Podcast #1092: A Speaker Selection Journey

This week we go on a speaker evaluation journey with Ara and his daughter. But not before we read your emails and the week’s news.

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Today's Show:

News:

• Android TV rolls out user profiles, but there's a caveat
• Sling TV launches new features for sports fans, including picture-in-picture mode and an iOS widget
• 8K Association Launches Content Awareness Campaign
• YouTube TV hikes price to $72.99 per month due to rising ‘content costs’

Other:

• Speakers Designed For REAL Rooms - Larsen 4.2 Review
• HT Guys Music Playlist on Apple Music
• HT Guys Music Playlist on Amazon Music
• Ara's Woodworking
• Join the Flaviar Whisky Club and get a free bottle

Backgroud:

• JBL Speaker Makeover but I didn’t have a tweeter
• Bought Dayton Audio DC25T-8 1" Titanium Dome Tweeter for $17 a piece
• These tweeters are very efficient, 93db vs 88db for the entire 2500.
• This mismatch was very off putting. The tweeter was overpowering the woofer and it was fatiguing to listen to.

So I researched how to reduce the high frequencies otherwise known as Tweeter attenuation

Tweeter attenuation is the reduction of voltage & power to a tweeter to decrease its volume output. This is usually done with a resistor network with values chosen to match the expected load of a stereo, amplifier, or speaker crossover.

Essentially what I did was cut the positive (red) lead and insert a resistor. There is a formula that is used to determine how much attenuation a specific resistor value achieve.

So I bought a few resistors and went through the process of removing the tweeter and clipping in a resistor and listening. I used alligator clips during the testing phase and I soldered the final result and shrink wrapped the connection. 

In my case I ended up with a 5 ohm resistor which resulted in a 9 db attenuation. So now the speaker is no longer excessively bright and the Dayton Audio tweeters are much better than the JBL titanium tweeters. There was much more detail and just the right amount of “brightness”.

You can do this if you have speakers that are bright as well. But you probably won’t need to go as high a value as I did since the mismatch was so large. Speakers are designed to work together so if the speakers are bright they were designed that way. But even still if you love you speakers but want to tame them a bit you can easily do this.

I created a video that I uploaded to YouTube. It's not a how to but it visually shows you what i am talking about. I even try to record the before and after using a good microphone. But it's impossible to hear the difference. In person the difference is dramatic. Just make sure you use audio grade resistors. Part Express has plenty and they are a couple of dollars each. 

Once I had everything dialed in I wanted to do a blind listening test. For that I asked my daughter to be the guinea pig. She accepted and got a huge lesson in auditioning speakers. The speakers being auditioned:

• JBL 2500 (Ara Redo all JBL components)

• JBL 2500 (Ara Redo wit DA Tweeter and 5 ohm resistor)

• JBL LX22 (Ara Redo)

• CSS Audio Criton 2D Kit

• Ascend Acoustics Sierra 1 (Ara Redo all Ascend Acoustics components)

We listened to the identical parts of each song on all speakers.

First Test

I asked her to pick a song that she liked. I don’t remember the name but it was by a band called Camino.  I played it on all five different speakers and asked her if she had a favorite. To me it sounded terrible on all speakers. The mix was a jumble of sounds that was just bad. She actually agreed but selected the Ascend Acoustics as the best worst sounding example of crappy music. That was me editorializing.

Second Test

The first minute of “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyed. Wow! What a difference. I could see on my daughter's face that she was blown away by the imaging. The song starts out with an old timey AM radio feel in the right channel. Then when the effect disappears and the guitar comes up smack dab in the middle of your listening position. You just smile. I then start over and switch speakers. The other thing that I found interesting is that for most speakers she couldn’t tell which pair was on. By the end of the test, she started recognizing the characteristics of some of the speakers and was able to tell which ones were on. Test two goes to JBL 2500 with the DA tweeter.

We listened to seven total tracks with the results below:

• Fifth of May by Zach Bryan - JBL 2500 with DA Tweeter

• Dawns by Zach Bryan - JBL 2500 with DA Tweeter

• Tin Pan Alley by SRV - CSS Audio (so much bass!)

• Everything She Ain’t by Haily Whitters - JBL 2500 wit h DA Tweeter

• I have Got You Under My Skin Live in Boston by Chris Botti featuring Katharine McPhee - Ascend Acoustics

In the end the JBL 2500 with the Dayton Audio tweeter was the speaker my daughter picked most. But all these speakers sounded really good. It really comes down to what kind of music you like listening to determine what speakers you will like. In reality all these speakers performed well. If you like bass heavy music then the CSS Audio speakers would be your go to. If you like clear detail then the Ascend Acoustics might be what you would go with. By the way, the CSS audio has great highs and the Ascend Acoustics has great lows. Just not as good as the other. 

But what really surprised me is how well the modified JBL 2500 did against speakers costing $600 to $800 more. If you have any sort of wood working skills, you can build yourself some amazing speakers for a fraction of what you would pay for commercial products. 

Our final recommendation is to consider the type of music you listen to and do research. Once you narrow it down, audition the speakers if possible. Take advantage of in home trials. Try to have them in the house at the same time and keep the ones that sound best. It's a lot of work but speakers practically last forever so choose wisely!

Download Episode #1092