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Confused Newbie
- Thread starter Nodean
- Start date
- Thread Starter
- #42
Thank you for the in depth information. It is overwhelming. I am starting to feel like maintaing a primary listening position at my desk with the adams and/or headphones make the most sense. Selling the Boreas and adding a subwoofer is what I am considering is that a wise investment? I have gathered that speakers are the most important aspect of any system. If at some point I considered upgrading the adams to another pair of studio monitors what Am I gaining from “better speakers? Would selling the adams, the boreas and the cd player taking putting those funds towards other monitors make sense. I know cost isn’t directly related to quality. Last question. Does the type of music I listen too make a difference? Primarily rock/metal.
Tom C
Major Contributor
Yes I know. It is a lot, especially when you’re first learning it. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of educating yourself on these topics, so that you can evaluate critically on your own, and not have to take someone else’s word for it. Taken in little bits at a time, you’ll eventually have it under your belt. Amir has tutorials, including some videos, that explain the speaker measurements, and lots of other useful things. You can use the search function at the upper right corner of the website. Put Amirm in the member box to get the postings that are specifically from him.
Since you like rock/metal, I expect you would appreciate a subwoofer very much. But, bass is one area where there is a lot of differences between individual preferences. Some like lots, others can’t stand it, and would rather not have subwoofers. I think lots of bass is really pleasureable, and I’m lucky that my wife likes lots too. It’s kind of a can of worms, in that you have to decide where to place the subwoofer, and where to do the crossover. These are topics of great ongoing discussion and debate. Many cross at 80Hz, or look on a FR graph to see where the output of their main speakers start to roll off, and cross there. It was suggested to me on this forum to try 100Hz, which is my current preference. When you start digging in to it, you’ll find most speakers have rising distortion below 125Hz or so, or even higher when the woofer is 5” or 6”, as is the case for many bookshelf size speakers. There are trade offs involved, so it depends mostly on what floats your boat.
What I look for when perusing “better speakers” is lower distortion, higher output (higher SPL), and better low frequency extension. You still want flat frequency response and smooth off axis behavior, of course. And then there is build quality, the look, the cabinet finish, and features. For example, powered monitors can have built in EQ, subwoofer might have built in crossover, whether the speaker accepts RCA or XLR or both, and so on.
Since you like rock/metal, I expect you would appreciate a subwoofer very much. But, bass is one area where there is a lot of differences between individual preferences. Some like lots, others can’t stand it, and would rather not have subwoofers. I think lots of bass is really pleasureable, and I’m lucky that my wife likes lots too. It’s kind of a can of worms, in that you have to decide where to place the subwoofer, and where to do the crossover. These are topics of great ongoing discussion and debate. Many cross at 80Hz, or look on a FR graph to see where the output of their main speakers start to roll off, and cross there. It was suggested to me on this forum to try 100Hz, which is my current preference. When you start digging in to it, you’ll find most speakers have rising distortion below 125Hz or so, or even higher when the woofer is 5” or 6”, as is the case for many bookshelf size speakers. There are trade offs involved, so it depends mostly on what floats your boat.
What I look for when perusing “better speakers” is lower distortion, higher output (higher SPL), and better low frequency extension. You still want flat frequency response and smooth off axis behavior, of course. And then there is build quality, the look, the cabinet finish, and features. For example, powered monitors can have built in EQ, subwoofer might have built in crossover, whether the speaker accepts RCA or XLR or both, and so on.
Tom C
Major Contributor
YW
Regardless which speaker you go with, placement matters, and might possibly make the Boreas sound better. I won't scare you away with the crazy room frequency modeling tools (I'm not even down the rabbit hole enough to care about that), but Soundton has a pretty useful 2D room placement calculator that lets you see estimated response quality based on room dimension and placement. You can find it here: https://www.soundton.com/
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- Thread Starter
- #48
Thank you
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