Whenever a newbie like myself seeks help on selecting his/her new speakers, many people request more details, such as room measurements, music preference, and budget... etc.
My question is, beside the personal preference on sonic attributes and system synergy, what are the technical aspects of the speaker to be better at certain type of music?
For example , I've been told many times that B&W is somewhat boring, and laid-back, yet they could be a better choice for classcial music than, say, MA speakers. And, if you wanna rock, MA could be a better choice than a pair of speakers from B&W.
I know, it's a system that I listen, but I would like to know if there's certain technical aspects of the speakers that might indicate the pair should be better with Jazz than playing Classcial vice versa..
well... if you like B&W for rock... it is what you like!
It all boils down to personal preference. While I do believe that there are certain speakers that do things better than others, I am trying to stop stereotyping (no pun intended) speakers into the "this one is only good for that" crowd, because as far as I am concerned... a speaker should sound good with everything it fed into it.
If it does not, IMHO what is the point of having it
"My question is, beside the personal preference on sonic attributes and system synergy, what are the technical aspects of the speaker to be better at certain type of music?"
Your question is too broad to be answered without longwinded and oftentimes conflicting responses. Sonic attributes would, if I understand your question, primarily stem from the technical aspects of the speaker.
A speaker with an elevated high frequency content could result from a speaker with a crossover with too shallow a filter action, a less emphatic reduction of signal strength within the crossover, a strong resonance somewhere within the system, a narrow beaming driver which focusses much of its strength on axis, a broadly dispersive driver placed incorrectly in an under-damped environment, etc.
Similarly, you could come up with multiple reasons for the sonic attribute of strong bass or deeply extended bass response or more commonly the well known "one note bass" found in cheap, less well designed systems. The speaker designer's numerous choices in technical aspects provide the sonic signature of the speaker which would be why you would think a B&W sounds "this" way while a MA sounds "that" way.
Certainly, personal preference for a specific sonic signature would then have to be taken into consideration as one person might prefer a more emphatic high frequency content than another listener or a "warmer" midrange than another listener.
That, of course, assumes you are trying to find a speaker that is not correct for all types of music but only flatters a few specific types of music. For the most part, flattering a few types of music over others is not the definition of high end audio. The essential concept of "better" audio systems is to be as transparent to the source as possible which precludes any flavoring preference to any one type of music.
Think of a ham sandwich on white with mayonaise, the mayonaise might be the perfect condiment - in your opinion - to the ham and white bread. Mayonaise and white bread would be entirely out of place on a Rueben and certainly out of place on a taco. High end audio works in much the same fashion. Rather than having a constant overlay of one flavoring on all types of music you are trying to find the components that have as little negative effect as possible or which you might say lend as little of their own flavor as possible. Therefore, in high end audio there are no desired flavors of mayonaise, Russian dressing or salsa. What is on the source is what you are trying to hear and nothing more since all else can be considered a distortion of the original to a greater or lesser extent. How successful the designer has been at achieving this goal is your choice to make and can possibly be influenced by how broadly your musical tatses range. If you are unfamiliar with the sound of live string quartets playing in an unamplified acoustic, then you very likely won't have much of an opinion on how well a speaker portrays the sound of string quartets.
Personal restrictions will play a role in choosing the technical aspects of a system. You'll need the ability to play at somewhat elevated volume levels in a very large room compared to a very small room just to achieve the same average volume level. You'll do much better gaining your volume capacity by selecting speakers with moderately high sensitivity specifications. A moderately high spec here would be anything above 88dB with one watt driving the system. Every time you can add +3dB to the speaker's sensitivity you have the equivalent to either having twice as much available wattage or to reducing your wattage requirements by one half. This is probably the most frequently cited "technical aspect" of speaker design that is also the most frequently misunderstood concept of putting together a successful system. If you do not understand what has been said here, then ask for a full explanation.
Secondly, the next most common mistake newbies make is to buy a speaker with a too difficult impedance load for their amplifier. Keep the "nominal" or average impedance of the speakers as high and as stable as possible. This will have the effect of allowing the amplifier to work less hard which means less strain on the system and therefore cleaner, higher dynamic peaks and more evenly balanced response. Avoid four Ohm speakers and make certain whichever speaker you choose has an impedance curve that does not dip below six Ohms. When choosing an amplifier avoid any design that warns against the use of low impedance speakers as these are generally less well designed systems.
If you'll pay heed to those three "technical aspects" of speaker design - keep the impedance and the sensitivity as high as possible for the sound you select and hold the mayo - then you should be in the ballpark for a workable system. If your intent is to find a speaker that does favor one type of music, then add the mayo, rye bread, a tomato with Bib lettuce and a good sized helping of hot sauce. If you stray from "neutrality", then only you can decide which way to go with the final result.
Beyond that other technical attributes (or choices made by the designer) become more complex and though they might have a distinct influence on how a speaker renders, say, classical vs. hip hop the answers as to why the speaker performs as it does become less clear for each system and each listener and every room.
Every design has trade-offs. Some speakers have a better sense of immediacy, some sound mellow; some smooth things over a bit, some show the music warts and all. I could go on and on, but I think everyone gets what I'm saying.
I think certain attributes may do some genres more favors than others, but saying some speakers are better suited for certian genres than others is pretty inaccurate IMO. I think its more a matter of people value aspects of the sound differently.
A great speaker should play everything equally well. With that being said, I know some fantastic speakers that don't do my music any justice. Or is it don't do my ears any justice?
First and foremost an efficient speaker that adds nothing to the sound is the most universally successful at whatever genre of music played through it as JV articulate above.
I think that if someone wanted to play hip-hop and rap and nothing else they might opt for a speaker with a strong bass presence which is not doing anything more than messing up the pace and timing of the music as compared to a neutral speaker handling the same music. Over compensating bass into the music kills the music as I can easily do with my Gallo sub-amp.
The low water mark for the frequency of a speaker might have some influence, some book shelf speakers are often mated with a sub, but some could handle most but not all music genres without the sub. What I mean is the frequency range 60 Hz to 20 Khz or does the speaker go lower to perhaps 35 Hz to 20 Khz. Not that many instruments go below 60 Hz FWIW.
Probably not one of my better posts but I wanted to convey the aspect of the physical limitations of the speaker in conjunction to the demands which may be placed upon it by the preferred types of music to be put through them.
As always, I appreciate all of your kind explainations. I am grateful for information and experience that you guys are sharing with a newbie like myself.
Firstly, if the genres are different, then the speakers should make different choices according to the purposes. Like words and notes used in one genre will not be the same as the other type. Realization pattern differs in different genres.
