SURVEY: How important is flat frequency response to you? (1 Viewer)

[EricHaas]

Quote:

"The point is, no matter how hard you search to find a speaker that has a perfect frequency response - that result will be irrelevant once it comes into your home."

Quote:

"A good point. I think you should take the time to read though. I have never said that frequency response is a completely useless measurement and should be 100% ignored."

Ah, that was the source of my confusion about your opinion. My understanding is that "irrelevant" means it has no bearing on the issue at hand, meaning it "should be ignored 100% of the time."

For the record, I agree that most mid to hi-fi speakers have acceptable FR curves to begin with, which is why I pay less attention to that than personal listening tests (see my first post). However, if I encounter a speaker with a very poor anechoic FR, I won't touch it to begin with.

 

[Jeff D.]

Quote:

/Jeff

 

[Sebastian]

I just used a subwoofer as an example. you can apply that situation to any frequency range.
I am just saying that from my experience a speaker that has good specs compared to generic speaker has always sounded better to me.
I just have not heard a speaker that had roller coaster frequency response sound better than a speaker that had a flat response to it.
Just my opinion I guess, like I can not stand listening to klipsch speakers. They are just way to bright for me, but some people love them.

 

[Patrick Sun]

You can easily create a speaker that measures flat but sounds like caca. That speaker will be slow, and most likely remove you from the musical essence of the listening experience.

Some speakers are better in their transient response, where you give that nice crisp "Thwack!" that many audio enthusiasts enjoy (that comes from more expensive midranges and midwoofers integrated with the tweeter via a crossover that doesn't choke the life out of them), but don't necessarily measure ruler flat. Frequency response doesn't quite tell you if a speaker can be characterized as "laid back or mellow" vs. "forward sounding and in your face", or even neutral.

Also, the measurements often cited are usually just measured from placing the microphone 1 meter away straight on. You also need some FR graphs of their off-axis response as well to get a better picture of their capabilities.

And you have some speakers that measure so-so, but involve the hell out of you when you listen to them, and that it what most music lovers are after. So listening to the speakers is your best ally in determining the worth of a speaker to you.