Understanding Speaker Measurements

[@JesusMartinez-mk6fc]

A masterclass on speaker measurements Amir. Kudos! The knowledge just flows out so naturally from your mouth that it shows how well you understand the subject. Thank you for sharing that knowledge and passion.

[@KevinLaffey]

Totally agree. Unscripted, unedited, masterclass indeed. I was looking forward to this video and it didn't disappoint. Thanks Amir.

[@sonicsaviouryouwillnotgetm6678]

I knew all this already because I actually have read Tool's book but I still immensely enjoy listening to Amir explaining this stuff as comprehensively as he does.

[@swenic]

What book is that?

[@americanidle1277]

​@@swenic Sound Reproduction is the name

[@swenic]

@@americanidle1277 ty

[@basberends332]

Great tutorial! Very important. Difficult to measure, glad you do that for the community. Even more difficult to implement at home 😬

[@Untilitpases]

You know someone knows by the clarity of thought (mentally seeing clearly the concepts) and holistic grasp of the subject. Roads traveled which aren't worth taking, etc. This was f Beautiful! You tied scattered concepts (for me) into a coherent picture. Thank you for not being stingy Amir!

[@AudioScienceReview]

Oh, you are very kind! Put a big smile on my face.

[@thegroove2000]

You and Ethan Winer are the dynamic duo. Thanks for your expert no non-sense insights.

[@sree2z]

Phenomenal knowledge on speaker measurements and explained the concepts thoroughly. God bless you and your family.

[@34332]

The waterfall explanation, and actual worth of it, was a great eye-opener as many reviewers use this as some sort of bible. Again a very meaningful, understandable and entertaining course with a touch of humor. Appreciated!

[@Projacked1]

Wow, this was everything a person could want to learn from speaker measurements. I see myself that omnidirectionality is usually explained incorrectly. We learn everyday ! This is excellent Amir, thank you! 👌🤓

[@zyghom]

no, Amir said: 5 years! so that was only scratching the surface man! ;-)

[@YuengsNwings]

I took a leap of faith and blind bought some used Revel 106’s at a great price to replace my B&W CM5’s. The B&W measure to have that happy FR showroom sound (measured by Stereophile, and confirmed by Dirac Live to behave as such in my listening space) that wowed me when I bought them from Best But Magnolia 12 years ago. The research on preferences did not lie to my ears, and I do very much prefer the neutral and well-behaving speaker. It sounds great at all volumes and with all genres of music, which I couldn’t say the same about the B&W. Thanks so much for the video.

[@HeyYall398]

Engaging with this resource provides a rich and enlightening learning experience, significantly outshining the often vague and subjective insights offered by a multitude of audiophiles. While thousands of audiophile opinions may swirl in a realm of subjectivity, often lacking empirical grounding, the knowledge acquired here is rooted in objective analysis and factual evidence. This stark contrast in learning value is palpable. Here, each piece of information is a stepping stone towards a deeper understanding of audio quality, offering a solid foundation for making informed decisions. On the other hand, navigating through the sea of subjective audiophile opinions can feel like wading through a quagmire of personal biases, often leading to a cul-de-sac of confusion rather than a pathway to clarity. The objective lens provided here cuts through the fog of subjectivity, offering a clear, well-lit path to genuine understanding and appreciation of audio excellence.

[@skip1835]

In every single way - an excellent presentation - to call it educational would be putting it mildly - thank you Amir.

[@pennpen]

I never thought I would watch it for an hour. So fascinating. At the same time, I have a better understanding of reading this chart. thanks.

[@AVCONSULTTX]

Very thorough explanation of direct vs early, vs effective power "in room" response in a room. Excellent discussion of the challenges getting test gear to reveal real aberrations of the speaker, vs mic location(s), or room contribution. I envy your test platform!

[@dillonsaudio]

Amir's speaker measurements (more than a dozen and counting) have lined up with my listening impressions. Accurate results; and he is doing these measurements properly. Even using the best high-end amplifiers and source components will not correct a bad pair of speakers. Instead, top-notch gear will only spotlight the shortcomings.

[@mabehall7667]

FANTASTIC!!!!! Thank you very much! Best audiophile video and most informative audiophile video I’ve ever seen.

[@KieronTaylor]

Very nice! I've never struggled to read the graphs, but the explanation of the physical causes of various deviations from ideal is the sort of thing that takes many years of experience to develop an intuition.

