warm and cool - and other speaker questions (1 Viewer)

[Bret Pritchett]

What does "warm speakers" and cool speakers" mean? Is it refering to tonal quality? what about a "horn speaker"? what is that refering to?

Do some receivers work better with some speakers? I've heard some are better for music, and some are better for movies. There are a few brands in particular I'm wondering about:
Harmon Kardon
Denon
Yamaha

Which speakers would these brands work best with?

 

[MichaelPR]

I believe a warm speaker is a speaker that places emphasis on low frequency. I cool speaker is considered bright....placing emphasis on the higher frequencies. I know I use a Denon receiver with Paradigm speakers. I know that the Paradigms I use are considered by some to be bright. Whatever they are this setup sounds excellent to me. The Denon receiver is an excellent piece of equipment. I also have experience with a Yamaha receiver and can say that it is also an excellent product. I prefer the way my Paradigms sound on the Denon though. My best advice would be to audition speakers and choose whatever sounds best to your ears because that will be the best for you!

 

[Morgan_]

I agree. I like "bright", yet flat, with no overly strong midrange that's annoying, and with a little lower end boost of say a few dbs at 140hz and lower. I like my wide open 1" vifa tweeters, they are sweet and easy to listen to, non fatiging, very airy and yet have nice strong flat response all the way to 30khz! not that I can hear that high, but it's good to know if they ever came upon a 30k signal they could reproduce it, not that they ever will No, those are not "Streems", I gutted my Streems 2 weeks after they were delivered. In their place, I created masterpieces of sonic marvels.

 

[Bret Pritchett]

What speakers would work best with a Harmon Kardon AVR-325 receiver?

 

[Morgan_]

Speakers for the harmon kardon receiver, it depends on your tastes, whether you will be using a powered sub, or if you want to listen to music in stereo or surround sound. Some links below to some excellent speakers, you can ask who owns what on the forum, and they'll tell you how they sound.
If your budget is stretched, then JBL makes some fairly affordable tower speakers, or HT Systems.
http://www.aperionaudio.com/
http://www.definitivetech.com/loudsp...ower.html#7006
http://www.axiomaudio.com/products.html?1290

 

[John Garcia]

I have never once heard a speaker referred to as "cool" in any other sense than looks.

Horn or "horn loaded" refers to the style of tweeter used in the speaker. It may be various materials (metal, textile, plastic), but it is the waveguide design that looks like a horn that gives it it's name.

 

[Kevin Alexander]

Actually, the term "cool" is a more appropriate description of speakers and amps if you describe their counterparts as being "warm". Brightness is not the opposite of warmth. If we insist on using the term "bright" to describe an emphasis of the top end, the absence of top end should be referred to as being a "dark" sound. Actually, I prefer the "cool" / "warm" description. The words don't imply one being favored over another. Bright/Dark simply boil down to personal preference w/ "neutral" being a nice balance of the two.