It seems like there are more speakers being made then ever before, from car stereos to multi channel systems to speakers that can play underwater in your pool! A good way to begin your search for speakers is to read audio reviews in such publications as Stereophile and Sound and Vision, as well as audio websites (FREE!) like 6Moons.com, Soundstage.com, and Stereotimes.com. Audio reviewers generally do it for the love of the music and a few high-end discounts, and are not paid off as many think. Reviewing gear is hard work and only the best products achieve any level of notoriety, hence the popularity (among audiophiles) of speakers made by such companies as Quad, B&W, Triangle, AES, Tannoy, Martin Logan, Audio Physic, Von Schweikert, Magnepan, and Proac.

The Great Match Up

You wouldn't drink fine wine with a Big Mac right? Neither should you drive quality speakers with cheap electronics. You will never hear all your speakers have to offer unless your system is balanced from top to bottom. Even if you are slowly upgrading your system, try not to overspend on one component only allotting chump change for the rest of the rig.

Another thing to consider is whether you want a floor-standing speaker or a smaller monitor, which must be placed on a rigid metal stand to cancel vibration and connect the speaker directly to the floor (which helps improve bass response). While floorstanders can offer truly realistic bass reproduction and life-size images, smaller monitors are often more detailed, cleaner, and easier to place in a small apartment. For what you lose in absolute bass response you gain in dynamics, accuracy and pinpoint information.
Check a speaker's sensitivity rating, or how much power it takes to easily drive a speaker to satisfying listening levels. If a speaker's specs claim they are rated at 100 watts or some such nonsense, be very afraid. Sensitivity is rated in decibels or dbs, typically from the mid 80s to the mid 90s. Speakers are also rated by their load, or Ohmage. Suffice to say, if your speaker is rated at 8 to 16 ohms and its sensitivity rating is 90 db, you will have no trouble running it with almost any amplifier. Lower rated (80db) speakers with 4 ohm loads are a harder task for almost any amp, especially low powered amps offering under 30 watts per channel (the domain of the single ended triode amplifier brigade).

And don't go for overkill. A speaker with multiple drivers divided between two woofers, two midrange, a port and three tweeters is sure to sound horrible. As in all of high-end audio, the simplest design is often the most effective. If you can find a good two-way or three-way speaker, you will most likely be satisfied for years to come.

Shop Smart

Don't be intimated by high-end audio stores, they are your friends. Though some will try to sell you speakers beyond your price range, if you walk in with a good idea of what you are looking for (read those reviews!) the salesperson will usually be more than happy to let you listen as long as you like to determine your choice. If they pressure you or try to force a particular brand or will not let you listen for extended periods, leave and find a store that will. These are tough times for high-end audio so most retailers will treat you with kid gloves. Changing people's attitudes about high quality components can only come from dedicated customers and equally dedicated retailers.

Shop various stores and listen to many speakers. You won't know how good one pair sounds till you hear a second pair.

And of extreme importance is to always bring two or three CDs that you know very well. Listening to the store's CDs will tell you nothing, expect perhaps that you are listening to a well-recorded CD. Take your favorite CD, the one where you know every solo, vocal line and drum kick by heart. Only then can you determine the nuances between different speakers. Focus on individual sounds and also how the music sounds as a whole. Is the bass tight and clear, not boomy and muddy? Do vocals sound rich and lifelike? Do cymbals sound silky and shimmering or hard and brittle? Ditto for piano. After listening for a long time do your ears hurt? (This is called listener fatigue.) A speaker can sound great for the first few minutes but the real test is how it stands up over the course of one or two CD plays or over an entire evening. Finally, for your audition, listen in a chair that places your ears at the same position as you would at home, which most agree should be with your ears roughly level with the height of speaker's tweeters.

Here we get into the meat and potatoes of the listening experience. Bass, midrange and treble are the three defining characteristics of any speaker. Words that should come to mind when listening to quality bass reproduction will include deep, clear, taut, sonorous, extended, rich and tight. If bass is boomy, exaggerated or if every note sounds like the same bump-bump-bump, quickly avoid. Likewise, the midrange, or middle frequencies have their own range that is often very important to vocals, guitars, drums, piano and strings. The midrange is where most of the musical information lives. When listening to these frequencies you should consider traits like velvety, lush, balanced and smooth. A solid midrange also helps the speaker's sense of soundstaging (or size and depth of the performance) and dynamics. Since much of the music is happening in the midrange, it is also responsible for its overall depth and presentation. Finally, a well-produced treble can turn a good speaker into a great speaker. If the speaker sounds hard, brittle, etched or grainy, sounds that can hurt your ears, blame poor treble performance. Treble traits to listen for include silky, smooth, sweet, layered, and liquid.

This should all result in a coherent performer that simply makes music, not a combination of booming bass and shredding treble. A good speaker should be an all round performer.

Final Countdown

Dynamics

How fast can a speaker react to treble and bass information? Does Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture and Metallica's Master of Puppets move as fast as greased lighting? Can the speakers jump from a whisper to a scream and sound totally natural doing it? This is represented by a speaker's dynamics, or how well it can handle both soft and loud passages. Try the Gladiator soundtrack for a tortuous test of pounding dynamics, from bombastic orchestral moments to gentle vocal lullabies.

Detail Done Right

A good pair of speakers should reveal new music in your old CDs. That could be a vocal harmony you never heard before, or perhaps a high hat accent or guitar riff. A speaker shouldn't be so analytical that is lacks life, but it should reveal and combine every note coherently, and as a connected flowing performance.

Finally, the true test of any speaker is does it make you tap your toes and get into the music like you were a kid? Does it enable you to forget the speakers and enjoy the music? This should be the first and final test of any speaker, because ultimately the music is what matters most.

THANKS TO Robert Harley's invaluable Complete Guide to High-End Audio (Acapella) in assembling this piece.

Taken from the pages of Stereophile Magazine's Recommended Components and Soundstage.com's Reviewer's Choice, this highly selective list of speakers offer serious bang for the buck and come with just as serious kudos. They are a place to start in your quest for audio excellence.

Triangle Titus XS
$495/pair
Triangle Zerius 202
$1095/pair
http://www.triangle-fr.com/welcome-2002.htm

Von Schweikert Audio VR-1
$995/pair.
(619) 444-7136
www.vonschweikert.com

Athena Technologies Audition AS-B1
$149/pair
Athena Technologies AS-F2
$599/pair
(416) 321-1800
www.athenaspeakers.com

Energy Connoisseur C-3
$500/pair.
(416) 321-1800
www.energy-speakers.com

Acoustic Energy AEGO2
$399/pair
(317) 849-5880
www.acoustic-energy.co.uk/products

Ascend Acoustics CBM-170
$328/pair.
(310) 719-9786
www.ascendacoustics.com

Axiom Audio Millennia M2i
$255 per pair.
(705) 635-2222
www.axiomaudio.com

Tannoy Mercury MX2-M
$350/pair
(519)745-1158
Email: mbertrand@tgina.com
www.tannoy.com