What budget speakers you like to see reviewed?

[aaddas]

Tannoy b6
Quad s2
triangle genese trio

 

[Lambdalorian]

ESI aktiv 05

 

[bramsat]

The best alltime speaker for ± 20 jr the klipsch rb 81/81 mk2....read the consumers on amazon

https://www.amazon.nl/-/en/Klipsch-RB-81-Compact-Speaker-Black/dp/B0040Q51FE/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1UL6UAWB3MQJD&keywords=klipsch+rb81+ii&qid=1680382670&sprefix=klipsch+rb%2Caps%2C143&sr=8-1

 

[mga2009]

Kali Audio SM-5-C​

Kali Audio — Kali Audio SM Series Studio Monitors

www.kaliaudio.com

@USD$999 for a single PASSIVE speaker... IDK if its cheap, but it seems that Kali wants to target higerish end active monitors like Neumann or the cheapest Genelecs...

 

[valerianf]

Micca Covo.
It is a coaxial 2 way speaker.
Could it be good enough for use as an Atmos speaker?

 

[Pearljam5000]

Neumann KH120 II
KH150

 

[Penelinfi]

Micca Covo.
It is a coaxial 2 way speaker.
Could it be good enough for use as an Atmos speaker?

I have a set of 3" coaxial drivers with neo magnet (won't fill half your enclosure space); they are surprisingly nice to listen to imo. They do have more colouration than reference speakers, but also do a 3d and detail thing that the others don't necessarily do, at lower volume. Will be great night time speakers I think.
Would love a high end version of such drivers.

 

[amirm]

Micca Covo.
It is a coaxial 2 way speaker.
Could it be good enough for use as an Atmos speaker?

If it is the same as Covo-s, Amazon says I already bought it a while ago!!! I will test it soon....

 

[amirm]

Neumann KH120 II
KH150

I have already tested the KH150: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/neumann-kh-150-monitor-review.39922/

I will see if I can get the KH120 II.

 

[pierre]

DB Technology B-Hype 10

a PA speaker with a 10 inch woofer, active for 170 euros. They are decent at (very relative) low volume. They of course need a subwoofer.
That’s a reasonable option for a garage or garden parties.

 

[tktran303]

@amirm

Has anyone offered to send you the mass market speakers that’s recommended by publications like Consumer Reports, New York Times etc?

I mean consumer speakers in the very competitive under $300 point for a PAIR

UE Wonderboom 3

The Best Portable Bluetooth Speakers

The UE Wonderboom 4 is the all-around best portable Bluetooth speaker because it sounds good and looks cool, and it’s quite rugged.

www.nytimes.com

https://www.consumerreports.org/search/?query=Speakers

IIRC, the impetus for the original research by @Floyd Toole was that CR was giving all these recommended Best Buys to speakers with 1/3 octave on axis frequency responses.

I wonder how things have changed for the better.

 

[amirm]

@amirm

Has anyone offered to send you the mass market speakers that’s recommended by publications like Consumer Reports, New York Times etc?

I mean consumer speakers in the very competitive under $300 point for a PAIR

UE Wonderboom 3

The Best Portable Bluetooth Speakers

The UE Wonderboom 4 is the all-around best portable Bluetooth speaker because it sounds good and looks cool, and it’s quite rugged.

www.nytimes.com

https://www.consumerreports.org/search/?query=Speakers

IIRC, the impetus for the original research by @Floyd Toole was that CR was giving all these recommended Best Buys to speakers with 1/3 octave on axis frequency responses.

I wonder how things have changed for the better.

I have measured a few (homepod, etc.). They are a pain to test if they don't have line input and only rely on Bluetooth.

 

[tktran303]

3 of 4 of the devices on that page have a 3.5 mm input.

Just not the tiniest Wonderboom 3 device, which is a bummer. Same with the smallest UE, Apple, Bose and Sonos devices, which probably together comprise a significant portion of the “premium” smart speaker market.

But the Hyperboom does.
And Sonos Five and new Era 100/300 have auxiliary ports for ease of testing.

and It’d be interesting to see what the masses are buying in C21 based on Consumer Reports.

Or maybe the market has decided that mono projected in pseudo-360 degrees via bluetooth is enough to enjoy music, and HAS replaced traditional stereo of C20 as the most preferred sound.

Perhaps a sound bar is all we need for home theatre these days?

 

[Floyd Toole]

IIRC, the impetus for the original research by @Floyd Toole was that CR was giving all these recommended Best Buys to speakers with 1/3 octave on axis frequency responses.

Sorry, but your recollection is wrong. It is true that shortly after the loudspeaker research began in earnest it became clear that Consumer Reports loudspeaker ratings were wrong. But it was more than twenty years before we decided to spend the time and money to directly challenge the Consumer Reports methodology. The history of the events is described in Section 5.7 in the 3rd edition of my book. Sean Olive's benchmark papers were published in 2004:
Olive, S.E. (2004a). “A multiple regression model for predicting loudspeaker preference using objective measurements: part 1 – listening test results”, 116th Convention, Audio Eng. Soc., Preprint 6113.
Olive, S.E. (2004b). “A multiple regression model for predicting loudspeaker preference using objective measurements: part 2 – development of the model”, 117th Convention, Audio Eng. Soc., Preprint 6190.

