Essential Communications : Sound Advice

Sound Quality Measurement Terminology:

Beamy:
Generally relates to the high end. The sense that the sound is focused like a flashlight beam rather than being delivered over a wide area.

Boomy:
The low end seems overstated. There is a sense that it is not tight and solid, but rather seems flabby and soft

Boxy:
Generally a restrained sound similar to cupping your hands around your mouth when you talk, which creates a muddiness. You feel like you are listening to a speaker in a box rather than something which reproduces music well.

Clean:
The speaker sounds accurate, not colored or muddy.

Colored:
You feel that the speaker has its own sound, like you're listening to the speaker's interpretation of what the music should sound like rather than the true sound of the music.

Definition:
When listening to many instruments, the ability of the speaker to let each instrument have its own clear, clean sound rather than being muddy.

Efficient:
An efficient speaker will sound louder than one that is less efficient at the same amplifier loudness setting.

Fidelity:
The degree of accuracy with which sound is reproduced.

Muddy:
The sound lacks clear, clean definition. Sounds like somebody stirred the sound up in a big pot. No distinct definition.

Musical:
Refers to the voicing of the speaker. It sounds good and reproduces the music in a way that is pleasant to hear.

Open:
The sense that the sound is bigger than the size of the speaker.

Transparent:
No coloration, you don't feel like the mechanical speaker is in the way of the sound. You lose the speaker and are only aware of the sound it's reproducing.