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Tuesday, 8 July 2008 Entries

Speaker Selection

Filed under: Speakers

There was a test done many years ago that was famous in the industry at that time. I think it may have been a Canadian speaker manufacturer that came up with the idea.

It was pretty simple: all they wanted to do was test to see if colour had any effect on the way people felt about a speaker, and if it effected their perception of the sound. The idea was to conduct a listening test using members of the public, but using exactly the same loudspeaker with a different colour grille for each session. The testers were told that the different colours represented different speakers and were asked to record their thoughts on each model. You can probably guess the outcome here. The results were mostly uniform across the range, so people had similar perceptions about the sound of the speaker with a specific grille. For instance (if I remember correctly) when fitted with the red grille most people described the sound as more "lively".

Another issue that will effect your perception of a loudspeakers performance is the loudness of the speaker as tests have proven that people will pick the loudest speaker as having better sound quality. This is a nasty trap when auditioning as it can catch people out. If you simply switch between one speaker and another without adjusting the volume its likely that you will simply choose the more sensitive speaker. The most accurate method to combat this is to take an SPL meter with you and measure both speakers output on a test signal to determine where the volume control should be when listening to each speaker system. Then simply adjust the level appropriately when you listen to each loudspeaker so you know the level is the same. This will allow a much more accurate comparison between speakers. It will also prevent the salesperson from "guiding" you - not that anyone that sells Krix would do that! Which is why we deal with a select dealer network rather than giving the product to just anyone.Until next time, happy listening!

Posted by Grant on Tuesday, 8 July 2008 1:00 PM

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