How do you pick your speaker?

mantis · January 2003

Do you go out and demo your face off untill that magic moment happens?

Do you read reviews and find the best one for your money?

Listen to a salesman telling you these speakers are for you?

Listen to your friend telling you these speakes are for you?

So how do you buy speakers?Is there a better way?What way do you go?How do you deside which one is right,better????

Gary Robertson · January 2003

What i do is pretend that there is no such thing as a brand name.Then i go to a place where there only high end stuff
(i mean , how can you determine which speaker to get if you have to judge froma cheap amp and a cheal lil' one bit cd player)i ask the salesmanto assist me in placing the speakers to "MY" liking ie. on axis then off axis etc. and i listen very critically, find the hot spot and check for proper imaging and soundstaging and a good midrange, thel i go over and feel the sides of the units to see if i feel vibration-if you can feel vibration on the cabinet then the speaker is coloring the sound..then i just use my ears --some speakers i really like and others i don't but you'd be surprised to find out howw great some the more affordable speakers sound when placed next to the 10,000 dollar ones.And that my friend is exactly how i ended up with the polk RT-7's with a velodyne 12/15 subwoofer..:-) they sounded way,way, way much better than some of the Boutique brands and also at a fraction of the price..:-

TrappedUnder Ice · January 2003

I take a piece of paper...put all the "good brands" on it.. Ie Polk, paradigm, B$K etc.... then i put it in the bird cage... where ever the **** lands first...thats what i buy. My bird has not steered me wrong yet

scottvamp · January 2003

I do research on the internet. If I had hi-fi shops all over I would own one or at least work there.

TroyD · January 2003

For the most part, I'm not a big believer in a zero sum game. Meaning, if one speaker sounds good to me, than others must be inferior or that there is only 'one' pair of right speakers for me. I've got a pretty diverse selection of speakers, that said if I find a good deal on a pair of speaks, if I have the coin, I'll bag them. If I end up not caring for them, I'll pass them on or stick 'em in the closet.

BDT

MxStYlEpOlKmAn · January 2003

Originally posted by scottvamp
I do research on the internet.

^^^

mantis · January 2003

Here's how I do it.
I grap a couple of cd's a know really well.Then head out.I go to all the A/V shops within the tristate area.I write down the models I like.Then after my rounds are done I pick a hit list.Usually ends up being 3 to 5 different speaker brands.
My last shootout was a hard one.Still I'm not always 100% sure I did the right thing.I love my Lsi15's.......I wonder sometimes if I would have gone with Dynaudio instead.
Image, soundstage, Depth, Clarity, THE MOVE FACTOR, then Built quality, price is always a big one, and finally the gut feeling.
I find it extremely hard to pick speakers.Electronics are hard but speakers seem to me to be the hardest.

goingganzo · January 2003

find the price range i want to spen. then i go emo the speakers in my buget. i was eater going to get the 800i or 100i i went with the 800 caues i dident think they add enouth bass for the extra 200. and i liked the 800 beter. my rears were different sit i got the 300i caues i neded a wall mounted suround. but they were not enough for me so i took them back for the 500i. i also started my upgrade in the rear not the mains. and the center was last and i got that caues everone raves about it. 400i.

SPEAKER7 · January 2003

M,

1) reviews
2) price
3) recommedations from audio boards/friends (that's why I'm presently saving up for the Rotels)
4) sales associates

What's more important for a two channel music system (speakers)? mid range or bass?

dc.

faster100 · January 2003

First off, once i get "into" a brand speaker like polk, infinity or what not i stick with them for matching reasons and looks last but also is important to me, I then decide how much i can spend, then i listen to them.. have never did detailed listening as the stores like Circuit city don't really have ideal setups and placement.. so i listen best i can and if i like the ones above my price range i either just save and get them later or get the best sounding lesser speaker until i can upgrade. i really can't afford the real high end speakers from companies like B &K and higher dollar ones so for now i will stick with polks.. I had my last setup consisting of all infinity's for 6 years i guess, and one day decided it was time for a change, receiver went first, then front mains... and then the rest of the HT setup.. for me money constrains me from venturing to HI-FI shops as i do have one local that i am semi- comfortable with but i just can get their stuff as of now..

gidrah · January 2003

I haven't actually "shopped" for new speakers in quite a long time. Sure I bounce around and hear as many as I can, but not with a purchase in mind. There have been too many speakers made in the last 50 years to limit myself to what's current, and besides used is so much cheaper.

If I find some that have a good midrange and hi, are revealing and have a sense of realism to the sound, I check the price, and make & model. From there, with a little investigation I can usually find something with similar characteristics that's used or last years' model.

