Best Hi-Fi speakers 2022

So, you’ve played enough of your old grandfather’s Soviet speakers and realized that you want a big exciting sound and new music experiences, and, moreover, you are ready to invest in it. Yes, it is in this place that Hi-Fi begins – a class of high-quality household sound-reproducing equipment. Let’s see what interesting manufacturers can offer us now.

The first three places in our top will go to the winners of this year’s EISA award in the Hi-Fi category. This association brings together 61 expert publications from 29 countries and awards annually the most outstanding samples of audio-video technology.

Top 10 rating according to KP

Editor’s Choice

1. Focal Chora 826 (average cost 80 thousand rubles)

This floor acoustics from the famous French manufacturer received an award for the best value for money. The Chora series has replaced the legendary budget Chorus line and can indulge the listener with audiophile features that are characteristic of much higher series. Only a certain “Kike-ness” in design can be written down as shortcomings, but this is a matter of taste.

Specifications:

Advantages and disadvantages

2. SVS Prime Pinnacle (average cost 210 – 240 thousand rubles)

This model of this American manufacturer is the best speaker system of last year according to EISA. Very expensive, very well made! A feature of this system are three low-frequency drivers, where each has its own separate bass reflex at the back.

Specifications:

Advantages and disadvantages

3. Monitor Audio Bronze 100 (6G) (average cost 40 thousand rubles)

The best bookshelf speakers of 2022. It boasts a wide frequency range, non-selectivity in musical genres and an excellent power reserve. A feature of this model is a specially designed phase inverter port, thanks to which the system is very unpretentious in terms of location.

Specifications:

Advantages and disadvantages

What other Hi-Fi acoustics is worth paying attention to

4. ELAC Debut B5.2 (average cost 22-30 thousand rubles)

Great entry level speaker system. Thanks to the bass-reflex located in front, they can even be placed close to the wall. Perhaps their sound may seem a little harsh, but the detail and dynamism are on top here.

Specifications:

Advantages and disadvantages

5. Fyne Audio F302 (average cost 55-60 thousand rubles)

Although this company is a new player in the market (since 2018), it was founded by people from Tannoy. In fact, for a fairly affordable price, we get a very adult floor system with excellent lows and a wide frequency range. This speaker has quite bright highs, which requires some attention in choosing an amplifier in order to avoid distortion in frequencies.

Specifications:

• Location: floor
• Type: passive
• Acoustic design: bass-reflex
• Number of bands: 2
• Power: 120 W
• Frequency range: 36Hz-28Hz

Advantages and disadvantages

6. Ruark Audio MR1 Mk2 (average cost 35 thousand rubles)

Ruark MR1 compact desktop wireless speakers will be an excellent solution for those who do not want to have trouble with equipment, who do not need to sound large rooms, but at the same time want a fun adult sound. The speakers are equipped with Bluetooth, optical input, subwoofer output and remote control. At the same time, you can connect a battery pack, which will make them portable, and it is also possible to use one of the speakers as a mono system.

Specifications:

• Location: shelf
• Type: active
• Acoustic design: bass-reflex
• Number of bands: 2
• Power: 2×20W
• Frequency range: not specified

Advantages and disadvantages

7. DALI SPEKTOR 6 (average cost 40 thousand rubles)

The only floor model in the Spektor budget range. The system is two-way, has two identical mid-range drivers and two phase inverters. It looks very impressive, has a very assertive sound, not inclined to hide the imperfection of the sound path or audio recording. It is worth considering very carefully the choice of amplifier for this acoustic system in order to fully reveal all its strengths.

Specifications:

• Location: floor
• Type: passive
• Acoustic design: bass-reflex
• Number of bands: 2
• Power: 150 W
• Frequency range: 43Hz-26Hz

Advantages and disadvantages

8. YAMAHA NS-777 (average cost 50 thousand rubles)

Legendary model, veteran on the market, one of the most popular speakers in the class. A three-way system with two woofers delivers rich, luxurious low end. Balanced sound, excellent detail and dynamics – everything is with her. This is a universal option in the case of “when you don’t know what to buy, buy this.”

