Perceptual and physical evaluation of differences among a large panel of loudspeakers

This study examines the restitution of timbre by loudspeakers in a listening room. The main objective is to create a measurement tool allowing a more relevant discrimination between loudspeakers regarding our perception of reproduced sound. A panel of loudspeakers is evaluated in two parallel ways: perceptual and physical measurements. The experimental protocol used is compatible with both approaches and has been described in a previous study [1]. It first consists in recording the sound radiated by loudspeakers in a room, and then submitting the recorded sounds to signal analysis, on the one hand, as well as to a series of listening tests under headphones, on the other hand. The final step is to define a suitable method of analysis in order to differentiate the recordings in the same way as listeners did. Whereas our first experiment involved only twelve loudspeakers in a room not specially designed for listening, this new experiment took place in the listening room used by a loudspeaker manufacturer to test its own products. A large panel of loudspeakers was chosen, covering a wide range of technologies, prices and trade marks. The experimental results allow us to identify the main perceptual dimensions involved in our tests and to refine our description of the objective attributes corresponding to these dimensions. The listening test was based on a free classification task, and the results are compared to the ones of the previous experiment based on similarity ratings and pair-comparison tests.