If consumer reports had used 1/3-octave on axis frequency responses things might have been better, but they used 1/3-octave sound power measurements, processed in a fashion resulting in "accuracy scores" that were grossly misleading. It would be interesting to see how they are doing these days. After Olive's papers were published they ceased loudspeaker reviews, and initiated a program to improve their methods. It was discontinued after a period . . . there was more money to be made testing products other than "hifi" loudspeakers, where people have many other sources of information, even though most of it is unreliable subjectivism.

 

[Angsty]

Sorry, but your recollection is wrong. It is true that shortly after the loudspeaker research began in earnest it became clear that Consumer Reports loudspeaker ratings were wrong. But it was more than twenty years before we decided to spend the time and money to directly challenge the Consumer Reports methodology. The history of the events is described in Section 5.7 in the 3rd edition of my book. Sean Olive's benchmark papers were published in 2004:
Olive, S.E. (2004a). “A multiple regression model for predicting loudspeaker preference using objective measurements: part 1 – listening test results”, 116th Convention, Audio Eng. Soc., Preprint 6113.
Olive, S.E. (2004b). “A multiple regression model for predicting loudspeaker preference using objective measurements: part 2 – development of the model”, 117th Convention, Audio Eng. Soc., Preprint 6190.

If consumer reports had used 1/3-octave on axis frequency responses things might have been better, but they used 1/3-octave sound power measurements, processed in a fashion resulting in "accuracy scores" that were grossly misleading. It would be interesting to see how they are doing these days. After Olive's papers were published they ceased loudspeaker reviews, and initiated a program to improve their methods. It was discontinued after a period . . . there was more money to be made testing products other than "hifi" loudspeakers, where people have many other sources of information, even though most of it is unreliable subjectivism.

Oh, my. I didn’t know Dr. Toole was a participant in ASR! The expert knowledge that’s here is the main reason why I keep coming back!

 

[Robbo99999]

Oh, my. I didn’t know Dr. Toole was a participant in ASR! The expert knowledge that’s here is the main reason why I keep coming back!

I know, it is pretty cool! He's not on here everyday and rightly so really, but it sure is good to see a diamond post from him from time to time!

 

[VintageFlanker]

Neumann KH120 II

KH150

KH150 have been done already.

Besides... just a reminder of the thread title... (Not to you, but quite a few people around here)

What budget speakers you like to see reviewed?

On what Earth these are budget speakers?

 

[Robbo99999]

KH150 have been done already.

Besides... just a reminder of the thread title... (Not to you, but quite a few people around here)

On what Earth these are budget speakers?

Ha, that's what I was thinking! (don't mind them being tested though!)

EDIT: thinking about it, budget speakers in my mind max out at £500 for a pair. I guess that would make mid-price at £750, and expensive at £1000+ for a pair. Grasping a bit at straws for the mid & expensive range, but budget speakers in my mind max out at £500 per pair (and not so long ago "budget" would be significantly less than that, but that's "ASR Creep" combined with Inflation!).

 

[Pearljam5000]

KH150 have been done already.

Besides... just a reminder of the thread title... (Not to you, but quite a few people around here)

On what Earth these are budget speakers?

It says budget speakers , but the *budget* itself is not mentioned
If there was an amount (let's say anything less than $1000) than it would be more clear

 

[tktran303]

@Floyd Toole

I’m probably not the only one who’s wondering why all these speakers from the likes of SONOS, Apple, UE are selling so well. And why a “portable Bluetooth” or TV Soundbar speaker is the defacto standard when consumers are buying speakers.

TVs got better- smaller lighter clearer higher resolution better colours even cheaper. I mean you and I owned a CRT, and I wouldn’t trade any of the modern OLEDs or high quality LCDs with an old CRT.

When and why do you suppose these battery powered speakers entered and ate up the market? I understand them and sound-bars…kind of; good enough quality for most use cases. And pound for pound or litre for litre better than any boombox from C20.

But how do you convince someone that a Revel Salon 2 or 3 is worth buying over a JBL Charge 5 or a pair of Partybox1000? Apart from looking like a nice of furniture? One of the hi-fi reviewers thinks that to “save hi-fi”, it should move into the category of luxury goods. But the engineer in me loathes that.

Why should good thoughtful design be tarted up and a zero added just to sit at the table with luxury wristwatches, pens, cigars, handbags, cognacs, perfumes and wines. Thank goodness Harman was acquired by Samsung not LVMH!

But perhaps the marketplace has already voted; it’s like asking people to go back to listen to lossless audio or CDs when they’d voted that MP3 or lossy streaming was good enough (or preferred). Convenience over excellence.

The spinorama, which is what get our crew here excited, is certainly not enough.

Or maybe Interior Designers Killed the Loudspeaker Star