Testing Loudspeakers: Which Measurements Matter, Part 1

The controversy over subjective versus objective loudspeaker evaluation has raged on for decades. However, to my mind, there is no controversy. These criteria are simply two faces of the same coin. In over 30 years of designing loudspeakers, I have found the following measurements taken as a group provide the strongest predictor of loudspeaker preference available to us today. Want to know more? Read this reference article, originally published in audioXpress, September 2008.

One of the most important speaker building projects published by audioXpress, THOR was designed by Joseph (Joe) D'Appolito, who is world-renowned for his pioneering work on MTM-based (mid-tweeter-mid) loudspeaker configurations. The original THOR transmission-line design was published in May 2002. For this online publication, audioXpress kept the original article unchanged, which has since been updated with availability of the original Madisound/SEAS kit and the publication of a complete kit project on the SEAS website. Read the complete article here.

PreSonus has announced the new R65 and R80 Active AMT Monitors, featuring a custom Air Motion Transformer (AMT) tweeter, driven by a 50W RMS Class D amplifier, and 6.5/8-inch woofers driven by 100W RMS Class D amplifiers and featuring Acoustic Tuning controls. PreSonus also introduced recently the new Eris E44 and E66 two-way active MTM (Midwoofer-Tweeter-Midwoofer) studio monitors, providing a wider stereo field.

Audiomatica's CLIO Pocket is comprised by the CP–01 Audio Interface (hardware) and software designed to run on Windows and Apple Mac OSX. This in-depth review shares how it works and what’s possible with this lower cost electro-acoustic measurement system that literally fits in your pocket. This article was originally published in audioXpress October 2015.

We’ve worked hard on this month’s issue of audioXpress and we are certain you will enjoy what we have selected for you! Read about how Brüel & Kjær used COMSOL’s simulation software to improve their industrial and measurement-grade microphones. Read reviews of the Audiomatica CLIO Pocket and IsoAcoustics’ Aperta Speaker Stands and learn about the benefits of 48 volts for autosound.