Have you ever wondered which qualities and parameters you should check when searching for and buying the right home audio loudspeakers? I spent the whole 2010 doing research for finding the best possible speakers in the market that matched my budget; I eventually found the best pair of speakers (not to mention I also ended up buying four set of different speaker brands, testing them with my system at our home, and returning them!). In the meantime, I developed a list and a structure of parameters and factors to help me in my selection. Here is the list:
- Sound quality (Acoustic characteristics)
- Bass (deep, punchy, fast, accurate, extension, control)
- Well control and extremely accurate lead to a perception of deeper bass than there might actually be)
- Midrange (space and detail: e.g. vocal, piano sound)
- Tweeter (High end, hights): crystal clear, detail, smooth, polished, off axis performance (e.g. where frequency response does not drop off nearly as rapidly as with other bookshelf models).
- Imaging (precise), Spatial (spaciousness), holographic
- Soundstaging (uncompressed, three dimensionality)
- Timbral accuracy (good, bad, etc.) (e.g. piano sounding real)
- Details
- Clear & transparent
- Disappear in the room
- Dynamic: play loud without distortion, loosing
- revealing of recording material quality/character
- Tonal balance: (Neutral, not warm but also not cool, sounds like the frequency response from top to bottom is quite linear)
- Tonal integration (mids and tops transition unnoticeable)
- Minimum coloration: honest sound, realistic reproduction from the sonic & music point of view, boxy coloration
- Engaging (long listening)
- Bass (deep, punchy, fast, accurate, extension, control)
- Placement sensitive
- System demanding
- Design and finish
- Build quality
- Features
- Expansion possibility (for developing into a home theater system)
- Price (value for money)
Write a comment and say what you think about this list, does it lack any parameter / factor, should it be modified in any way, etc.
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