2. speakers
  3. 1107229723

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 sogood51

sogood51
2,157 posts
 
Well, if you look at your rooms dimensions you have a room mode at 282.50hz. Room modes are caused by the dimensions of ones room.

The reason I mention the 282.50 freq. mode is because that one is common to all three dimensions, so is stacked one upon another. There are many other room modes of course but none are stacked (in your room) and are evenly spaced out and fairly close together so as not to cause major problems.

If we look at a 10'x10'x10' rooms modes (cube) we would find many stacked modes which are common to all three dimensions:

56.50hz
113.00hz
169.50hz
226.00hz
282.50hz
339.00hz
395.50hz
452.00hz
508.50hz

and on and on, You can see why this room could cause problems and why people say the worst room would be a "cube room".

To answer your questions: It's not likely that large speakers have an advantage over smaller speakers plus subs.

It's more likely that any one person would only find a difference between the two because of poor speaker/sub integration caused by x-over settings and or placement issues.

The Velodyne DD-15 is a very good sub...are you having integration problems?

" 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."

This statement does suggest a setup problem, you have the subs level set to high, or a placement issue, or both.

Dave
sogood51
2,157 posts
 
Sure, your correct...many times it is the recording. A recording mixed with even the best intention towards sound quality may not sound very good when played back for several reasons:

A big one as far as bass goes might be and often is..the person doing the mix for any number of reasons does not understand or has no control over the acustics of the room it's self.

He will boost or cut those freq's as he hears them at his location...of course if his location is at a null point, he will boost the bass to compensate.

When played back at home (on your audiophile system and even in your audiophile tuned room), the bass would be to strong.

One reason audiophile records and cd's sound so good is because they were controled at every step by audiophiles...

Those "other" recordings that you mentioned above (the ones with all the life bled from them) so they sound loud on the radio are another story..what a waist in the hunt for $$$.

As far as large full-range speakers sounding fuller...this is often true. The main reason is simply the fact that they often contain more drivers...push more air.

My Apogee Duetta Signatures and VMPS Supertowers are large full-range.

My Apogee Centaur Minors and VMPS 626's are not full-range but I do have a VMPS sub that I have used with both at times.

While the sub does make them full-range...it does nothing for the upper freq. heft that the much larger speakers can produce.

You can get a heck of a lot of horsepower out of a six cylinder...but it will never sound like big-block V-8.

Dave
More to discover