[@kenhiett5266]

This is excellent information, Amir. Especially your explanation of the sound dispersion related to matching the drivers. Thank you. One minor disagreement is my experience with ports in the front vs. back. If a speaker is designed properly the port being in the front can be a significant advantage when the speakers are backed up close to a wall.

[@audioprotaro1338]

Most valuable video on speakers

[@AsAgral]

Thank you so much for making the world of audio equipment better :)

[@edgar9651]

Thanks Amir! Perfect timing. I just received my JBL708P which you highly recommended some time ago. After watching this video and looking at your measurements I understand your graphs much better. Thanks.

[@audfrknaveen2256]

I learned many things from you and Erin's audio corner. Thanks a lot for all the great content Amir!!!

[@phpn99]

I'm writing this in the first 5 minutes of the video, so I don't know yet whether you'll address this later : Some of the most compelling and exhilarating experiences I've had listening to reproduced music, was done via dipole speakers. I have owned all kinds of high-end speakers, from very technically-accurate Genelecs to massive units from Wilson Audio. All of these speakers were enjoyable and impressive. But I've experienced things with dipoles that are just peerless. From large Magnepans to the absolutely stunning Linkwitz 521, I feel like there's something in dipoles we ought to talk about. The Linkwitz are very demanding to amplify, and the units I listened to used six Purify core mono amps to drive them with an external crossover. Not a setup for people who don't want to fiddle around, and to whom I'd recommend a good pair of active/integrated Gennies, KEF or similar. The sound of a properly set up Linkwitz in my experience beats the experience of a pair of Kii Threes. Have you had similar experiences ? Do you have a theory about this ? Are dipoles driving the whole room and by that token, making the sound seem more naturally occurring ?

[@AudioScienceReview]

Dipoles due to their design, can cast a very spacious stage which can be quite captivating. With the right music that works so well and beyond what you can get with a standard speaker. The issue I have with them is that they bring the same signature to everything you play. I don't want my rock and pop music to sound that way. To the extent your taste in music matches their capabilities, then they are an excellent choice. Otherwise, I don't think they are a replacement for normal monopole speakers.

[@johnsmith1474]

Great for watching TV.

[@-303-]

I am so happy your video popped up on my feed. I learned SO MUCH.

[@EM-ke8is]

Excellent job making a clear tutorial from A to B , I was able to follow along and grasp as well as you explained what the waterfall graph actually measures as for some reason, I was unable to quite get in the past lol .

[@quaternion]

Tanks for this video Amir. Please make more videos. More videos can mean more participation... Can mean more views and could mean the possibility of monetizing the channel. ASR could benefit from this. ASR and the work you do is (IMHO) to important to go away. 😉

[@AudioScienceReview]

Thank you for the encouragement. Much appreciated. :) On monetization, I qualified long time ago and have chosen to not to do that. It allows people to watch the content without interruptions.

[@willbrink]

Very useful info as always.

[@rikardekvall3433]

Great explanation to understanding measurement. A tutorial for all, whom like to see what the sound measure from our speakers. Hope the big speaker manufacturers see this, so you get more consulting work for their products.

[@AudioScienceReview]

Thank you for the kind remarks. I don't accept consulting work though. I will perform measurements for companies if they don't have the means themselves.

[@antoniomarsicola8608]

Masterpiece as usual ! My proposal for your next video is to explain the Olive's preference score

[@LeoMakes]

Thank you very much for making this video! I'm no stranger to this info (I work in the industry) but watching this filled in quite a few gaps in my knowledge. I hope you'll make more. Also: I now know why my Genelec 8331s sound so damn good no matter where I place them.

[@JBoulter11]

This was so informative, thank you! Would love to see matching videos for headphones, as well as amplifiers and DACs!

[@AudioScienceReview]

Thanks. I have done one for DACs: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ramlemlqjLapm8U The rest will be coming. :)

[@kyron42]

Not a bad video for explaining the basics. In your next video it would be interesting if you explained how multiple subwoofers can be used to fix room modes.

[@AudioScienceReview]

Good idea for a future video.....

[@dingdong2103]

Dr. Earl Geddes made his Phd on the subject, useful read for sure... His speeches can be found on KZbin too.

[@kyron42]

@@dingdong2103 thanks

[@Pierre-Leloup]

Thank you for this demonstration, in particular on the interest of well controlling the dispersion pattern of each driver under different listening angles, I learned some things important for my future 4-way DIY speaker project ! My listening room is not very big but it opens on both sides to other rooms, which lengthens the path of the reflected waves. I use a professional DSP based on the SHARC ADSP21489 (not a MiniDSP) 4 inputs and 8 outputs on XLR on my Magnepan 1.7i active, Purifi amplification and Viawave supertweeters to make up for the lack of air.

