Yesterday I made a big speaker comparison with my decent bookshelf speakers. This was not scientific in any way.
The Music:
Hiromi Trio "Seeker"
Yellowjackets "Can't We Elope"
Esperanza Spalding "Smile Like That"
Keb Mo "The Itch"
The Gear:
TEAC CDP-650 (optical digital out)
Onkyo A-9050 "Direct" (14 gauge speaker wires with banana plugs)
The Criteria (rated 1-5 each):
Accuracy
Clarity / resolution
Tonal balance
Bass
Overall tone
The Results:
The Sonys scored a 5 on clarity /resolution, a 4 on accuracy, and 3's on everything else.
The Boston scored a 5 on overall tone and 4's on everything else.
The Polks scored 5's on clarity / resolution and bass and 4's on everything else.
The Pioneers scored a 5 on bass and 3's on everything else.
The Sony are a bit too bright, and the Pioneers are a bit too bassy; both of which can be corrected with tone controls. The Polks barely edged out the Bostons, and the Polks are fairly new, probably not yet broken in. So the final results:
1. Polk
2. Boston Acoustics
3. Sony
4. Pioneer
All of this is just one guy's opinion. Peace and goodwill.
