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Big speakers, are they really the best way to get great sound?

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to listen to some very large speakers that are considered to be at, or close to, the pinnacle in speaker design and ability. Needless to say, the speakers retail in the mid to high $300k range. These speakers, and I will not be naming them, were sourced by about $800k of upstream gear. Room size was about thirty by twenty, maybe a little larger.
To say the the overall sound was BIG would be accurate, but also I noticed something else, that I typically hear with big speaker systems. Generally, the speakers were right on edge of overloading the room, depending on music, the dreaded bass boom could be heard. But, the whole presentation was greater in impact than most any smaller speaker system, yet it was almost unlistenable for the long term.

The question I asked myself, is do we really want this type of presentation in our home audio systems? The speakers threw a pretty large soundstage, but also made things sound somewhat larger than life. I also thought that this type of speaker is akin to the large box dynamic speakers of yesteryear. For example, a set of large horns from Altec Lansing or similar was reminiscent of this sound. Makes me believe that if one has a big room, a similar sound can be obtained from most any large speaker system and at a fraction of the price.

I listen in a very small room, and by necessity in the near field, yet I think the overall intimacy of this type of listening experience is better for me, your thoughts?

128x128daveyf

Showing 1 response by mulveling

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mulveling
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Most of us have had that experience - go to a show or dealer, listen to an ostentatious 6-figure dollars (or more) huge speaker, and think to ourselves "god this sounds mediocre or even outright BAD; I vastly prefer my own system!"

This IS a good representation of how hard it is to get a large-speaker system right. It can be much harder than with more moderately sized speakers. This IS NOT a good representation of what a truly well crafted mega-budget large system CAN do. The upper limit is much higher, but getting there is the trick. Amp matching is also crucial at this level.

Two of my major "meh" moments were with Focal Utopias a few years ago - Stella III and Grande III. Driven by electronics deep into 6-figures themselves (Soulution). But then I really dug the much cheaper Sopra 3’s in the next room (VAC Statement tube amps)! Maybe Utopias are just the wrong speaker for me, or maybe I just haven’t heard them yet in the right system. Another time, much longer ago (15 years), I had a "meh" experience with very large Wilsons (Maxx?). I sort of remember enjoying them more than I did the Utopias, but still not nearly enough to justify their expense. In another room at that same event, there were huge McIntosh line arrays which I though sounded VERY good (of course driven by Mc amplification), and at least made a good run at justifying their cost!

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