Speaker design voicing reference

[fpitas]

If you design speakers, you know that you can stray into the sonic weeds as you tweak. Your ears get used to a lot of weirdness pretty quickly. I use various disparate test tracks to make sure my voicing travels well, but mainly I refer to AKG K601 headphones for my sanity check. What do you guys use?

 

[alex-z]

As you say, our ears adapt to quirks in a speaker design fairly quickly.

I do most of my design work with measurements, taking care of the directivity and ensuring there are no major resonances. Only then will I have 2-3 people do a single blind testing, where I play them short clips of songs in mono, swap to the second speaker, and ask them to rate any differences on a scale of -10 to +10.

Most of the time, people are pretty happy with a neutral response. Some prefer a slight treble rise, although I usually don't build this into the speakers, because over longer listening sessions it becomes less endearing. A universal constant is that people love a good bass response, I conduct listening tests with well integrated subs. The subs are only turned off if I am specifically evaluating a speaker who's owner will not use a sub.

 

[fpitas]

As you say, our ears adapt to quirks in a speaker design fairly quickly.

I do most of my design work with measurements, taking care of the directivity and ensuring there are no major resonances. Only then will I have 2-3 people do a single blind testing, where I play them short clips of songs in mono, swap to the second speaker, and ask them to rate any differences on a scale of -10 to +10.

Most of the time, people are pretty happy with a neutral response. Some prefer a slight treble rise, although I usually don't build this into the speakers, because over longer listening sessions it becomes less endearing. A universal constant is that people love a good bass response, I conduct listening tests with well integrated subs. The subs are only turned off if I am specifically evaluating a speaker who's owner will not use a sub.

I measure to get within a dB or so. Then what I call voicing is adjustments that are difficult to measure, 0.25dB or 0.5dB.

 

[tomtoo]

I would use a kh80dsp. If your diy speakers sound nearly the same at low volumes they are good. If they can do it at 120dB you are a genious.

 

[fpitas]

I would use a kh80dsp. If your diy speakers sound nearly the same at low volumes they are good. If they can do it at 120dB you are a genious.

The kit we bought, our current setups

As an update of my post #636 on this thread, you would please find the post entitled "The latest total system configuration with DIY 12-VU-Meter Array, the best tuned time alignment and Fq response, together with further various setup info: as of May 30, 2022" here (post #540) on the project...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[fpitas]

I would use a kh80dsp. If your diy speakers sound nearly the same at low volumes they are good. If they can do it at 120dB you are a genious.

Well, I have become pretty proficient at it over the years. Never heard the kh80dsp. Pretty good, huh?

Unfortunately (or fortunately) my ears aren't happy with 120dB. So, even if the sound was perfect, they aren't.

 

[abdo123]

Honestly i just listen at reference volume, it's so easy to mistake a treble or bass boost as good when you're listening below ~85dBSPL.

However if the tonality is off it will be very obvious and annoying as you raise the volume. Usually a well tuned speaker with not much resonances just sounds good at decent and high volumes, and issues are much easier to pick up when you're in that reference level sweet spot.

 

[fpitas]

Honestly i just listen at reference volume, it's so easy to mistake a treble or bass boost as good when you're listening below ~85dBSPL.

However if the tonality is off it will be very obvious and annoying as you raise the volume. Usually a well tuned speaker with not much resonances just sounds good at decent and high volumes, and issues are much easier to pick up when you're in that reference level sweet spot.

Yes, when I turn it up, I end up at about the reference level. On well-mixed tracks, it's obvious that it was mixed to sound "right" at that level.

 

[RammisFrammis]

With my large full range horn system using active crossovers I use REW to establish initial balances using HF/LF level controls and then the analog EQs built into the electronic crossovers, then I do further tuning by ear for my taste/room. The analog EQs built into the crossovers and the crossovers themselves are my own designs. The frequencies of the EQ were established to address problem areas of the speaker's response and room characteristics and the filters are passive L/C/R types with variable Q and depth.

 

[DVDdoug]

I've built a few speakers and I haven't done much "tweaking". I've used drivers that are supposed to work together and I've used WinISD to design the box. I've never attempted any measurements, mostly because I'm not sure I can make accurate measurements. I'll adjust something if it's doesn't "sound right". As a DIY hobbyist you can't economically try several different drivers or several different cabinets... There's only so-much time & money you can put-into development. For me usually the main goal is to build something better than I could buy for the same money and you can't do that spending a lot on development.

If you design speakers, you know that you can stray into the sonic weeds as you tweak. Your ears get used to a lot of weirdness pretty quickly.

TRUE!!! I learned this a long time ago when trying to repair distortion from a car stereo. After awhile I wasn't sure I was still hearing distortion and I had to "re-calibrate" my ears by listening to something else. It was weird and a surprising and valuable learning experience. If you are editing a recording a similar thing can happen... You boost the treble and it sounds better... Later you boost it just a little more. Or with any other effect too. You add a little reverb, then a little more, then a little more and you think it sounds great... Then when you listen the next day it sounds "stupid".

 

[Wolf]

I've heard quite a few pair of speakers, both of my own design and others. There are some that I have remembered that just sound incredible and I try to shoot for that kind of a voicing. I have two or three designs that I use regularly to make sure that my voicing sounds where I like it. But I am very picky when it comes to the mid-range. Sometimes I've set one of my references up, and then thought oh crap back to ground zero.