2002GreyHD150

10 Commandments for auditioning speakers:

1.) Set aside a day. Better to be a week day (yes selecting speakers is THAT important, take a personal day). The Shops will be less busy during the weekday mornings/early afternoons & go from shop to shop in your area.

2.) Try to avoid heavy conversation, loud music/exhaust that morning. Avoid Dairy products. They all speed up listening fatigue.

3.) Listen to EVERYTHING. Listen from the top of the line down to the bottom of the line. In that order. Ignore your budget at this stage. You are listening, not shopping.

4.) USE YOUR MUSIC! I cannot stress this enough. The store CD’s are supposed to make their products sound their best… Duh!

5.) Minimize conversation with the sales people. Why? Well, first its their job to ‘tell you” what to hear. DON’T.. hear what YOU hear. Second of all: see #2 above. Third: See #6 below.

6.) If at all possible listen in a vehicle. Even better a similar style vehicle to yours (truck if your building a truck, Car = car, SUV = SUV etc). Sound rooms fall into only 2 categories: Crappy & Speaker Enhancers.

7.) Stand with facing the sound board & close your eyes. Any movement in your line of vision will distract your brain, even if you don’t look, your brain is looking for you. Then turn around for at least 1 song. Listen for some details you hadn’t though of.

8.) Tell the sales staff what you are doing. Ask them if they would mind setting you up & show you how to use the board to switch speakers only, at YOUR leisure. 95% of the best shops will set you up.. Otherwise, refer to 1 & 2 above & work with whatcha got.

9.) DO NOT let the staff of the store choose the Head unit, Amps etc for your audition. Use what is in your vehicle plans or the closest to your products. Try to use the same Head unit & amplifiers whenever possible from store to store. Use the store’s middle ground Head Unit & amplifiers, unless they have your EXACT HU & amps for your vehicle. DON”T use their Best & definitely don’t use a HU or Amps above the level of your vehicle system.

(9a.) Do not listen with a Subwoofer until the very end, use your sub set up whenever possible, otherwise error to the smaller side (one woofer size smaller)
(9b.) Make a couple notes on what the soundroom display board is made of (paint, Formica, upholstery) , what the walls are covered with (paint, cloth, vinyl, Glass). Reflective surfaces will make the speakers sound differently.
(9c.) Be sure to make exact, explicit notes of what Head unit, amps, & accessory speakers were playing while you audition speakers. IT DOES MATTER!

10.) NEVER! EVER! EVER! EVER! Buy on your auditioning day. EVER! You need to process your experiences. You will be considering buying in a multitude of vendor locations (Brick/Mortar, Online, Used).You are auditioning & researching. NOT SHOPPING!

Rob W

firemedix911

It makes sense. Lots of work but like you said worth it. Tood bad I got mine already.

2002GreyHD150

the ratios I use with people are that up to 30% of your total budget should be for your primary speakers. So a $1,000 initial budget should yeild a $300 set of speakers. That's not that crazy. A single part of your purchase being 40% of the total means they deserve a proper consideration... don't you think? LOL

Its amazing how quickly people will glaze over the single most important part of their audio system.

A great HU, amps, or wires mean ZERO, ZIP, NADA if you play them through Kraco or Spark-o-Matic speakers...

Rob W