Learning Series For Selecting Best Audio Product - INDIQAUDIO

LEARNING SERIES

LEARNING SERIES

This series is aimed at providing insights into the Audio domain while ensuring the ease of understanding. Don’t miss this opportunity of voyaging through maze of thousands of concepts, articles, thereby mastering the art of determining the best product. Your perfect setup is just few guidelines away

  • Chapter  1  :   Speaker Selection & Audition

    • Choose speakers first based on your Movie Vs Music preference

    • For Music lovers, a pair of top end floor-standing speakers is highly advisable

    • For encompassing Movie experience, a minimum of 5.1 speaker setup is recommended

    • For passive music listeners, a pair of quality bookshelf speakers or in-wall speakers may be the right choice

    • If you are pairing a new speaker setup with an existing amplifier, make note of impendence matching. 8 Ohms speakers pair well with mostly all commercially available amplifiers and AVRs

    • Specifically for music needs, always audition the speakers with the actual amplifier they will be paired with. Bright speakers paired with a bright amplifier will cause ear fatigue in no time, whereas they will go well with a warm sounding amplifier. Do remember to carry your playlist for the audition

    • Never go blindly with online reviews, always audition before buying as music taste and the preferred sound signature is very personal and cannot be generalized

    • Always audition the audio setup in an environment which is close to your actual listening room / environment

  • Chapter  2  :   Budgeting a Stereo Setup

    • Speakers form the foundation and are THE most critical component in any Audio chain

    • If budget is an issue, go in phases. But, always start with Speakers and then build the audio chain around it

    • Good speakers paired with average stereo amplifier will sound better than average speakers paired with a good amplifier

    • As a general guidance, put 60% of your money on the Speakers, 25% on the Amplifier, 10% on the Source and the remaining on the interconnects

    • Once speakers are selected, amplifiers, preferably power amplifiers should be the order of the day

  • Chapter  3  :   Getting the best out of your Stereo Setup

    • Have your listening position at least one foot from the back wall

    • Once the Audio chain is done, spend time in correctly placing the speakers and judiciously using the furniture, book rack, etc to diffuse reflected sound waves

    • Generally, in a rectangular room, place your speakers along the narrow width of the wall firing towards the entire length of the room following rule of thirds

    • If placing the speakers along the narrow width is not possible, place them along the wider wall with the distance forming an equilateral triangle with your sitting position

    • Once the placement is done, use a diffuser, book rack or furniture piece at the point of the first reflection

    • Toe-in the speakers if you like restricted sound stage, keep them straight for a wider sound stage. Experiment with multiple angles to get your preferred sound

  • Chapter  4  :   Your favourite tracks, are they important?

    • It is very important to have a mix of genres in the bouquet of the tracks that you carry for audition

    • Your favourite tracks help you to relate to the music being played during the evaluation of the audio gear

    • You can easily make out the subtle differences in music reproduction with help of a music passage that you are well familiar with

    • Make sure that you carry your music source as well. Alternately, you can ask the demonstrator to play using the source you would normally use (Tidal, Spotify, YouTube, CDs, Pendrive etc)

    • There are lot of test tracks on YouTube along with the information about their qualities that should come out through the audio gear being evaluated. Those tracks can be used as well. But, listen them once before taking them for auditioning

  • Chapter  5  :   Types of Speakers

    • Active speakers are the speakers with a built-in amplifier. For example, majority of Subwoofers, which are plugged into a wall socket and are driven by a pre-out signal from an AVR

    • Passive speakers are driven by an external amplifier. Majority of the speakers (Towers, Bookshelves, Center and Surround) available in the market are passive

    • Active speakers have built in active crossovers (frequency dividers) into their amplifier section, whereas passive ones have a discrete network consisting of low loss capacitors, coils and resistors

    • Majority of Active speakers do not have provision to connect an external amplifier. Therefore they have a fixed and inflexible sonic signature. Passive speakers, on the other hand give lot of flexibility to mix and match various amplifier & speaker combinations

    • Active and passive speakers can be further classified into 2/2.5/3-way configurations. The configuration signifies the number of driver units used in them

    • A typical 2-way speaker has a Tweeter and a Woofer, 2.5-way has a Tweeter, Woofer and an overlapping driver unit, 3-way has a Tweeter, a band pass Midrange and a Woofer

    • Speakers come in ported and sealed designs. Ported ones give lower bass but tend to become overwhelming at certain frequencies and start sounding muddy. Sealed speakers, on other hand, produce a tight bass and sound more accurate. However, they need higher power to be driven


DISCLAIMER : The above information is only meant to provide useful and helpful insights on the subject discussed and in no way meant to challange existing practicies, beliefs, products and processes