Can you choose a great speaker by its frequency response?

[TheBatsEar]

Voted 2, could live with them with a sub.

 

[Mart68]

Voted 2, could live with them with a sub.

Me too although I can live without bass below 40Hz. It's rare I listen to anything with that sort of LF content.

Although when I do I admit I do notice the lack of low bass, having in the past used big TLs with useful output down to 20Hz.

Anyway turns out there was really no wrong answer. Everyone gets a prize!

 

[Alexanderc]

Thanks for this. I thought it was good fun and educational.

 

[Axo1989]

Cool, I’ll PM my shipping address.

 

[Chrise36]

Nice you should do this again!

 

[AwesomeSauce2015]

i win-ed!!!!!

Also, how did I guess right that the green (#2) was a revel speaker??? (I didn't post b/c I didn't want to taint the results)
I think it had something to do with A. the response tilt, and B. the "bump" around 100hz. Both are characteristic of Revel from what I've seen.

But yeah, we should do this again! (Except this time with 1 good ,1 OK, and 1 junk speaker maybe?)

 

[RickS]

If you don't know the scaling of the vertical axis you can't say if the curves are horrible or great. All you can say is by comparing the three curves which one of them is better. You can't compare them to any other if you don't know the Y axis.

As stated in the OP (and a few times afterwards, the scaling is identical for all 3 plots. It is roughly +/- 3 dB. I did not post the absolute values because I did not want it to influence the comparison.

I mainly picked the scale because it is the most frequently quoted spec by manufacturers. Even though some complain that it is too expanded, I think it is instructive in any case. Anyway, will use something different next time and, if appropriate, show the scale.

 

[LTig]

Fantastic. I won (too), I picked the Genelec. Also relieved I didn’t pick a dud.

#meetoo

 

[2020]

Speaker 1, because it looks the smoothest. Sure, the bass is recessed, but that can be fixed with a low shelf. The treble area looks to be the most consistent and that is what I like.

Speaker 2 has a that 7k rollercoaster drop, not to mention looks like it goes up and down all over the place.

Speaker 3, what the hell is going on with it? Some kind of coaxial design? All those huge dips.

 

[thewas]

Now for the big moment!

Here is a plot of the original 3 speakers with the typical scaling restored:

Realize the fonts are rather small, so here are the revealed speakers in list form:

1. The Genelec 8361B (speaker #1) is the blue trace
2. The Revel F228Be is speaker #2 and is the green trace
3. The GR Research X-LS Encore is speaker #3 (red trace)

By the way even in this case a different loudspeaker can work better for different usages, for example for people not using EQ and placing the loudspeakers closer to boundaries the Revel bass tuning possibly could work better. Ok, those Genelecs come with GLM included, so its rather a theoretical thesis for a loudspeaker without such and a similar bass response.

 

[RickS]

By the way even in this case a different loudspeaker can work better for different usages, for example for people not using EQ and placing the loudspeakers closer to boundaries the Revel bass tuning possibly could work better. Ok, those Genelecs come with GLM included, so its rather a theoretical thesis for a loudspeaker without such and a similar bass response.

Notably the Genelec is a studio monitor so it is targeted for a different market than the other speakers shown. As I mentioned, I avoided the the cost of each speaker too. The target room conditions should be considered and so this set of speakers is less likely to be typical as well. So yes, this contest is a very one dimensional look, but does highlight how important it is to measure and hear a speaker before a purchase.

In another thread, the continued decline in places to audition speakers has been mentioned. Otoh, little has been done by manufacturers to offer enough information to serve as a proxy for not being able to listen before a purchase. This is a shame and a missed opportunity IMO. For some of us more information helps but is not a good answer for the larger and less technically astute masses. The company that manages to bridge the gap is one I would invest in!