The title says it plain - I am a speaker newb / novice / insert many other terms here. After starting to read some of Nuance's speaker "VisionQuest" (ahhh the 80's movies), I thought it might be good to start a thread from the perspective of someone who has no clue what a good speaker really sounds like.
For the last several years, I have had the Bose Acoustimass 10 and felt I was living on top of the world as I had "surround sound". When I decided early last year to start looking into building a dedicated HT room, I thought I was already set for speakers. HA! I discovered a whole world of floorstanders, bookshelfs, centers, bipoles, dipoles...... the list goes on.
So, I did what every potential DIYer does - I started to read everything I could get my hands on (so glad I finally found HTS!). Since I can only work so late into the evening (kids are light sleepers :sad, I thought I would spend some time trying to understand what I should be looking for when I start auditioning speakers.
Let me just say now - I HIGHLY recommend auditioning speakers. Not from a experienced point of view - as I said, I have no experience at all. It is more from the excitement - I am as giddy as a schoolboy thinking of the next couple months just listening to as many speakers as I can.
So, the first thing I suggest - read! There is a great post right here in this forum - check out this sticky if you have not already.
I started out by doing the wrong thing first - I started trying to find shops where I could go audition speakers. The reason this was wrong? If I went to the shop, what would I use as a comparison to determine if one speaker was better than another? IMO, the first thing that needs to happen is to create your audition tracks - your collection of music / movie with which your are intimately familiar so that you know when you go in what you are listening to and what you expect to hear. I don't expect to sit for an entire movie - I will only have a small part from a movie I enjoy and promise to keep my eyes closed the whole time. :bigsmile:
So, if you have stayed with me this long, thanks for listening. My next post will be for what I am looking for from a speaker and what I have decided on for an audition list.
If anyone wants to chime in with suggestions for speakers to have a go at, please do - I am keeping a running list. If you have suggestions for what you think I should be looking for, I am all ears.
Thanks all!
ALMFamily Speaker Audition List
For the last several years, I have had the Bose Acoustimass 10 and felt I was living on top of the world as I had "surround sound". When I decided early last year to start looking into building a dedicated HT room, I thought I was already set for speakers. HA! I discovered a whole world of floorstanders, bookshelfs, centers, bipoles, dipoles...... the list goes on.
So, I did what every potential DIYer does - I started to read everything I could get my hands on (so glad I finally found HTS!). Since I can only work so late into the evening (kids are light sleepers :sad, I thought I would spend some time trying to understand what I should be looking for when I start auditioning speakers.
Let me just say now - I HIGHLY recommend auditioning speakers. Not from a experienced point of view - as I said, I have no experience at all. It is more from the excitement - I am as giddy as a schoolboy thinking of the next couple months just listening to as many speakers as I can.
So, the first thing I suggest - read! There is a great post right here in this forum - check out this sticky if you have not already.
I started out by doing the wrong thing first - I started trying to find shops where I could go audition speakers. The reason this was wrong? If I went to the shop, what would I use as a comparison to determine if one speaker was better than another? IMO, the first thing that needs to happen is to create your audition tracks - your collection of music / movie with which your are intimately familiar so that you know when you go in what you are listening to and what you expect to hear. I don't expect to sit for an entire movie - I will only have a small part from a movie I enjoy and promise to keep my eyes closed the whole time. :bigsmile:
So, if you have stayed with me this long, thanks for listening. My next post will be for what I am looking for from a speaker and what I have decided on for an audition list.
If anyone wants to chime in with suggestions for speakers to have a go at, please do - I am keeping a running list. If you have suggestions for what you think I should be looking for, I am all ears.
Thanks all!
ALMFamily Speaker Audition List