And do they not measure differently in some way?
One measure that you used to get many years ago (at least when I was making my own amplifiers) was slew rate, which I think is a useful measurement. The frequency response, while very useful, often doesn’t tell you much about the current delivery at each frequency.
Probably in some and not in others. Point was, the frequency response curve tells us nothing for amps, and in particular not how good it sounds. Other measurements may or may not.
For speakers, the freq response tells us more, but two speakers with the same/similar curve don’t necessarily sound the same, either.
I would not, anyway, rely on only one measure.
That’s wise, but I was only responding to
Speakers with a good, flat response across the spectrum, going from, say, 20Hz to 22kHz, amp and preamp doing similar, then that would be the ones I would go for. I’d be very surprised if that would not sound good.
Because flat response curves are no guarantee at all
Fair enough. I was just looking at the very basics.
So can you tell me how you think this measurement would sound and what type of speaker you think it is? Also, what value you would place on it?
Interesting question - to which has to be to asked if the measurements available on everything they sell would be comprehensive with all tested under defined conditions, and without, for example, over-smoothing of response curves or omission of measurements that a manufacturer might feel are less favourable to them (whether or not they consider not important to the sound)?
Or you don’t find out!
Ok so which measurement tells you the treble quality and airiness between an expensive berillium dome and a cheaper textile dome rolled off at the same frequency?
My ears can tell me that rather quickly.
I am not saying that measurement mean nothing. Clearly they are a tool to help engineers meet their goal but for some things there is only one way to know. Using your ears. That is why most test before they buy and not simply ask the hifi store for a set of measurements.
That’s an insanely linear response curve, looks more like a pair of headphones than a pair of full range speakers. Even for headphones it would be really linear though.
If it’s a speaker then it’s certainly an active single driver speaker with a closed (non-ported) design.
Nobody said anything about preferring the lumpy response but how do you choose between two good/ flat ones?
Haha nice!
8 drivers I believe!!
Wow that’s pretty impressive then, from an engineering standpoint at least. No idea how it sounds ofcourse!
Apple HomePod.
Ah right, it does help that it’s quite small, but still impressive!
I would want a lot more information/measurement than that, e.g.
On-axis frequency response Impulse response, Impedance, Cumulative spectral decay, Distortion, Polar response, Step response, Efficiency/Sensitivity, Dynamics, power handling, size etc. For instance, this looks like a nice, pretty flat response. But I don’t know whether this is a headphone or some other small speaker or a large speaker. I suspect the former - this would be a good start for a floor stander, for instance. I would want to know what sort of drive units (horn, electrostatic or more usual driver), on and off axis responses - lots of information over and above a single graph like this - promising though it is.
Maybe you could post some of those measurements of your own speakers for us to see all of these demonstrated. I assume someone that demands this will have made sure to get this.
Or did you just listen?
It would be nice if cable manufacturers were to give even the basics of the electrical characteristics of their cables.
So you asked about people getting this information. Well…
I’ve no idea because I haven’t compared different done materials, the sound produced being what is relevant not the material, mechanical characteristics of the material being only one of many factors in creating the sound of a tweeter. But I bet the differences between tweeters can be seen if thorough measurements are taken - but indeed not likely with manufacturers’ published x-y Hz data even when a tolerance of typically 3 or even 6 dB is quoted, especially if derived from a well-smoothed response curve.
Oh, and I have always advocated choosing a speaker based on whether one likes its character because they are the most imperfect components, And with the vast majority of speakers I’ve seen, manufacturers’ published measurements have been nowhere near comprehensive, general very rudimentary indeed.