Whats "specs" to look for when buying speakers?

Question

I'm not talking about price, I just want to know what specs to look for and what they mean/how to compare them. Such as Watts, Amps, Ohms, Frequency Response and anything else

Answer 1

U should get really good speakers, speakers are the weakest link in any sound system. Cheap speakers sound cheap even with great receivers. Match the Ohms and the watts of the reciever and the speakers, this makes the system to work with maximun efficiency, some lower priced systems sound good because manufacturers match this two paramaters.

Answer 2

I've heard speakers with lousy specs that sound great and vice-versa. The important things to consider are

Wattage: You want to make sure that your speakers can handle the power your giving them. If you have a 100 watt per channel  receiver (or amp) then you want speakers that can handle that much power.

Any name brand speakers will be (rated at) 4, 6, or 8 ohm. Any name brand receiver won't have a problem with this. Also, frequency response will generally be 20, to 20,000 hz. Anything over 20,000 is wasted because the human ear can't hear it. You also can't hear under 80 hz or so but the lower frequencies can shake the room and you can feel the sound pressure.

It's more important to get a receiver with low distortion. Distortion (even at relatively low volumes) and pushing too much power through a speaker is what blows them.

You really need to spend some serious time listening to speaker systems and less time worrying about specs.

Answer 3

In the end, what your ears tell you is more important than specs. However, I have found that specs are helpful in narrowing down the field before you start the listening / comparing process. So, the basics:

1) Most consumer speakers today range in impedance from 4 to 8 ohms. The lower the impedance, the more power they will pull from the same amp. So an amp that puts 50 watts into an 8 ohm speaker can put as much as 100 watts into a 4 ohm speaker, assuming its power supply and circuitry is up to the task. Most people ignore the impedance (since it doesn't matter to the sound), except for calculating the power - which can matter when you're determining whether your amp will be too powerful for the speakers. I recently blew out a rear channel speaker with a new amp that was too powerful for it - so do beware! Your amp specs should indicate how much power it will put into a speaker at each impedance level.

2) You'll want to make sure the power rating of the speaker has a comfortable margin above what your amp can provide. When I blew out the speaker I was putting probably 120 watts into a speaker rated for 75. Oops. Would have been better to have a speaker rated for 150, in that situation, which would be rare for a rear channel. Most home theater speakers today are rated for from 75 to 100 watts. I solved my problem for the rear channel (after I got the speaker repaired) by reducing the power going to the rear channel.

3) Amps are not a relevant spec. They are related to the impedance and power (watts) rating, but you won't need to use this number.

4) Frequency response. The "classic" view is that the ideal speaker would respond "flat" (with minimal variation from a flat line on a frequency response chart) from 20 Hz (Hertz) to 20,000 Hz. But most adults can't hear above 15,000, and most speakers don't do much below 50 Hz. High end audiophile speakers should be expected to be almost flat down to 32 Hz, and extend to 20,000 Hz. or above. Some "golden ear" audiophiles claim they can hear a difference in speakers that go higher, so at the high-end of the high-end, speakers go to 30,000 or higher.

In my experience working with equalizers, a slight rise in output (about 3 db per octave) below 100 Hz. provides a pleasing firmness to the bass, and most consumer speakers today are a little emphasized in the bass. Avoid emphasis elsewhere (midrange or highs), it will distort the tone. At least, that's my taste.

If you're using a subwoofer, as in a home theater, then you won't need the other speakers to go as low. My subwoofer crosses over at 100 Hz (that's where I set it), so bass below that point is not needed, in theory, although the B&W speakers I use in the front are in fact pretty flat down to 32.

5) Another measurement that you don't see quoted much nowadays, but which does matter, is the dispersion. This is expressed as a circular chart that shows how much the sound falls off at various frequencies as you move off-axis from being directly in front of the speaker. Low frequencies exhibit high dispersion, but higher ones can be quite narrow. You'll want to take these characteristics into account in planning your listening area. If you have seating for multiple people, rather than have one ideal listening location, you'll want to make sure that well-balanced sound is produced throughout the listening area. In theory the smaller the tweeter, the less dispersion it provides, although some tweeter designs can offer more dispersion at the same size (like a dome).

6) Then there's whether it's 2-way, 3-way, etc. Audiophile speakers will typically be 3-way, but a good 2-way B&W will outperform a cheap 3-way. So your ears are the best test.

There are lots of other things you can look at in the specs for things like the crossover network and how it performs, but that's pretty esoteric, and if you're buying a major speaker brand, you can usually trust that it will be good.

Answer 4

Frequency response 20-20,000 Hz.  Anything higher or lower is outside the human range.

Recommended amplifier power.

Impedence in ohms.

Efficiency in dB.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

Some great answers already here, let me give a non-technical answer:

You cant.

(This is like reading the ingredients on a can of beer or carton of ice cream and deciding which tastes best.)

Speakers have 'flavor'.  As much as we try and apply numbers to it - you just cannot quantify it.

Take a favorite music CD with you and just go listen.  Using songs you are familiar with will show you things about speakers.

And while you dont need accurate music speakers for a home theater system, music is a good test drive for them.