Personal pleasures

How exciting it is to be on the hunt for new speakers—a chance to dramatically change the reproduction of music in our homes. Instead of the relatively tiny differences we find in electronic brands, speakers are all over the map: one driver vs. many, dynamic vs. planar, passive vs. active, floor standing vs. bookshelf, dipole vs. sealed. We choose speakers based more on their interaction with us than absolute performance specs. They are so far from perfect that we can feel good about selecting the ones that bring us the greatest degree of personal pleasure. No other category of product within the stereo chain are so different in how they reproduce music. The next time you're attending a hi-fi show, make a quick audit of three different rooms. Just pop your head in the door with an ear towards capturing just how different sound is in each room: Venus, Mars, Uranus. If all three rooms had the same speakers but different electronics, the differences would be far more subtle: Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs. Speakers not only have to match our worldview of sound they also have to act as acceptable furniture, match our equipment, and meet our expectations. Tough challenges for a pair of boxes. Just remember how much personal pleasure they can bring when you find the perfect match.