|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
174.92.183.202
Any correlation between the weight of a speaker, size for size, and its sound quality?
Sounds strange put like that I admit, but what with the search for the most rigid cabinets possible the thickness of standard construction box-type cabinets, MDF or plywood and not aluminium or carbon fibre or something exotic like that, keeps getting greater.
Better quality drivers have cast baskets and not stamped ones, so weight is a factor there also.
So have any of you liked a speaker until you lifted it and started to have doubts about it because of its lack of heft?
Follow Ups:
Speakers do have to be built, to some extent with bulk. Just the basic physics of acoustics and embedded drivers.
As for stereos. A light weight stereo to me usually means a poorly built power supply. The heart of any audio piece. Digital is a different story.
So yes, there is a basic weight in audio.
charles
For example, at $50 a watt my Pass amp is absurdly expensive. However, for what it is, $50 a pound is a real bargain.I've been browsing bookshelf speakers and keeping an eye on weights but have yet to determine a price point.
-reub
Edits: 09/23/14 09/23/14 09/23/14 09/23/14
Weight tells a little...but density (mass/volume) tells more. I used to compare the density of speakers that I had never seen by looking up their mass and volume (in catalogs) and that density figure almost always identified those speakers using the best (biggest magnet structures) drivers. Density data allows you too look inside the speaker cabinets and even inside the drivers themselves.
Edits: 09/23/14
If the speakers come from the deaden resonances school of design than a big heavy dead cabinet makes sense and might inspire confidence. But speakers like my AN E, AN J, AX Two and former AN K are all very light for their size due to their largely undamped nature with the idea that resonances should be evacuated from the cabinet as fast as possible rather than stored to liner in the cabinet and clutter up the sound. OB and panels are usually quite light as well.
Amplifiers from most makers seem to get heavier as you move up the line - so you might make a case there.
Turntables - depends on the design suspended tables with light platters like the my old AN TT2 and the Voyd Reference are at least as good as anything I've heard from the ultra heavy contenders for around the same money - so my thought is why pay for the weight if it's not giving you benefits?
As a rule you're correct but I'll bet there are exceptions. Off the top of my head I recall the Celestion aerolam cabinets and I recall another British speaker with hard foam covered with a formica like material for all but the front panel. These were rigid cabinets but with low mass. I'm sure there are lots of other examples but I'm also sure it's a low percentage.
Aerolam is certainly an exotic material in my book.
I recall many years ago that Wharfedale made a series of speakers out of a material much like Foamcore the idea being that the box did not have to be rigid. I don't think that notion won out in the speaker design war though.
To a certain point. It has to weigh SOMETHING but not tons...
Not true a OB has lots of issues with coloration and vibration pooling on baffles edge toss in baffle size relating to low frequency extension thus needing extremely thick large well supported baffles.
that's why I said "to a point" they need to have SOME substance to hold the drivers but unlike traditional boxes, you know... it would be silly. ;)
My question was prompted by the difference in weight between the Revel Salon 1 (210 lbs each) and the Bryston Model T (108 lbs each).
I understand quite well that the construction of the cabinet with curved panels and well designed cross bracing can yield a rigid structure despite lower weight, but a difference of pretty near 2 to 1 gives one pause.
Maybe a more valid comparison would be with the current Salon 2, but those suckers weigh in at 178 lbs a piece, so pretty much the same issue.
Again...don't drink and post... Don't let your friends drink and post. :)
I didn't answer your question... No, I have never liked a speaker then reconsidered when I picked it up because it was light. But I do remember once not liking a pair of near field studio monitors and picking them up to go "oh yeah...no wonder these suck" because they weighed next to nothing.
Of course, marketing being marketing, I'm sure there are some speakers out there that are made heavier just to be heavy and didn't really benefit from the extra 20 or 30 pounds except on the spec sheet.
But I'm also sure there are more cases of it weighs what it weighs because that's the way the engineer made it.
Yes, to me weight = excellent build quality. Additionally, the inside inert resonance(s) are decreased as well.
.., but the monitors I've been using weigh maybe 15 - 20 lbs. each. They have molded cabinets made from some type of phenolic-like substance. The cabinet walls aren't very thick and I can feel them vibrating when they're running hard, but I think that these might be the least "colored" sounding speakers I've owned. This relatively lightweight material simply doesn't seem to impart much sound of it's own.The thickness of the cabinet walls accounts for a lot of the weight differences between speakers so I'm no longer convinced, as I once was, that the heaviest speakers are necessarily the best sounding ones. Reviews don't show that heavy speakers are always the best performers, either.
Edits: 09/23/14
Again, those cabinets are neither MDF or plywood.
I am probably wrong, but I have owned many good speakers over the years and this is what I have noticed.
These are the things that almost always mean a quality speaker..
Separate terminals for each driver
Separate chambers for each driver
Matching sets of speakers
And the things often found on quality speakers..
Wood or wood veneer cabinets
Protected drivers (from being overdriven)
Individual serial numbers
Nice looking magnet structures
Good quality surrounds (especially foam ones)
And the things often found on good speakers
Cast driver frames
Solidly built cabinets
Easily removable grill covers
Owners manuals
Banana plug inputs
This often adds up to a heavy cabinet. I have noticed on my ADS speakers that their cabinets seldom vibrate. I learn something mew each day but this is my story today..
I have enjoyed speakers using both approaches.
Without thinking about too much, as speaker dynamic capability increases, cabinet inertia becomes more important. A large, efficient speaker running a 15" woofer that is able to hit mid-20 Hz cleanly might require a more inert cabinet than a nice-sounding but low-efficiency stand-mount speaker running a 6 1/2 mid-bass.
But no, I have never liked a speaker then had second thoughts about its lack of heft.
Cheers,
Ray
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few." Shunryo Suzuki
Most manufacturers design with maximally inert cabinets as a goal which is normally correlated with high mass. However, speakers like the Spendor SP1/2 factor in wall flex as part of the design goal and therefore they don't have the mass one would expect for an inert cabinet of that size. As a former owner of SP 1/2's, I'd say they were quite successful with that approach. I might still have them except that they did not do the bottom octave very well and I could never get a good match with a subwoofer. My current Vandy 3A Sigs use the inert cabinet approach and have much higher mass than the Spendors (and better low bass).
Weight has always bespoke quality. This was true of amps, turntables, and, yes, speakers. However, with the advent of truly good Class D amps, I've had to re-think that part of it.
But I still think that better speakers will weigh more than lesser quality ones. At least until they come up with some new, magic materials that put the lie to that proposition...
-RW-
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: