Are speakers actually already a solved problem?

[anphex]

Since the introduction of the CTA-2034 in 2015, scientific speaker design has made significant strides. The availability of more affordable measurement equipment—both hardware and software—for professionals and consumers alike has played a crucial role in this advancement.

Today, manufacturers like KEF, MoFi, Genelec, Neumann, and Kali offer speakers that are nearly perfect for their specific use cases and budgets. These speakers consistently demonstrate:

• Highly linear frequency response
• Excellent directivity
• Inaudible distortion, even at high SPL levels
• Deep bass extension relative to their size

Moreover, most of these companies publish their performance data, providing transparency and showcasing their commitment to honesty with customers.

This leads me to wonder: Are speakers, much like amplifiers and DACs, now a solved problem—even for budget options? If so, what innovations remain to be explored?

I’ve also noticed that the top-performing speakers today are predominantly coaxial. Do you think coaxial designs will eventually replace conventional tweeter-woofer arrays if they continue to prove superior?

I’m essentially thinking out loud here, but it’s an exciting time for music and movie enthusiasts.

 

[Leporello]

This leads me to wonder: Are speakers, much like amplifiers and DACs, now a solved problem—even for budget options?

I do not think so. Even very good and well measuring loudspeakers do not sound identical. Whereas many DACs do.

 

[sergeauckland]

I do not think so. Even very good and well measuring loudspeakers do not sound identical. Whereas many DACs do.

Although not identical, the better ones do sound sufficiently similar, that any of them would be fine in a home system. The choice is then one of cosmetics, price and reputation rather than sonic differences.

S

 

[Purité Audio]

All really fine measuring loudspeakers sound pretty similar imo, width of directivity can vary, obvious differences such as bass extension, some are engineered for a flatter target but tonally and in terms of timbre…
Keith

 

[Matt_Holland]

I think the electro-acoustic and mechanical science are solved problems, or perhaps more aptly, fully understood areas. Even psychoacoustics is very well understood. We’re on a journey of small incremental improvements in terms of speaker design and manufacturing. Application of DSP and speaker/room optimisation is where the biggest leaps will be made I believe.

 

[NTK]

Dr Sean Olive seems to think so, and I believe Dr Toole also agrees with him. The elephant in the room is the "circle-of-confusion". However, there are others that believe certain directivities (e.g. cardioid) are more preferred than others, and whether there is a best preferred directivity and which one is it are not settled questions.

Loudspeaker technology and the science behind it is pretty mature. I am quoting papers that are 37 years old that are still valid today. The science has been peer reviewed and the results replicated in other labs of universities and other loudspeaker manufacturers. It’s no longer a controversial or disputed topic within the industry. If you think it’s controversial you are not well-informed.

The loudspeaker industry has generally accepted the science of what makes a loudspeaker sound good; there are new standards that define what is good and how to measure it, and it’s widely practiced within the industry

If you go to an ASA or AES conference there are almost no papers on what makes a loudspeaker sound good. Most of the attention is to make loudspeakers sound good in smaller form factors, cheaper, play louder, compensate for room modes, or do beam steering arrays to deal with room acoustics or simulate virtual speakers and spaces.

AR, VR, mixed reality, and immersive audio is the focus for applications in the home, the car and mobile.

 

[OldHvyMec]

They have been able to tell time from a sundial for thousands of years. What is that telling you?

Grandfather clocks, mantel pieces, wristwatches to pocket watches.

Some speakers are works of art, others need to be hidden behind a curtain.

7.9 billion people on this earth, and earbuds make some people dance in the street!

It's not the speaker it's the MUSIC in most cases, unless you're like me. I love great craftsmanship in anything for the most part.

Regards

 

[Timcognito]

The anechoic measurements of a speaker are a fraction of their performance in room. Type of design acoustic suspension, ported, in-wall, cardioid, open back, omidirectional etc, driver and crossover types, placement from front and side walls, room surface absorption and reflectivity, furniture all play large roles in speaker performance. Until acoustic feedback and room correction are contained within the design there is much to do before we have a perfect speaker. Without overcoming room modes LF may never get there on any design. Ditto on the music part as I think many speaker designs have been good enough for last 20 years in evoking a pleasurable response.

 

[jaakkopetteri]

Type of design acoustic suspension, ported, in-wall, cardioid, open back, omidirectional etc, driver and crossover types, placement from front and side walls, room surface absorption and reflectivity, furniture all play large roles in speaker performance

...all of which are shown or can be taken into consideration based on the anechoic measurements

 

[Petrushka]

...all of which are shown or can be taken into consideration based on the anechoic measurements

I believe speakers are designed to be played in rooms, but that is not the same as saying room effects can be eliminated.

 

[Keith_W]

Funny you should mention that. I was reading Vance Dickason's "Loudspeaker Design Cookbook" and I thought this little excerpt might create some discussion on ASR!

