Is There Any Point In Listening To Speakers Online?

[Cosmic_Error]

Here?
View attachment 107384

Actually that's way greener than where I live. I live in the Mojave desert. A little place called Pioneer Town.

 

[mansr]

Actually that's way greener than where I live. I live in the Mojave desert. A little place called Pioneer Town.

Do you have a matching CD player?

 

[Music1969]

I prefer the idea of passive speakers as it gives me more room for upgrading individual parts. Plus its more stuff, and I like stuff.

LOL Paul McGowan (PS Audio) would love you. Their stuff is expensive though.

 

[Cosmic_Error]

Do you have a matching CD player?

Matching CD player? I have an old cd player my mom gave me...

 

[Cosmic_Error]

LOL Paul McGowan (PS Audio) would love you. Their stuff is expensive though.

Yeah I've seen it, everything but the sprout 100 is a bit out of my price range.

 

[mansr]

Matching CD player? I have an old cd player my mom gave me...

Is it a Pioneer?

 

[Cosmic_Error]

No... I didn't even make that connection lol

 

[Music1969]

I would spend $1500 on 2 subs and $500 on 4-channel DAC and put in a lot of time and effort learning to use (free) REW to do room correction and integrate subs (convolution).

You can even use EQ to reduce treble of your Adams.

 

[Cosmic_Error]

I would spend $1500 on 2 subs and $500 on 4-channel DAC and put in a lot of time and effort learning to use (free) REW to do room correction and integrate subs (convolution).

You can even use EQ to reduce treble of your Adams.

Unfortunately the Adam's are in a shared office space. I'm putting this setup in my house.

 

[Chrispy]

Best way to audition speakers is in the environment you'll use 'em in.....but via the internet, no.

 

[volkl77n]

Same room. Same source material, Same mics.
There definitely is value in online "auditioning" if done right, but still take it with a grain of salt. You're only going to be able to discern obvious tonal and frequency response differences between speakers. Go listen to a few

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm-MKyxKdanxpOBTx8wiY1w

 

[mhardy6647]

I like stuff.
(I may be an outlier)

 

[Cosmic_Error]

I like stuff.
(I may be an outlier)
View attachment 107393

That is an awesome space.

 

[Robin L]

NO!

 

[mansr]

I like stuff.
(I may be an outlier)
View attachment 107393

That's unnaturally tidy.

 

[Robin L]

Ok so don't listen to speakers online got it. So lets start with the supposition that I am a idiot and don't understand speaker specs, how do I figure out what speakers would sound best to me?

I'm afraid you really have to go through the process of A: listening to them in real life, be that a shop or a show or a friend's house.
Then you would B: try them out at home. There really is no other way.
In terms of getting a vague idea of what you're in for, reading measurements helps. But in the end it's going to be your subjective personal response that will determine your choice. It's good to know that a speaker has wide, even dispersion, relatively flat frequency response, the ability to produce clean bass, low distortion. But that speaker is going to interact with your room. And while, ideally, a good speaker should sound good in all genres of music, that doesn't mean it will. Some speakers will be better for some people in some genres of music. There is no easy, simple way to do it. It's a lot easier to do this with headphones even though one has to do the same things. Size and weight are factors for speakers, with headphones, not so much.

 

[mhardy6647]

That's unnaturally tidy.

The pano photo (which I did not take, I might add...) just kinda glosses over the clutter.
It looked nice for the first few months we were in the house -- but then we moved out of the old house, and all of the cr@p therefrom diffused into this one

... but I digress.

 

[ta240]

....at work I'm around a lot of large speakers (I work at music festivals and large concerts) and I really like how they sound very... idk big?.....

It reminds me of the gag with the fake call in song request in Good Morning Vietnam "I'm in artillery... just play it loud"

 

[AdamG]

I'm trying to decide on a new pair of speakers. I live somewhere where it is impractical for me to go to a store and listen to speakers, even without the covid issues. I've seen a few videos online comparing speakers but I can obviously only hear what my speakers can play. Is there any point in listening to these or will the speakers sound very different once I can hear them in person? If there is no point in listening to these what are better ways of deciding what speakers I would like?

‘Best advice I can give you is “You must go demo your list speakers in person”. No way around it. Everyone has differing taste in music and sound signature. So you say you live in BFE. Got it, nothing near by. Plan a weekend trip to the Big City. Get a hotel room, treat the wife to a mini vacation. Go demo speakers while your there. Demo as many types and sizes you can. This will help you discover more about what type and style of speakers talk to you.

Any shortcuts will only lead to the dreaded “What If’s”. You don’t want that.