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Which is better, a fussy speaker or a versatile one?

When rating speakers into the high and ultra-high-end (or ultra expensive?) what do you think makes a speaker better?

Take two speaker models, for about $400,000 a pair, and 800 lbs.  One requires an excellent room, super quiet amps while the other sounds great in a number of different acoustic environments and can be powered by modest amplification, and speaker cables don't seem to matter.

Which is truly the better speaker, and which would you rather live with?

erik_squires
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
13,745 posts
 

the room is always some fraction of the equation , i like 11 bands of analog EQ below 120 hz to address issues…. just my cup of tea.

czarivey
5,946 posts
 

Autos like Ferrari, Lambor, Bugatti and the rest of Italian junk are designed to ride VERY SHORT distance before they develop MAJOR ISSUES or just stay garaged and climate controlled with owner wiping and polishing it from time to time. These are toys pretty much.

I prefer tools like Dodge Ram 3500 or MB Sprinter an office-van version (currently own after selling Ram 3500 with large camper-trailer). Same point of view on speakers and other components pretty-much.

 

jl35
4,470 posts
 

if I'm buying a $400,00 speaker those issues become irrelevant, as I could spend and do whatever made then sound their best...in my real world, I usually avoid fussy...

tony1954's avatar
tony1954
1,320 posts
 

Let me see.

Either I have a speaker that will be a pain in the butt to get the sound right or a speaker that is easy to get the sound right?

This will require further analysis. I will get back to you in January.

bjesien
1,436 posts
 

The versatile product typically gets boring because the performance is not quite up to the ability of the fussy (assuming the fussy can be better under x circumstance). 

This is where the audiophile tests both speakers, and may lose tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars drawing hypothesis and seesawing back and forth between the two, or many other similar products.

This happens until he gets "wise" and gets "off the merry-go-round" and sees the light in a product that is both versatile and has the same performance as the fussy. Beware, this is an illusion.

Sooner of later the audiophile realizes that something must have happened to his electricity or the transformers on the street during the evening are now the same as they are during the day. 

This is the tipping point and he is almost guaranteed to err to the fussy again until the cycle continues for a few more years, hundreds of thousands, dealers that need to medicated, and lost wives. The good news is that he will eventually find bliss somewhere some how. 

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