10 Biggest Mistakes When Shopping for Speakers (Part 2)

Thus we begin the second (and final) part of our series on the 10 biggest mistakes people make when shopping for speakers. Check out the first part here. Now, onto the listicle!

6) Thinking that More Money Means Better Sound

We have been conditioned over our lives to believe that if you spend more on a product, it should be better than a product that costs less. In general, that should be true. But we can all think of examples that we have personally experienced when we’ve spent more for a product that we found was worse than a less expensive option.

One of the 10 biggest mistakes people make when shopping for speakers is looking at a price tag and making an assumption about quality. If one speaker is double the price of another, you can’t assume that you will be getting twice the performance. There is definitely a point of diminishing returns in speaker shopping that you hit probably sooner (and at a lower price point) than you think.

7) Buying Floorstanding Speakers (full stop)

We don’t like making absolute statements mostly because they are so rarely universally true. We’ll make an exception here because it is so very often true. You don’t need floorstanding speakers. Sure, it is true that some people MIGHT need tower speakers, but if you have to ask, it probably isn’t you. We see so many very small rooms containing very large, floorstanding speakers that are completely unnecessary. It’s a waste of money, you aren’t getting more sound (or even better sound), and you’ve lost the aesthetics war before it’s begun. Don’t buy floorstanding speakers.

8) Worrying Too Much about Specs

You’ve probably heard someone talking about a completely irrelevant concern when making a purchase. Our favorite is when someone is buying a home and worried about stairs because they have young children. Sure, they might fall but they’ll spend way more years in the home with the ability to safely navigate stairs so surely that shouldn’t affect your decision.

When people shop for speakers, they don’t trust that they can tell the difference in quality. So they look for other metrics. One thing they often latch onto is the speaker’s specifications. Power handling, ohms, frequency response, etc. While all of these specifications tell you something about a speaker and its performance, it’s usually pointless to compare speakers on one or more of these metrics alone. It would be similar to looking solely at the width of the tires on a car when deciding which to buy. Sure, it may make a difference in the ride, but there is so much more to a car. The same is true of speakers.

9) Not Doing In-Home Auditions

If we had to pick the top of the 10 mistakes people make when shopping for speakers, it would be forgoing in-home auditions. Honestly, we think it is because people don’t know that they can. Places like Amazon and many online retailers will give you a return period with free return shipping. Others will charge you a small fee to return their speakers (usually shipping). You can only know how a speaker sounds in your home by listening to it in your home. Always, always, ALWAYS do in-home auditions.

Always!

10) Listening to the Internet (Part Two)

Yes, we already said you shouldn’t listen to the Internet when you are shopping. But there is a post-shopping period where you should ALSO not listen to the Internet. If you’ve made your purchase and are happy with it, you’ll be tempted to let other people know to “help them out.” This is a path to misery and self-doubt.

Online commenters love nothing more than to make people feel bad about themselves. Even if you’ve purchased exactly what they recommend, they’ll find something in your setup to criticize. Your TV is too high or your speakers aren’t angled correctly or there is too much light in your room…the list is endless. If you’re happy with your speakers and how they sound, just stop and be done with it! Enjoy them and leave the Internet to the trolls. You’ll be happier for it.

Wrap Up

There are far more than just 10 biggest mistakes people make when shopping for speakers. These are just 10 of our favorites. What about you? Any mistakes you feel people make often? Let us know in the comments below!