A woman's guide to buying speakers

Men and women see things differently. Take audio: A guy might be impressed with a big honkin' speaker, but a woman probably sees a hideous box. Being a guy, I might not be the most sensitive to what females want from a hi-fi, so I'm more than willing to hear about it from the other side. I stumbled upon a well-written piece on a speaker manufacturer's (Klipsch) site that does just that. It's jam-packed with great advice--and don't worry--it never even mentions Klipsch speakers. Sarah Knight's "Get Turned On: A Woman's Guide to Purchasing Audio Gear" is a fun read. Here's an excerpt: "It's important to determine everything you want this system to do. Will it be used to listen to music, watch movies and TV, play video games or all of the above? For instance, if all you want to do is listen to music, a 2.1 system (two speakers and a subwoofer) should suffice. But by adding movies and TV into the mix, you might consider a home theater system that includes 5.1-channel surround sound, which means three speakers positioned in front, two for surround speakers at the sides and a subwoofer placed in the front corner to capture those deep-driving sound effects you feel and hear."

Of course, the tips are equally valuable to male shoppers. When I sold high-end audio female customers were pretty rare, but fact is, women's ability to appreciate quality sound is probably better than men's. They don't get caught up on the technical bits so much, they focus on the sonic/musical results. Which is, after all, what it's all about.

[minimalist]

Interesting article.

It has crossed my mind that you can pretty much tell who high end audio manufacturers are targeting by their over the top industrial design and awkward graphics (men... particularly straight men). My favorite example of this are the horrendous ads for equipment with flashy (and unnecessary) gold accents and a glass of wine and a french horn sitting next to them to give them "class").

Which is a shame because aesthetics do matter, especially if you are going to live with this equipment 10-20 years (I still have my first NAD integrated amp from 20 years ago and NAD is definitely a company that understands the importance of understatement). Plus studies have shown that females actually do a larger percentage of electronics purchases than men. It seems like such a missed opportunity.

[mmcrazylady]

I keep on telling my man he doesn't know how lucky he is. I love big speakers (put a deposit on some DynAudio C4s, unfortunately our bank account got raped by the tax dept, damn) and I hate components you can hold with one hand - light isn't right. Better still, I know how to hook up a complete home theatre system, tweak it and multi zone it. So I should tho, as I'm also the only female sales consultant at a specialist HiFi chain of stores in New Zealand. I constantly hear men saying "I can't buy big speakers, my wife wants little ones you can't see." Smiling, I say if they got big ones, they wont hear their wife complaining. I'll then tell them to bring the missus in with a couple of their favourite CDs, sit down with a coffee, and listen to a couple of different types of speaker. It works. Usually it's the woman who will notice the subtle differences, depth and clarity, and while may still object to big 'beasties', will often choose sound as well as aesthetics. Of course, every room has different acoustics, and as much information as possible is aquired about theirs before any suggestions are made - sometimes "those little speakers that can't be seen" just might be the best option.

[pubmat]

Please...there is no gender related ability to discriminate good sound quality, so stop with the battle of the sexes stuff. I completely disagree with the author of this blog, but it is a FACT (SCIENCE, not subjective.) that women can hear higher frequencies better than men. (men on the other hand can hear LOW frequencies better than the ladies) Being "able to appreciate quality sound" is a INDIVIDUAL thing, not exclusively the province of women. Men on the other hand know all too well that most women choose their audio equipment based on how it fits in with their home decor, and NOT how it sounds. The end result is that you end up with TINY CUBED SPEAKERS that sound awful. Bose and their marketing department has made a fortune on these poor misinformed women and their disapponted spouses.

[mmcrazylady]

Sorry, you are right. I didn't mean to come off sexist, and on reflection of my comment, I realised that it was when a couple were listening to a system, it was usually the woman who would voice their opinion when I'd ask the pair of their thoughts on it. Sadly, this is often because a lot of men will turn to their spouse and say "well, what do you think", while remaining quiet themselves. Come on people, start being honest with each other. What is important to YOU! Compromise a bit, but don't give in. As for Bose, I am not a fan, and had problems selling them. My boss made me take a Lifestyle 48 home and set it up for a couple of weeks. What I found interesting, was the amount of people that called in at home (95% male, a testosterone haven) and exclaim, "Wow, that sounds awesome". My startled response of "really? do you think so?" caused a few strange looks. So please don't blame women on 'Joe Public's' nonchalant ear for sound.

[pubmat]

I hate Bose, but the reason some men might like Bose is probably 1. Marketing. If they TELL you it sounds so great, it MUST be good....right? 2. Lots of gooey low-midrange and flabby base. As you know, men like lows, because they HEAR LOWS BETTER. Bose is famous for that type of sound to cover up the fact that their mini-cubes don't go low at all. That big, cheaply made "base module" as they call it handes base AND the mid-range....which makes the sound very directional and GOOEY. Bad design. As you said though, if you shoe people GOOD speaker so they actually can hear the difference...they won't buy crap like Bose.