As the terminal equipment of audio frequency, speakers, like human voice, largely determine the quality of a set of audio. It is no exaggeration to say that choosing a pair of good speakers is the key to the success of a set of audio, and it is not allowed to be sloppy. However, in today's audio market, there are hundreds of finished speaker brands, among which there are many famous international brands, such as BOSE (Doctor), JBL, INFINITY (Swallow-Lee), Westlake Audio (West Lake) and PolkAudio (Sound of Music) in the United Kingdom, ATC (King Brand) and B& W, T annoy, MonitorAudio, KEF, and Chu Qing after the rain: Danish (Crown) DYNAUD1 (Dana), DALI (Danny), Jamo (Zunbao): German Heco (Degao), Mignat (Maagnat), ELAC (. French voice of dreams (VIS1NACOUSTIQUE) and JMLab (strong waves): domestic fine products include the series of God of War, landscape series, Jinlang, hivi, Xindeke, Gospel, Cyclone, and so on, which are numerous and endless. The quality is uneven and the price varies widely. Even the speakers of the same brand and series often have a little higher sound quality, and the price will rise several times in geometric product. This is precisely because the speaker has made the slowest progress and the weakest technology since the invention of electronic audio engineering. According to the British "Fever Book", Rogersls 3/5, a famous English evergreen phonograph for many years, was introduced in the 196s and sold well for nearly forty years. Its pure and elegant timbre is still regarded as a hot commodity by many senior Hi-Fi enthusiasts. Today, with the high development of audio technology, it is really puzzling. So don't underestimate the creation of the speaker. Don't think that the speaker is just a few speakers and a few Hi-Fi or Hi-END boxes. The knowledge of speakers is too great to write, and opinions vary from school to school. Just like the dispute between Chinese medicine and western medicine in the medical field, or like treating some intractable diseases: those who say clearly can't cure the disease, but those who cure the disease well say they don't understand. However, for consumers, we just need to learn how to identify and choose. So is there a popular and simple way for most inexperienced consumers to learn to judge the quality of a pair of speakers not by expensive prices or taking chances, but by the following "seven points" of speaker audition:
1. Preliminary understanding of speakers before audition
The initial understanding of a pair of speakers can be identified by the steps of "observing, weighing, knocking and recognizing": namely, observing the process, and secondly.
the appearance technology is to judge the quality of the box from the first image of the box appearance: the box made of natural logs is of course the best, and many world-famous supreme boxes with sky-high prices, including Italy's Chario (Zhuoli) and Guarneri Homage (famous piano), will never be as popular as the ubiquitous "Rejoice" shampoo due to environmental protection, lack of resources, difficult processing technology and long time. Therefore, the common speakers are decorated with a thin layer of wood veneer on the surface of MDF medium density fiberboard: speakers with real wood veneer and exquisite external decoration, especially rare wood veneers such as rosewood, sparrow's eye, pear, walnut, zhennan and red oak, have excellent natural wood grain visual effect and smooth and comfortable hand feel. Especially, those who polish the piano with symmetrical butterfly pattern real wood skin after multi-layer coating can be regarded as medium and high-grade boutique speakers, and there are very few counterfeit products. The box covered with PVC plastic belongs to staple goods. Although it is fine in workmanship, it can only be regarded as middle and low-grade goods at best. However, although the box decorated with this paper veneer looks very extreme, more attention should be paid to whether the sticking seam behind the box and the digging and binding process of the horn installation position are accurate. Fake and shoddy products generally don't pay attention to these details, so they can be judged correctly with a little care.
DEBUG comment: actually, we can hardly see the real log box even on the HI-FI box. Because the wood that can meet the requirements of manufacturing speakers is extremely rare, for example, the wood used by Chario in many top products is the top Italian red oak that has grown for more than 4 years. According to the Italian environmental protection law, for every such tree species cut down, the buyer must replant 1 similar saplings in addition to the wood price.
Second, weigh
Good speakers are mostly made of high-quality MDF particle boards of 18 ~ 25mm, while high-grade flagship speakers are made of overweight solid wood such as rosewood and yellow pomelo or multi-layer composite plywood, so the weight is amazing. Often the net weight of a pair of speakers reaches 5 or 6 kilograms. Most middle and low-grade staple goods use soft particleboard, while counterfeit and shoddy products use poor quality paper rubber board, so the weight is generally lighter. There is often a saying in the audio industry that "experts look at quality and laymen weigh it", and heavy speakers are definitely better than light speakers. However, it is necessary to be wary of unscrupulous merchants pouring sand and cement at the bottom of the sound body to gain weight to deceive consumers.
DEBUG comment: here, we should pay attention to some wooden speaker products designed with curved boxes. Although the curved boxes are beautiful in appearance and beneficial to acoustic design, due to the need of processing technology, the firmness of the wood used in these boxes is often not as strong as that of products with pure square structure. It's a bit of a dilemma.
