Five undisclosed speakers in a quick comparison – which sounds best?

[joulupukki]

After my last speaker post, I thought I'd take a little bit different approach. Which of these speakers sounds best to you and why? I'll reveal which speakers they are in a few days.



...and round two with no cleans...

 

[Peegoo]

They are all the same speaker!

At least they are through the little noisemakers in this laptop.

 

[radiocaster]

They are all the same speaker!

I doubt it, but you could get close to achieving that by moving the microphone, except for that one which distorted more.

The heavy distortion sounded terrible with all of them.

 

[Scottcurry13]

It was close between 3 and 5. I thought they both had a wider, less midrange sound in the clean and crunch comparisons. They had more clarity at both treble and bass frequencies. 1, 2 and 4 seemed more mid focused to me, duller in the high end in the clean comparison and mushier bass in the crunch. I ended up going with 3 after listening a second time. I did not like the high gain comparison in any of them. It was shrill to my ears.

I was listening with very accurate headphones. That being said, the amp, guitar and other factors may be just as important as the speaker.

 

[tery]

Is this a trick question?

 

[NoTeleBob]

I'm gonna have to come back with the headphones later on. I do hear differences in the cleans. The dirty sounds don't have all that much distinction. But through earbuds it's hard to say what's "better".

 

[Dismalhead]

They all sound the same to me.

 

[Cali Dude]

I liked 4 significantly more than the rest. 5 wasn't bad either. 3 was too fizzy and mid focused. I didn't really like 1 ot 2.

 

[joulupukki]

They are all the same speaker!

At least they are through the little noisemakers in this laptop.

Yeah. Too hard to hear differences with little speakers.

 

[joulupukki]

I doubt it, but you could get close to achieving that by moving the microphone, except for that one which distorted more.

The heavy distortion sounded terrible with all of them.

Agreed. I have no idea how to do a heavy metal sound or what type of pedal to use. Good catch!

 

[radiocaster]

Agreed. I have no idea how to do a heavy metal sound or what type of pedal to use. Good catch!

You have too much high end, too much scoop, and maybe even some digital clipping. Not sure the gear is the problem.

 

[joulupukki]

You have too much high end, too much scoop, and maybe even some digital clipping. Not sure the gear is the problem.

Thanks for that feedback. Yeah, I would love to learn how to get a better sound there. It’s a style I never really listen to or play (heavy metal) so I don’t know what’s good or how to get there. A Revstar for that example was probably a bad choice.

 

[joulupukki]

Thanks for playing along so far!

I recorded these speakers with a single Shure SM57 about 1” away from the speaker grille and off-center from the speaker. I wish I knew how to do this better (part of why I’m trying this experiment).

I’m realizing there’s hardly much difference with clean sounds and the dirty sounds (especially the heavy distortion one) weren’t that great of examples. :-| Maybe there’s a better mic placement I should use, better distortion pedal/guitar/etc. Maybe add a room mic and blend it in?

I recorded these segments into a BOSS RC-10R looper and then played them back through the amp into the different speakers which were placed in the same position in the room each time. One of the speakers is a 10” speaker, the rest are 12”. Three different brands of speakers.

Segment 1:
Suhr Classic S with Thornbucker Neck in Single Coil Mode

Segment 2
Suhr Classic S with Bridge Humbucker and Centaur Clone

Segment 3
Ultra Tele Middle Position

Segment 4
Revstar Bridge with Centaur Clone

Segment 5
Revstar Bridge with Heavy Distortion Pedal and Noise Gate

 

[joulupukki]

Realizing now that I should have probably used different amps for the different tones instead or relying on just one and some pedals. Hmm. Next time!

 

[joulupukki]

Is this any better of a heavy distortion sound? This is through my 18W TMB build (TMB channel) with a DS-1 Vintage model pedal and the bridge humbucker through my Suhr.

 

[Mongo Park]

The are so close together for me I would go with the lowest priced one.

 

[schmee]

Not much difference to my ears.
I think #3. Generally the sound is a bit anemic over all to me though.

I will say though that speaker tracks on line always sound minimally different to me, like listening on Eminence's website of speaker examples. I have to play a rehearsal or gig with a speaker to really tell the differences.

 

[mountainhick]

After my last speaker post, I thought I'd take a little bit different approach. Which of these speakers sounds best to you and why? I'll reveal which speakers they are in a few days.

This is intriguing. If numbers 1-5 are consistent to each speaker throughout, it shows how each as individuals are better suited to one type of sound vs another. There's a lot to unpack there, but an example is in clip 1, #3 is fuller sounding (not necessarily better), but on the last metal clip it is ear bleeding harsh.

Differences in some of the clips are more minor eq/flavor differences, but not consistent across all 5 settings. I do not find a clear winner across the board.

 

[joulupukki]

This is intriguing. If numbers 1-5 are consistent to each speaker throughout, it shows how each as individuals are better suited to one type of sound vs another. There's a lot to unpack there, but an example is in clip 1, #3 is fuller sounding (not necessarily better), but on the last metal clip it is ear bleeding harsh.

Differences in some of the clips are more minor eq/flavor differences, but not consistent across all 5 settings. I do not find a clear winner across the board.

Yep. The speakers are the same through each section. I think I ought to re-do this and spend time trying to dial in the sound for the style of riff better next time instead of just a quick playthrough. Like use a good clean amp for the clean stuff and a different amp for crunch and/or change the settings on the amp instead of just relying on pedals to do the job. I should've thought of that before! Thanks for the comments. Incidentally, #3 is the cheapest speaker of the bunch.

 

[Jsnwhite619]

I'm using pretty decent headphones to listen. 1 & 2 are very close to the same with clean tones, more difference with overdrive, but I prefer 1 over 2 with overdrive. #4 was my least favorite across the board.
Probably a tie between #1 & #5. #5 was very similar to 1 & 2, but I liked it better than 2.