dips to achieve smooth power response.
 
J

Joel Foust

Audioholics Speaker Engineer
The polar response graph is interesting. How was that measurements taken? If I understand that graph correctly, an ideal speaker measurement would make that graph just one solid color? It looks like the A360s do pretty well out to 45 degrees.
Indeed, the graph was generated using Dayton's Omnimic software. Measurements were taken at 2 meters every 7.5 degrees from on axis using a measurement package called SoundEasy. Check out http://www.audioholics.com/education/loudspeaker-basics/loudspeaker-measurement-standard for details on how the polar response measurement is obtained.

A single solid color would imply perfect spherical polar response. This may or may not be ideal depending on the room. Some designers intentionally limit the off-axis response to control the directivity of the speaker which works well in spaces that are reflective or where you don't want as much sound in adjacent rooms. Check out Polar response for more information on this.

A simple thing to see in this polar response graph is how frequency response varies with listening angle. If you have seating 60 degrees off-axis, you know what to expect.
 
internetmin

internetmin

Audioholic
Boston Acoustics

Ah, I had a pair of Boston Acoustics HD-series monitors back 20+ years ago. Those speakers got me into the high-fi hobby. I haven't listened to any of the recent speakers but I've always had a special sentimental affinity for BA.
 
Pablo Albino

Pablo Albino

Audiophyte
Sensitivity

82,7 dB? That really disappointed me a lot! Couldn't be a defective sample?
I was planning to purchase an little integrated amp (75 W) to feed that towers. However, that measurements has made me reconsider my original plan.
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
82,7 dB? That really disappointed me a lot! Couldn't be a defective sample?
I was planning to purchase an little integrated amp (75 W) to feed that towers. However, that measurements has made me reconsider my original plan.
you're gonna find that most manufacturers fudge sensitivity ratings on speakers. We measure sensitivity from 300Hz to 3kHz which is the IEC standard way of doing so. Most manufacturers simply do a fullrange test to give the illusion of higher sensitivity. We've measured Klipsch speakers to be a whopping 8dB less efficient than their published spec. Bryston's new tower speaker was measured by the NRC to be 4.5dB less sensitive than published spec.

You will probably be ok with the amp you want to use if you power these speakers in a small to medium sized room. Otherwise, you may want to get a bigger amp or go with a more sensitive speaker.
 
gtpsuper24

gtpsuper24

Full Audioholic
82,7 dB? That really disappointed me a lot! Couldn't be a defective sample?
I was planning to purchase an little integrated amp (75 W) to feed that towers. However, that measurements has made me reconsider my original plan.
Or it could be accurate given how so many manufacturers falsely inflate their specs. Like Klipsch who uses the tweeters sensitivty to falsely jack up the SPL. When actually they are probably closer to 91-92 as a system.
 
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