What do you expect form a good speaker??

Naveenbnc

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Deal all,

This question should be asked in diy section, but still I felt like asking here.

What do you expect from a good speaker??? Basically if I'm building a speaker, let's say a BS or a Tower, what should we target to achieve ???

A few things with my little understanding are....

1. Good vocals both male and female.
Voice should not be shouty.
2. Whatever best bass possible without sounding boomy.
3. Detailed separation and clear instruments.
4. Treble should not the harsh. For fatigue free listening.
5. Full bodied sound (not sure what this means)
6. Wide soundstage (as of now I don't have clarity what this is. But I'll read)

Any one can throw some more light on this please???

Even expensive speakers can't be ideal in all aspects. But what should be the basic target to build a reasonably allrounder speaker???
 
What may harsh for you may be sweet to me.
:D:D that's absolutely true. I know there can not be an accurate answer for this. May be if we ask this to 10 people, we may get 10 different answers. :eek:. I am just trying to gather some generic, and mostly acceptable thoughts.
 
For me, Target depends on the kind of music that we mostly listen. I predominantly listen to 80's/90's Tamil songs so a clean vocals is my target. So, I can pick/design a speaker which shines in mids and highs and also lows but to decent level.
 
I would define an ideal speaker as one which has the best balance between desired frequency response and is at the same time pleasing to listen to (whomever is listening).
 
My priorities in auditioning speakers.
Tonal balance of voices and instruments. Bad speakers tend to make everything sound the same. Be it a guitar or Santoor.
Vocals should not sound congested. effortless.
Open and airy in the highs but have no shrill.
Bass should not linger if not in the recording.
Should not be overly sweet. The grunt has to be there when present, that includes electric guitars and vocals. Some very good speakers don't have the grunt but will always present sweet pleasing sound. Certain cymbals/Crashes have a harshness to them naturally, and it should be present.
Tabla/Dholak should have the feel of contact between the finger and the skin. Guitar picking should also have that contact sound, and it needs to be presented by the speaker without pushing the rest of the music behind. Instruments separation is a must, sometimes bass frequencie's can bury the mid frequencies and that is no fun.
Of course all this if the recorded source has it.
 
My priorities in auditioning speakers.
Tonal balance of voices and instruments. Bad speakers tend to make everything sound the same. Be it a guitar or Santoor.
Vocals should not sound congested. effortless.
Open and airy in the highs but have no shrill.
Bass should not linger if not in the recording.
Should not be overly sweet. The grunt has to be there when present, that includes electric guitars and vocals. Some very good speakers don't have the grunt but will always present sweet pleasing sound. Certain cymbals/Crashes have a harshness to them naturally, and it should be present.
Tabla/Dholak should have the feel of contact between the finger and the skin. Guitar picking should also have that contact sound, and it needs to be presented by the speaker without pushing the rest of the music behind. Instruments separation is a must, sometimes bass frequencie's can bury the mid frequencies and that is no fun.
Of course all this if the recorded source has it.
Very detailed explanation thank you so much. Regular audience can't catch most of the details you said. But for a speaker designer, there are surely very important points to keep in mind !!!
 
In my opinion, all renowned brands that have been in business for several years, they all have complex setup to test their speakers. And, in the world of high-fidelity, there is no one who is absolutely right (good) or wrong (bad). What one hears is what company's designers think is the best.

One needs to ensure that one has good quality amplification and source.

Also, this is start of falling into trap when one starts thinking that there should be base and treble because you take any two recordings that are so different. e.g. for hindi song lovers, compare recording of Karz (the old one; Om Shanti Om :) with say, Kick (of Salman Khan), you get total different perspective - Karz is very sharp with nice separation and almost no bass while Kick sounds big, good bass and NOT as clean (read separation).

So, speakers matter less and source and amplification are what show potential of speakers :).

Again, this was my opinion and I had absolutely no intent to refute anybody's claim/opinion. I am writing this because internet is a dangerous place and you cannot control every reader's way of interpretation :).
 
The Speakers function similar to Display in a Video Signal decoding, So what you expect from a display ?

Resolution : If you have a 4K content and Player but your display is capable of only SD , sub-optimal result. Audio resolution is not that easy to discern, as much as display resolution but still a High-end audio usually never fails to impress. On the contrary you will see a pixellated screen if your display is 4k but your source is SD. So if some speaker doesn't sound good with bad recordings ; you know what is the issue, and not to blame the speakers.

Brightness: You need adequate brightness from a display for it to be visible, so a Loud Speaker should be adequately Loud for it to be audible. Also the Brightness should not be harsh or fatiguing , Loud speakers should not be Shouty or distorted at high Volumes. I do understand many of the parameters depend upon the supporting electronics but yes speakers play an important part.

