Why are speakers rarely satisfactory?


The vast majority of audiophiles spend decades or even their entire life searching for speakers that sound right. All of us on this forum are searching for that perfect sound. You would think that out of all the different speakers out there, there would be one that meets a persons requirements. So why are most audiophiles rarely satisfied?
There are literally hundreds of speakers on the market. Surely one of those would very closely match the preferred frequency response being sought, so what is going on here?
kenjit

Showing 1 response by fraterperdurabo

Because your room is garbage.  OK, not literally, but it imposes its character on whatever speakers you use, no matter how good.

Dipoles are less vulnerable to this, owing to the figure 8 radiation pattern, especially in the bass.

Having an acoustician design your listening room, or at least add room treatments to your existing room, is likely the best upgrade you can make to your system, with one exception.

Digital room correction is a godsend.  I use the open-source MathAudioRoomEQ because it's free and easy to set up.  Having used it, I would rather quit listening to music through speakers than go w/o it.  There are, of course, better methods.

Failing that, give up on speakers and use headphones.