how to choose speakers

[jordan456789]

<font color='#000000'>I am thinking of doing starting a DIY project. &nbsp;When choosing your speakers what do you recommend you look for in a speakers. &nbsp;Is it power ratings efficiency or what. &nbsp;I am looking for advice.</font>

 

[singhal2]

<font color='#000000'>hey jordan, i am a &nbsp;non-audiophile newbie who just setup his first HT, i just bought a pair of yamaha ns555 after months( 8 to be exact) of searching and going crazy,well,for one thing do not get swayed by the big names 'cos big names and expensive speakers are not necessarily the best, i would say go by your gut instinct,trust your ears,strict to ur budget(if u have one),and trust the lord almighty,he will guide u !!!!
Else u always have the excellent people at this forum to help out.
for starters ur speaker output should not be less than ur amp output.

just my 2 cents worth......

singhal2</font>

 

[Guest]

<font color='#000000'>Choosing speakers is very complex but fun process.  If you are looking for commercial, i.e. name brand, speakers, the power rating is GENERALLY not an issue.   If you already have power amp in hand then you should look into speakers' efficiency rating to match the amp.  

If you are building your system from scratch, then choose speakers FIRST, then build your system around them.   In that case, only look into how good the speakers sound.  while you will have to decide whether it is floor standing or stand mount.  Subwoofer? HT or music? room size? your personally preference? budget? ..........

Abe</font>

 

[Khellandros66]

<font color='#000000'>I always use three types of music to test speakers. One is; Techno, the other is Vaughn or Santana, and Some form of Classical or Jazz.

Then I go to my nearest store or deal and listen to what they have, right down what i like about what, and ignore the prices (well sort of) &nbsp;I don't believe in limiting myself in a budget cause you have a mindset to only by something ie $400 budget you get some good bookself speaker but what about floorstanding? Oh no can't spend more than my budget. &nbsp;Then six weeks later you're like man why didn't I spend a little more and get X speakers.

As for Brands I trust Definitive, Polk, B&amp;W, &amp; JBL


~Bob</font>

 

[av_phile]

<font color='#000000'>Power ratings, efficiency, impedances - these are technical specs that have very little to do with the quality of the speaker's voice, its timbre or neutrality, its accuracy or color,  its dynamics or attack - qualities qhich I look for in spealers.  

It's safe to match the speaker's power handling ability and impedance with your amp. That way, you can expect maximum power transfer from the amo to the speaker.  Efficiency in terms of decibles per watt per meter is fairly uniform across many comericial brands.  As a rule the more effiicient, the better as it can be louder for the same inout signal.  

Having these out of the way, there are many other traits to consider when choosng a speaker.  

Cabinet resonance.  A cabinet material and how it is constructed will resonate or sing its own voice when induced by the proper frequency comng from the speaker drivers.  The design rule is to bring this resonance outside of the driver's operating range or at least as low as possible.  You get this by using exotic materials like MDF paritcle boards instead of wood (if wood, sections of it glued together to make a board stiffen the whole thing).  the stiffer the material the less resonant.  Bracing internally is also used.  There are speakers like Norh that uses marble as its cabinet.  Knock on the cabinet.  It should sound like brick or cement and not hollow. In general the heavier the speaker the better.  Tha's why some speakers allow for MASS Loading - putting in dry sand to make the cabinet less resonant. And also some uses spiked feet to make the cabinet more rigid and anchored on the floor, giving better bass definition.

Cabinet Diffraction - the less the better. &nbsp;Sharp edges diffract reflected sound with the effect of creating another sound source. &nbsp;This changes the sound character coming from the speaker drivers and gives added timbre/color to the cound by reinforcing or cancelling out some frequencies before reaching your ears. Excellent speakers have rounded edges on all sides and, in particualr, the circular edge around the speaker driver.

INternal Standing Waves - the less the better. &nbsp;This is arguably of little import to some naufacturers as overcoming it tends to bring the cost of production higher. &nbsp;Notice that many expensive speakers have irregular sides or curved sides to preclude standing waves generated internally by parallel surfaces. &nbsp;Standing waves stiffen the cones and makes them less compliant.

Time and Phase Alighment. &nbsp;This is also of little moment to many manufacturers but a time and phase coherent drivers in the speaker enclosre improve stereophonic soundstage imaging. &nbsp;For single source full range drivers, this is not a problem as all the frequencies arrive at the ears at the same tme and phase. &nbsp;Too bad, full range must often be realized using multiple drivers which require crossovers with &nbsp;idiocyncracies that often give rise to phast alignment problems. &nbsp;Driver placement also contribute to time differences as the voice coils may not be aligned on the same vertical plane to allow the divided frequenices to arrive at your ears at the same time. &nbsp;hence. you'd notice some speakers angle their speaker fronts to compensate for thie, recessing the tweeters farther back to align with the woofer's voice coils.

