Have you ever looked at one of our speaker test reports and wondered what that funny-looking graph with the squiggly lines is for? Or have you ever thought about how the information conveyed by that graph relates to what a reviewer hears? Given the many, many new speaker systems that get produced each year, maybe you've wondered what methods we use to differentiate between them. If you've found yourself pondering any of the above, then read on, because we're about to lay bare the rudiments of our speaker-testing procedures. Once you've finished this article, you'll see how evaluating speakers isn't as much about having golden ears (although we've got those) as it is about having keen observational skills — and the right test equipment.

The Introduction
The first thing you'll see in an S&V speaker test report — once you get past the clever quips about FedEx delivery guys and the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) — is usually a bit of backstory on the company and its position in the speaker-making galaxy. (Unlike TV manufacturers, which are gigundo corporations, many speaker companies are tight-knit outfits with dedicated audiophiles making the design decisions.) Next, we go into the particulars of the system at hand. Is it a compact satellite-and-subwoofer package aimed at tight spaces and budgets? Or a no-holds-barred rig with tower speakers augmented by matching center and surround speakers? Or an assortment of sleek on-wall models meant to blend into the background?

Once upon a time, most speakers looked the same: boxy, monolithic, and wood-veneered. But the popularity of wall-hugging flat-panel TVs has spurred an exciting new wave of sleek speaker designs. Since looks now matter more than ever when it comes to speakers, we dwell on those details to give you a sense of how a particular system will fit in with your other gear, as well as with your room's decor.

Another key part of our speaker reviews is a discussion of construction and components. Different driver types get used in various speaker designs, and the number, size, and arrangement of those drivers all have an impact on performance. There's also a range of technical approaches to consider: direct-radiating, dipolar, bipolar, and omnipolar, not to mention two- and three-way designs and sealed and ported boxes. Finally, there are exotic technologies such as planar-magnetic and electrostatic that move beyond typical box-mounted cones and domes.

The subwoofer that comes with the average speaker system usually has a number of features that merit discussion. After examining the sub's relative heft and its driver configuration, we then move on to amplifier power. Next, we get into such features as crossover controls, limiting circuits, and auto on/off switches. Rest assured that these will be covered in detail before we get into the nuts and bolts of installation in the report's next section.

As any audio tweak can tell you, it takes work to find the exact position where speakers perform best. To ensure optimal imaging, you first need to dial in the proper side-to-side spread for the front left/right pair. Correct placement of surround speakers, meanwhile, can mean the difference between a constricted sound field and one that provides the expansive quality of sonic events encountered in real space. The Setup section is where you'll find the saga of our speaker-positioning trials and errors, and we also fill you in on the details of included hardware like speaker stands or special brackets for wall- or ceiling-mounting.

Positioning the main speakers might be a pain, but it's nothing compared with the agony of pinpointing optimal placement for the subwoofer. Every sub reacts differently to the space it's dropped into, so a reviewer needs to start from scratch with each model he encounters, nudging the box a few inches left or right, and closer to or further away from the front and side walls. Finding the correct receiver crossover settings for filtering bass from the main speakers and routing it to the sub also requires extensive experimentation. That accomplished, the bass should sound tight and blend as seamlessly as possible with the rest of the speakers — and you can take the settings we use to get to that point to the bank.

Music Performance
Okay, so the speakers blow your mind during the opening chase scene from Casino Royale — but how do they fare with music? We usually start our listening tests in sub-free, stereo-only mode to hear how a system's front left/right pair handles a few reference stereo music tracks. But many home theater speaker systems require a sub by design to deliver full-range sound. If that's the case with the one under review, we add the sub and then report our 2.1-channel findings.

The first thing we'll usually comment on in subjective music-listening tests is the system's overall tonal balance. Does it have a forward presentation, or is the sound more laid-back and dark? Does its midrange come across as lean when we're listening to vocal recordings, or is its character more warm and lush? Each reviewer will conjure up a different set of adjectives to communicate what he hears, but we strive to keep those descriptions real. We avoid using pretentious metaphors or vague terminology to describe the sound.

