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Music Lovers Speaker vs. Audiophile Speaker

In my quest for a new set of speakers to replace the Paradigm 5se I've had for 25+ years I've come across a couple of terms I'd like clarified: the musical speaker and the audiophile speaker.

What's the difference? 

I can think of two analogies, both of which may be way off mark.

One is the "mp3" analogy. mp3's dumb down the music, but capture what a music lover may consider to be the important stuff. The audiophile version is the CD.

So in this case, the musical speaker doesn't perform as well as the audiophile speaker, but it is at the right price point or has other features (particularly finish) that the listener desires.

The other analogy is the "radio station" analogy. The station doesn't dumb down the music, but it does intentionally change the sound to suit the audience. Classic rock is bass heavy, and dynamic range may be compressed to raise the overall level. An easy-listening station will have a lighter sound with different frequencies emphasized.

Comments ...
128x128jimspov
erik_squires
15,643 posts
 
My music loving friends love my speakers, and like listening to everything.  My audiophile friends do not. The difference I think is that audiophile speakers have trends, and fads, like wine. Looking at what gets the best reviews is often not a neutral speaker, but one with particular frequency tweaks here and there. 

In a perfect world this discrepancy would not exist, but "high end" loudspeakers have become lifestyle emblems that need to serve more than just music.  That's fine, but do I see and hear a distinct difference between what the audiophile crowd swoons over and what I do? Absolutely. 
analogluvr
859 posts
 
213runnin that's tannoys for you, they sound great with all types of music!!  That's my rule of thumb, we've all had speakers that have us playing the "audiophile tracks" all the time as they can't rock out.  A musical speaker will make all genres sound like music. 
Tannoys got me off the merry go round. As someone else mentioned earlier, now I go to shows and listen to the latest megabuck stuff they're trying to say is the best thing since sliced bread, but I can't wait to go listen to my tannoys and 845 SET. 

rbrowne
175 posts
 
213runnin: I'm curious as to what the $600 small bookshelf speakers are you refer to in your post above? TIA
ebm
9,311 posts
 
In many cases you can make a Audiophile speaker into a music lovers speaker with the great preamp,amp and cables.
czarivey
5,666 posts
 
ebm3,298 posts06-15-2016 1:26pmIn many cases you can make a Audiophile speaker into a music lovers speaker with the great preamp,amp and cables.
It's far more simpler. Bring into room with audiophile speakers music lover and voila, the audiophile speaker will become music lover speaker.

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