Only as good as its weakest Link, resources for speakersSep 08 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
Popular Products in Car Speakers and Subwoofers
The Bottom Line Consider the stuff driving the speakers first. Then
get good drivers for the speakers.
I have been a Audiophile for over 25 years. However I prefer value and quality of sound. Quality of sound is definitely a subjective subject. Men tend to hear bass better than women. While women hear treble better than men! Room acoustics also are important. In addition, the quality of your components driving the speakers are the first step in the process. Two things to remember here is power (RMS watts) and the total harmonic distortion THD. THD less than .01 is said to be inaudible, however when you turn the volume way up, it may still distort due to various reasons. Power or watts is very important. At 40 watts per channel should be enough to shake the walls. At 80 watts per channel, even though its twice the power of 40 watts, doesn't mean that the loudness or volume level will double. It will be louder but not twice as loud. This relationship holds true for increasing power (watts) and volume levels. However, but getting more watts, the sound should be clearer, more defined. Back in the late 70's and early 80's, amplifiers were cleaner, less distortion. Why? Because we had things like radio tuners, cassette tape decks, turntables and yes even 8-track tape players. These components had high distortion levels compared with DVD's and compact discs. I shake my head when I go to the store and read THD levels of .9 or 1% and higher. Clearly the manufacturers here are cutting corners in the amplifier department. The best amp I ever saw was a Pioneer with a THD of .0001% distortion. It wasn't that expensive. Other things to consider are separate bass and treble, and a bass boost control. Without these, you will never get a quality sound for you room acoustics. In addition a graphic equalizer is really a must add on. I again shake my head when I see receivers with preset sound levels for a equalizer. It is better than nothing, but I think you would be happier with the ability to choose you equalizer settings yourself to match your own tastes. Definitely buy one that has a user defined setting to give you the option of adjusting your own sound preferences. The best way to go is to get separate bass and treble with a loudness button in addition to a user defined graphic equalization control. All this might sound expensive, but if you are savy, it really isn't. On to speakers. You can get great sound from cheap speakers if you have the right stuff driving them. You can get ok sound from great speakers if you have junk driving them. I have heard and seen many systems. I have seen little boom boxes drive big speakers. And I have seen car stereos in the house ( a 12 volt power supply is needed here) with fabulous sound. But most common is the addition of a tweeter on top of a speaker. Just attach the wires to the back of the speaker here. Tweeters use less watts than midranges and woofers consume most watts in a speaker. So attaching a tweeter to a speaker is really no big drain to the amp. A good source for speaker's, not built ones, but rather the parts....tweeters, midranges and woofers I have found is MCM Electronics and Parts Express. Both can be found on the net easily. These are the most comprehensive place's I know of when it comes to replacement parts for repair or building new speakers. I hope I have helped you through my personal experience. And I wish you luck in choosing you next audio system.  |
| Write the first comment on this review! |
|
Ads by Google
|
