How To Audition Speakers: Your Personal Listening Methods

[Kali157]

When someone asks for speaker recommendations, the more experienced members often suggest to listen to speakers and decide for yourself. Unfortunately, it is quite daunting to walk into a show room and listen to speakers. Where do you begin? What do you look for? What do you avoid?

So I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread where we can share our methods for auditioning speakers. I wish to try and limit this to auditioning speakers specifically. My hope is that this thread becomes a resource for less experienced members (like myself) so speaker auditioning can be fun, productive, and less intimidating. I also hope that this would be a place where we can get constructive feedback on our methods. After all, there are quite a few pitfalls and variables when auditioning.

So what music or movies do you bring?
What equipment do you bring (if any)?
What methods do you follow to setup the showroom and equipment for your audition?
What variables do you try to control and how?
What is your actual process for auditioning?
What questions do you ask?

I am sure I forgot some steps. Feel free to fill them in.

[Blu Warrior]

First off, a salesman should start you off with questions about your listening/viewing space, what do you enjoy listening too, how much willing to spend, etc. A good audio store will let you audition speakers or any piece of equipment in your home. As for what to bring? Music-wise, bring CDs of music you know extremely well. Things you've heard many times on different systems. For example, your current speakers, your car stereo, a boombox and the like. Women's vocals are a great test for midrange sounds. Again, a quality store will have a number if audiophile recordings on hand also for you to listen to as well.

Always test speakers for music. Film soundtracks are created differently (foley) and many sounds in a movie are artificially made up. If the speakers sound good with music, theyre gonna sound good with movies but not the other way around.

[Kali157]

Originally Posted by Blu Warrior

First off, a salesman should start you off with questions about your listening/viewing space, what do you enjoy listening too, how much willing to spend, etc. A good audio store will let you audition speakers or any piece of equipment in your home. As for what to bring? Music-wise, bring CDs of music you know extremely well. Things you've heard many times on different systems. For example, your current speakers, your car stereo, a boombox and the like. Women's vocals are a great test for midrange sounds. Again, a quality store will have a number if audiophile recordings on hand also for you to listen to as well.

Always test speakers for music. Film soundtracks are created differently (foley) and many sounds in a movie are artificially made up. If the speakers sound good with music, theyre gonna sound good with movies but not the other way around.

Thanks, good point on the vocals. As for using what the store has, I am always a little weary of using something I am not familiar with. What music/song do you bring/play?

[-DLS-]

As you know I prefer an in home audition but that is not always possible. I still got 4 weeks for the SALK's to arrive and I might still try the Ascend Sierra-1's. If they have them at the Futureshop the next time I go I will be taking home out the Verita v5.1 bookshelves. I have done that a couple of times with other Energy speakers since they're the only place around me that has a return policy. I have listened to a few speakers in big rooms at stores like Futureshop/Best Buy but never took anything out of those cases. Some speakers that I have heard several times did not sound the same at another place even with similar gear and similar placement. The room takes control but still gives you an idea of differences if you listen to other speakers in the same room with the same gear and placement..

Here's a good guideline for auditioning speakers.

http://www.hometheater.com/advicefro...speakshoptips/

I agree with most or all the points especially taking control of the remote and I usually like to be left alone once everything is set up. Don't like the feeling of somebody behind me in the room. Makes me feel rushed too. I also don't take anything that I know will sound good on most/any speaker.. for example Diana Krall. Her voice is strong and most times that I've heard it playing it would never sound bad. One CD I used to always bring with me is the City of Angels Soundtrack because it has a good mix of all kinds of music and some good vocals. It's also HDCD encoded but sounds good either way. Most places have a good Blu-ray that I almost always have in my collection so I don't bring Blu's just CD's.

[HAMP]

When I was reading the title and going through the opening post, just about everything I was thinking of saying myself Blu Warrior actually hit on.

I would like to add a few more things to think about when going.

Make sure to visit more then one or two shops if possible, because each shop will specialize in a certain manufacture that another store will not. Of course each will believe what they have is better then the other.

I think a person should get a good understanding what the difference between Towers, Bookshelf and satellite speakers.

I person should know what usage percentage should be, such as 50/50, meaning 50 percent movies, 50 percent music.

Knowing the usage percentage and knowing the difference in speaker styles can make a difference in going into a higher level in audio quality with fewer dollars spent.

Or

Getting the best for your hard earned money.

[Blu Warrior]

Definatley listen to as many speaker combos as possible.

As for what i like to bring and play? a few examples are:
Natalie Merchant's Tigerlily Many cuts on that album when its just her voice and very little else going on in the background.

The Eagles track Take it Easy. You should be able to hear the banjo throughout the song taking up its own pocket of air and it should ring through clearly. Find a classic rock radio station and when this song comes on in the car for example, the banjo can only really be heard in the final minute of the song, buts it there throughout.

The Ataris Blue Skis, Broken Hearts... specificly the track San Dimas H.S.Football Rules. The dynamics of the drums are incredible. Very punchy attack. On good speakers, you can really hear the sticks hit the skins.

Slayer's God Hates Us All The whole album is demo worthy. A great blend of good midrange, mid-bass, bass, and highs. One of the best mastered cds around.

The soundtrack to A Thin Red Line. Track 9 has some severe bass around the 4:00min mark. Good for testing a sub's ability to blend with your mains (especialy if you opt for monitors over towers)

and speaking of bass...
Zubin Mehta's recording with the L.A. Philharmonic of Holst's The Planets The cut Saturn ends with many bells which on inferior speakers will sound cluttered but it also ends with an organ pedal bass note that has been said to register at around 16Hz!! If you can afford it get the JVC XRRCD24 bit cd(its like $24), get it!

I also will bring some CCR Sacds as well as Gordon Lightfoot'sGord's Gold, a Star Wars soundtrack, Iron Maiden's Powerslave and anything else I can think of that I know like the back of my hand. Also, like the poster a few above me said, any Dianna Krall Cd is very well recorded and since its jazz, you should really listen to the walking bass lines as a way to determine the speakers ability to keep up in the mid-bass region.

Most of all, select a speaker that sounds good to you. Everyone's ear is different and afterall, you're the one who will be listening.That said, you shouldnt "hear" the speaker but it should sound like the performer(s) are in the room with you playing live.

Hop onto some websites such as musicdirect.com, acousticsounds.com and have them send you catalogs (they're free) and go to the bookstore and browse through magazines such as The Absolute Sound, Stereophile, etc for some great reviews on everything from affordable to outragous priced speakers and equipment and for advice on what to listen for.