Once we've given a precise description of a system's overall balance and midrange character on music, we next move on to its bass performance. We're listening here for the smoothness of the blend between the subwoofer and the satellites, as well as the system's overall extension and impact. This is also where we get a chance to strut our bass reference tracks — one of the more memorable titles being Bass Erotica's Bass Ecstasy, a fave of Tom Nousaine, our Test Bench guru. A thorough speaker-system review should also use a few choice multichannel-music tracks, if only to prime things for the report's next section.

Much of the sound contained in an average movie soundtrack is limited to the center channel, so it should come as no surprise that center-speaker performance is often the first thing we comment on in this section. As in the Music section's main L/R speaker evaluation, we listen closely to the center's tonal balance — but in this case, when the speaker is reproducing dialogue. Another key thing is off-axis performance, which is the speaker's ability to sound clear and natural from all sitting positions on the couch.

We next focus on the system's ability to deliver a sense of sonic continuity between the front and surround speakers. Many contemporary big-budget movie soundtracks provide dynamic front-to-rear and circular sound-effect pans. (The helicopter flyby in a police-pursuit scene is a classic example.) A good speaker system will convey these effects smoothly and seamlessly, with no significant sonic gaps between the front and rear speakers.

Equally important is the surround speakers' ability to convey ambient effects. These are subtle elements that get embedded in the surround channels to provide a sense of spaciousness — stuff like wind, rain, bird chirps, and cars honking half a mile away. A high-performance surround speaker will provide a natural sense of ambience without calling attention to its location in the room.

While accurate reproduction of dialogue and ambience is key to getting good surround sound performance from a speaker system, many people also want to listen to movies loud — especially movies where motorcycles careen through space and smash into the side of passing tractor-trailers. That's why we generally wrap up this section with detailed comments on the system's dynamic capabilities, or its capacity to play loud and low without distortion. How well it handles things here depends largely on the subwoofer. Bass coming from the sub should retain a full and smooth character as the system's sound level increases; it shouldn't make rumbling or "blatting" sounds that call attention to the sub's location. Count on us to pull out a few reference action-movie discs here to test the waters — the more over the top, the better.

Readers with complicated, fast-paced lives might not have the time to get into this section, which also appears in expanded form at soundandvisionmag.com. But if measurements matter to you as much as our subjective take, here's where we'll tell you what's happening.

The graph shows frequency-response curves for each speaker type in the system. Audio frequencies ranging from 20 to 20,000 cycles (20 Hz to 20 kHz) get plotted horizontally, while the speaker's loudness (as measured in decibels, or dB) at each frequency is plotted vertically. Rather than being a single, on-axis reading, most curves represent an average of measurements taken over a specific arc (±30º for the front left/right models, ±45º for the center speaker, and ±60º for the surrounds). The measurements are also weighted to accurately reflect how sound arrives at the ears in an average listening room. While it's true that a flat speaker-response curve doesn't necessarily translate into good sound, we do look for an absence of frequency-response "roughness" at specific points in the curve. Such aberrations can easily translate into audible effects like bright or dark colorations, or a dull character when the speakers are listened to off-axis.

Subwoofer measurements are easy to spot in our graph: They're the line that usually takes a deep nosedive around 100 Hz. Two main things we take note of in the condensed magazine version of Test Bench: average output in dB at the low end of the sub's frequency range (62 Hz all the way down to 20 Hz, provided the sub can go that deep) and the frequency at which the sub hits its maximum sound pressure level — 104 dB at 50 Hz, for example.

Bottom Line
By the time we get to the Bottom Line, we're ready to pass final judgment. Overall value is a main consideration: How does the system perform compared with other like-priced setups? Does it offer something special for the money, or is it a relative underachiever? Any notable features and performance characteristics are likely to be reiterated here, and to drive the point home they'll show up alongside Plus and Minus bullet points in "The Short Form" box on the first page. (The "Key Features" box directly below the Bottom Line provides important details like cabinet and driver dimensions, weight, and the company's Web address and phone number.) Finally, we'll make it clear whether the system gets the prestigious Sound & Vision Certified and Recommended stamp — something you'll see overlaid on the product photo on the opening page.

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