My speaker shopping experience

[cravnsn]

As I have been listening to my Insignia NS-B2111 speakers of late, I’ve felt there was something missing. They image really well, have great bass and a wide, tall soundstage. But it always seemed there was missing detail. I spent far too many hours scouring the ads on craigslist.com & eBay. I even considered some Fostex full range speakers.

Then I decided to take time to go & listen to some speakers at local shops. I’ve been into music for as long as I can remember, and home theater since there was such a thing. I have a passion which sometimes grows into full blown obsession for audio gear. I am also married 21+ years with two kids, and a mountain of debt, some of which goes back to the early days of feeding my desire for audio gear.

So, I set out with a small budget of $250. I’m looking for a pair of bookshelf speakers, or two center channel speakers I could stand on end, and make a small MTM set. Detail was paramount, but also all the things that make a speaker good - imaging, soundstage & a good balance of tone. My stops included Best Buy, Circuit City, Ultimate Electronics (formerly Audio King) and Guitar Center. I’m sure you’re all familiar with BB & CC, Ultimate’s offerings would fall between a big box store and an audio “salon”. But hey, what’s up with Guitar Center? I knew they sell studio monitors, so I thought it was worth looking into. All 4 stores were within 5 miles of each other, which made it all the easier.
I knew going into it that listening to speakers set up in rows on shelves wired through a switchbox in a noisy environment is NOT ideal - but a good starting point. I am also aware that $250 isn’t going to get me much in the way of quality sound. But hey, it was worth a try, right?

So, what did I discover?

1. The only place metal has in speakers is the binding posts & screws. They don’t belong in drivers.
2. Horns are for cars.
3. Auditioning speakers in a “big box store” SUCKS!
4. There are not many speakers in this price range that sound at all good.
5. The Insignia speakers I believed in so much aren’t very good after all (there, I said it!)
6. Those little $50 Sony speakers with the H.O.P. woofer & nano-fine tweeter SUCK!
7. Boston Acoustics still makes some nice sounding speakers
8. A name badge is NO guarantee of sound quality
9. Mirages omni polar technology is neat, for surround sound. The effect is too much for front mains
10. The studio monitors ALL use fabric dome tweeters.

And the most important finding…THERE IS NO SUBSTITUE FOR IN PERSON AUDITIONING!!!

I know it’s been mentioned in these & other audio threads thousands of times, but you can not decide on which speakers will sound good to you unless you hear them in person. It’s OK to get some names as a starting point, but you should audition as many different speakers as possible. What sounds good to you is likely different than what sounds good to me, your friend, anyone here…etc.
Get a good reference point - listen to live acoustic music. Listen to the everyday sounds that are all around you. Close your eyes, and really tune into the sounds - the tonality, direction, spatial cues…everything that makes real sounds real.
Take someone along who may not care too much for audio gear - sometimes someone who isn’t “critical listening” may pick up on some sonic quality you’ve overlooked ( my wife has done this several times - and been right). Either pick a store with a 100% money back return policy, or one which will allow in home auditioning. You need to hear the speakers in your listening room with your equipment. Ideally, they will let you take home a floor demo model - this way the speaker will be broken in. You can not judge a speaker fresh out of the box - it will sound different after 10, 30, 50 or even 100 hours of use.

For me, I now know I don’t care for metal domes or cones, nor horn loaded tweeters. I had a set of Klipsch back in the day. The detail was incredible, but I soon learned the definition of “listener fatigue”. The Boston’s I listened to are current models. They have a more laid back presentation, which I like. The Polk I heard had an incredible amount of detail, but again, it was too much in my face. Sony, Infinity, Def Tech, Insignia, JBL, etal. All have distinct personalities and characteristics. I had no intention of listening to Bose, but the sales guy at CC insisted I give them a listen, and even though there was some “I need a sub that will melt the welds in my car” on the other side of the wall, I figured sure, why not. As soon as switched to the Bose, my immediate thought was “where did the music go?”
It’s important for me to mention here that these findings are MY OPINIONS and not an absolute last word. Even the best audio equipment in the world can be made to sound bad with bad speakers. Likewise, a well matched set of speakers & associative equipment of a modest price can make for a very nice music & HT setup. My intent is not to put down any of the choices anyone else here has made - if it sounds good to you that’s all that matters - period.

So, I came home empty handed and frustrated. Then I remembered an old pair of AR PS2052 speakers I had sitting in the basement. For the heck of it, I set them up in place of my Insignia’s. The image is solid, the width & depth isn’t as good, and neither is the bass extension. However, the detail is there, and in proper proportions. I also discovered along the way that I much prefer the “phantom center” approach. Even in the higher end store with high $ speakers (hey, I had to give them a listen, right?) the center channel always draws attention to itself. Using just the two front speakers, I get a solid center image, and much more body around instruments, people & the things they interact with. I used the BD version of Independence Day to confirm this - the sound effects panned across the front sound stage with more realism, and I never missed out on any dialogue nor any of the subtle cues about the environment. While in the dedicated listening rooms of the higher end store, I also discovered that even well made high $ floor standing multi-driver speakers call too much attention to themselves.

So in the end, I know if I want to really step up from what I have with the AR speakers, I need to invest more than $250. I’m sure it’s entirely likely that the metal domes in better made speakers ( B&W, Paradigm etc.) could make me change my mind about metal drivers. I’m also sure that other offerings from the same manufacturer can & do sound very different, and I might find something to like in another model. But, for now, I do have the matching center channel speaker for the small bookshelf AR’s, so if anyone has or know someone who is selling an AR PSC25 in good shape so I can make a vertically oriented pair, I’d be very interested in hearing from you.

I know this was a long essay, I hope everyone who read the whole thing (thank you) gets something out of it.

Craig