Todays Speakers vs Vintage Speakers

If you can't, some boys with a white van have the perfect speakers for you. Left over from an installation. Price is cheeeeap. You'll discover that an ABS tweeter, ok, really just a rattlecan cap flipped around with a silver spot in the center is every bit as good as an actual soft dome.

I'd be interested in how you would do in a blind test to tell the difference between an MB Quart aluminum and titanium tweeter (I happen to have in hand both). I might be able to tell the difference.

Now a soft dome, to a metal, to an AMT, I'm pretty sure I can tell the difference. Maybe. I've never tried but once and I was much younger and had much less tinnitus than I do now.
 
And has been proven over and over again that many speakers sound identical to the human ear in an anechoic chamber, which many of those readings come from, which tells you exactly nothing about how they will sound in your space.

Wait, what? What?

You mean a bass reflex sounds the same as infinite baffle? Wow, that's some chamber, that anechoic chamber.
 
I tend to look for 1watt, 1meter, full space. At what frequency is it down by 3db?

Power handeling specs....min, program, peak.

Cabinet construction. What materials are used? How thick? Weight? Finish? Bracing?

Materials used in driver construction. Driver technology used.

Cut and dry. Objective.

If the above checks out as per what I am wanting, I give it some consideration.

Spec sheets are good enough.

No need for "user reviews".
Spec sheets gives no indication as how the speaker performs (epescially around the crossover) and most manufacturers don't give honest results. You eluded to sensitivity but this spec only comes into play when one has anemic amplifiers in their audio chain. Sensitivity doesn't say much at how good a speaker is.

Here's a good article about speaker measurements, whats good, whats bad..

https://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/audio-measurements
 
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Cabinets with resonance issues higher up sound worse than ones which resonant at lower frequencies. This is basic audio engineering.

These 58 year old ears happen to enjoy speakers that have some cab resonance higher up. Thick walled speakers sound dull at my listening volumes. I do appreciate being in the minority with this preference. It's easier to sell these dull sounding speakers into a market, that mostly agrees with the above statement.

Mark
 
Wait, what? What?

You mean a bass reflex sounds the same as infinite baffle? Wow, that's some chamber, that anechoic chamber.
That sound more alike than you think compared to when they are in the corner of your living room.
 
And has been proven over and over again that many speakers sound identical to the human ear in an anechoic chamber, which many of those readings come from, which tells you exactly nothing about how they will sound in your space.

The specs also won't tell you how they sound with your equipment, nor anything about how they will sound listening to your music.
They tell me more about how they sound in my space with my gear and my music than a review does.

Secondly, that info tells me things about build quality, power handling etc. which I am also interested in.
 
And has been proven over and over again that many speakers sound identical to the human ear in an anechoic chamber, which many of those readings come from, which tells you exactly nothing about how they will sound in your space.

The specs also won't tell you how they sound with your equipment, nor anything about how they will sound listening to your music.

Lets take as an example of 2 speakers, one measures flat across the audio spectrum, one measures with an upward tilt in the treble... all this measured in an anoechic chamber. Take these same speakers into a room where its considered lively and reflective. Which speaker would sound worse? The one whose response his flat or the one whose response has the tilt in the frequency?
 
Lets take as an example of 2 speakers, one measures flat across the audio spectrum, one measures with an upward tilt in the treble... all this measured in an anoechic chamber. Take these same speakers into a room where its considered lively and reflective. Which speaker would sound worse? The one whose response his flat or the one whose response has the tilt in the frequency?
For my space, what I listen to and how I listen to it, FLAT is bad.

I'll take a "tilted" response.
 
Lets give it 3 decades to be generous which brings one back to the 90s, which is still younger than vintage.

Late getting to this, but I have to disagree with this statement. Kef used computers to design the Kef 105, and I believe that was in 1977.
 
Dude, I'm an electrical engineer. I know how to read those things. The problem is that specifications for speakers aren't really useful because real music isn't a sine wave of increasing frequency and the spec sheets conceal a lot of shortcuts and bad design factors. Every speaker is rated 20 to 20k, but that doesn't mean it really is linear across that range or actually hits the targets.

Many speakers lack impedance compensation and poorly reproduce music but the frequency response chart looks sort of ok because it's been re-jiggered for that. Change the scale and all that.

Then there are the issues of cored inductors vs. air core, and electrolytics vs. film. Or bypassed film vs. unbypassed film. Not present on the chart.

Or a reversed midrange because someone didn't understand the difference between phase shift and polarity. (Yeah, who but an engineer would understand that. Ok, maybe someone with ears that worked?) Again, not present on the chart, but certainly audible.

Plus cabinet resonance.

The biggest issue is phase shifts and group delay from higher-order crossovers and poorly designed baffles. Doesn't show up on the chart, but this is audible. Higher-order crossovers have more phase shift than Elvis doing his shimmy on The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show.

None of that shows up in the printed specifications. Which is a problem. Because it makes the speakers sound bad.

Ok, it doesn't show up in the reviews either, because the reviewers are cargo cultists who probably couldn't tell any the difference between the speakers being reviewed and a pair of ear buds.


OK, so i have to choose between spec sheets and reviews, both of which are useless. I'll take spec sheets.

If you look at it your way, only having the speakers in your house for a demo will provide usefull info as to wether or not they will perform up to expectation. Totally impractical most of the time.

So I choose to stick to manufacturers I trust, look at spec sheets and hope for the best. So far, so good.
 
I’ve been thinking about this discussion.

When I first got back into vintage Audio, I used specs and reviews to help me pick some speakers for my McIntosh MAC1900. I was using it to drive a pair of Bose 8.2 Speakers I bought new in 1987. It quickly became clear to me that the Bose were limiting the sound, and that I could do better. After spending many thousands of dollars and trying many many different combinations of gear, it has become clear to me that reviews and specifications are only good at indicating potential. In the end, even hearing the gear will not tell you how they will sound in your audio space. Too many variables to take into account. So it might be impractical for some of us to try many combinations, and you can roll the dice and hope for the best, like I did back in 1987, or you can try things out in your home and have a collection of gear like many of us. Oh, by the way, different speaker/amp combinations sound different depending on the kind of music you play and the sound levels you play at.

I did go to an Audio store about 10 years ago thinking that I could improve on the sound I was getting in my htr and 7.1 speakers. In the end, it would have cost about $5000 to get better sound than I already had for $500. I haven’t looked back since.
 
So it might be impractical for some of us to try many combinations, and you can roll the dice and hope for the best, like I did back in 1987, or you can try things out in your home and have a collection of gear like many of us.

For most here, in my observation, this is a hobby. That said, just about everyone here rolls the dice from time to time and ends up with a collection of gear over time.

I have too many speakers, not enough house and I know that I am not alone.
 
Many of us are here on ak, even if we never post.

Btw, my brother and sister were just over, and spent their time teasing me about how I have so much gear, there’s no room for my wife’s stuff. When I pointed out things that were my wife’s, she pointed out that they were mostly gifts from me. I guess I had better focus on reducing the stable size.
 
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