Basically the title. I’m seeing a lot of sources for speaker recommendations but it’s either a) the same websites that recommend m50x and Beyers for headphones b) guys who will genuinely recommend almost everything despite various shortcomings at it’s price point. In headphones I feel like people like the guys from the headphone show, max settings, goldensound, crinacle, metal571 etc… kinda solved the game for me by analyzing frequency response and generally being close in terms of technical ability to the point where I don’t get tricked by hypemen who don’t pay attention to detail or separation or tonality like you know, Zeos, but then I look at speaker reviews and then I see the same person calling six different speakers the best thing, where they’re all at a similar price point and sound quite different. Like I see so many recommendations for the Yamaha hs5 for example and when I listen to a demo it sounds totally flat and lifeless like there’s no separation or punch or dynamics of any sort whereas an Adam t5v sounds like something I’d want to listen to, but then I listen to a demo of a JBL 305p mkII and I can’t hear a difference but those are cheaper than the Adams, but there’s nobody outright saying just get the JBL’s cause they’re as good at a lower price point and etc… Just the landscape of speakers is real muddy to me and I wonder if there’s somebody who can clear the way at least a bit. Listening to sound demos through my headphones aren’t exactly a perfect reference either.
Welcome to the forum!
Keep in mind that each room, which is a major factor in fidelity, is different and every speaker review has to be taken with a grain of salt, even more so than headphones.
For speakers I generally look at Thomas&Stereo, Zero Fidelity, and TheNextBestThingStudio (sometimes NewRecordDay & Steve Guttenberg)…
They don’t usually emphasize on objective takes because it’s kind of pointless considering everybody’s room is different.
In addition, I look at Acoustics Fields, Acoustics Insider, and PS Audio for educational stuff on acoustics/speakers. You’d be surprised how many audiophiles have great systems, only to be hindered by improper speaker placement and improper use of room treatment.
I’ll give a second nod to Steve Gutenberg. He’s got a lifetime of knowledge in hi end audio and seems to be a very honest reviewer.
I have never found a reviewer of speakers that helped me one bit. The speakers that I have were all based on listening to them. I suggest going out to listen to speakers to find what makes your ears smile. There are infinite different tastes and likes in the world.
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I do own a couple of JBL LSR305 powered monitors that I bought based on the hype and I am not impressed with them, but they get the job done in my office setup without class A heat that I used to get from my Emotiva powered monitors preamped with Schiit Jotunheim that I moved to better ventilated listening station in the house. The Emotiva’s cost me a lot more but sound miles ahead of the JBL.
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If you are looking for passive speakers, I really like planar ribbon speakers. You should try to give them a listen if you have the space to accommodate them. For traditional speakers, I also enjoy Monitor Audio. But these are just my likes and not yours. So you probably should go out and listen to hear what is out there for yourself.
I’d go a step further and ask if you can demo the speakers in your own room since some of these stores have dedicated listening rooms, which the buyer most likely doesn’t.
Relevant to clearing up the mud, prior to investing time in a reviewer or plotting which speakers to listen to, it may help to read up on speaker buying guides and the different types of speakers and materials:
This channel has various guides and tips, starting with this video:
Good luck.
Reviewing speakers is far more complicated than headphones, mainly due to the room mode interactions; the room can effect the sound as much as the speaker. So, in light of that, I’d find someone that has a decently treated room, big enough for true evaluations. That someone would need to set up the speakers being reviewed basically the same way as the last, doing the same for future evaluations of other products as well; and preferably using the same source gear.
I also trusted Kal Rubinson back in the day; he was also an active member at AVS Forums. He was extremely knowledgeable and knew how to set up for an evaluation.
TLDR, headphones are way easier to review compared to speakers. Trust your own ears above all else.
Basically the title. I’m seeing a lot of sources for speaker recommendations but it’s either a) the same websites that recommend m50x and Beyers for headphones b) guys who will genuinely recommend almost everything despite various shortcomings at it’s price point. In headphones I feel like people like the guys from the headphone show, max settings, goldensound, crinacle, metal571 etc… kinda solved the game for me by analyzing frequency response and generally being close in terms of technical ability to the point where I don’t get tricked by hypemen who don’t pay attention to detail or separation or tonality like you know, Zeos, but then I look at speaker reviews and then I see the same person calling six different speakers the best thing, where they’re all at a similar price point and sound quite different. Like I see so many recommendations for the Yamaha hs5 for example and when I listen to a demo it sounds totally flat and lifeless like there’s no separation or punch or dynamics of any sort whereas an Adam t5v sounds like something I’d want to listen to, but then I listen to a demo of a JBL 305p mkII and I can’t hear a difference but those are cheaper than the Adams, but there’s nobody outright saying just get the JBL’s cause they’re as good at a lower price point and etc… Just the landscape of speakers is real muddy to me and I wonder if there’s somebody who can clear the way at least a bit. Listening to sound demos through my headphones aren’t exactly a perfect reference either.
