Of course you will be looking to buy the best speakers you can afford with your budget, but the search can get exhausting, especially going from shop to shop without knowing exactly what you are looking for. If you want to find a good product, within your budget, you have to come up with a plan even before you leave the house.
Steps
Step 1. Consider the indicated power of the speakers as a mere statistical indication, in fact, this type of data does not mean much since it can be indicate and be influenced by a myriad of factors, making the comparison based only on this type of data very difficult
RMS values can also mean different things and, in any case, these are mainly aimed at giving the consumer an idea of the power that can be managed by the speakers without suffering damage, and this also depends on the type of signal sent to the speakers. In fact, an acoustic guitar solo will hardly cause damage even if the signal is sent from a very powerful amplifier, while Metal or Electronic music is more likely to damage the speaker at the same volume. In addition, overloading the amplifier produces distortion, which means additional stress on the speakers and internal components, and which will most likely cause damage to the speakers in the short term, even if it is a small amplifier that overloads. The type of equipment used in professional environments is almost always different in terms of use and quality compared to household systems, especially the cash desks.
Step 2. Make sure the speaker has a good frequency range
A theoretically ideal system should comprise frequencies from 20Hz to 20,000Hz - this is the nominal range of frequencies audible to humans, but such a system is in practice very difficult to implement. The type of system (1-way, 2-way, 3-way) is much less important than the quality of the speakers and the driver used. A speaker can have only one driver and sound great, or have 5 drivers and sound bad.
Step 3. Examine the cone housing
If it vibrates, resonates, or seems too light, it is most likely of poor quality and you need to be very careful. This is especially true with regards to low frequencies. Therefore the bass cone housing should always be solidly built. The "satellite" housings for the higher frequencies should not be outdone, but they manage to give good performance even when they are lighter in manufacture.
Step 4. In any case, the most important factor to consider is what you feel
There are different schools of thought regarding the construction of the speakers, the best tool to test the quality is therefore your ears. Take records with you to the store that you know well, and that have been well recorded, and listen carefully to the music with a critical ear. Don't just “feel” the music. Hear if the drum sound is like that of a live drum sound (especially as far as the bass drum is concerned). To do this, it might be useful to go to 2-3 gigs first to calibrate your ears - better if jazz or acoustic gigs, since the sound you will hear will come from the instruments themselves and not just from the audio system. Can you hear each individual bass note or does it feel like a seamless soup of notes? Do the voices resemble real voices or electronically edited voices? Note that the human ear tends to adapt over time, and if you've only listened to a $ 10 radio for the past 10 years, or you've listened to a fantastic stereo system instead, your hearing and musical taste will have been tuned accordingly.. In these cases, it is difficult to judge objectively. A musician friend could be useful to take with you to the shop to try out the speakers, but be careful in this case too: the acoustic range of some instruments is rather limited. It is difficult for a flutist to judge the sound of violins as much as a violinist and vice versa.
Step 5. Since the speakers are the most variable component of the audio system, it is very difficult to choose between two speakers that you have never heard personally
Advice
- It's nearly impossible to judge a pair of speakers based on the specs you read on the box. It's best to find someone who has purchased these speakers willing to let you try them on, or try them out in the store.
- When you try the speakers in the shop, take a CD with you to play with each speaker you try. Also be very careful not to apply any equalization to the speakers (the bass and treble controls should be set to 0 or center). Many listeners prefer the sound of the speakers loaded with bass and treble, at least at the beginning, but this does not allow to make a good comparison between the various speakers, at least for normal use.
- Some stores allow you to take the crates home to try them out. Whenever possible, try them at home, as each speaker sounds different according to the room acoustics and the full stereo system.
Warnings
- Pay attention to the marketing tactics of some manufacturers. Amplifier power should be expressed in RMS over a frequency range, typically 20-20000Hz, and always includes a distortion measurement as well (anything higher than a fraction of a percentage is already too much). The "musical power" or "peak musical power" has essentially no meaning and the presence of this specification on the product is a sign that it was designed with a certain marketing strategy in mind rather than listening quality. Speaker power measurements are equally insignificant and very often misleading, and certainly do not indicate the power of the amplifier to be used. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, especially if it's cheap, it probably is. Therefore, a good audio system requires a refined construction and high quality components: it is not easy to obtain these features at a limited cost, and so far we have never heard of miracles in the world of Hi-Fi.
- Make sure your amplifier has enough power to drive the speakers. Inefficient speakers that can handle as much as 600 watts RMS and need to reach adequate levels will probably not sound good with a small amplifier, and will in all likelihood be overloaded, distorting the sound even before reaching an adequate volume level. This is dangerous because a frequently distorting amplifier is capable of causing damage to the speakers. However, the ability to handle power is not a sufficient indication as some efficient speakers (capable of producing more than adequate power for your room and the type of music being played) are also classified as speakers that need high power. This is not always true, to tell the truth. An unsuitable amplifier will not allow you to turn up the volume beyond a certain limit, which is often very tight.