From Ch 7.90 (p. 188), 7th Edition on "Loudspeaker Voicing":

"Voicing" is a term generally used in music. For piano technicians, voicing a piano means adjusting the hardness or softness of the hammers after you have tuned the piano. That hardness or softness changes the timbre of the notes and gives a different "voice" to the sound of the piano. [...]

So how does the term "voicing" relate to loudspeaker design? First, because loudspeakers are supposed to reproduce music and not add anything to the original recording, there should be no such term as voicing applied to a loudspeaker. However, while loudspeakers are indeed reproduction devices, they are sadly imperfect ones and no matter what, all loudspeakers add some coloration to the original event and make things even more complicated. The room the loudspeaker is placed in also adds its own coloration to the original event!

Whether you are a loudspeaker maanufacturer or a hobbyist building his own "dream" speaker design, the ultimate goal is for your speaker to sound "musical", which is another way of saying you want your speaker to sound as much as possible like the original acoustic event. This is obviously a universal goal for speaker design, and "voicing" is a commonly used term among manufacturers used to achieve that goal. Ultimately it all comes down to some sort of final adjustment that renders the design finished and ready for listening.

[...] Voicing is the act of applying a final subjective judgment that may override this applied technology. Knowing how to manipulate both the objective and subjective aspects of a design is indeed the "art" and "Zen" of loudspeaker engineering."

 

[Timmy]

Are speakers actually already a solved problem?

As long as we accept a digital, computer-based form of music source, one should answer that question with Yes. Since such a »computer environment« would allow the use of Room-EQ-Apps – with a practically countless number of »bands« – to optimize any given speaker set to a theoretical optimum

 

[kyuu]

I’ve also noticed that the top-performing speakers today are predominantly coaxial. Do you think coaxial designs will eventually replace conventional tweeter-woofer arrays if they continue to prove superior?

Certainly not. There are great performing coaxial designs, such as the higher-end KEFs and Genelecs, but they're not universally "superior". Cheaper coaxials that aren't 3-way designs in particular tend to be problematic. They're a tool in the toolbox, not the end-all be-all.

 

[Blumlein 88]

NO!

 

[Timmy]

but they're not universally "superior"

Although they have proofed to be superior? Which would have be the case, based on the question’s stated scenario.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Certainly not. There are great performing coaxial designs, such as the higher-end KEFs and Genelecs, but they're not universally "superior". Cheaper coaxials that aren't 3-way designs in particular tend to be problematic. They're a tool in the toolbox, not the end-all be-all.

Indeed. You can pretty much count the companies that have succeeded in making coaxes performing at a world-class level on the fingers of one hand, and a lot of those only fairly recently (and generally as 3-ways), despite the fact that they have been in use since pre-WWII. So it's clearly not easy. People do keep trying because the potential advantages are too obvious.

 

[Ktacos]

All really fine measuring loudspeakers sound pretty similar imo, width of directivity can vary, obvious differences such as bass extension, some are engineered for a flatter target but tonally and in terms of timbre…
Keith

My experience as well, I guess it makes sense, the more neutral you get the closer you are to a speaker not really have much of it's own sound.

I make speakers and the most recent one may just be my last for a very long time, because after setting it up and dialing in filtering it just sounded like my other neutral speakers lol.

 

[rank]

This is a problem that has been solved since the invention of the loudspeaker.

 

[goat76]

According to Klaus Heinz of HEDD Audio, the speakers are the least solved problem in audio reproduction, and unfortunately, he doesn't see any new technology coming up around the corner that will change that soon. He doesn't think any significant improvements have been made in the last 30 years, and there are no big inventions to be expected for the current type of technology, other than new materials as a nearfield goal that may improve things slightly but not that much.

The main thing he wants to see an improvement of is the lack of efficiency, and he thinks it's close to a "scandal" that the efficiency of loudspeakers is still down to maybe around 2%, so he sees the dynamics as the largest Achilles heel for loudspeakers.

"When I go home in the evening and have time to play my grand piano, just put one octave in the base and you immediately know there is a lot of work to do." - Klaus Heinz on the current state of loudspeaker technology


46:38 into the video:

 

[kyuu]

The main thing he wants to see an improvement of is the lack of efficiency, and he thinks it's close to a "scandal" that the efficiency of loudspeakers is still down to maybe around 2%, so he sees the dynamics as the largest Achilles heel for loudspeakers.

"When I go home in the evening and have time to play my grand piano, just put one octave in the base and you immediately know there is a lot of work to do." - Klaus Heinz on the current state of loudspeaker technology

Seems a weird thing to say. Is speaker efficiency really a big problem when the average wattage used for your average speaker to get to an average SPL that most people would consider "loud" is in the single digits? And with the amount of power you can easily get nowadays, dynamic peaks aren't a big issue either I wouldn't think.

With a some good towers or a good subwoofer or three, I don't think there's really any issue reproducing a piano's bass register?