Most beautiful speakers in the world ?

[Pearljam5000]

Focal Utopia Mains

 

[Audionaut]

MBL

 

[Floyd Toole]

We have to remember that the floor bounce is often accompied by other cancellations in the same region. This means the level in this region can often end up being something 5 dB too low compared to a Bruele & Kjaer response and that over a fairly wide area. I have listened to both in short AB comparisons and over time. Cabinets and speaker drivers were identical besides the different positions.

To me there's no doubt that having an even response here is very important. Especially when listening to various music material. It sounds more correct in regards to the tonality, less bright and harsh with many recordrings, causes less listening fatigue over time, and the sound is more engaging when the level in the 150-300 Hz region is sufficient.

In regards to reflections above the Schroeder frequency I also find that this matters quite a bit.

From a Danish research:
It was a joint project of Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, Bang & Olufsen and KEF led by Prof. Soren Bech.

From one of the member of the test panels:
"I’ve done a lot of testing on the effects of reflections in rooms, and there was a big, big project in Denmark about twelve years ago, with a lot of companies involved in investigating effects of reflections in rooms. I had the pleasure of being a test person, where we could actually simulate the audible effect of the floor reflection, sidewall reflection, ceiling reflection, and so on independently. The single most disturbing reflection in the room is the floor reflection. That is what makes the speaker sound like a radio and not like the actual event. ... The floor reflection absolutely must be handled."

A forum participant drew my attention to this statement. It is more complicated than this comment suggests. Here is what I have said about the topic in my books;

Experimental evidence related to the audibility of floor reflected sound from loudspeakers.

By Floyd Toole​

From my book: “Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms” 1st & 2nd editions, Section 6.2.1. This discusses the elaborate room synthesis exercise reported by Soren Bech in 1996 and 1998.

Bech, S. (1996). “Timbral Aspects of Reproduced Sound in Small Rooms. II”, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 99, pp.3539-3549.

Bech, S. (1998). “Spatial Aspects of Reproduced Sound in Small Rooms”, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 103, pp.434-445.

“(In the 1998 paper) Bech separately examined the influence of several individual reflections on timbral and spatial aspects of perception. In all of the results it was evident that signal was a major factor: broadband pink noise was more revealing than male speech. In terms of timbre changes, only the noise signal was able to show any audible effects and then only for the floor reflection; speech revealed no audible effects on timbre.

Looking at the absorption coefficients used in modeling the floor reflection (Bech, 1996, Table II) reveals that the simulated floor was significantly more reflective than would be the case if it had been covered by a conventional clipped pile carpet on a felt underlay. Further investigations revealed that the detection was based mainly on sounds in the 500 Hz – 2 kHz range, meaning that ordinary room furnishings are likely to be highly effective at reducing first reflections below threshold, even for the more demanding signal: broadband pink noise (see Section 20.2).

In terms of spatial aspects Bech concluded that those sounds above about 2 kHz contributed to audibility, and that “only the first-order floor reflection will contribute to the spatial aspects.” (Bech, 1998). The effect was not large and, as before, speech was less revealing than broadband noise. Again, this is a case where a good carpet and underlay would appear to be sufficient to eliminate the problem. See Figure 20.3 for data on the acoustical performance of floor coverings.”



The 3rd edition of my book devotes a section to the topic:

“7.4.7 Floor Reflections: a Special Case?

Very early in my explorations of loudspeaker/room interactions I took note of the measurable effect of the floor reflection in steady-state room curves. It seemed like a problem that needed attention so I devoted some time to modifying loudspeakers to minimize it, and followed through with subjective evaluations. I cannot claim to have been exhaustive, but I soon became frustrated when the curves looked better but the sound seemed not to have changed very much. I moved on to other problems that were clearly audible and never returned.

Siegfried Linkwitz also decided that “The floor reflection, which is mostly unavoidable, and which is readily seen in the steady-state on-axis frequency response as dips and peaks, is not necessarily audible on program material.” (Linkwitz, 2009).

The Fraunhofer Institute in Germany constructed an elaborate listening room in which different room surfaces could be changed (Silzle, et al., 2009). “Regarding the floor reflection, the audible influence by removing this with absorbers around the listener is negative – unnatural sounding. No normal room has an absorbent floor. The human brain seems to be used to this.”

Some of this is anecdotal, not the result of thorough scientific investigation. But there is an intriguing logic to the notion that humans evolved while standing on something, and most of what we hear includes reflections from what is under our feet. Wherever we are, reflections from what is under our feet have been useful in gauging distance, among other things. Floor reflections are a part of symphonic performances, jazz club performances, conversations at home or on the street. Is that a problem, a virtue or just a fact of life?”

Linkwitz, S. (2009). “The Challenge to find the Optimum Radiation Pattern and Placement of Stereo Loudspeakers in a Room for the Creation of Phantom Sources and Simultaneous Masking of Real Sources”, Audio Eng. Soc. 127th Convention, paper 7959.

Silzle, A., Geyersberger, S. Brohasga, G., Weninger, D., and Leistner, M. (2009). “Vision and Technique behind the New Studios and Listening Rooms of the Fraunhofer IIS Audio Laboratory”, Audio Eng. Soc. 126thConvention, Preprint 7672.