New speakers that I like are usually out of my price range or I don't have the room for them. Most often, both.

mfalesch · January 2003

Dumb question for anyone: on the Polk site they only show a couple of Polk subs as "compatible" with the SDA-2's. What are the determining factors on sub compatibility with SDA-2's? I didn't think the imaging/interconnect cable made a difference due to omnidirectionality of low freq's - or am I missing something very basic and fundamental here?

Any reason a M&K or Velo - or other sub wouldn't be compatible with SDA-2's??

wlrandall · January 2003

"Do you go out and demo your face off untill that magic moment happens?"

Yes, but then I still sleep on it for several nights and then go do it again with fewer choices (weed out the obvious).

"Do you read reviews and find the best one for your money?"

Only as a guide to what's on the market and what it costs. Reviews are nothing but subjective opinions. Opinions are like...you know the rest.

"Listen to a salesman telling you these speakers are for you?"

No way. Only I know what I like the sound of. I still have nightmares from a demo I did at Highland years ago. Fat, stinky know-it-all-used-car-salesman type. Kept switching back and forth every five seconds while chanting "VEGA, INFINITY, VEGA, INFINITY" OVER AND OVER AGAIN!!! Had to leave and go back when he wasn't there.

"Listen to your friend telling you these speakes are for you?"

I'll listen to a friends speakers but I don't listen when a friend speaks. Not about this stuff, that is.

Wally

Systems · January 2003

Looking back on it, I can see that a person might look at my way of picking speakers & assume that I picked them based on whatever medication regimen I was on at the time. However, it was ignorance & impatience, not insanity.

Having learned the hard way, I'd say that you should first rule out/in a large number of speakers by taking into account the kind of system (this usually means 2-ch or HT) you'll use them in, size of listening area, amplification, whether or not you'll use a sub, any upgrades in the works, placement issues (do you have room for a rear-ported spkr, do you want floorstanders, etc), budget, what brands are available locally from dealers you like (if you prefer to buy locally), & any other criteria you can think of. A large number of very nice speakers that you would be wasting your money on can then be ruled out. For example: you may want a very good bookshelf for your front L/R because 2-ch music is your main interest & you have to have a bookshelf, but you still want an HT setup, & the matching ctr for a certain brand or line is the size of Alaska. Will that work for you?

After narrowing it down by resolving the non-sound issues, then listen and research and ask around and pick the best you can afford. Then enjoy. Don't forget the enjoyment part. Theoretically, that's why you're buying them, altho it's easy to immediately start wondering about what other possibilities you overlooked or new stuff that comes out right after you bought.

abmarsh · January 2003

1. Establish a price range
2. Research professional reviews and owners reviews
3. Identify a few target models
4. Do a whole bunch of listening
5. Repeat steps 1 - 4, if necessary
6. When I'm ready to buy, if I liked the dealer, I'll try to negotiate a price that comes somewhere close to the mail-order price. If I can't, I'll mail-order.

Tour2ma · January 2003

I agree with you Mantis, speaker selection is the most difficult decision of all the links in the home stereo chain. Its been a long time since I went through this grind, because I became a SRS lover through and through, but this is what I learned to do.

First, do some research. Talk to folks. Collect and read specs, reviews, articles on speaker design, even theory, if youre into that kind of thing. Compare them. For me I looked primarily at frequency response curves and sensitivity, but dont over do this.

Second, put time into auditioning different models at friends' and dealers. This was how I narrowed the field. However, acoustic memory is the shortest lived of all the senses. One of the reasons going store-to-store, or house-to-house, isn't the end of the road (others include dissimilar equipment and acoustics).

The above readies you for A-B test listening. For me the absolute key to test listening is always taking along a full spectrum sampling your own music; stuff you know well. Next, be sure the comparison is at equal volumes. At the same amp output, the more sensitive speaker will almost always sound better because its louder. And louder will almost always sound richer, fuller, better. If a dealer does not have pots in his A/B set up, or another means of equalizing the volumes instantaneously, go find one that does.

Lastly "live" with your choice a while. If that means camping out at CC or the Home Theatre Store, so be it. Just because a speaker wows you during a fifteen-minute run through of the three demo pieces you brought, it doesn't mean you'll be comfortable with them after two hours or so. Some speaker's wow-factor is fatiguing after a while. Quality dealers let you do this at home, which is even better. Even places that do not have this kind of program will loan them for your credit card imprint, if you look like you're ready to buy, but will walk if you don't get to audition them at home.

Several years ago, a buddy of mine talked two separate stores into doing this simultaneously. He was up front with both and told them the "loser" would be returned. One pair were Polk towers I suggested he audition (I forget which), and the others were Definitive Technologies. Guess which he still has today.

