Speaker revealingness

[Prashell]

So a question to any knowledgeable folk or speaker designers if any post here.

What part of the speaker design is responsible for making a speaker critically revealing? I’ve owned a few speakers that I thought were critical of recordings but in so many different ways, I’ve had speakers that make poor recordings sound bright, edgy, sharp and just really fatiguing to listen to, then I’ve owned speakers that will highlight the short comings in the recording yet still make it more musical and enjoyable than on a cheap set of speakers, you can hear the sound is compressed or soundstage height or width is lacking or there’s sibilance, yet it still sounds very listenable and enjoyable compared to other revealing speakers. I don't know.

The above sounds like a jumbled mess, but it's difficult for me to articulate this into words really. I don't know if any of these terms are even meaningful, but it's the only words I can use to describe what I mean.

Anyone with a deeper knowledge that can explain to a layman what is going on here?

 

[Prashell]

Anyone?

 

[Mechnutt]

I don't design speakers but every part of the speaker is important. The capacitors and resistors used in the crossovers along with other parts used in the crossovers, drivers, cabinet material and design, etc. Maybe others will chime in.

You might want to post your question to Jim Salk who builds beautiful speakers. He is on the Audio Circles forum

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?board=82

 

[audio.bill]

What you're describing as 'critically revealing' could be attributed to the transparency of a speaker or any other system component. Such a level of transparency should reveal the full detail and subtleties in a given recording, including a sense of space around individual instruments as well as the acoustics of the recording venue itself. Some believe it is most often accomplished by components and a system with a minimalist design philosophy, having the simplest and most direct signal path with the fewest devices required so as to pass the original signal as purely as possible. We have to keep in mind that when listening to a speaker with attributes like you described you are not listening to the speaker alone, but rather the entire system in which each component and connection can have a significant contribution to what you are hearing.

Like with most things in high end audio there is usually more than one way to achieve a goal, so there are others that find a well designed component with proper engineering execution can often be much more complex to achieve the desired level of transparency and refinement. When a system makes many recordings sound bright and fatiguing it is often the fault of some gear causing that coloration and can actually be from a lack of transparency and purity. Likewise if a given speaker or complete system makes everything sound overly warm and smooth with a consistent masking of inner detail, that can be caused by inherent tendencies in the gear which are imparting themselves over the original signal.

It often comes down to personal preferences and what a given listener finds most enjoyable. A particular extremely detailed and revealing system may be captivating and the holy grail to one listener while someone else finds it irritating and harsh to listen to for an extended period. Similarly a very warm and smooth sounding system which may be one person's destination can be perceived as being somewhat veiled and too dark by another. We all hear differently and react to music in unique ways, which may be the cause for such widely varying system preferences. The good news is that we have a wide variety of fine gear to choose from so that we can each assemble and optimize a system to best meet our individual objectives and subjective qualities.

 

[CPP]

Got to agree with Mech, so many components of the speaker itself contribute to how a speaker performs. From the build of the cabinet to include design, materials and bracing, port location, the drivers used, the type of crossover be it a 1st order 2nd 3rd etc..the electronics that tailor the freq response of each driver, Its a total package.

 

[Al M.]

It often comes down to personal preferences and what a given listener finds most enjoyable. A particular extremely detailed and revealing system may be captivating and the holy grail to one listener while someone else finds it irritating and harsh to listen to for an extended period. Similarly a very warm and smooth sounding system which may be one person's destination can be perceived as being somewhat veiled and too dark by another. We all hear differently and react to music in unique ways, which may be the cause for such widely varying system preferences. The good news is that we have a wide variety of fine gear to choose from so that we can each assemble and optimize a system to best meet our individual objectives and subjective qualities.

That is so true!

I loove my system, but I can imagine some people not liking it at all. An audiophile friend of mine actually said that he admired my system, but that he could never live with it. He prefers a much more mellow experience when listening to music, my system is too much "espresso" for him.

But that's exactly what I like when listening to music, the sheer visceral excitement, next to great resolution of all musical subtleties. I do not want to relax with music, I want to be stimulated by it.

This hobby is *extremely* personal.