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Big Sound = Big Speakers = Big Problems?

Do these three necessarily go together? I currently have the Dynaudio Confidence 3 speakers, and my only consistent sense of shortcoming is that, on some pieces, the sound is constrained in size. Given that I consistently read in reviews of monitors the description (inevitability) of a sense of scale, I have to assume that to get appropriate "size" of sound, I'd need to use bigger speakers.

Unfortunately, I have also read in more than one place that big speakers create big problems. My room is 14x18x8, so medium sized. Paired with a Velodyne DD-15, I get nice full-range sound, and on pieces that are over-hot in the bass, I can just turn off the Velodyne for a while.

So, is it reasonable to expect that a physically bigger speaker would likely yield a bigger sound.

And, is it likely that a bigger speaker will inevitably lead to bigger problems getting good sound in a room of my size.

Thanks
kthomas

Showing 2 responses by kthomas

kthomas OP
911 posts
 
Wow - thanks for the very insightful replies.

My system is a Denon 2900 player as a transport into a Lexicon MC-12 pre/pro, into a Krell FPB-200c for L/R (I listen to all my music in 2-channel), into Dynaudio Confidence 3's, with a Velodyne DD-15 sub. Speaker wire is heavy-guage copper, no brand.

Room is 14x19x8. Speakers are about three feet from side walls, 4 feet from rear walls.

The sub is in the front of the room, behind the speakers. The Velodyne comes with on-board equalization and a microphone to calibrate with - I am able to get a smoother response over 20-200Hz with the equalization, tho not close to perfectly smooth. I moved the sub around the front of the room and got basically the same response curve.

Regarding integration between sub and mains, and the occassional "over-hot" song. On most music (I listen to rock, jazz and blues, primarily), the integration sounds really good - the bottom end is there much more authoritatively than before the DD-15, and it is really well delineated bass - you can differentiate the notes being played, and it really sounds like an instrument rather than just low freq. energy. Much, much better than an older, cheaper Velodyne I used to have in the system. Thrilling, actually. However, occassionally a song gets played where bass is sort of overwhelming - usually on something like a modern R&B album. Even at moderate levels, the house seems to suddenly be shaking, and the bass dominates the music. I have attributed it to recording engineers who want this type of music to sound impressive on less-than-impressive systems. It could be a set-up problem too, I suppose.

Thanks again for the help.
kthomas OP
911 posts
 
I'm probably not sure exactly what I mean by "big" sound either - it's probably a combination of a few things, including soundstage size. But also the "size" of the instruments being played - does a piano sound like a full-sized piano being played, or a miniature-sized piano, for example.

My guess and my assumption is that the #1 thing that affects most of this is the recording itself, but it seems like physics probably plays at least a part in recreating the proper presentation. Room physics certainly do, as well as proper setup. I know that many recordings are severely limited from the start, but it also wouldn't surprise me if, to recreate the sound of an electric guitar, for instance, in a non-miniaturized size, you need a bigger, physical speaker.

I'd be glad if it's not the case, or if I can close the gap in other ways, as I really like the Dyn's for the sound quality vs. physical imposition - they fit very nicely in the room, and as I say, in most ways keep me completely satisfied.
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