What speaker test do you find most relevant? (tone burst, square wave, etc)
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TimF
Super Member
Honestly, none of the "tests", just music itself is enough for me, it just gets right to the heart of things. Back in the day it seems like there were all kinds of various tests, or things that one would read about in order to evaluate a speaker. In the end, we all have our own method to the madness, and what suits each one is just fine!
Sgt Shultz
Addicted Member
Time alignment of drivers, waterfall decay plot say a good bit about a speaker.
Yes, but an article with some testing can give insight into a product that you can't hear yet, since the dealers don't have them, in many cases, back in the day.
Of course, it's how something sounds to the individual! Ears and rooms are the 2 biggest variables with home sound systems.
Of course, it's how something sounds to the individual! Ears and rooms are the 2 biggest variables with home sound systems.
flavio81
Turntable technician
Great thread!!
I read distortion graphs (distortion versus SPL, individual harmonics plotted). Even better if it's at a loud level like 96dB or 100dB.
Also, waterfall plots (cumulative spectral decay), it tells one so much about how clean is the actual output...
Finally, horizontal and vertical frequency response at different angles. Vertical response is seldom tested and it's important too. I don't care too much if the response is not ruler flat, however it should be similar with regards to angle.
I also like checking the freq response of the individual drivers. For example, if it's a 2-way and the crossover freq is 2KHz, i'd take a look at the woofer response to see if it's near breakup at 2KHz or if it's far from the breakup region, same for the tweeter.
From all the tests the one that would be the most relevant for me is perhaps the cumulative spectral decay.
etc
I read distortion graphs (distortion versus SPL, individual harmonics plotted). Even better if it's at a loud level like 96dB or 100dB.
Also, waterfall plots (cumulative spectral decay), it tells one so much about how clean is the actual output...
Finally, horizontal and vertical frequency response at different angles. Vertical response is seldom tested and it's important too. I don't care too much if the response is not ruler flat, however it should be similar with regards to angle.
I also like checking the freq response of the individual drivers. For example, if it's a 2-way and the crossover freq is 2KHz, i'd take a look at the woofer response to see if it's near breakup at 2KHz or if it's far from the breakup region, same for the tweeter.
From all the tests the one that would be the most relevant for me is perhaps the cumulative spectral decay.
etc
Not many test results mean much to me, too many variables in trying relate sound to measurements. Impedance on the other hand is good to know, very important on whether a given speaker may or not be appropriate for your system, regardless of sound quality.
I find that testing doesn't oftentimes tell me what I LIKE about a speaker.
OTOH, MANY times, testing can tell me about what I DON'T like.
I find that, in a decent number of cases, that things I don't like, tend to correlate with measure-able errors- for example, harshness can be either basic frequency response (peaky response) or bad waterfall plot behavior (ringing or breakup modes, and such, can oftentimes be seen in the waterfall plot). Bad imaging can oftentimes be laid at the feet of bad time or phase response. Small sweet spot will oftentimes correlate with drastic differences between on- and off-axis response, vs. frequency.
I guess that comes from building speakers myself- having to diagnose designs-in-progress to make them better. That said- there's quite a lot of things that can "fool" you. I've had cases where I swore there was a frequency response or ringing error in one range- when it turned out to be another problem in another range. For example- what may seem to be frequency response peaks, may just be a dip in an adjacent frequency range, which causes a perceived exaggeration of the (otherwise flat) response in the ranges next to it. You have to have an open mind when listening to and measuring things- problems can readily masquerade as one another...
Regards,
Gordon.
OTOH, MANY times, testing can tell me about what I DON'T like.
I find that, in a decent number of cases, that things I don't like, tend to correlate with measure-able errors- for example, harshness can be either basic frequency response (peaky response) or bad waterfall plot behavior (ringing or breakup modes, and such, can oftentimes be seen in the waterfall plot). Bad imaging can oftentimes be laid at the feet of bad time or phase response. Small sweet spot will oftentimes correlate with drastic differences between on- and off-axis response, vs. frequency.
