Blog
Speakers: Part 2 of 2
A Buying Guide
In Part 1 we took a look at the technology of speakers. Now here's some tips for when you head out to buy.
Ideally, you'll be able to listen to whatever speakers you're considering. Sadly, this is getting harder and harder to do. Even worse, they're going to sound quite different in your home than they do in the store.
There are a few things you can keep in mind though. For one, physics is a bitch. Tiny little speakers are just not going to sound as good as larger speakers. Single driver speakers are never going to sound as good as those with a separate tweeter. That's not to say that small single driver speakers have to sound bad. The Orb speakers, as one example, sound really good and they make do with just one size driver and a kickass sub.
"Sub/Sat" systems, short for subwoofer/satellite, dominate the market under $1,000. These are small satellite speakers with a subwoofer. Often these are ok, but there's going to be an audible gap between how low the satellites can go and how high you can reasonably set the sub (usually no more than 80-100 Hz). In better systems like the Orb, this gap is small. In other systems, you could drive a truck through it. What's in this potentially missing range? How about the lower end of the male voice, a cello, a bass, many percussion instruments, and so on.
There's no rule as to which materials work and which don't. I've heard metal tweeters that sound amazing, and I've heard soft dome tweeters that sound horrible (and vice versa). I'm a big fan of ring-radiator tweeters, but these done poorly could sound bad as well. In the end, judge each speaker on its own merits.
There are other types of speakers you may find. Like electrostatic, horn tweeters, ribbon, and so on. Each of these have a different way of compressing and rarefying the air, but in the end do the same thing (perhaps better or worse) than a good old tweeter and woofer.
If asked my opinion, I would recommend an inexpensive bookshelf-sized pair of speakers and a decent sub. This will almost always result in better sound than a sub/sat system of a similar price. While it's true you don't get surround sound, the sound you do get will be significantly better. Then, down the road, you can upgrade to surround speakers and a center channel.
The key, though, is to trust your own ear. You will be able to hear a difference between different speakers, and don't listen to the salesman, your friends, or anyone else as to what is good. What sounds good to you is what sounds good to you. Seems obvious right? In my years selling audio I was constantly amazed how people didn't trust their own ears.
Reasonably priced speaker brands that I've always had good luck with to check out: Polk, Definitive Technology, Infinity, Boston Acoustics, PSB, Klipsch. These are just a few of what's out there.
Comments
So . . . don't trust the dude in the parking lot who jumps out of an unmarked van asking if you want to buy speakers?
You know, it's funny. Back in the day one of the magazines I worked for tested some White Van speakers as part of a whole article. Amazingly, they measured better than some real speakers we had in that issue.
This is more of a statement against those other speakers than an endorsement of White Van speakers.
White Van speakers are all cheaply built crap, and are in no way "$1000" speakers or whatever nonsense their salesmen (and have no doubt, that's exactly what they are) spew. It's a well organized business, with fleets of trucks and a script for their shady barkers to bay.
That said, are they worse than any other $100 or so speakers? Maybe, maybe not. If you don't spend much more than that, you're likely getting pretty similar product as the no-name cheap speakers from a real store.
Can you find better sounding speakers? Absolutely. Are they a good value? Likely not. They're cheap and will certainly sound like crap. But if you're just looking for cheap...