In some ways I find this very funny, so many want to down play distortion in the speaker and I'm sure when they look at their amp, they want the smallest number possible.
So what do I look for when building a system? On the amp the same as you guys, got to have those top notch specs. But then why would I settle for not having the same in my speaker.
Distortion does come in many flavors from many sources, but in a sound reproduction device, I would consider distortion our enemy. Any alteration of the original signal is classified as distortion, correct? And in a sound quality forum, I would think that most would be tring to recreate that original sound in it's most purest form, nothing added or taken away. Non-linear distortion being extra freqs added to the original and linear being a deviation from flat.
If I were to come here and post that I think my factory speakers sound just great, I would have folks hammering me from every angle. But that's the stance you're asking me to take when you defend your speakers, the end result, wether the sound is appealing to you or not.
OK, lets say I take that position. But now I have to ask the why's.
Why care about time alignment. It's a big thing today, one of those little machines can set you back several hundred dollars. And then spend hours trying to set the speakers in a position to give us the best time alignment
Why care about eq levels, enough so that we buy equipment to adjust them and equipment to measure so we can set them? I know we all look at those eqs and say not enough bands, I need that 1/3 octave eq for my needs. The old bass and treble should do me just fine.
If I can't hear certian distortion, then why worry about the amp that produces it, mainly the sub woofer. Xmax is a number many want to toss out there, bigger is better right? But even the manufacturers know that when approaching Xmax, distortion can be well over 10%. But would any of you settle for an amp that advertized THD@50HZ of 10%., you'd chunk it in the trash. So what's the point of a high dollar amp that doesn't offer any more than an amp at half the price. Can you hear the difference? Most say they can, what's that term.... clean, Hmmm, clean, distortion free. So an amp that has .1% THD you can notice over one that has .001% but can't tell 10% in a speaker so I'm not to worry about it. I'm getting so confused.
I could go on for a long time about this, I've only had forty something years of listening to the logic in the audio world. Your ears can and will lie to you. You can chose to accept it for what it is or strive to make them more honest. The only way to make them more honest is to learn what it is you are listening for and correct that sound. How do you do that, take the time to really listen. I'm lucky, we have a house full of musical instruments, I consider the piano to be the best learning tool, I can't play it but the wife can. If I can tweak my system to reproduce the piano sound faithfully, then I know it's sounding very close to correct.
So I'm not going to accept a speaker that adds a fair amount of distortion into my system because it will "color" the sound. I like that term "color", the first time I ever heard it to describe a speaker, I got this image of a little kid with crayons creating his work of art on his moms wall. Kind of the way I feel about a speaker coloring the sound. His work of art looks great to him, but his mom is not going to feel the same way.
Bottom line is, we can measure the speaker performance and the manufacturer will give us some of that data, you wouldn't settle for a midbass driver that had a big slump in the spl curve at 100hz. So why should I settle for a speaker that has a high rate of distortion in that same area. You will hear it in some shape or form, the spl curve doesn't show it and you'll spend days trying to figure out were the problem is. You see these posts on a regular basis, my brand X driver does this, and a million responses to help them figure it out, but that's where the distortion measurements come into play. Driver X may have a nice flat looking curve, but the non-linear distortion may be very high in the area he's trying to use them and is changing what it is he wants to hear, for some, they like it, for others they won't.
But knowing where these numbers is the best way to start building a system. Too bad the manufacturers won't publish them but they do know that harmonic distortion in a lot of speakers gives them a nice sound quality that some folks enjoy. But put that piano player in the passenger seat and he'll have visions of a kid with crayons.
