Measuring my speakers..... ugggh! Why did I ever do it?

[Zee9]

Hi everybody,

I have 3 possible systems at home.

1. Aktiv Kabers via am DSM/2
2. Powered Dynaudio bm5a gets the same source files via my computer via a geek pulse DAC
3. Bose solo_5 powered sound bar

A friend was visiting and we decided to measure my speakers as he didn’t like the sound he was hearing. So we pulled out an app called audio tools used a calibrated mic made for that app and decided to measure the speakers. We saw a major drop in the high range above 10-12000 Hz.

My kabers are upgraded with the hiquophon ow-2-92 tweeters which I find a little crisper than my older mint original d-20-lp2 tweeters (coincidentally also by hiquphon)

I was bothered by why the charts showed such a drop and emailed Oskar (hiquophon) and he said that was not the way they are supposed to play so I decided to measure my other systems and moved them all to the same location.

The source files are the same for all comparisons just via different preamps or Dacs.
Now all three speakers show the same drop? Am I going crazy. I’m sure my ears can’t hear above 16000hz but it’s been bugging me what might cause this.

I’d love to hear suggestions or ideas. I’m attaching copies of the readings. All measurements were just redone with my iPad mic so as to maintain consistency in the measurement. Pink noise playing Thru all the speakers one after the other

For the kabers with SO v2:


For the kabers without SO:


For the Dynaudio bm5a:


For the Bose solo_5:

[markiteight]

Your ears are many orders of magnitude more sensitive than a microphone. Your brain is far more capable of interpreting the data fed to it by your ears than it is at deciphering a squiggly line on a graph. Forget the measurements, trust your ears.

Consider the "Playground" thread on this forum. Sixty nine (so far) pages of recordings and discussion/feedback on those recordings, often involving incredibly subtle changes. The recordings offer enough information for other forum members to interpret extremely minute musical changes. In contrast your measurements tell us absolutely nothing about how the different setups sound.

Forget the measurements. Trust your ears.

[Rutger]

You have done the measurements wrong Im afraid.
1. Only measure one speaker at a time. If you measure two at the same time you get interference.
2. Measurements should be done about 1,5 meters from the speakers, the mic pointing to the tweeter.
3. The mic is functioning different than the way your ears are listening to music.
4. Trust your ears ! If it sounds better, it is better.
5. The drop you see in the high treble is not coming from the speakers, its the microphone, or depending on the room if the measurements where made 3-4 meters away.

[Rutger]

Zee9- I can see that your measurements are made with the internal microphone in the iPad. It reads ”internal mic”. The iPad mic has a big treble drop over 10 kHz.
Here is my own measurement with Linn akudorik exakt katalyst from 1 meter of distance, only one loudspeaker, using an external calibrated mic , an iPhone on a microphonestand, and audiotools. A sine-sweep is used, much more revealing than pink noice.
Please observe the different scales, where I have a 50 dB window wish is much more revealing. 1/6 oct smoothing.

98894B7A-5595-4C3F-BFC2-9AA4CD5F66CA.jpeg

The Linn akudorik exakt is very flat from 200-20000 Hz.


To measure the frequency response below 200 Hz in a room, you have to do a nearfield measurement, close to the woofer.
Otherwise you will only measure the room response , because you are att the schroeder frequencies and below.