[@komhst]

Great educational video! Excellent presentation. Congratulations!!!

[@dihydrotestosterone]

Welcome back 🙏

[@XX-121]

M-Audio BX8 the best monitor you can get for the money. the output from them is amazing. i got mine in 2008 (BX8a) and had 2 friends go out and get a pair behind me. i had another friend looking for some monitors a while back and the bx8's were hard to find because of the pandemic and ended up going with some Rockit's and they can't even compare

[@AudioScienceReview]

Yes, it is quite a find. In Europe it is going for as little as 105 Euros each!

[@carlsitler9071]

I love my BX5s. Use them at work. At home I have quad 15" woofers bi-amped with Danish MTMs.

[@eamon7840]

What a really good tutorial and it does open up a whole set of other questions. Hopefully there are more explanations where these came from. Look forward to when they come along.

[@brannonmcevers1854]

Love hearing the truth! Great job! Thanks for progressing reality!

[@Jorge-Fernandez-Lopez]

I enjoyed this great and important lesson. Thank you Amir.

[@IsmaelMartinezPR]

Hello Amir: Thanks for the content. I truly appreciate it. Cheers

[@brikaf6001]

Thank you for another MasterClass

[@peanutbutterjellyjam2179]

Always a pleasure to follow along as teach us, Professor Amir. (I don't know if you are a professor, but I consider you t be one.)

[@rm-mastering]

Great video, depth and concise. Thank you very much indeed

[@TheLkdude]

@Amir , Thanks for sharing this valuable knowledge and for the amazing video. Please do the follow-up video as well, do Polar plots compliment the horizontal beamwidth?

[@AudioScienceReview]

Thanks and will do.

[@paulhayes2917]

Great video, very insightful - thank you for posting this. Explains why I didn't like the sound after I used the Audyssey calibration on my Denon receiver - it would seem that by flattening the in room response it undid the natural downward slope that I preferred.

[@paulmcdonough9595]

Thank you Amir, for your very informative videos, I wish this had been about when I was looking for new speakers, it would have saved me a lot of travelling about aimlessly listening to different speakers at various dealer. Long may science prevail

[@Mr_G]

Thank you for very detailed explanation, Follow up wideo would be very appreciated as well.

[@migalito1955]

Fabulous presentation.

[@NosEL34]

In my opinion this is such great information. Finding a speaker with a good on and off axis response is so much easier to deal with when actually set up in home. Awesome video with lots of valuable information and great explanation of what's going on. Very cool 👍😎

[@sebastianrosenbach7873]

34:13 Yes, but an EQ will change the time response at that frequency, so you do have a drawback aswell! (DSP based Monitors like Neumanns do correct for that though if using MA1 for example)

[@mp88mp88mp88mp88]

Excellent, a must for anyone who reads the speaker reviews on ASR, makes the review all the more informative. Another video with a different speaker would be great. Out of interest has there ever been a speaker that you tested on the NFS with eq that you have applied after the 1st testing? If would be very cool if a relavtively cheap speaker could measure as good as one say 5-10X more expenisve after simple eq.

[@AudioScienceReview]

Thanks for the kind words. My measurement setup is not conducive to applying EQ. It can be done but is somewhat a pain. The results though would most definitely be as one would predict. The EQ would be reflected in the frequency response measurements. But sure, I should do one so I can point this as being a fact. :)

[@Sukimaye]

Thank you so much. This is the video I was looking for. Very informative.

[@soberspine]

Thank tou for making this videos. Easy to understand.

[@kyron42]

I totally agree that the porch should be at the rear to minimise unwanted noise. You can experiment with having the port various distances from the wall. Having the port very close to the wall has a similar effect as having a longer port.

[@sgmuser]

I stayed with you the whole 1 hour 3 minutes plus and it was so satisfying to bend the brain once in a while learning something a little deeper than usual. Great work Amir!

[@peteleoni9665]

Hi this is Poolio from Belgium. You are a hero of mine. However I am having trouble getting people to believe my scatological audio information. I even start out by saying I am from some exotic location, and even throw in something obscure about the weather to lend credibility. Sadly they still don't believe my serpentine essence. What am I doing wrong? Am I too tranparent?