Specifications:

• Location: floor
• Type: passive
• Acoustic design: bass-reflex
• Number of bands: 3
• Power: 100 W
• Frequency range: 30Hz-35Hz

Advantages and disadvantages

9. KEF Q350 (average cost 30-35 thousand rubles)

Beautiful unusual bookshelf speakers sound the same as they look: precise, tough, detailed. They are not inclined to embellish the sound, almost like studio monitors presenting it in the form in which it is, unceremoniously showing all the flaws in the recording and the imperfection of the musical path.

Specifications:

• Location: shelf
• Type: passive
• Acoustic design: bass-reflex
• Number of bands: 2
• Power: 120 W
• Frequency range: 63Hz-28Hz

Advantages and disadvantages

10. ProAc Response D Two (average cost 300 thousand rubles)

In principle, this bookshelf acoustics can already be classified as Hi-End. This company has long established itself as a manufacturer of impeccably cool acoustic systems. Crazy detail and naturalness of sound, a very wide frequency range atypical for shelf speakers.

TECH SPECS

• Location: shelf
• Type: passive
• Acoustic design: bass-reflex
• Number of bands: 2
• Power: 150 W
• Frequency range: 30Hz-30Hz

Advantages and disadvantages

How to choose Hi-Fi acoustics

Placement Locations

It is important to understand where your speaker system will stand. There are two main types that dominate the market right now: the floorstanding speaker and the shelf speaker.

Bookshelf speakers are usually more compact, there is not much space in the cabinet, so they usually have rather modest power and less bass. Contrary to the name, it is better to place shelf units, of course, on racks, although not necessarily. Perhaps, often they are not able to sound a large room and are inferior to outdoor ones in scale, but they provide a deep detailed sound, where you can make out more small nuances of the recording. Floor-standing acoustics have a larger case, there is where to turn low frequencies, you can put larger emitters and more bands. They are usually more powerful, produce more surround sound, require more attention to the installation site, but the result is worth it.

Of course, this is only an average description, there are large powerful shelf speakers with fat bass, and modest floorstanders for small spaces.

A type

There are also two of them: active and passive speakers.

The active type assumes the presence of an amplifier inside the speaker. I mean, they can already play out of the box, you just need to connect a signal source and let’s go! This type also has disadvantages. Firstly, you deprive yourself of the opportunity to choose an amplifier, but they are different, and they sound different, and how much space there is for an upgrade. Secondly, due to the fact that engineers need to place both the speakers and all the electronics in one case, the quality may suffer – you won’t swing too much. Therefore, such acoustics will either sound rather mediocre, or it will be something very expensive and fancy.

With a passive speaker system will have to tinker more. This already requires some involvement from the user, but is that why you want to plunge into the world of hi-fi? You will need to buy an external amplifier, which still needs to be chosen correctly. But how many opportunities for modernization are here! You can select the components of your audio system based on your musical preferences.

The room

Of course, the room in which it will be located plays an important role in choosing a speaker system. You should not buy huge floorstanding speakers for a tiny room, just as you should not hope that small bookshelf monitors will fill a huge hall with sound. It is important to take into account not only the size of the room, but also the availability of free space, so that it is possible to correctly position the acoustics. It should be borne in mind that if the speakers have a phase inverter located at the back, then they cannot be placed close to the wall, and if it is enough to place compact speakers at least ten centimeters from the wall, then floor acoustics may need up to one meter. Otherwise, you will either have an indistinct boom instead of bass, or you will have to plug the phase inverter holes, which will negatively affect the sound as a whole. It is important to ensure the optimal distance from the speaker system to the listener, as well as sufficient stereo width. In general, the rule is that the larger and more powerful the speakers, the more problems with their location in the room, and the more important the acoustic preparation of the room plays in shaping the sound of the speakers. It is impossible to fully disclose the topic within the framework of this material, so we hope that you can find additional information on your own on the Internet.

