How to tell a good speaker, well this one is VERY EASY , if you can spend more than a couple of hours listening then you have a good speaker, normaly the EARS will let you know pretty quick if it's good or not.
Agreed, long-term listening enjoyment is what you want.
But if you don't have the time to adequately audition multiple speakers for several hours each, here's an alternative to help you decide between your final few front-runners:
Make sure the room isn't overdamped. Turn the volume level up a bit louder than normal and walk out of the room. Listen through the open doorway, with no line-of-sight to the speakers.
From outside the room like that, all you can possibly hear is the reverberant field - something that live instruments inherently get right, but few loudspeakers do. If it sounds like live music is happening back in the room, imo that bodes very well for long-term listening enjoyment.
Agreed, long-term listening enjoyment is what you want.
But if you don't have the time to adequately audition multiple speakers for several hours each, here's an alternative to help you decide between your final few front-runners:
Make sure the room isn't overdamped. Turn the volume level up a bit louder than normal and walk out of the room. Listen through the open doorway, with no line-of-sight to the speakers.
From outside the room like that, all you can possibly hear is the reverberant field - something that live instruments inherently get right, but few loudspeakers do. If it sounds like live music is happening back in the room, imo that bodes very well for long-term listening enjoyment.
Agreed, long-term listening enjoyment is what you want.
But if you don't have the time to adequately audition multiple speakers for several hours each, here's an alternative to help you decide between your final few front-runners:
Make sure the room isn't overdamped. Turn the volume level up a bit louder than normal and walk out of the room. Listen through the open doorway, with no line-of-sight to the speakers.
From outside the room like that, all you can possibly hear is the reverberant field - something that live instruments inherently get right, but few loudspeakers do. If it sounds like live music is happening back in the room, imo that bodes very well for long-term listening enjoyment.
Interesting...I do that all the time and thought I was crazy. I still do it at home from time to time. I use it as a sanity check because it distils down for me my main priorities (which are not soundstaging, etc)...but basically whether the tone of the note feels right, the human voice feels human-like and whether the overall balance of bass feels realistic enough. Thanks for the advice!
To take this a step further and maybe it doesn't apply, but I have an L-shaped room that is partially divided. When I'm in the alcove on my PC and have the system playing in the background I sometimes have to stop because the music sounds really, really good. I'm not in the sweet spot (obviously) or anywhere close to listening critically, but when this occurs I just have to stop and listen properly. I've have friends do the same thing. The music sounds good not because of what I'm playing, but simply the overall smile it brings to my face when something pleasing reaches my ears.
To take this a step further and maybe it doesn't apply, but I have an L-shaped room that is partially divided. When I'm in the alcove on my PC and have the system playing in the background I sometimes have to stop because the music sounds really, really good. I'm not in the sweet spot (obviously) or anywhere close to listening critically, but when this occurs I just have to stop and listen properly. I've have friends do the same thing. The music sounds good not because of what I'm playing, but simply the overall smile it brings to my face when something pleasing reaches my ears.
How to tell a good speaker, well this one is VERY EASY , if you can spend more than a couple of hours listening then you have a good speaker, normaly the EARS will let you know pretty quick if it's good or not.
And I totally disagree and think this path is the surest way to disaster.
What the ear initially picks up often seems to be quite primal in nature and in listening terms, detail, detail, detail. A couple of hours of listening is nothing.
There is no substitute for long term listening. In my experience, equipment/speakers that often sound initially good sound like dreck in the long run; conversely, what often seems boring, unexciting at first, sounds more like music with long term listening (I also find this especially true of capacitors).
And I totally disagree and think this path is the surest way to disaster.
What the ear initially picks up often seems to be quite primal in nature and in listening terms, detail, detail, detail. A couple of hours of listening is nothing.
There is no substitute for long term listening. In my experience, equipment/speakers that often sound initially good sound like dreck in the long run; conversely, what often seems boring, unexciting at first, sounds more like music with long term listening (I also find this especially true of capacitors).
Sorry i should have said MY ears instead of THE ears will let you know pretty quick, because i for one would rather have LESS detail than to much because i'm very sensible to high frequencies, that is what i ment, because to ME to much DETAIL is the surest way to disaster.
Mr Acoustat said, Sorry i should have said MY ears instead of THE ears will let you know pretty quick, because i for one would rather have LESS detail than to much because i'm very sensible to high frequencies, that is what i ment, because to ME to much DETAIL is the surest way to disaster."
Mr Acoustat said, Sorry i should have said MY ears instead of THE ears will let you know pretty quick, because i for one would rather have LESS detail than to much because i'm very sensible to high frequencies, that is what i ment, because to ME to much DETAIL is the surest way to disaster."