[@francescodelia4069]

It's a really, really excellent video!

[@tomasstolpe8177]

I have Genelec 8341 x2 with a 7370 sub, very happy with my setup

[@AudioScienceReview]

Genelec makes some of the most perfect speakers around. Their only weakness is when they run out of power in bass which you have remedied with the sub.

[@Gabriel-of-YouTube]

So many ear based audiophiles will hate this...

[@junior-OG]

😂😂

[@rikardekvall3433]

Amir did do a great explanation how it works. I rather be an ear based, then a measurement based audiophile. I’m here for the music.

[@johnlonky8591]

For Amir, only box type speaker exsist in the world. Some of this terory dont apply to panel, diople, open bafle speakers , etc… After trying mangneplanars, I will never go back to box speaker. They all sound “boxy” to me, no matter how well they measure.

[@DaveJ6515]

Why hate? We already have too much hate on this planet. Suffice to say that although I am a mathematician, reading numbers never moves me to tears. Listening to my hifi often does. That’s how I measure my stereo: emotions. But if you prefer measurements, be my guest!

[@Jason-fp7vi]

I don't think anyone hates ear based audiophiles. It's more so a matter that some people are spending much more money than they need to get the same objective experience. You take the blue solid silver amp power cable, you wake up and spend whatever money you want. Take the red lamp cord speaker cable and see how cheap your ear holes go

[@ontherun8]

As I've not much time to watch the full video, at least now, I'm wondering and asking you if Amir has ever made some measurement about FMD and/or AMD (frequency/amplitude modulation distorsion), in particular on coaxial based speakers. Thanks for let me know.

[@robertjones8856]

Hi Amir, I'm new to the channel and I love it. This is an incredible body of work, I'm learning so much. I have ATL PMC speakers, I wonder how they would measure 🤷..maybe we'll find out one day. Thankyou for all your hard work, I'm hooked 🎣. Best regards, Rob UK.

[@hartyewh1]

Great stuff. Glad to finally understand more than the panther's pose.

[@Nightjar726]

For dispersion which is not researched so much, is it better to have a even dispersion let’s say from 1000hz to 10000hz or a slight gradual narrowing of the dispersion ? I’ve seen the Perlisten S7t which has a very wide dispersion but narrows quite immediately around 4000hz which I assume is where it’s woofer hands off to its tweeter array. That’s my first question. Second question. Many say that super wide dispersion has a wider soundstage of course but has diffuse imaging. Is there a good sweet spot to have a nice wide soundstage but good imaging as well? Such as a 70deg even dispersion is a good sweet spot? Or would that be considered very wide dispersion? I wish there was more research on dispersion. Thanks so much!

[@glenncurry3041]

You mentioned that strange resonant dip/peak in the 500-600Hz range. But did not mention that it seems to appear at reduced levels at it's harmonics, a dip about 1.2kHz and a dip and peak around 2.4Khz.

[@AudioScienceReview]

Good catch. I had not noticed it!

[@glenncurry3041]

@@AudioScienceReview Even seems to be a very low level subharmonic of it? Trying to imagine what would cause that narrow of a Q peak/ dip.

[@teashea1]

You have brought a lot of truth to this area. The snake oil pushers are in trouble when faced with the reality of measurements.

[@anfernyjackson9013]

Sorry if I missed it, but which measurement gives an indication of spatial qualities (soundstage width/depth)? I've heard some reviews say higher frequencies (but not mention which or how), for speakers some people say the directivity.

[@Azzy_Mazzy]

is there a way to calculate the in-room response with a weaker celling reflection? and please make a video about room acoustics.

[@nekomancer350]

Thank you, that was very well explained. Do you ever take an RTA of the speakers in your listening position? I was interested in knowing what issues can and can't be fixed with regards to the room.

[@kumarsaride5054]

One word “Brilliant”

[@swenic]

Thank you, Would measuring a bipolar speaker (Paradigm bp for example) be very different?

[@allanellis5827]

Fantastic video Amir. Thank you so much. You are providing an invaluable service to the hifi community. One question. Is it advantageous to purchase an equalizer? If so is there one you could recommend? Thanks again Amir.

[@Adam.NavyVet]

One thousand likes! Speaking about speakers the wait is Over…

[@bingdong8571]

Cool, never watched this channel before, just heard the hate. Lots of really good info! There was some graph in there that you said we used to use but it turns out it was wrong. If you and your gripers can really understand that statement then there should be no problem with all of you i think. Anyway, good stuff.