Contrast: the difference between blacks and Whites and different colors has to be precise, so is the difference between front and background music. The 3D orientation of sound reproduced by just 2 speakers is a feat to listen to..

Size: Smaller display tends to be difficult to comprehend or impress, where as very large displays loses focus. so an adequate larger than life sound-stage needs to be created , if you close your eyes; the speakers should just disappear physically. It shouldn't appear like sound is coming from a point source but from all over in the space.

Accuracy; The grass should look green same as it is & not something different , Tonal accuracy is very important, You should be able to make out the instrument by it's sound signature easily. You can record your daughter's voice with a well calibrated microphone and reproduce on your own speakers and see how correct or incorrect it sounds.

Separation: Instrumental separation and frequency separation should be sharp, green grass shouldn't bleed on white shoes or red trousers shouldn't bleed on a white background etc..

Noise: I think the this doesn't need any explanation. Most projectors need a dark room, where as LEDs don't , Some amount of acoustics will be needed to make the speakers perform to their best.

Hopefully this helps you.
 
The Speakers function similar to Display in a Video Signal decoding, So what you expect from a display ?

Resolution : If you have a 4K content and Player but your display is capable of only SD , sub-optimal result. Audio resolution is not that easy to discern, as much as display resolution but still a High-end audio usually never fails to impress. On the contrary you will see a pixellated screen if your display is 4k but your source is SD. So if some speaker doesn't sound good with bad recordings ; you know what is the issue, and not to blame the speakers.

Brightness: You need adequate brightness from a display for it to be visible, so a Loud Speaker should be adequately Loud for it to be audible. Also the Brightness should not be harsh or fatiguing , Loud speakers should not be Shouty or distorted at high Volumes. I do understand many of the parameters depend upon the supporting electronics but yes speakers play an important part.

Contrast: the difference between blacks and Whites and different colors has to be precise, so is the difference between front and background music. The 3D orientation of sound reproduced by just 2 speakers is a feat to listen to..

Size: Smaller display tends to be difficult to comprehend or impress, where as very large displays loses focus. so an adequate larger than life sound-stage needs to be created , if you close your eyes; the speakers should just disappear physically. It shouldn't appear like sound is coming from a point source but from all over in the space.

Accuracy; The grass should look green same as it is & not something different , Tonal accuracy is very important, You should be able to make out the instrument by it's sound signature easily. You can record your daughter's voice with a well calibrated microphone and reproduce on your own speakers and see how correct or incorrect it sounds.

Separation: Instrumental separation and frequency separation should be sharp, green grass shouldn't bleed on white shoes or red trousers shouldn't bleed on a white background etc..

Noise: I think the this doesn't need any explanation. Most projectors need a dark room, where as LEDs don't , Some amount of acoustics will be needed to make the speakers perform to their best.

Hopefully this helps you.
It helps a lot !!!
Thank you very much !!!
 
The Speakers function similar to Display in a Video Signal decoding, So what you expect from a display ?

Resolution : If you have a 4K content and Player but your display is capable of only SD , sub-optimal result. Audio resolution is not that easy to discern, as much as display resolution but still a High-end audio usually never fails to impress. On the contrary you will see a pixellated screen if your display is 4k but your source is SD. So if some speaker doesn't sound good with bad recordings ; you know what is the issue, and not to blame the speakers.

Brightness: You need adequate brightness from a display for it to be visible, so a Loud Speaker should be adequately Loud for it to be audible. Also the Brightness should not be harsh or fatiguing , Loud speakers should not be Shouty or distorted at high Volumes. I do understand many of the parameters depend upon the supporting electronics but yes speakers play an important part.

Contrast: the difference between blacks and Whites and different colors has to be precise, so is the difference between front and background music. The 3D orientation of sound reproduced by just 2 speakers is a feat to listen to..

Size: Smaller display tends to be difficult to comprehend or impress, where as very large displays loses focus. so an adequate larger than life sound-stage needs to be created , if you close your eyes; the speakers should just disappear physically. It shouldn't appear like sound is coming from a point source but from all over in the space.

Accuracy; The grass should look green same as it is & not something different , Tonal accuracy is very important, You should be able to make out the instrument by it's sound signature easily. You can record your daughter's voice with a well calibrated microphone and reproduce on your own speakers and see how correct or incorrect it sounds.

Separation: Instrumental separation and frequency separation should be sharp, green grass shouldn't bleed on white shoes or red trousers shouldn't bleed on a white background etc..

Noise: I think the this doesn't need any explanation. Most projectors need a dark room, where as LEDs don't , Some amount of acoustics will be needed to make the speakers perform to their best.

Hopefully this helps you.
Dr.Krack....your anology is very nice. Thanks a lot for taking time for this !!☺️☺️
 
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