That said, when choosing the surrounds I just won on e-bay, I asked Russ

mantis · January 2003

tour2ma,
sonic memory seems to be a reocurring topic underneath.I don't seem to have a problem with this.It could be that I don't demo for 15 mins and walk away,unless the speakers sound horrible right out of the shoot.
Before I bought my Lsi 15's,I demo'd them like crazy.I even listened to an entire cd in the store.The owner thought there was something wrong with me,as well as the rest of the salesman.I sat there from 10am in the morning untill 1 or 2 in the afternoon.
Yes speakers are so hard to buy.I'd love to demo all kinds of brands side by side.Dynaudio and Lsi's are my 2 favorite speakers on the market under 2500.00.Theil comes in a strong 3rd.

joe logston · January 2003

im the same way as mantis i like to demo for a long time and try to move the speakers around if the saleman dont get to pissed
i try to imagene how they would sound in my system, and i bring my own cds.
i try to get the best sound for the money, you can pay to much and have less.

Tour2ma · January 2003

Mantis,
Just the facts Ma'am..
Acoustic the shortest... Smell the longest...
(you see my B&K reply?)

cscsDanny · January 2003

My story epitomizes dumb luck. Nothing about my Polk speaker HT can be described as a calculated decision. About 3 month ago I had sony pro logic receiver and a 3 cube array from bose. Everything was analog and old. It served my pupose, after all I was your basic ignorant self-thought audiofile because what could be better than bose?

Well, I found out real quick when my buddy the owner of the rt55i's decided he needed to sell them quick for some cash. Not knowing what to expect and really not needing them I helped him out and came home with the two rt551's in flawless condition and a center cs175 to boot for $260.

LOL, you all would kick me in the arse for saying this, but I thought that there was no way in heck that these "big polk" speakers would out perform my bose array. I actually placed the rt's as rear surrounds first. Demoed lotr ee dvd and really wasn't excited.

Ok, so I felt compelled to hear the polks in a frontstage setup. I connected the center then connected the rts as my fronts then placed two bose and their sub as my rears.

That was a magical momment, I about dropped a dirty egg on my living room burbor when I heard the opening score in the lotree startup menu. WAS I HOOKED!!

Then I made the mistake of hitting that "test tone" button on that old sony receiver. Thats what started it, the center, although great and the best center I have ever known, didnt match the timber of the rt55i's, neither did the bose array.

I picked my current setup based soley on two things.

A. They were there at circuit city, available tangible and heavily discounted.
B. The rt1000i models I bought were more speaker than I ever thought I could afford and they were black oak to boot matching my rt55i's. Also, cs400i for 108$, thats a no brainer

Tour2ma · January 2003

Originally posted by cscsDanny
I about dropped a dirty egg on my living room burbor

some kind of Cajun recipe?

and while we're at it... "burbor"?

mantis · January 2003

Originally posted by Tour2ma
Mantis,
Just the facts Ma'am..
Acoustic the shortest... Smell the longest...
(you see my B&K reply?)

No I didn't see it.Where is it?I will have to get my search on and read.

Shizelbs · January 2003

Here is what I have done, but I don't know much of anything yet. I take my time. Try to get all expectations out of my head. Know how much you are willing to spend. Make sure to bring CD's you know really well. Make sure to bring some modern jazz or classical. I think those two are a better test of a speaker's ability than others. However, make sure you also bring stuff that you will be listening to normally. Anyways, thats what I do.

TroyD · January 2003

sonic memory seems to be a reocurring topic underneath.I don't seem to have a problem with this.It could be that I don't demo for 15 mins and walk away,unless the speakers sound horrible right out of the shoot

Plain fact is that acoustic memory is the shortest and least reliable of all the senses. That's the scientific fact, if I remember correctly about 15 mins is it. That's science not voodoo.

BDT

mantis · January 2003

Fact or not,
I can remember how things sound from years ago.The sound of my car's mufflers,my mom's voice calling me in for dinner.Friends of long ago.The way my first stereo sounded.Music.This topic I don't get.I can listen to a speaker and remember exactly what I heard.There are certian tones.Just like playing the guitar.I can hum E B G D A E and tune a guitar.I believe thats acoustic memeory,or an I off base here?

wallstreet · January 2003

I've always wanted a sound system that played louder than I would ever want it to without distortion. I demo'd speakers at higher end audio places (there's less traffic especially during a weeknight). Pick the one that sounds the best in my price range. Back then it was just good ole 2 ch stereo everyone was after. Fortunately I picked Polk who has jumped wholeheatedly into the home theatre arena.

How do you pick your speaker?

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