Which set of speakers is louder - the rear or the front?
4 speakers/two channel
In my system, i run four speakers --- two in front and two in back -- driven as two channels. I drive the back speakers (Vandersteen 1c's) through the pre-out of my main integrated amp (an Ayon Spirit 2) into a McIntosh integrated. The main speakers (PBN Montana EPS2's)are driven by the Ayon. This way, i can tailor the volume of both sets of speakers.
With the four speakers in 2-channel, the stereo image is 16 feet wide (going from 3.5 ft to the left of the left speaker to 3.5 feet to the right of the right speaker). When I shut down the back speakers the image collapse to ca. 9 ft wide. With all 4 speakers playing, the front speakers disappear (you just get a wall of sound.. w/o hearing directly the back speakers either). When I shut down the back speakers, and only the front speakers are playing, I stare at the speakers as I see precisely where the sound emanates. 4 speakers and you get an instrumentalist at size X, with the distance between instrumentalists at Y --- go to two speakers those numbers go to 0.6 X and o.6 Y. Fullness, body, palpable presence all are dramatically better with 4 speakers.
Once you go to the 4 speaker/2 channel mode (done right) --- the difference is staggering. Listening to the two speakers sounds like a veritable miniature toy in comparison.
Has anyone else tried this?
With the four speakers in 2-channel, the stereo image is 16 feet wide (going from 3.5 ft to the left of the left speaker to 3.5 feet to the right of the right speaker). When I shut down the back speakers the image collapse to ca. 9 ft wide. With all 4 speakers playing, the front speakers disappear (you just get a wall of sound.. w/o hearing directly the back speakers either). When I shut down the back speakers, and only the front speakers are playing, I stare at the speakers as I see precisely where the sound emanates. 4 speakers and you get an instrumentalist at size X, with the distance between instrumentalists at Y --- go to two speakers those numbers go to 0.6 X and o.6 Y. Fullness, body, palpable presence all are dramatically better with 4 speakers.
Once you go to the 4 speaker/2 channel mode (done right) --- the difference is staggering. Listening to the two speakers sounds like a veritable miniature toy in comparison.
Has anyone else tried this?