The 4 Best Speakers for Rock Music – Reviews 2023

best speakers for rock music

Photo by Jan Hammershaug / CC BY

Finding the right speakers for rock music is sort of tricky. As a genre, rock music places more complex demands on a speaker than any genre except classical in terms of the wide dynamic and frequency ranges the speakers will be required to reproduce.

The ideal speakers should be able to give the same clarity and detail to the bassline as it does to the screaming top notes of a guitar solo and should maintain that clarity even when you crank the volume. Look for woofers with stiffer and more durable cones that will stand up to pumping out loud music and a sophisticated crossover circuit that gives you smooth and uninterrupted play in the mid-range, where the majority of the music will be taking place.

Here are our recommendations for the 4 best speakers for rock music on the market:

Klipsch Heresy III Speakers


When designer Paul Klipsch introduced his horn-loaded speaker design in 1957, it was such a radically new way of looking at acoustics that critics of the timed deemed it heresy. Klipsch immortalized this innovation with its line of Heresy speakers. This newest model (see full specs) is impressively compact given the power of its 12” direct-radiating woofer, with a durable solid wood cabinet that’s hand-built to ensure precision. Authentic sound reproduction is the ultimate goal in your home speakers, and the Heresy delivers. The crossovers are impeccably designed to give a smooth and seamless sound from the highs down to the lows, and the sound stays natural and clean at impressively high volumes.

JBL Control 23 Black Speakers


There’s nothing wrong with enjoying music when you’re alone, but the best part of having good speakers is being able to share the listening experience with friends. With their Control weather-resistant speakers, JBL lets you take your party outside. The WeatherEdge woofer is made of polymer-coated cellulose fiber for a tight, bone-shaking bass response, while the titanium-laminate dome tweeter gives pristine response in the treble range. The weather proofing is military spec—perhaps a bit of overkill for the neighborhood pool party, but the waterproof power port bass vent and rustproof hardware mean it’ll survive the party no matter what happens. If you want tough, this is likely the best speaker for rock music period.

Rebuilt JBL Control 23 Speaker

Cerwin-Vega XLS-215 Speakers


If bass power is what you’re looking for, the XLS-215 is your answer. This speaker (see full specs) is especially great for anyone who’s using a low power amplifier because it’s got a high sensitivity rating but is still capable of delivering ground-shaking bass thanks to a pair of 15” cast frame high excursion woofers. Of course, drivers of that size demand an equally impressive cabinet, and this speaker is large—about four feet tall and over 100 pounds—and demands a larger listening room to really show its strengths. If you’ve got the space and budget, though, this is the ideal speaker if you’re into a <href=”https://www.songsimian.com/best-celestion-speakers-for-metal-review/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>metal and hard rock and want to feel the music when you listen to it.

Cerwin vega xls 215 plays hardstyle

Edifier R1700BT Speakers

If you’re a rock lover on a budget, you’re probably looking for a speaker that will give you a good mix of sound quality and value—which is exactly what you get out of this pair of speakers from Edifier. The wooden sides on the enclosure give these speakers a sophisticated look and they’re compact enough to fit on an entertainment center or bookshelf. They also come equipped with some convenient features, like Bluetooth connectivity and a remote control, that make them excellent all-purpose speakers in an entertainment room or living space. The sound is what’s really important, of course, and they deliver on that front, too, with a smooth response that’s especially warm in the mid-range, the sweet spot for most rock vocals. The upward slant of the speaker’s face is also a nice touch, making sure the best sound reaches your ears. If you’re strapped for cash, these just might be the best speakers for rock music.

Edifier R1700BT (bassotronics - bass i love you)

Speakers for Rock Music: When Size Matters

Speaker makers are constantly striving to find the perfect balance between size and power, especially when we’re talking about reproducing bass frequencies. In a very basic sense, the larger the woofer, the less effort it takes to make it play loud and low, but bigger is not always better.

Larger woofers can give bass sounds a muddy or boomy sound, especially at lower dynamic levels, if they’re not made from the right material. Of course, the material and placement of the woofer, combined with technologies like the horn loading used in the Klipsch, can alter the output of a given woofer. While you can’t always determine how much bass a speaker will give you strictly by its size, it is true that a larger speaker like the Cerwin Vega will inherently have a higher volume capability, especially in the low end, than a smaller speaker like the JBL Northridge, but it is also likely to have a slower response and give you less sonic detail.

Which trait is more important—and even which shortfallings you’re going to notice—all depend on your personal tastes and what you expect from your ideal sound. Most people will not want to play music at the volumes the Cerwin Vega is capable of producing, but most listeners also won’t be concerned with (or maybe even notice) the improvement to the bass articulation with the JBL.

In truth, the size-related consideration that will be of most importance to most people is the exterior dimension of the speaker. When you’ve got two 15” woofers like in the Cerwin Vega, you’re going to need a lot of cabinet space to fit it. Even if your listening room has space for a gargantuan speaker, you may not want a 4” tower taking up a corner of your room, and moving a 100-pound speaker might seem like too much of an undertaking. Even the Klipsch Heresy could be too bulky for some listening rooms, where the bookshelf size of the Infinity Primus could be more the right size.

Remember that a speaker should also be suited to the room where it’s situated. A speaker that’s designed for louder volumes and bigger spaces won’t fit right in a smaller room, playing at lower dynamics; a speaker that’s fantastic for your office might sound too think when it’s playing to a whole dining room or patio. The short answer is that when it comes to speaker equipment, size does matter but there’s no one right answer. All four of the speakers on this list are the best speakers for rock music in some specific application. Determining which one will fit best in your set-up is the most important step in making a satisfying purchase.

  • Micah Johnson started playing music in high school, when he taught himself the bass to join his friend’s band. He added guitar and drums during his twenties playing in local clubs, and along the way, he picked up unique, hands-on experience from hand drums to studio mixers. On Song Simian, he aims to share this knowledge from 20+ years playing and recording music. When not in gearhead mode, he enjoys photography and travel.

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