directional speakers


I just bought a Bacch4Mac bundle and am thinking of upgrading speakers.  Theoretica recommends speakers that are more rather than less directional.  I currently have Spendor S3/5r2 speakers.  No complaints at all, but I've thought of upgrading to Harbeth 30.2, Graham/Chartwell LS/6 or maybe Fritz Carrera BE.  Love the BBC mid-range, but I have no idea of how to find speakers with a tight rather than broad sweet spot.  Any advice would be appreciated.

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Showing 1 response by mijostyn

@treepmeyer Directionality is an important concept when it comes to room interaction. The more omnidirectional a speaker is the greater is it's room interaction which always creates problems. Ideally the speaker would project sound only to the listening area and there would be no early reflections in the room. The types of speakers that manage this best are horns and line source dipoles. Dipoles always need the wall behind them covered in sound absorption tile. 

I do not like the term "tight" is regards to imaging. Imaging is either focused or blurred. To hear a system that is perfectly focused or rather focused at the state of the art is an eye opening experience Really well focused imaging will have two distinguishing characteristics, the sweet spot will be extremely obvious and balance will shift between recordings. Gain is never exactly equal between channels of a recording. It is adjusted by ear on systems that can easily be 1 dB in one direction or the other. For most systems balance has to shift over 1 dB to make an obvious difference in perceived balance. With a super focused system 0.2 dB will do it and there will be a tendency to adjust balance with many if not most recordings. Every system that I have ever heard that was this focused was highly directional with one exception and this fellow's listening room was covered in bean bags. I did not count, but there must have been 20 of them. To check balance listen with your eyes closed. Pick an instrument or voice you know is mixed to the center, spin yourself a little back and forth (it helps to have a listening chair that rotates) an stop with that instrument dead ahead. Open your eyes and look where you are facing. If to the left you need to increase gain in the right channel. If to the right increase gain in the left channel. With some recordings especially symphony orchestras you sense more energy coming from one side or the other. You adjust gain so it is equal. 

I prefer the line source dipole. Line sources project acoustic power better than point sources which is why you see them at stadium concerts. They also form a larger, front row image. Line source dipoles project sound in a figure 8 pattern that is exactly as tall as the loudspeaker. There are no reflections from the side walls, middle of the front wall, floor or ceiling. ESLs in particular are extremely directional. Dispersion is controlled by curving the speaker. As an example Sound Labs ESLs come in two curvatures, 45 and 90 degrees. The 90 degree units are for very large rooms. They sell way more 45 degree units. 

If you want a point source system Klipsch Cornwalls are an amazing speaker for the price. If you want to try a line source dipole look at the Magnepan range. If you are a rocker or prefer smaller amps go with the Klipsch's. If you prefer jazz and classical and have plenty of power go with the Maggies. The 3.7i with subwoofers can be the basis for an exceptional system.