[@HeyYall398]

Loved this talk!!

[@Edgeangle]

I think videos on measuring and correcting room response would be really interesting.

[@AudioScienceReview]

That is on my TODO list. I will probably wrap it in a video about equalization.

[@Edgeangle]

@@AudioScienceReview that would be awesome! I've been doing a bunch with 4 subs and MSO which is also an interesting potential topic. It makes a huge difference.

[@martingarrish4082]

Good lecture. I have 2 questions: 1. Doesn't the waterfall plot prove that you cannot just EQ local peaks and troughs in a speaker frequency response? The resonant energy storage would still reduce transient response accuracy. So signal fidelity is reduced with any resonance, although it is useful for bass power handling. 2. Wouldn't a well designed full range driver use the cone flexural wave and waveguide flare to allow reasonable off axis dispersion? The problem is that bass drivers do not consider this approach. The full range challenge is meeting bandwith by minimising voice coil mass and maximising magnet BL for a given xmax.

[@armandocamorra2488]

Thanks to the infinite and beyond

[@microfan9892]

What is the reason for not measuring impedance vs frequense vs phase?

[@sharuraudio]

Nice video, although I do think it would have been worth discussing subwoofers and crossing them over with main speakers to get 20 Hz and below extension.

[@kr-edit]

Thank you very much for this video

[@asx1248]

Another brilliantly informative video. I learnt about things I (thought) already knew! You'd have made a good teacher. Amir, let's suppose our stand mounts are above ear height and we use the vertical directivity heat map to angle them down towards the listening position. Should we be worried that we now don't know what the horizontal dispersion and reflections are like because the loudspeaker is tilted? Essentially how does changing the rake angle to improve vertical response effect the horizontal reflections? Hope the question makes sense. Thanks again

[@AudioScienceReview]

Thanks for the kind words. The few degrees won't make a meaningful difference in horizontal axis. If you go 30 to 40 degrees, yes, you are getting a blend of vertical and horizontal axis now. Still, I would go by flat on-axis and if horizontal in the way I measure it is good enough, it would not be a major concern.

[@asx1248]

@@AudioScienceReview thank you, that would seem to make sense. Can I ask, in your video you mention that the reference axis (unless specified otherwise) is the tweeter axis, but when you do the klippel NFS and a sphere of measurements are taken around the speaker, how do you decide the point at which the rotation takes place... How do you choose the point that will be the sphere's centre? Is it the top of the tweeter's dome or somewhere else? Thanks once again.

[@Persia101]

Please do a review on Genelec 8020C

[@zefrog7482]

Great video as always. Thankyou.🙂

[@jonthompson8807]

damn it amir! im supposed to do homework its the last week of class 🤪

[@eDXTRe]

Dynaudio had some exotic diy speakers like 4 way and even 5way. The finale design is 4 way and sounds absolutely stunning

[@Lesterandsons]

It requires a lot of work to make such filters work well

[@eDXTRe]

@@Lesterandsons exactly and this are 1st order time alinged and compensated (for impedance) filters. But what a sound😊

[@Jassethi03]

Thank you Amir. Really appreciate your videos and all the work you put into them. By any chance have you ever measured Harbeth speakers? What are your thoughts about them?

[@AudioScienceReview]

Yes, I measured the Harbeth 30. Please see: www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/harbeth-monitor-30-speaker-review.11108/ I have listened to them at audio shows and they always do a good job of demoing them. The measurements are not terrible just not as good as they could be.

[@Jassethi03]

@@AudioScienceReview thank you Amir. In the Harbeth £4-6k sort of price range what’s your favorite brand/speaker that measures really well? Sorry don’t mean to load you with questions 😊🙏🏼

[@rodrigosepulvedaschulz]

great video Amir, I learn with each one of your videos. I was wondering whether somehow your measuring systems could automatically create a filter for Roon ? (like what Audyssey does with your AV receiver).

[@AudioScienceReview]

Thanks for the kind words. I export all the measurements in the review thread and a member religiously computes filters that can be imported into different EQ setups. My setup itself doesn't have this capability. Please note that these automatic filters tend to be overachievers, creating more filters than you may need.

