Unless you’re a dealer or a distributor of speakers, there are only a couple of ways to pick out a speaker:
- Go down to a dealer or distributor of speakers and listen to a bunch, then go and buy the one you like -or-
- Buy some speakers, listen to them, and pick the one you like. Oh wait! There’s a third way of choosing a speaker!
- Go on the forums, ask people what speaker they’d recommend, buy all the recommendations, listen to them, then pick the one you like.
I know, I know… It all sounds flip. But think about it. How the hell do you choose a speaker? The plain fact of the matter is that you have to listen to it to determine if it works for you. Descriptions, conversations, and recommendations are helpful indeed, but in the end, it’s the sound that the speaker produces that vibrates your eardrums that will be the ultimate deciding factor.
Of all the parts of the signal chain, I’ve found that in comparison with other parts of my signal chain, I’ve probably spent the most research time on speakers; much of it anguishing over having purchased a speaker I thought might work, only to find that it sucked! Let’s face it: A speaker is the endpoint of your signal chain, and produces the sound from everything in the chain before it. If it doesn’t sound good to you, it doesn’t matter how good everything else is in front of it.
There’s no “pat” advice I can give. You just have to listen to a lot of speakers, or take a chance on buying one and hope you get lucky. I’ve been lucky so far with my Fane Medusa 150 and with an evaluation Jensen Jet Electric Lightning that I got from Jensen that I decided to buy because it sounded so good. But there are lots of speakers that I’ve tried that I’ve never written about because they just didn’t work with my rig.
There is sort of a fourth way, and that is to listen to the recommendations from someone who knows your tone. My friend and amp builder Jeff Aragaki of Aracom Amps is that guy for me. Since he personally built and customized to my specs most of the amps I play, he knows what I like, so when he has recommends speakers, I listen. It was that way with the Jensen Jet Falcon 12″ speakers I have in three of my cabinets. He got one to try out from a distributor, and called me up, asking if I’d test it since he didn’t time. We met a few days later for me to get the speaker from him, and once I installed it in my cab, I loved it so much, I kept it, then bought two more since then to go into other cabinets. Mind you, this replaced a Celestion Blue – which is a GREAT speaker – that costs three times as much!
Oops… got a bit side-tracked. So while it ultimately takes listening to speakers to see if they will work, there are some preparatory things you can do to at least narrow your search:
- Go to the manufacturer’s site and look at the frequency response charts. For instance, check out this chart for the Jensen Jet Falcon 12″:
This told me to expect a bit of a scooped tone as the lows and mids had peaks. Or check out this one for the Celestion Gold:
This shows a more moderate low- and midrange response, with slight emphasis on higher freqs. - Once you see a pattern that you’d like to explore, start listening to clips, taking note of the gear used.
- Finally, see how you can try one out or hear one in person.
As I mentioned, there is no “pat” way of deciding on what speaker to buy. But with a bit of research, you can narrow the field down significantly.
Great advise. I’m looking around for another 10″ speaker and might just get the Electric Lightening based on you enthusiastic recommendation. Of course, I understand that’s no guarantee that I’ll like it through my gear. I have a questions, though. I don’t understande how to read the graphs. Can you provide any insight on that with the two examples you provided? Thanks Dawg, and keep up the great website!
The graph shows response from low to high for 1 watt of power put into the speaker at a distance of 1m. I usually split the graphs into thirds (and they’re also marked like that), representing low-mid-high. It will give at least general idea of what to expect out of the speaker.
Hi Goofy,
as you know 3 speakers I’m really interested in to put them into my Blues Junior III (with Bill M. mods), it seems like you’re the man to ask:
How would you describe the differences between these three:
Fane Medusa (I’m looking for the 100W version, though)
Jensen Electric Lightning
Jensen Falcon
I’m looking for a speaker that can give me loud clean sounds but still sounds good and full at bedroom levels. I love a “3-dimensional” sound with solid bass and shimmering highs that reacts immediately to differences in attack (loudness and position, not overdrive).
