Audiophile system for Techno and Dance music

@rixthetrick --

Massive SPL, huge volume cannot possibly compete against a highly resolving sytem, even for Techno or any other EDM music.
I am not saying my 400 watts per channel doesn’t perform, and cannot play loud. However I will state that low distortion, high resolution is certainly more engaging.

One thing doesn’t exclude the other, nor can it do without both in this case. Massive SPL *capabilities* and huge volume translates into ease and very low distortion (lower distortion than most commercial speakers out there) at most any SPL one may desire in a domestic environment, and such a system can as well be very highly resolving. We’re not talking lowest grade Cerwin Vega’s or other boom boxes here (not to speak badly of C.V. per se; the XLS 215’s are decent sounding all-round speakers, underrated or misjudged even, at a very reasonable price), but high quality prosound drivers used in configurations spanning from commercial offerings like Audiokinesis, JBL, Classic Audio, OMA, PBN Audio, JTR and others, to the more outright pro segment including cinema speakers, studio monitors and a variety of other selectively chosen sound reinforcement speakers from the likes of Danley Sound Labs, Electro-Voice, Meyer Sound, K.C.S., JBL and others. Run these actively, preferably and if possible, with quality gear, and I’d be glad to show you that you can indeed have one and the other: massive SPL capabilities, huge volume, low(er) distortion and very high resolution - the combination of which I’d say is what really makes named genre of music tick, and not only that genre.

One example of a pro speaker that can hold its own against most anything is the (no longer in production) Meyer Sound X-10:

Sonically, the Meyer Sound X-10’s kick the hell out of nearly every consumer speaker in the market in term of dynamics and power. They play more loudly. They play more clearly. And they have better bass than nearly any consumer speaker money can buy. I couldn’t disagree with you that they are an odd shape and that they do not have industrial design by Jonathan Ive or Pininfarina, but if you cue up a good recording of a drum kit - there is no one speaker more capable of reproducing the explosive, resolute power of the instrument than the Meyer Sound X-10’s. Blast a shotgun from a movie with an HD soundtrack via Blu-ray and you might reasonably check to see if you have been shot. Where many high end speakers shine best with string quartets and more modest musical compositions - the Meyer Sound X-10s thrive on complicated material. You can play car crash movie scenes in DTS Master Audio at 120 dB all day long without a hint of fatigue, fade or loss of resolution. Play Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite or Mahler’s Tenth at full orchestral levels while listening in a Le Corbusier chair and make your own Maxell ad.

https://hometheaterreview.com/meyer-sound-x-10-powered-loudspeakers/

User "review"/feedback of the commercial tower version of the X-10:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/meyersound-x10-speakers.12437/#post-41510...

Meyer Sounds current über offering, the Bluehorn system:

https://www.whathifi.com/features/ultimate-accuracy-listening-to-80000-meyer-sound-bluehorn-system

Above are expensive pro speaker examples, but the good thing is excellent quality here can be had cheaper, not least bought used.

Good quality prosound drivers often have 10-20 dB more clean headroom than what’s normal for high-end home audio drivers, which translates to a very relaxed sound even at fairly intense home audio sound pressure levels. Prosound woofers and midwoofers tend to not go particularly deep, so often subwoofers may be called on to fill in what’s missing. I use prosound drivers and often rely on subwoofers for the bottom end. ...

This. To really have dance and techno music "take off" requires what Duke points out above; i.e. high efficiency prosound drivers, which is to say compression drivers or other/similar fitted to horns/waveguides and larger diameter pro woofers/mids that deliver the ease, ignition, cleanliness and impact this genre of music needs. It’s very much about a visceral experience and as such it’s the core modus I believe of how it works; properly reproduced at higher SPL’s it’s a thrilling, loss-of-control kind of experience that can almost make you feel high.

I also agree that adding subs here is mandatory, but I’d stress the need to continue the use of large diameter high sensitivity prosound woofers into the lower octaves as well, although I’m fully aware this is likely to turn those subs into fridge sized behemoths. While I can see the rationale with regard to extension approximating 10Hz, or even into the single digits (this requires outlandishly large subs, or smaller sealed dittos - still with large drivers - in multiples and massive amounts of power for frequencies this low to be properly felt), a lower tune affects the bass presentation in ways I find to negatively impact the 30-70Hz region in particular - an area where much of the vital energy of techno and dance music rests. Practically I’d forego <20Hz and concentrate on the 25-90Hz range with prodigious air radiation area and high sensitivity for the bass really to be felt here with physical impact and low distortion.

Personally I like high order bandpass bass system like tapped horns or other, and while very big they’re excellent in pressurizing the air (even shake it) in a wholly effortless and enveloping way that smaller direct radiating subs, even in multiples, can’t replicate. It’s what I use myself; a pair of 15"-loaded 20 cf. per cab tapped horns with a tune just below 25Hz. Mains are pro cinema speakers from Electro-Voice with 2 x 15" woofers and a 2" exit compression driver fitted to a constant directivity horn (Don Keele design) - all driven actively. It turns techno and dance music into an electrifying experience, while also serving from classical, jazz, etc. very well.

@cal3713 --

Can you post a link to your tapped bass horn designs? They look great...

Thanks. The plans are shared in this post:

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/my-lilmike-microwrecker-lilmikes-plans-in-thread.1514504/post-24285...

Build thread here:

http://data-bass.ipbhost.com/topic/736-microwrecker-build-thread/