[@Sinthora97]

Very interesting video. I just love the forum and the channel. One question: you said that the change in the way the drivers beam or widen the sound impact the off axis response. I get that. What i don't fully understand is why they are not equally important for the on axis response. Doesn't delivering more energy to the sides automatically mean less energy to the center? Is this just not a problem because you already assumed that the speaker measures flat on axis? Is it true then that i would have the same problems but reversed if i would tune a speaker off axis first to be flat off axis and then listened to it on axis? Another way to put this question: is the directivity problem aquestion of how a *fixed amount* of energy is spread out in space or is it a question about how much *additional* energy is put out to the sides. I assume it is the first. I am glad for anyone who knows something definitive.

[@AudioScienceReview]

Thank you for kind words. On your question, yes, you could focus all the sound to a narrow angle. But then the moment you shifted left and right the sound would hugely drop off. In addition, side reflections provide spatial effects that are pleasing.

[@peronnikbeijer213]

I would love to see measurements of the sourcepoint products from MoFi

[@AudioScienceReview]

Please drop them an email and ask them to send a review unit in. While I can also ask, it sets the wrong expectation if I do it (i.e. wanting a positive review).

[@DrBroncanuus]

hi Amir, but what about horn speakers they must reflect less sound to the sides ?

[@AudioScienceReview]

Waveguides are actually a mild form of horns so yes, that is the case.

[@davidcottrell1308]

Great job!!! DUDE!!!

[@oppje6188]

Legend, thank you Amir!

[@-BarathKumarS]

Amazing video! Interested to know what your background is,did you work as a audio engineer prior making the forum?

[@AudioScienceReview]

Not directly. Here is a brief version of my background: www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/a-bit-about-your-host.1906/ I have learned a lot of these topics by digging very deep into sound reproduction research in the last 10 to 15 years. And of course testing a ton of speaker (250+).

[@kyron42]

If the speaker gets distorted playing sub bass then you need to chop out to sub bass. Either add a subwoofer or boost the midbass for balance and a bit of punch and slam

[@strawbryminiwheats]

very good, thank you.

[@GentielioGaming]

I guess it has been asked to you before that some speakers sound good with good measurements and some bad with also good measurements. Has it to do with the acoustics in the room they listen or is it a design of good crossover parts vs bad crossover parts in the signal of the speaker? Do better parts in the speaker make a difference. If it is so many speakers even high end are not good even expensive ones if they not have the quality parts.

[@lukeselker5175]

At what point is total harmonic distortion audible? I've seen a range of published figures, usually for single sinusoidal waveform, 0.1-0.2%, and for real world music, 5-15%. Any thoughts on this based on research you've read, or your own personal experience?

[@AudioScienceReview]

It is the nature of the harmonic distortion that matters. Conditions need to be arranged such that the harmonics land in the most critical region of our hearing (2 to 5 kHz). Researched published indicates this is likely to happen to higher harmonics of 500 Hz. Those harmonics need not be loud at all to be audible. They just need to escape the masking effect of the primary tone that caused them.

[@MALAKASAM]

How these measurements are taken for a speaker with tweeter in side the woofer?

[@AudioScienceReview]

It won't make a difference to the measurement system what the makeup of the speaker is. Indeed I have measured a ton of speakers with coaxial drivers. See this Genelec 8361 for example: www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/genelec-8361a-review-powered-monitor.28039/ The only test that it messes up is the one where i make close mic'ed measurements. I naturally can't exclude the sound of one driver from another. But the bulk of the measurements are not impacted per above.

[@MALAKASAM]

@@AudioScienceReview Thank you!

[@phillipmorris9847]

thank you

[@flargosa]

What is the difference in sound between a flat measuring $500 speaker vs a flat measuring $5k speaker?

[@BoredErica]

Ability to play loudly and at deeper frequencies without a subwoofer.

[@ailurophile71]

I think I understand how these types of measurements establish a baseline of sorts for quality, i.e. these are common things that can adversely affect the quality of sound in a room. I guess what I'm wondering is, could two speakers have very similar measurements of this type, but one would sound good and another less? I'm thinking about attributes like the timbre of instruments and voices which - well, I guess it's unclear to me whether these are quantified in your measurements. If, for example due to materials or shape or what have you, speaker A just makes a violin sound more like a violin than speaker B, even though they measure similarly. Or, past timbre, is it possible that of two similarly measuring speakers one is better than the other at reproducing more complex sounds, e.g. an orchestral recording? Or are these things all considered to be measureable?

[@AudioScienceReview]

Acoustic products never measure the same. Within those variations, it is possible that you like one better than another. The purpose of the measurements is to rule out poorly designed speakers. And not necessarily crown a single winner. Well designed speakers sound remarkably alike. Not identical but very similar.