Sound Quality, what really matters.

[EliGuy]

So I've been dingling around with speakers for around 15 years now. I've built and my own and played around with many configurations of drivers.
One of the best things I did was get a DEQX and try out many different configurations on an active setup, this taught me ALOT about the differences
between how drivers and boxes sound. While I cant propose to give any empirical findings, I thought I'd share my anecdotal experience about what I've discovered so far
on what makes the biggest difference on 'perceived sound qualty'.

#1 Electronics. This made actually the least difference. I have used very expensive amps, cheap amps, dacs, etc. Now there is a huge caviat here:
any hiss or buzz will degrade the sound majorly. So as long as the signal is clean and you can get high resolution my conclusion is go middle of the road
to lower cost and save some money. Also cables made very little to no difference unless they were poorly shielded. So bottom line is that the equipment
simply needs to meet minimum design thresholds, not have expensive boutique parts.

#2 Room Acoustics this actually makes a huge difference. You could take a very inexpensive system and put it in a great room and it will simply outperform
by a large margin due to superior information transfer of the program material to your ear drums.

#3 Speakers. This IMO makes the biggest difference. Even the quality of the transducers however is less important that the implementation. Things like
smooth directivity and psycho-acoustics are the final frontier in audio IMO. The way that the box/drivers interface with the room and the response curves
of the drivers are THE MOST important factor IMO. Even having expensive drivers doesnt make a huge difference. I've used very cheap drivers and achieved
excellent results just because the curves worked well in the design. Ive used expensive drivers that make very little to no difference. So design trumps big bucks parts IMO.

Thankfully I learned these lessons from sites like this and my own examinations before spending stupid amounts of money on megabuck speakers. But at the
end of the day I've had lots of enjoyment from the hobby so to each their own. Would like to know if others experience matches up in any way,

Eli

 

[BDWoody]

First post after two years! I won't say welcome, but glad to see you join in.

I think I'm right with you on your conclusions. Buy good speakers, integrate them into your room, make sure the electronics are competent, then stop worrying and enjoy.

 

[EliGuy]

H

First post after two years! I won't say welcome, but glad to see you join in.

I think I'm right with you on your conclusions. Buy good speakers, integrate them into your room, make sure the electronics are competent, then stop worrying and enjoy.

Haha, yeah for the longest time I wasnt able to post for some reason. Probably for the best lol

 

[Dal1as]

I agree although I feel the room and speakers go hand and hand so are of similar importance. Just comparing a speaker and how it sounds outside or in an anachoic chamber to in a room is surprising to people.

I would also add that proper bass management trumps price of electronics also.

 

[fpitas]

So I've been dingling around with speakers for around 15 years now. I've built and my own and played around with many configurations of drivers.
One of the best things I did was get a DEQX and try out many different configurations on an active setup, this taught me ALOT about the differences
between how drivers and boxes sound. While I cant propose to give any empirical findings, I thought I'd share my anecdotal experience about what I've discovered so far
on what makes the biggest difference on 'perceived sound qualty'.

#1 Electronics. This made actually the least difference. I have used very expensive amps, cheap amps, dacs, etc. Now there is a huge caviat here:
any hiss or buzz will degrade the sound majorly. So as long as the signal is clean and you can get high resolution my conclusion is go middle of the road
to lower cost and save some money. Also cables made very little to no difference unless they were poorly shielded. So bottom line is that the equipment
simply needs to meet minimum design thresholds, not have expensive boutique parts.

#2 Room Acoustics this actually makes a huge difference. You could take a very inexpensive system and put it in a great room and it will simply outperform
by a large margin due to superior information transfer of the program material to your ear drums.

#3 Speakers. This IMO makes the biggest difference. Even the quality of the transducers however is less important that the implementation. Things like
smooth directivity and psycho-acoustics are the final frontier in audio IMO. The way that the box/drivers interface with the room and the response curves
of the drivers are THE MOST important factor IMO. Even having expensive drivers doesnt make a huge difference. I've used very cheap drivers and achieved
excellent results just because the curves worked well in the design. Ive used expensive drivers that make very little to no difference. So design trumps big bucks parts IMO.

Thankfully I learned these lessons from sites like this and my own examinations before spending stupid amounts of money on megabuck speakers. But at the
end of the day I've had lots of enjoyment from the hobby so to each their own. Would like to know if others experience matches up in any way,

Eli

I try to tell the bolded to every noob just starting to design their own speakers. Even very inexpensive drivers can sound great if the implementation is right, especially the crossover. Frankly, a lot of expensive drivers are just tougher to work with.

 

[Rosenbloom]

I fully agree room acoustics plays a larger part. I used to live in a small apartment and could only have a small room (2m x 3m) to set up a speaker system for music enjoyment. I must say it was quite hopeless.

 

[EliGuy]

I fully agree room acoustics plays a larger part. I used to live in a small apartment and could only have a small room (2m x 3m) to set up a speaker system for music enjoyment. I must say it was quite hopeless.

Yeah its unfortunate. The laws of physics dont negotiate. I've found there are ways to minimize room interactions however. One of the simplest solutions is to get the drivers much closer to your eardrums and away from the walls. In this case I've actually found that you want much lower directivity than higher. A 3/4" tweeter and a 4" subwoofer sound really good at 3' distance.

 

[napfkuchen]

I fully agree room acoustics plays a larger part. I used to live in a small apartment and could only have a small room (2m x 3m) to set up a speaker system for music enjoyment. I must say it was quite hopeless.

My last hifi-/homeoffice-room was also small (5m x 2,5m with the speakers placed on the longer side). Using near-field active speakers, room-correction and some absorbers helped reducing reverberation, at least of the highs and mids. In-room-response was obviously still not perfect, but much better than my current hifi-room (5m x 6m, no absorbers). So ...

#1 Electronics. This made actually the least difference.

... only applies to the traditional hifi-equipment of the 20th century. Add class-d-amps, active speakers and room-correction and it becomes quite important. But I agree it can be reasonably cheap.