 

[Bleib]

The speaker is 2x wide as the mid-low-driver. This is bad design because it unnecessarily wastes desk space that could be used for multiple monitors, or at least one ultrawide monitor.

Yeah, I know it sacrifices performance in favor of bling bling looks..

 

[Audionaut]

Blumenhofer Genuin

 

[Audionaut]

Magnat Quantum Edelstein

 

[Bleib]

Magnat Quantum Edelstein
View attachment 441927

Wow, here's a similar one

Magnat Signature Edelstein​

Magnat Signature Edelstein Loudspeaker Lab Report

Lab Report While differently dimensioned and 'voiced', Magnat's Signature Edelstein has an LS3/5A-esque [HFN Jun '23] cabinet volume – so the '90dB sensitivity' is a tad optimistic, despite porting! Principally, it demonstrates a steadily rising axial response above 5kHz, its 25mm fabric dome...

www.hifinews.com

Measurements are not great though

 

[Bleib]

 

[Mort]

 

[Audionaut]

 

[Audionaut]

Focal Utopia Mains

Not beautiful, but very good.
I find it difficult to integrate visually into a normal living room.
If you only consider the acoustics, there's not much that beats a main monitor.
I almost bought this one despite the non wife-compatible look.

Adam Audio S6X

 

[Bleib]

 

[dogmamann]

This is the best looking center speaker to my eyes. It’s large and mean to be on a dedicated stand though. Quadral aurum base.

 

[Bleib]

Sonus faber Sonetto

 

[ryanosaur]

^
Speakers are certainly attractive... Room makes me laugh. And those checkered pythons that are apparently getting ready to swallow each Speaker!

 

[Lekha]

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Sonus faber Sonetto

I believe all these speaker manufacturers are peddling a deception, claiming that their speakers, the snake cables, the spikes, and all, are offering you something beyond what your own ears can perceive.

 

[OldHvyMec]

Post 5794 snakes are sneaking up to swallow the speakers. LOL

Regards

 

[MattHooper]

Quite unusual color(s)

KEF R3 Meta​

View attachment 440753

I find that KEF has a nice contemporary design. They care about how the speaker looks. That said, when I see them in the store up close there is a bit of a “churned out from a factory” vibe to their finish and materials.

Some of the B&W speakers definitely strike me as another level of build quality, materials, and fit and finish. The kind of thing you look at and think “ Whoah, some effort went into the dining and building these!”

Week ago when my sister saw Kii 3 in red:
View attachment 441239
..she said it's most beautiful speaker in the world and doesn't matter how it sounds but she want a Kii at home

I’m definitely not a fan of red speakers, but that is the nicest looking Kii Three I’ve seen!
The black is a bit too bland for me.

View attachment 441455 View attachment 441456

DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93 loudspeaker Measurements | Stereophile.com

Sidebar: Measurements (from January 2019, Vol.42 No.1) This relatively affordable, high-sensitivity, two-way floorstanding loudspeaker has been a firm favorite with Stereophile's writers since Sam Tellig reviewed it in January 2014. Herb Reichert wrote Follow-Ups in December 2015 and July 2016...

www.stereophile.com

Not superb
__________________
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Mah man!

Looks like we have similar taste.

I love the Devore look and I came close to buying those O/93 speakers.

Plus I also really like the look of Martin speakers. I’ve never seen one up close, but all the photos I see to pictures really nice finishes design and luxurious materials.

A few days ago, my wife said she doesn't like the black boxes on the cabinet any more in the living room. She said they're simply ugly, even though they're just rectangular boxes.

I’m voicing my support for your wife
Not a fan of black boxes myself.

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All I can think of when I see these speakers is somebody with wads of chewing gum in their cheeks.

 

[MattHooper]

The single most disturbing reflection in the room is the floor reflection.

I don’t think you’re necessarily talking about the high frequencies here (?).

But in any case, my listening room has a wall-to-wall deep shag rug, and some huge furniture, such as a giant sectional sofa and Ottomans. Among other acoustically relevant features.

In terms of whatever the rug might be contributing along with the furniture, I certainly find the sound to be wonderful, and still lively and life like, not dull. My speakers are pulled out into the room to be about 7 feet from my listening distance.

But I had something of a surprise when I started experimenting with adding another sheet of velvet curtain over my centre channel and also pulled out over the shag rug floor, which is between the speakers.

This seemed to further affect the upper frequencies, absorbing them some more.
Which was a surprise, cause I wouldn’t have guessed that adding that material on top of an already thick shag rug would have a distinct audible effect (even if somewhat subtle). I actually sort of like the effect.

But that’s just informal listening. I didn’t do a blind test so I am not overly confident in my conclusions there.

 

[Bleib]

^
Speakers are certainly attractive... Room makes me laugh. And those checkered pythons that are apparently getting ready to swallow each Speaker!

At least there's a carpet. That's more than many do. Of course the loudspeaker cables are thick to give the impression that it's high-end, and cable lifters. Heh.

Example of echo room