What makes a good Rock n Roll speaker?

[stephenmarklay]

[billfitzmaurice]

Accurate response is accurate response, no matter what the genre being listened to. As for the issues with small speakers that's Hoffman's Iron Law at work.

[Sydney]

High sensitivity and the ability to move a lot of air.

[jhollander]

[malboro2]

[civit]

If I were making a speaker for RnR, it would look like this
- large midrange for less room involvement and greater directivity.
- waveguide or compression driver for dynamic treble and less room involvement
- aim for high efficiency and sacrifice low bass for it, focussing on getting mid bass strong and powerfu
- probably use a paper cone, seem to make electric guitars sound good but I wouldn't shy away from other materials necessarily

Sounds a lot like a PA speaker honestly.

[Æ]

Make em BIG!
.

[fpitas]

Accurate response is accurate response, no matter what the genre being listened to. As for the issues with small speakers that's Hoffman's Iron Law at work.

That's my take on it, too. If a speaker only sounds good with a particular genre it's most likely coloring the sound somehow and "remastering" the music.

[Paul O]

For classic rock there is no need for response below 40hz, and IMO the best speakers for the genre are large floor standers with large efficient drivers. I grew up in the '70's and '80's with a set of 15" 3 ways on a 65w Sansui AU-D5.

[Liberator of Magic Smoke]

Make em BIG!
.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1371344[/ATTACH]

Thanks for posting this. I miss 1974. I'd seen that photo before, but tonight it sent me off into Google-land where I found this thread about fake speaker stacks. It's really interesting (to me anyway) and features some good pictures and a video that still works. The Dead's drummer was not thrilled about working under that very real pile of speakers. Can't say I blame him!

Also, I agree that big is good when it comes to R&R speakers. Big and loud.

[Æ]

High sensitivity and the ability to move a lot of air.

Are you saying that Linkwitz is full of air?

[stephenmarklay]

Make em BIG!
.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1371344[/ATTACH]

Whoa

[stephenmarklay]

For a Rock speaker my priorities would be something like F3 in mid-30’s , SPL to 100 – 102 dB, sensitivity of at least 87 dB at 2.83V for a bookshelf, 90 dB for a floor stander.

It would be great to hear the LS50s at Fort Wayne for comparison to all the other coax designs.

[stephenmarklay]

For a Rock speaker my priorities would be something like F3 in mid-30’s , SPL to 100 – 102 dB, sensitivity of at least 87 dB at 2.83V for a bookshelf, 90 dB for a floor stander.

It would be great to hear the LS50s at Fort Wayne for comparison to all the other coax designs.

[kevintomb]

I have owned huge vintage retail speakers, with 18" woofers etc, that were not great for rock and roll,but had nice smoothness and huge deep bass, but also, limited overall power handling, and also owned retail speakers with only 10" woofers with a mid bass bump and ability to play really loud without strain, and the 10" woofer speakers were FAR better for loud rock.