Home Theaters

Since for many, the speakers used for the home theater will also be the ones listened to for all audio programming as well.

The speaker chosen for the reproduction of music will need to be more accurate in its frequency response and distortion characteristics, as extended listening will bring on listening fatigue with the wrong speakers.

This is precisely why I criticize Bose speakers so fiercely. During the time I was actively selling home stereo and theater equipment, I was frequently contacted by people who had Bose speakers, and wanted to get rid of them. Certainly I know that people change speakers, and move on as their tastes very, and their listening gets more discriminating, but an abnormal number of people had Bose speakers to sell, more so than any other brand, by a factor of three or four to one.

After doing a lot of research, and talking to these owners, I realized that the original purchase was usually done because the speakers sounded subjectively “great” or “super” with material typically used to show the speakers off. In most of the cases, the purchase was made with music that was not familiar to the buyer, and sounded “bright”, “punchy”, and “lively”. This is nice, but what it meant was that certain areas of the frequency spectrum were exaggerated, to impress the listener. In  an otherwise ‘bright’ room, this sound could get painful.

the 901s started the name of Bose, and were very popular. They are also probably the most re-sold speaker of all time. Listening fatigue sets in rather quickly for many.

This impressive sound is normal for these speakers, but it is not natural. For those who wish to criticize me, I suggest you refer to the words of Dr. Bose from a few years back. You see, now it is not popular to describe the sound in those terms - so the brochures and sales people don’t use them. But you must remember, Dr. Bose has his patents in psycho-acoustics and how the brain interprets sound. His own words describe how the original intent of the speakers the company produces was to ‘fool the ear’ (and the mind) into thinking the sound was more complete than what was actually produced. Bose speakers are designed to have that ‘impressive’ sound, and as such do well upon casual listening in the store. But when you get them in your own room, and listen for a number of hours, your brain realizes that tricks are being played, and that above the tricks, the frequency response is not smooth, and the distortion above what should be considered acceptable.

these little cubes are great for pleasing picky wives, and work acceptably for those not so discriminating in their tastes. They are completely unacceptable for anyone who listens to music at realistic levels, as the distortion is unacceptably high - it’s simple physics.

Another facet of the choice is the determination of how loud the listener will have the speakers. As even the casual user should know, speakers that are not being stressed at the upper edges of their output are cleaner, and less distorted.  This is precisely why people who listen to full symphonic music, at the levels found at symphony hall will be so sorely disappointed with mini-speakers, of any brand. Loudness is a function of the amount of air moved, and small speakers, no matter how well made will not play as loudly as their larger brethren.

Still another factor is the type of music listened to most often, and what part of the music is most important to the listener. A listener that values accurate bass response will be wanting speakers with large woofer area - not the same as large woofers. More air can be moved with larger woofers, but the correct amount of air, and when then air stops moving, is more easily done with multiples of smaller woofers. A listener that wants the cleanest, most natural midrange will usually gravitate to a planar speaker, as these reproduce very detailed midrange, and usually detailed highs as well - but will suffer ‘beaming’ of the high frequencies due to the physical size of the driver needed for the midrange output.

These are the Apogee Divas, a ribbon planar design. The speakers were very dynamic, but needed very, very powerful amplifiers to sound right. Using most amplifiers would either cause destruction of the amplifier, the speakers, or both. This is not a good thing when talking about speakers costing thousands of dollars.

As wonderful as the mid and high ranges are in a planar speaker, and this includes electrostatic designs, the problem is that as the loudness of sound increases, the ability to remain dynamic is reduced. This means that those things that should ’snap’, or be punchy, aren’t.

Martin Logan speakers use an electrostatic design, with a woofer to add punch to the sound - these designs are carefully designed, and succeed admirably at reproducing quality sound, without the drawbacks of many planar speakers.

Dynamics is the domain of cone speakers. They are easier to make, and usually cost less because of it. Cone speakers cannot reproduce as wide a frequency range acceptably as other designs, so the speakers are used with others, like a larger one for bass and midrange, and a much smaller on for the upper midrange and highs. The speakers are tied together by crossover networks, and they bring a whole list of problems of their own.

Some of the most expensive speakers made are cone type, as the difficulties in making them sound neutral, while retaining the proper dynamics, is very hard. The speakers sometimes use 4 or more drivers, and the crossovers are a nightmare to tune. This tuning takes time to get right, and that is what you pay for, along with the quality of drivers found nowhere else.

This is the Duntech Sovereign. It uses Dynaudio cone drivers. These are some of the best, most accurate cone speakers you can find. Dynaudio no longer sells their drivers separately, but when they were sold, they were extremely expensive. The speakers were / are the finest of the cone variety. The woofers used in the Sovereign, of which there are two, would cost about $300 each. Each separate speaker driver is an engineering marvel.

Good luck in your search for the perfect speakers for you, and feel free to ask questions.

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