Acoustic design

There are quite a few types of acoustic design, but the two most popular are bass-reflex and closed. In a nutshell, an audio signal is also generated from the back of the diffuser, and it is in antiphase in the main signal, therefore, it is important for engineers to decide what to do with this signal, since audio signals that are out of phase will interfere with each other. The first solution to the problem is a closed box. This means that the speaker cabinet is hermetically sealed, that is, its internal volume does not communicate with the external environment in any way, and the vibrations of the rear side of the diffuser are simply muffled. This design method is good for its ease of implementation, but the disadvantages include the fact that in order to make an oscillation, the speaker will need to spend more energy, which means, other things being equal, closed-type speakers will sound quieter. The most common type of acoustic design is bass-reflex. This means that the internal volume of the speaker body communicates with the external environment through a special pipe designed in such a way that the phases of sound waves from the front and back sides of the diffuser add up, amplifying the sound. This effect appears in a small frequency range. Simply put, the presence of a phase inverter gives a noticeable increase in low frequencies. Other options for acoustic design are much rarer and very specific.

Number of bands and frequency range

Dividing the entire range into separate bands is initially a sound idea, because speakers of different designs cope better with different frequencies. It is difficult and expensive to make an acoustic system with one full-range speaker, therefore, as a rule, they have two or three speakers, where each is responsible for its own area, this allows you to get a more even frequency response (amplitude-frequency response), that is, there will be fewer dips and distortion in the reproducible frequency range.

This is not the most ideal solution, because a crossover is also added to the speaker design – a device that divides the signal into frequency bands, which also needs to be correctly implemented. And here, too, there are intractable questions. The main one is that it is very difficult to ensure a smooth frequency response in the region of separation of the bands, as a rule, a dip forms in this place, and in the case of a two-way speaker, it is in the region of 1-2 kHz – the area to which the human ear is most sensitive. In a three-way speaker system, the separation of the bands occurs in less critical areas, which makes this design somewhat more advanced. Nevertheless, before buying a new speaker system, it is always advisable to familiarize yourself with the frequency response graph, since they are easy to find in the public domain.

Power, sensitivity, resistance

In principle, it is not necessary to delve into these figures directly. You just need to make sure that the selected speaker system matches your amplifier in terms of power and impedance (impedance). It is better to do without strong distortions, that is, do not buy wildly powerful speakers for a weak amplifier (they simply will not swing and the sound will not open), and, conversely, otherwise there is a high chance of the speakers failing.

Speaker sensitivity determines the sound pressure generated by it, showing how loud (in dB) a 1W input signal will sound at a distance of 1m from the speaker. For systems of comparable power – the greater the sensitivity, the louder the sound. In terms of power, you can give such very conditional advice: For small rooms (10-15 sq.m.), it is better to consider acoustics with a power of up to 50 watts. For medium-sized rooms (20-40 sq.m.) you can consider a power of 50-100 watts, for rooms it is even better to consider options with a power of more than 100 watts.

Listen

The most important parameter by which you need to choose a speaker system is that you like its sound, so that it fully meets your ideas about how it should be. Of course, you should not be too lazy and go to the store to listen to several different options. It is advisable to listen to the records in the store that you are already familiar with, so that you know how they should sound right. In the end, you listen to this system in the future, and not those who advised it.

Speakers aren’t everything

Yes, a home audio system is made up of many components, and acoustics are just one of them. Therefore, it will be necessary to strain once in order to choose and coordinate everything correctly. Do not be too lazy to study the topic a little, read useful literature, watch videos with lectures by smart people (fortunately, there are many of them in the public domain), do not hesitate to ask more advanced comrades, ask questions on specialized forums. Once you do this, you will get a simply luxurious system that will give you pleasure right in your ears for years to come.