The third is to knock on the box
Knock on the front, rear, left and right baffles of the box with your knuckles. All sides of the box are heavy and slightly crunchy, and it feels that the board is hard and thick, supported by multiple reinforcing ribs inside, and the box structure is reasonable and firm, with various sound insulation and standing wave prevention measures. This kind of box has high processing cost and great difficulty, so there are few fake and shoddy products. If you hit the box with your knuckles and make a "poof, poof" empty sound, it means that the plate is too thin, the material quality is too poor and the structure is unreasonable. And there is no sound-absorbing material or reinforcement inside, which leads to the formation of a large number of diffuse reflection and standing waves in the box. You can never get a good playback effect by purchasing this kind of speaker.
Fourth, recognize the nameplate
All really good speakers have a well-made gold-plated or chrome-plated nameplate mark, and the nameplate is generally engraved with a distinctive trademark, company, name, place of origin, corresponding indicators and so on. Imported boxes are available in English, such as Made in xxx or Manufacture, corresponding trademarks, speaker indicators, etc. If there is only design in ... (XX design) or only a country name is vaguely marked, even apart from a few simple and extremely imprecise basic indicators, neither the place of origin nor the manufacturer can be seen, and the trademark has no registration mark. Most of these three-no products are suspected of counterfeiting and shoddy. Brand-name speakers attach great importance to brand image and corporate visibility, so the nameplate marks attached are very standardized and exquisite, and all indicators, corporate names and places of origin are readily available. Some nameplates are even made of thin metal plated with 24K real gold, and the fonts on them are still concave and convex. The product not only has the factory date, the production serial number, but also the matching serial number and the ID card attached to the box. For this kind of speakers, as long as the price is reasonable, you can generally choose them with confidence.
2. judging the quality of the speaker from the technical indicators
as mentioned above, a technical label is usually attached to the back of the finished speaker: the content is nothing more than the frequency range, sensitivity, carrying power and impedance of the speaker. Among them, the sensitivity is the most important index of the speaker, which largely determines what kind of power amplifier the box should be equipped with, how much power it needs to push and so on. The sensitivity of most audio-visual household speakers is between 86 and 92 dB. For the same amplifier, at the same volume (such as turning the volume to 1 o'clock), the higher the sensitivity, the louder the sound, and the lower the power requirements and requirements of the speaker for the amplifier. This is what people often say: it's easier to push the speakers. The sensitivity of professional speakers used in many commercial OK halls exceeds 1dB, so it is no wonder that many people feel that when they go to the OK hall to sing karaoke, the sound is very beautiful and they can get a lot of volume without any effort. But don't think that the higher the sensitivity is, the better. In fact, speakers with sensitivity over 92dB are all light and thin metal pots and PP pots, which will damage the control of the speakers, resulting in thin, beautiful, exaggerated and tough sound quality, and a lot of musical details and charm are missing. Not suitable for Hi-Fi listening. However, many famous speakers with thick and soft sounds and full of musical flavor usually have low sensitivity. For example, the sensitivity of top speakers such as British imperial ATC, Italian famous piano and Zhuo Li is only 82dB. This kind of speaker is often extremely difficult to serve, and it needs a giant power amplifier with great output current to make it work in an ideal linear region, and the cost will never be small.
DEBUG comment: most multimedia speakers use speakers with high sensitivity. In fact, an important reason is that low-sensitivity units need high-power power amplifiers to push them, so the added cost on the amplifiers is not a fraction of a star.
another most important indicator is the frequency range. For example, the frequency range of a bookcase is 6Hz ~ 2 kHz 2.5 dB, and 6 Hz represents the extension value of the speaker in the low frequency direction. The lower this number is, the better the low-frequency response of the speaker: 2KHz represents the high-frequency extension that the speaker can achieve. The higher the number, the better the audio characteristics. The suffix of+/-±2.5dB indicates the distortion degree of the frequency range mentioned above, and the smaller the distortion degree, the flatter the frequency response curve will be. The distortion of some speaker labels is ±3dB, and its frequency range should be wider. Some speakers do not indicate this indicator, and the frequency extension range will become very wide. For example, if the above-mentioned compass box 1 does not indicate that the distortion is controlled within the range of plus or minus 2.5 decibels, the frequency range can be marked as 4 Hz ~ 23 kHz. It should be pointed out that it is meaningless not to mark the frequency range of distortion. If the manufacturer knowingly commits a crime, it can only be suspected that it has bad intentions and intentionally deceives consumers. At the same time, it also shows that the speaker index is not standardized, and the manufacturer lacks confidence in its products, so it is difficult for people to buy with confidence.
