When choosing new Speakers, what matters most to you?


When auditioning new speakers have you ever listened to a pair you thought you really liked only to realize you didn’t like them at all after seeing their measurements/specifications? And I’m not talking about speakers that would be too difficult for your electronics to drive but rather, you just didn’t like their waterfall plot, or their frequency response or some other measurement even though subjectively, you loved the way they sounded? Conversely have you ever listened to a pair of speakers you did not care for only to change your mind after seeing their specs?
 

Assuming speakers can be easily driven by your home electronics, in other words, no compatibility issues related to sensitivity or impedance, what is the single most important thing you look for when finding speakers you’ll enjoy listening to? How do you go about confirming the speakers you buy will be enjoyable to listen to in your home system?

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Nitrobob...Why PM? Juat apologize for your racist description of gear from Japan.

Fitting the speakers to the room is most important.  I had a wonderful pair of Vonschweikert VR7’s that worked beautifully in my dedicated large listening room..

When we downsized and I lost my dedicated room to the now smaller Den, the VR7’s had to go along with some large tube mono blocks..  what a shock it was having to basically start over. I went for a mid tower, Daedalus Athena V2’s, for size and their efficiency so I could use smaller lower powered amps..  Took a few years to get to this point.. very pleased now with my sound.. as good or better when sized and matched properly..  i went through a bunch of equipment and another pair of speakers before I got it right.. 

To me, I think it is very important to look for very efficient speakers.  This not only allows to drive them with less power and as a result might help to reduce the overall cost of the system.  If you drive these with amplifiers that have plenty of power this allows the sound to be transferred to the speaker with ease.  This extra power also allows for greater head room and in turn might reduce distortion.  I equate this to driving car with 200 HP and another with 400 HP at 100 mph.  The 400 HP car is going to support a speed of 100 mph with ease. If you were to insert the word resistance into the equation, a speaker with less resistance will have to work less and the less it has to work the lower the distortion.  However, the next thing one must consider is the speed by which the speakers can react to the signals it is given.  However, all of this will affect how different styles of music sound better as well.  We might think then of the speaker as a musical instrument to produce the right amount of resonance desired for the styles of music played.

I am a rookie and certainly I do not know what the rest of us knows.  I am just trying to mentally figure this out.  I also agree it is important to take into account the size of the room, along with things like the amount of hardwood floors, rugs and furniture to absorb the right amount of sound.

I kown Carbon Miller might have the correct answer to this question.