Speaker Acuracy, Dynamics and Attacl. &nbsp;Every note has an attack, a sustain and a decay. &nbsp;A speaker's abiity to resolve the mulitplexed electrical singal it receives into the right and discrete accoustical waveforms that preserve the attack, sustain and decay of the original signal is what determines an acccurate and detailed speaker. &nbsp;Some materials are better suited for certain frequency ranges than others. &nbsp;Metal drivers are known for detail and attack. &nbsp;They are the most accurate as they are the lightest, most rigid and with lthe least break up. &nbsp;But they ring and resonate badly. Polymerized or synthentic materials are known for their warmth but not as detailed. &nbsp;Some speakers use a combination of these.

There are others, but these are at the top of my mind. &nbsp;Hope this helps.</font>

 

[Guest]

<font color='#000000'>Hi

I'm a new boy to this forum but have been designing speakers for a while.

Numbers 1,2 and 3 on the list of how to choose speakers is to listen. Listen to the speakers within your price range with the type of music you prefer and, if possible, in your own listening room. If you're building your own speakers you could listen to commercially available equivalents that cost up to around three or four times as much.

It's not always the speaker that instantly impresses that is the best for you. Listen for long enough to get an idea of whether you could happily live with the speaker.

Good luck.</font>

 

[7_V]

<font color='#000000'>Sorry, I wasn't logged in. I should come clean about my own position as a designer (see below).</font>

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

<font color='#000000'>In the dim recessess of my memory I recall some &quot;quasi-objective&quot; listening tests one can do to weed out some typical speaker defects:

1)Artificially &quot;forward&quot; in the midrange. (a peak in the midrange response that seemingly gives a speaker an initially appealing &quot;presence&quot; or &quot;sparkle&quot; but is ultimately fatiguing. Or it can make the speakers sound &quot;nasal&quot;, especially on female vocalists). Tune between FM stations for the hiss, or play white noise from a test CD. It should sound a lot like you hissing through your teeth (go ahead, hiss through your teeth!) If on the other hand it sounds like you have your hands cupped over your mouth while hissing (yeah, try it), then the midrange is crap. Oh, I think when using FM noise I used to turn down the bass tone control since there's a lot of low frequency noise there too, more like pink noise. You want to concentrate on the proportions of mids and highs, hence the use of white noise or its approximation with an FM tuner.

2)&quot;Boomy&quot; or artificially enhanced bass (typically around 100 hz). Listen to male speaking voices, especially deeper baritones and basses. If there is an artificially &quot;chesty&quot; or resonant/boomy quality, walk on by. Some people have also characterised the sound as if one were speaking into a large tube.

3) Excessive sibilance. If the &quot;s&quot; sounds in vocals (called sibilants) sound hissy, the high frequencies are too accentuated. Everything will sound overly bright. Again, the overall effect can be appealing on first hearing but will wear on you with extended listening.

I have also heard of a &quot;stand up/sit down&quot; test with pink noise to test off-axis vertical response. The less change off-axis the better, I guess. Horizontal off-axis quality is harder to hear, since on most speakers the biggest change is way up in the treble. And you have to test with just one speaker. Vertical off axis differences are often worse than horizontal when measured but, paradoxically, they're probably less important unless both your floor *and* ceiling are highly reflective or you spend a lot of time listening either laying on the floor (slacker!) or suspended from the ceiling (perv!).

Finally, the respected speaker designer Siegfried Linkwitz suggests putting the speakers in one room and listening from another room. The more it sounds like there are real people singing or talking,  and real musicians playing their instruments in the other room and the less like loudspeakers, the better. I think this presupposes the use of well recorded acoustic performances and spoken word as source material.

Also, I would say that the best aural training is to attend and listen closely to as many *non-amplified* performances as possible. This will acquaint you with the actual sound of musical instruments and voices in a performance space. Tough to do if you're a heavy metal or hip-hop fan, I know...hmm, has System Of A Down ever done an &quot;Unplugged&quot; CD...? ;-{)}

(Old guy trying to sound hip. Humor him.)</font>

 

[av_phile]

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Rip Van Woofer : <font color='#000000'>Also, I would say that the best aural training is to attend and listen closely to as many *non-amplified* performances as possible. This will acquaint you with the actual sound of musical instruments and voices in a performance space. Tough to do if you're a heavy metal or hip-hop fan, I know...hmm, has System Of A Down ever done an &quot;Unplugged&quot; CD...? ;-{)}</font>

<font color='#000000'>I couldn't agree more. &nbsp;Training your ears to distinguish between &quot;lifelike&quot; music and &quot;coloured&quot; music is a must to get true high fidelity in your home. &nbsp;You'll never be able to get that, but at least your system would be the closest your money can buy. &nbsp;Attendng accoustic performances in halls can be very enlightening.

Reminds me one colleague with whom I attended a live orchestral performance of a Beethoven piece. &nbsp;After the first movement, he remaked: &nbsp;&quot;This sounds just like my stereo at home.&quot; &nbsp;Lucky guy.</font>