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Originally posted by _Michaelangelo_
- How much better do speakers sound as I move up the price range. i.e. Are $3200 twice as good as $1600 speakers? What's the difference between $800 and $400 speakers?
- What specifically should I listen for as I audition speakers out?
- I like listening to Movies, Jazz, Pop, and some classical. What should I be looking for in speakers? ("Bright" in the highs? Deep Bass? etc?)
- How important is having a very dynamic range? i.e. 60 Hz up to 18 Khz, vs 30Hz-20KHz
- What do people suggest for good web sites that have in-depth reviews, and explain how to become a better informed audiophile?
- Lastly, my upgrade won't happen for another year or two (to give me lots of time to digest the info, and prioritize features.) Any new technology that I should be looking forward to ?
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There's a mouthful! First off, if you're looking for home theater, GOOD sound doesn't really start until about the $1000 price range +/- (street price). Every dollar you shave off of that really hurts BADLY. Now, you can EASILY buy a $1000 system that sounds AWFUL, but you can also get one that is excellent (for the price). If you go low in price, you want to give up dynamics and very deep bass trying to retain performance. "Entry level High-end" if you're careful. If you go to $2000, you will get more dynamic range, deeper bass and improved midrange/treble. Twice as good? No, but noticeably better. Now you're talking Stereophile "Class D". Above entry level high-end, but still a ways to go. If you go to $4K, *can* get very high performance, enough dynamics for medium sized rooms and very deep bass. Again, you can also get mediocre sound if you're not careful. It will be a noticeable upgrade and easily get you into "Class C", borderline "Class B". If you go to $8-$10K, you should be getting very close to the best available, but not quite as good as it gets. Stereophile "Class B". A little compromise, but not too much. Then you get into the "best of the best" which will certainly cost $20K or above. Genesis, Meridian, Avalon, Wilson, etc.
What should you listen for? Listen to individual sounds on CDs. Don't listen to the overall sound until you've had a chance to listen to each instrument carefully. Compare individual instruments to the sound on other speakers, especially if you can do an A/B. Settle into one speaker that really sounds right, then go to another store. Also, listen to lots of different music. The more varied the music, the better you'll focus your hunt. I even use country music to really show off the difference between really good vocal reproduction and muffled, poor reproduction. And I have a rap disc by Me Phi Me that is a great tool for imaging and space. Al Di Meola's Kiss My Axe and Patrica Barber's Modern Cool have so many different tunes with different instrumentation and qualities that they'll really lay bare a speaker. But, use stuff you know really well too, but don't expect every speaker to make your CDs sound great, some will show off just how badly they may be recorded!
Since you listen to a variety of music, you will want to look for speakers that are neutral and accurate (most likely) because you'll be able to play more different types of music with good success. Many speakers sound great with Rock and fall flat on more delicate Jazz and Classical. If you can find a speaker that can do all well, but perhaps not perfectly, that may be the better choice. Genesis speakers for instance do classicl like none I've heard, but sound "only" very good on most rock CDs.
I find that getting a speaker that hits about 30Hz well is important to me to do most music. Once you hit 30Hz, it pretty well becomes more about how WELL the bass is done rather than how much deeper it can go. Relatively few CDs go much below 30Hz.
Do a web search on Robert Harley and order one of his two books. They are very informative. One is geared towards High-end, the other towards HT. Both are very helpful.
www.audioreview.com is a good site. However, most reviews are made either by owners "Dude, these are the BEST!!!!" or by detractors "Dude, these SUCK", but interspersed amongst these are useful reviews that explain the sound they hear, what they compared the product to, why they liked it, etc, etc and will usually have SOME balanced commentary even if the rate the product a 4 or 5.
DSP technology. Right now, if you want to buy digital active speakers (powered with digital crossovers and speaker correction), you have to buy Meridians which start at $5K/pr. However, NHT is working on a digital active set and I'm sure others are as well. They will start off expensive, but in 5 years will probably be common place. You can do so much in the digital domain that you can't do with resistors, capacitors and inductors. It will be revolutionary for the quality we'll be able to achieve. Not likely to affect you even next year, however, unless you're willing to pony up $20K+
You might also want to google search for sites that talk about speaker design. I am very serious about good design as the starting point for good sound. Bad design can sometimes yield good sound, but usually with big compromises. Terms to google search would be "acoustic suspension" "ported" "cones" "domes" "paper" "polypropylene" "kevlar" "carbon fiber", "metal" "crossovers" "ribbons" etc in different combinations and this will lead you to sites that actually talk about design theory. I have my own ideals I hold to, but if I say them, I'll start a flame war like you wouldn't believe!