Wayne Parham Messages: 18789 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
The best way to test speakers is with test equipment that uses a test signal. Some test signals are sequences that sound like noise, some are actual noise and some are sine waves and swept sines.
But I think you're looking for an informal "seat of your pants" test. In that case, use material you are familiar with so you already know what to expect.
I'd never thought of a certain genre of music as an elaborate way of testing speakers. Like Wayne asserts, it is best to use equipment that use test signals.
Now that you've mentioned it, hip hop would probably bring out your speaker's bass.
gofar99 Messages: 1949 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, I'm with Wayne sort of. I use a computer with calibrated mic and octave analyzer. Feeding in pink noise (the program can cancel out existing ambient noise) and looking at the display. That gets the overall balance right and eliminates large nulls and peaks. Then critically listening to music I and familiar with. Usually several types. Some vocals, some just instruments and several different genres. This part can tell if the presentation spatially is good. The PC can't tell you too much about that and while the display might be flat from a power perspective it might be way off on reflections.
Hi, I'm with Wayne sort of. I use a computer with calibrated mic and octave analyzer. Feeding in pink noise (the program can cancel out existing ambient noise) and looking at the display. That gets the overall balance right and eliminates large nulls and peaks. Then critically listening to music I and familiar with. Usually several types. Some vocals, some just instruments and several different genres. This part can tell if the presentation spatially is good. The PC can't tell you too much about that and while the display might be flat from a power perspective it might be way off on reflections.
This sounds quite complicated but I suppose this is one of those things that we all need to learn somehow. A lot of people are only content with any sound that emanates from an audio equipment. There's a great need to ensure that proper testing is done.
I would say, in my simple opinion, that classical music is a good way to test speakers. A classical music usually has a mixture of many musical components, like loudness, timbre, tempo, and pitch.
Electric and acoustic music might be good for testing the quality of speakers but there's no harm in trying different genres to be better assured of the sound quality. High-pitched songs are also a good tester because they'll help you know if the speakers will produce crack sounds.
Between testing equipment, different genres of music and different methods of playing the music, CD, vinyl, etc.... you should be able to test a system thoroughly.
As always, go with the cheapest method first until you're satisfied.
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