Thanks for answering,
Markus
All of the speakers have great sensitivity, though at 103dB sensitivity, the Medusa is by far the loudest of the bunch. The Fane Medusa probably has a nice, full, rounded bottom-end, which is why I have it in a naturally-bright, low-wattage amp. The cleans are spectacular with that speaker, and if that’s what you’re after, this is a great speaker for cleans.
But that said, I’ve really been impressed by the 10″ Electric Lightning that I have installed in my VHT Special 6. Out of the three, I have to admit that this is my favorite speaker. While I love the Fane, it took me awhile to find a good amp to pair it with. The Falcon is really a rock speaker and needs to be pushed.
But I dig the Electric Lightning so much that I’m going to build a 2 X 10 cabinet with a pair of them. The lows, while not as full and rounded as the Fane or Falcon are very balanced with the overall tone, and it has superb, sparkly highs. What has struck me about that single speaker that I have (and my bandmates have often commented on it) is that it sounds so much bigger than what it’s size might imply. You’re looking for 3d sound? This speaker provides it in spades. It’s also less than half the cost of the Fane.
As I’ve said in the past though, your mileage may vary. Amp/speaker combinations are tricky. I spent lots of time finding the right combinations, though I have to admit that it was pretty easy to find the right combination with the Electric Lightning: It worked with pretty much anything I threw at it.
Hey Goofy,
thanks a lot for your swift and detailed reply. Sounds like I’m gonna try the EL, either with an adapter in 10″ or as a 12″ speaker.
Regards,
Markus
Nice blog you have! Two questions:
1) The Weber graphs you refer to seem to have moved. I’ve asked Weber where they might now be but no answer. Do you know off-hand whereabouts they were on the site?
2) A wider question: I’m wondering whether response curves of speakers by themselves are of much use, when the cabinet itself could have so much effect on resonances. Have you seen a specific study that proves or refutes this? (EG, contrasting the same speaker in 2-3 cabs plus “bare”)
3) and how do you get a frequency response of a speaker WITHOUT a cabinet? EG is the speaker just sitting there on a table? Or do you mount it in a wall with a big, acoustically-muffled adiabatic chamber on the other side?
Okay… here goes…
1) Haven’t looked at those for awhile, so if they’ve moved, sorry, I’m not sure where they’d be at now.
2) Frequency response curves should only be used as a starting point. Once mounted in a cabinet, everything changes. For instance, with as big and beefy as the Fane Medusa was with its big bottom-end, mounting it in my custom 1 X 12 with a closed back was not good at all. It was way too “boomy.” But putting it in another cab with thicker wood and a semi-open back produced great results. Personally, I don’t know of any specific studies that have been done on speakers mounted in different cabinets. But I have four different cabinets that I use and I know what works in them and what doesn’t – at least to my ears.
3) As for how each manufacturer gets their response curves, they must mount them on some specialized mount. You might ask them.
Hi GoofyDog,
I contacted Weber and they say they’ve never had speaker graphs, actually.
I have a ’71 Marsharll 1960 and a ’65 Fender Twin Reverb. I’m going to mic them both, put a sine wave sweep through them, and see what ProTools shows the response to be. It will capture speaker + cab + mic + room.
My goal is actually to offer “speaker sims” as example modules for my software synthesizer Moselle http://moselle-synth.com . It has a MultiFilter module that can be configured to run quite a few (dozens) or filter types from a pretty wide menu (low-pass, hi-pass, band cut, parametric EQ, etc. etc.) . So basically I’d offer presets for that to sound like various cabinets.
Thanks again for the interesting blog and happy holidays!
Frank Sheeran
I should’ve re-read the article. Those are for Jensen, not Weber speakers… 🙂
Wow! That is a totally cool thing you’re doing. Please let me know how it goes! And happy holidays to you as well!