Speaker distortion : the doppler effect

[Themis]

In the world of digital audio, jitter has been a focus of audiophile attention for well over a decade.
It is blamed for many of the sonic ills of which CD and other digital media have been accused.
But here's a puzzle: The major source of frequency intermodulation distortion in audio systems—the loudspeaker—has largely escaped such withering inquiry.

Why?

The rest of the (very interesting) article here : http://stereophile.com/reference/1104red/index.html

[Steve Toy]

Generally the speakers are the last link in the chain and are therefore the last place to look for imperfections from a musical POV. GIGO roolz!

[goraman]

If your worried about the dopler effect,get some electrostates.
If you think you can hear a loss from a 1/2 inch excursion in a fraction of a second,and it bothers you? how do you get through the day?

[DSJR]

Speakers are the worst generators of distortion of almost any audio system, electrostatics being the odd exception. Jitter has been low enough for ages now (and good stable cures have been available for the old bad offenders for about as long).

I'd add that PASSIVE speakers are potentially the worst of all, as many crossover networks introduce all manner of nasties, no matter how good the components in the best examples are...

[Ali Tait]

That'll be why stats sounds better to me than any cone speaker then...

[Marco]

My view on this is that straying towards any form of absolutism (e.g. active is better than passive, electrostatics are better than box speakers, transistors are better than valves) likely results in only part of the truth (or story) being realised.

It's natural that we derive a warm glow from our own choices being supposedly 'confirmed as best', but the fact is that everything in audio is a compromise, so we simply have to choose which compromises best fit our needs and/or priorities. *That*, my friends, is the reality of the situation!

It's therefore the sum of the parts in any system which matters most, and not the individual effect of any of the constituent components.

Marco.

[Stratmangler]

It's therefore the sum of the parts in any system which matters most, and not the individual effect of any of the constituent components.

Marco.

Another way of putting it is to say that we select components with distortion characteristics we like the sound of.

[Marco]

Indeed!

Or.....those we consider as best for facilitating the faithful reproduction of real voices and instruments, which is essentially why I prefer valves to transistors and horn-driven loudspeakers to moving-coils (if this is the correct term?)

Marco.

[Ali Tait]

Thought that would get you going!

[anthonyTD]

Speakers are the worst generators of distortion of almost any audio system,

electrostatics being the odd exception. Jitter has been low enough for ages now (and good stable cures have been available for the old bad offenders for about as long).

I'd add that PASSIVE speakers are potentially the worst of all, as many crossover networks introduce all manner of nasties, no matter how good the components in the best examples are...

totaly agree dave!
A...