Would agree with Steve X3
You are hitting it here. Professional reviewers are often beholden to vendors. Without writing positive reviews they won’t get more stuff to review, or they work(ed) in a hi-fi store and unconsciously try to sell you anything and everything. I look for reviewers who are not impulsive or jumping on every new hype train, who do not always say positive things, and who are not prone to emphasizing fringe topics or voodoo (e.g., cables, tone arms, etc.) over the fundamentals.
As others said, speaker performance is a function of the room as much as the hardware. Speaker reviews have some value in terms of brightness, bass extension, clarity, and punch/delivery, but not much more. Cost is a weak predictor of satisfaction. I’d like to find a reviewer who routinely includes a close (near field) assessment of speakers to minimize room effects – that could be reliable for tonality and clarity.
I like AudiophileMan (Paul Rigby) and ThomasAndStereo a lot.
I’ll add these to the mix: 2 Channel Listening, Cheapaudioman, Stereo Review X, Andrew Robinson.
All serve as data points (impressions) and information on what products are available on the market. I don’t consider trustworthiness; I don’t assume anyone can be trusted. With reviewers, it’s more about finding those whose sonic preferences more closely align with your own.
Zero Fidelity on YouTube. All the others including Guttenburg either love everything because they simply love everything or love everything to make a sale or get more eyeballs on their videos.
There’s also the cost of shipping, shipping these large, and in most cases, heavy items around to reviewers wouldn’t be cheap.
I think best, as others have already mentioned, to get close with your local dealer and see if they can lend you a few pairs to take home and listen to in your room.
I agree that Steve Gutenberg is as reliable as you can find. He also doesn’t usually review crazy TOTL speakers.
While you can find some sort of online consensus about some speakers in the online reviews, these tend to be either whacky expensive or under $2K. If you, as I, are or were in the market in the $5K-20K range, there is no substitute for taking a day or two or three to find a store - in my case 1 to 2 hours away that has speakers to listen to.
In a decent high end store - like Underwood in Wilmington DE, or Now Listen Here in Harrisburg, PA, you have a chance to listen in a room of approximately the right size and to see how placement and so forth make a difference. In my case, I ended up with a brand I had never heard before (Eggleston Works) for the bookshelf’s I wanted in my office, and have Harbeth, and Vandersteen in addition to EW on my short list for when I replace my home main speakers (Rectilinear III). I found that I did not like Mágico until WAY above my price range, and the Wilson Audio I like have risen above my range also - the smaller Wilsons are excellent, but not, I think enough for my room.
I’ve found Erin’s Audio Corner and GR-Research to be great educational channels. They do a lot of objective measurements and have videos explaining those measurements and what they mean, a lot of great stuff. I love these channels, especially Erin’s Audio Corner, for their incredible educational value and a few useful objective measurements.
I agree that some objective measurements, such as on-axis frequency response, don’t matter as much as listening to the speakers in your listening space because rooms make a hugeeee impact on the sound.
However, some measurements can be incredibly useful, especially ones such as spinorama (measuring how the FR changes as one moves off-axis and giving an idea of how one’s room will effect the sound), waterfall graph (can show resonances and stuff), and loudspeaker compression measurements (change of FR over different volumes, can show limits of drivers, etc…). For example, some speakers are detailed and tonally balanced on-axis in a well treated room, but sound like a bright, boxy mess off-axis in an untreated room. Some powered bookshelf speakers can have great dynamics and extend below 60hz in the near-field, but when cranked up to be used in far-field, their limiter may kick in and cut off everything below 120hz and compress the dynamics.
Of course, nothing replaces listening to the speaker in one’s own listening space. Measurements can just be a useful tool,
and collectively, reviewers can sometimes indicate a speaker’s general characteristics, such as if it warm or bright. Don’t really take into consideration their personal feelings, such as if they like it or not. That’s up for you to hear for yourself and decide.
Yes, shopping for speakers is complicated😂
I’m in college (aka man on a budget), so I’ve recently gained an interest in DIY speaker kits due to their claimed ability to bring higher performance to lower prices.
EAC and ASR both use Klippel near field scanner systems to create spinorama graphs. So I look at their reviews and data, and some of the other high quality measurements by manufacturers and a few other graphers compiled here…
I tend to trust Erin’s opinions more at EAC. But think Amir sometimes does a little better job on his plots at ASR. And I try to cross reference their results with other mfr measurements made in anechoic chambers. Not all mfrs of good speakers provide measurements though. So the Klippel NFS data is sometimes the best or only data that’s available.
Dr. Floyd Toole (of Harman) explains how spinorama measurements work, and why they’re helpful in evaluating a speaker’s sound, and other fun stuff…