I guess that comes from building speakers myself- having to diagnose designs-in-progress to make them better. That said- there's quite a lot of things that can "fool" you. I've had cases where I swore there was a frequency response or ringing error in one range- when it turned out to be another problem in another range. For example- what may seem to be frequency response peaks, may just be a dip in an adjacent frequency range, which causes a perceived exaggeration of the (otherwise flat) response in the ranges next to it. You have to have an open mind when listening to and measuring things- problems can readily masquerade as one another...
Regards,
Gordon.
I check for build quality first. If it passes the knuckle rap test and I'm interested I leave no stone unturned in my research.
TimF
Super Member
I recall being at a hifi shop quite a few years ago, when a lot of these types of speaker "testing", or "how to judge a speaker" was popular in magazines etc. I was getting ready to listen to some speakers, and another gentleman came in while I was listening to a particular pair. This guy came in and sat down next to me, and he was doing all kinds of things, cupping his ears with his hands, moving his head from side to side, up and down, and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, the guy goes and lays down on the floor in between the speakers, then rolled back out almost in front of me! I nor the shop assistant knew what to say or do. Finally the assistant asked him what this was all about, and the guy said "I am testing the speakers to see what they sound like". I almost burst out in laughter, but managed to hold it back. It was quite funny to witness, yet knowing that there were quite a lot of funny things recommended in the HiFi rags at the time. Crazy days, but whatever floats the boat is okay by me. 
tubelectron
Super Member
Yes. That's what I would do first to "see" why a speaker sounds pleasant or unpleasant to my ears.
When I had my Audio Measurement Rig operational, I used much MLS signals also.
T
Sgt Shultz
Addicted Member
My favorite speakers feel akin to hitting a cinder block, the reviewer said the same, and included all he got from the test was sore knuckles.
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In my defense, I had been binge watching Monty Python prior to my stereo shop visit.
I recall being at a hifi shop quite a few years ago, when a lot of these types of speaker "testing", or "how to judge a speaker" was popular in magazines etc. I was getting ready to listen to some speakers, and another gentleman came in while I was listening to a particular pair. This guy came in and sat down next to me, and he was doing all kinds of things, cupping his ears with his hands, moving his head from side to side, up and down, and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, the guy goes and lays down on the floor in between the speakers, then rolled back out almost in front of me! I nor the shop assistant knew what to say or do. Finally the assistant asked him what this was all about, and the guy said "I am testing the speakers to see what they sound like". I almost burst out in laughter, but managed to hold it back. It was quite funny to witness, yet knowing that there were quite a lot of funny things recommended in the HiFi rags at the time. Crazy days, but whatever floats the boat is okay by me.
I have actually diagnosed a speaker with a production error that way- by listening to it at different angles.
Had one audio show- we couldn't get the speakers to sound alike, or to get a stable image.
We first thought we had room issues- tried moving the speakers around, trying them with and without spikes, and such No luck there. In fact, the speakers actually sounded BETTER when they were asymmetric in the room.
I finally started to wonder if something was out of phase in one of them. Not the woofers, because the bass was strong and even pretty much everywhere- but maybe one of the mids or tweeters.
It wasn't until I walked right up to them, bent down and listened to them at the height of the tweeter, then squatted down to where I was next to the floor- and finally, stood up to where I was directly overhead of the front of the speaker, that I got an inkling what was wrong. One of them had strong midrange out the FRONT, and the other had WEAK midrange in the front- but STRONG, in the UPWARD direction.
I mentioned that it appeared that one of the speakers seemed to have lobing behavior (the zones/directions where sounds are the loudest, are also known as lobes in the dispersion curve), different than the other- and would it be worth checking to make sure driver polarity was correct?
After a bit of checking by others- we collectively decided to pull out the mids on the speaker with the weird lobing. Found that one of the two mids WAS out of polarity with the other!
Once that was corrected- the speakers did indeed sound identical to each other!!
Regards,
Gordon.
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