As the critical components of speaker architecture are debated, can the industry do more to reconcile subjective experience with system engineering?
Few components in residential AV provoke as much debate – or poetic language – as the loudspeaker. Cabinets are sculpted, tweeters exalted and performance muddied with terms like ‘transparent’ and ‘organic’. But beneath a sea of romantic terminology lies a hard truth: sound behaves according to physics, not prose.
And integrators know this tension all too well. Residential systems are rooted in social connection, emotional engagement and personal enjoyment. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the shorthand of speaker marketing has come to dominate perceptions of performance – and complicate the picture for integrators.
As dispersion characteristics, cabinet forms and crossover designs are debated, an important question is emerging: do overly subjective terms threaten to spill into professional speaker selection?
“Audiovisual systems offer up life-enhancing experiences, and those are undoubtedly on a spectrum,” says Peter Aylett, CEDIA Fellow and partner at Officina Acustica. “But we must return to an objective promise of performance, the foundation of our trade… engineering.”
As technical literacy grows through recommended practices, a shift towards more measurable language can be traced in the industry. This is especially true of speaker design; integrators around the world, as we’re about to discover, are increasingly united by speaker decisions rooted in demonstrations, tonality and context. Or, as system designer Josef Anton Hoffman described in his Iron Law of Speaker Building, ‘a balance of compromises’.
Without further ado, let’s dissect speaker architecture to understand why it remains the hidden driver of performance, calibration and client satisfaction.
Most important features
Integrators are met with masses of detail around tweeters, horns, waveguides and more when choosing speakers. But in practice, dispersion behaviour remains the professional point of focus; particularly cabinet depth and enclosure type, which translate into room styles and performance outcomes.
This could include mitigating resonance, ensuring safety compliance or designing multizone audio across irregular floorplans. Every scenario rests on architectural decisions as granular as bespoke carpentry, or even shadow lines, before a speaker demo takes place.
“Most houses have reflective surfaces, open spaces and different room shapes,” explains Mbali Xulu, electronic systems designer at BNC Technology in South Africa. “If the sound isn’t controlled, it can easily bounce around, cause echoes or end up where it’s not needed.
“When a speaker has controlled dispersion, we can direct the sound exactly where it should be, which improves clarity and keeps the listening experience consistent. It also reduces sound spilling into other rooms, especially helpful in open-plan layouts.”
Her colleague, principal technician Reinhardt Smit, adds: “Dispersion is necessary in environments where houses are close together, like estates, to ensure minimal noise pollution for a neighbouring property.”
Reinhardt Smit, BNC Technology
Because it influences coverage, placement, interaction and calibration, controlled directivity sits at the heart of the psychoacoustic research of Floyd Toole and Sean Olive. Their work showed listeners consistently prefer loudspeakers with a flat on-axis frequency response and smooth off-axis behaviour.
But Aylett is quick to caution against dispersion becoming another loosely used term. “A speaker’s consumer-orientated frequency response is usually stated only on-axis,” he explains. “Outside of this they’ll be hearing something different regardless of its control capabilities. Unless integrators specify products against engineering specifications that also include the speaker’s off-axis response, the phrase ‘controlled’ or ‘wide’ is meaningless.
“I think having the correct dispersion should be the priority. And I suspect most integrators won’t know what they need to do to find out the actual dispersion characteristics of a loudspeaker.”
Language vs literacy
CEDIA’s Recommended Practices are designed to address this mismatch in communications. RP32, currently undergoing stakeholder review, focuses on audio system measurement and verification. It incorporates parameters from RP22 for immersive audio design, aiming to “close the circle” of professional best practice.
“We’re introducing recommended practices that build engineering competence among integrators,” says Aylett. “That allows them to offer unique expertise to their clients.”
The intent revolves around creativity backed by confidence – and science. Objective data cuts through brand bias, an issue identified by Olive throughout research and development at Harman. In the ‘Dishonesty of Sighted Listening Tests’ on his blog Audio Musings, he recalls how brand loyalty and visual bias in these formats influenced sound perceptions in contrast to blind listening tests.
“I want numbers and data to cut through the jargon that integrators have become accustomed to,” Aylett continues. “Manufacturers might have different ways of building speakers, but I want to see what can be achieved through deliberate engineering choices.”
At ISE 2026, CEDIA is hosting a one-day RP32 workshop applying recommended measurements in two rooms, with instructors guiding attendees through real-world data. “Ultimately, the training is about professionalism,” says Aylett. “We want to ensure integrators are doing something that clients can’t do for themselves.”
Floyd Toole and Sean Olive are known largely for their pyschoacoustic research at Harman International. Together they interrogated the relationship between objective speaker data and subjective listener preferences.
Approach to specifying
For Munro Acoustics in India, an engineering-first approach is not just ideal but essential. Founded in the 1970s by sound expert Andy Munro, the firm expanded from acoustics consultancy into residential tech integration in 2016.
“Our approach is application-based,” says Utkarsh Naidu, techflow consultant at Munro Acoustics. “Rather than tech or aesthetics, we begin by focusing on client needs from their brief.
“The client can often get confused by the vast range of speakers out there. We ask vendors to hold auditory assessments for us, measuring this against appearance and placement. That’s the key difference between home integration and studio design: the level of nuance and personalisation involved.”