the bearing power is a reference index of the speaker, which is expressed in watts. This index does not explain the quality of the speaker, but only provides a reference for the selection of power amplifiers. For example, the bearing power of a pair of speakers is marked as 1 ~ 2W, which means that the amplifier needed to drive the speaker must have at least 1W output power, but it is forbidden to use an amplifier larger than 2 W for full power output. Otherwise, there may be concerns about burning boxes. Generally speaking, household speakers will never be pushed, only the problem of pushing well and pushing bad. The carrying power below 2 watts is much more than that of ordinary families, and it is not deliberately pursued too high.
another indicator of the speaker is the impedance value, which is generally 8Ω as its nominal value. The impedance value of most two-frequency bookcases is 8Ω, and there are also 6Ω and 4Ω floor-mounted speakers with multiple units and multiple frequencies. The smaller the impedance value, the greater the current to be driven, and the higher the required power amplifier. In my opinion, it's best to choose a better 8Ω impedance with a power amplifier for household speakers.
3. A good speaker should have obvious personality
In modern audio equipment, the speaker can be described as the oldest and magical member. Some people say that it has "spirituality" and "life" and that it is the sediment of a country's national style, history and culture. Indeed, in terms of brand-name speakers, speakers made by different countries and nationalities are all branded with the cultural literacy, natural endowments and character traits of the nationals of the producing countries. Especially the higher the quality, the higher the grade of speakers, the more obvious this personality feature will be. Secondly, for the users, the speakers with the same excellent but different personalities still have the problem of whether they taste right or not and whether they like a certain style. As the saying goes, "turnips and cabbages have their own tastes", some people like the dashing and passionate demeanor, some people like the gentle and quiet hermit character, some people like grand symphonies, heavy metal percussion and rock music, some people prefer small-scale pastoral classical music, elegant and graceful solo music and sweet and heavy vocal reproduction ... It is certainly true that you can choose the ideal speaker according to your own taste. If you don't understand the reason, it will be very disappointing to choose the right speaker with your own taste! After all, this investment is not cheap. Therefore, I suggest that you may wish to know more, listen more, run more authentic audio boutiques, listen to friends' opinions and listen to experts' opinions before purchasing. At the same time, what style do you like? I might as well ask myself a few more times, what did I buy this speaker for? Listen to music? Watch a DVD? Sing OK? Or ......
As far as the style of the speakers themselves is concerned, the so-called American sound, British sound, European sound and so on are popular in the audio industry nowadays. American speakers focus on strong strength and huge dynamics, especially those produced in the western United States, such as JBL, BOSE, Genesis and so on. It often shows a kind of free and easy, rough and generous timbre personality. This may have something to do with the heroic temperament of cowboys in the western United States galloping in the North American grassland. The United States has a vast territory, with mountains and rivers on the west coast, lush forests, sunny blue sky and abundant products. Coupled with the wild and uninhibited character of cowboys in the west and the infiltration of Hollywood culture and art, the speakers produced in the west are bright and beautiful in tone, clean and neat in sound, wide open and close, and bold and rough reveal a kind of self-confidence and self-confidence. The surplus of various indicators is very large, especially suitable for rock, jazz and heavy metal percussion, professional OK hall and other occasions. However, in violin solo and classical strings, the music is a little light. However, the speakers produced in the eastern part of the United States are more influenced by British and European civilizations because of geographical factors. In addition, the famous Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra advocates classical symphonies, which affects regional culture with a large number of performances every year. Therefore, the speakers produced in the eastern region, such as INFINITY and Westlake Audio, have both soft, delicate and broad and bright styles. Regardless of the analytical power, sense of speed, sound stage positioning and loose fragrance of music, it is obviously different from western speakers and is very popular in Europe and the Far East.
British speakers are of typical European royal descent, with soft and sweet timbre, dignified and elegant shape, flashy but not gorgeous, and natural wood veneer reveals a gentle aristocratic gentleman demeanor. Several world-class classic car speakers-Rogers (Jazz), Spendor (Spanda) and Chu Qing (After Rain) were born here. Coupled with the glory of the empire in the past and the subtle influence of medieval civilization, and the humid and foggy geographical environment of London and the idyllic pastoral like a small bridge, the British voice is gentle, sweet, delicate, steady and gentle. It occupies a very high position in the field of home Hi-Fi and even Hi-END, and is most suitable for the performance of classical strings and vocal reproduction. Unfortunately, it is less effective in expressing large dynamic explosion scenes and low frequency sense.
German speakers fully embody the German people's meticulous, rigorous and self-disciplined professionalism. The timbre is natural, neutral and peaceful, clean and refreshing. Especially, it is famous in the industry for its exquisite workmanship, which is amazing. But strictly speaking, the tone of German box is a little tough in Leng Yan, which is more suitable for the playback of pop music.
other European voices, such as France, Denmark, Italy, Sweden and Norway, are permeated with the wit and romance of the French and the artistic atmosphere of the Italian Renaissance. The Nordic people