In studios, critical listening is optimised around a small number of seats. But homes demand even coverage across multiple positions, as well as audiovisual balance and systems that disappear into daily life.
“Frequency response and SPL are often thought to take the focus in speaker selection,” Naidu explains. “But we’re more interested in phase behaviour, especially for spatial multiformat sound. When multiple sound waves combine, their timing relationship should reinforce rather than cancel each other out.”
So continuity emerges as a highly prized attribute, along with amplification, adequate processing power and tonal consistency. “The brain of the system, the control processor, also figures in our selection,” he adds. “We want centralised control, audio-over-IP and scalability for future needs.”
Laws of physics
In a similar vein, Aylett comes back to the relationship between speaker selection and physical surroundings. He notably refers to Hoffman’s Iron Law to explain why no loudspeaker can ever claim perfection.
“You can only have two of the following: efficiency, size, bass extension,” he says. “This is simply backed by physics.”
Large enclosures often accompany high output and low-frequency extension, while compact designs require performance trade-offs elsewhere.
“There are no general rules pointing to the ‘best’ speaker,” Aylett explains. “Whether line source or point source, narrow or wide dispersion… you must throw these characteristics into an engineering pot and choose the best compromise.”
Even the term reference-level loses meaning without context. “A speaker that delivers level four of RP22 performance in a small room might not achieve level one in a large space,” he notes. “That’s why measurement and verification matter.”
He says integrators too often defer to manufacturers for design advice, rather than critiquing specifications directly. Applying EQ (whether manual/automatic), or what RP22 calls electroacoustic optimisation, requires rigorous measurement, listening and adjustment. “That’s a massive step in the process,” Aylett says.
Refined in the early 1960s, Hoffman's Iron Law shows a loudspeaker can optimise two of three capabilities: small enclosure size, high efficiency or deep bass extension.
Architecture meets acoustics
Beyond performance, installation practicality remains central to the speakers chosen for residential projects. Toolless mounting systems, thermal management behind walls, back-box requirements and serviceability all influence speaker specification, with varying needs across properties.
“Residential projects are rarely acoustically ideal,” says Dennis Lundell, founder of Swedish integration firm Aloud. “Retrofit projects demand shallow depths, sealed back-boxes and flexible mounting solutions to ensure consistent performance in unknown cavities.
“Meanwhile, cinemas benefit from deeper, rigid enclosures and tightly controlled coverage. And whole-home audio prioritises tonal consistency, even coverage and minimal sound leakage between spaces.
“When dispersion, phase behaviour and boundary interaction are controlled at the source, calibration also becomes refinement rather than rescue. The result is sound that feels effortless, immersive and natural.”
Xulu adds that “precision and power are key” especially for cinema systems. “Cabinet depth, enclosure type and mounting options affect bass performance and directionality,” she says. “Deeper cabinets or enclosed back-boxes often provide better low-frequency control for immersion.”
Mbali Zulu, BNC Technology
To be seen, or not?
Visual integration is another factor which can determine whether a project wins approval. Grille styles, trimless designs and form factors must align with modern interiors, typically under the guidance of design experts.
“Design integration is never an afterthought,” says Lundell. “We work very closely with architects and interior designers, often from the earliest sketches, to ensure the technology disappears. Speakers are frequently hidden behind fabric, integrated into architectural angles, concealed within custom joinery or completely invisible once the room is finished.”
In India, Munro Acoustics navigates this by putting the client at the centre of the specification process. “Following evaluations in our audio testing/listening room, we shortlist speakers and create a client-facing mood board,” says Rachel Jacob, the firm’s in-house architect. “This includes hidden speakers as well as wall- and ceiling-mounted options. As popular as visible solutions are, I’ve known some clients to greatly enjoy the novelty of hidden speakers when hosting guests who don’t know any different.
“I come from a design background, bringing a different perspective to the AV design process. I help our technical team and the project architect to visualise the AV design through 3D modelling, eventually assisting our technical team with the electroacoustic simulations using software like EASE.”
While bedrooms lean toward ambient music, living rooms tend to feature floorstanding focal points. And Munro’s projects extend further still – think salons, massage rooms, swimming pools where IP ratings become a consideration, and even studies with greenscreens.
"As wellness is a priority for our clients, we aim to reduce the noise to increase headroom for audio,” adds Cyril Thomas, acoustic consultant at Munro.
The team agrees that properties in India typically have large plots to accommodate nightclubs, exercise courts and creative spaces. As a result, speaker setups get more inventive, with beam-steering and lighting to amplify their visual impact, for example.
Symbol becomes system
Once symbols of modernity and progress, loudspeakers have increasingly become objects to tolerate rather than celebrate in the home. Today they may be generally viewed less as romantic artefacts and more as tools, adding a new dimension to their cultural capital. And backed by more clarity around their design specifications, an exciting opportunity looks to be on the horizon for integrators.
“Loudspeaker design is as much about architecture as acoustics,” says Lundell. “These qualities allow us to shape sound precisely to our clients’ personal spaces.”
And Aylett reflects: “Residential integrators know there’s a split between practical and subjective demands in their work.
“I call it the binary and the experiential; the muscle-memory functionality of a light switch versus the emotional impact of AV experiences. These systems should make people laugh, cry, smile. Kids should play together safely around them.
“And we can only guide that outcome by adopting an engineering mindset in everything we do.”
Main image credits: Evgeny Ostroushko/Shutterstock.com