2. speakers
  3. 170416-125864

Have you moved away from full range to standmount speakers + subs?

I want to know if you have been on a journey moving from a large full range speaker to a smaller one paired wit subs, maybe even four subs.


Maybe you moved away from the big speakers because you had too much bass or you got a better soundstage from the smaller speakers. Let me know what motivated you and if you think it’s better now.


My motivation for wanting to try smaller speakers.


I have the Tekton DI and until a month ago I was using a LM845P SET amp to drive them.

It only sounded good on simple jazz and vocals but on complex music everything was falling apart.

I am not playing loud but I think it was the low 2 ohm load in the midrange that made the LM break down.


I bought a used PS Audio BHK250 and pre and it was like getting new speakers. Never ever had it occurred to me that speaker and amp matching could have such a profound effect.


So I am enjoying my speakers now and listen to music I have avoided like the plague and enjoying it (:


But all of this got me thinking, what if I paired my LM845P with an easy to drive speaker and paired it with some subs?


Then the LM845 could do what it's best at, playing glorious midrange and the subs could play the bass.

So that's my motivation for trying smaller speakers.


I am also hoping that maybe I could get better and more even bass with 2 or 4 subs. Maybe a better soundstage because the small speakers have a very small baffle.

martin-andersen

Showing 2 responses by realworldaudio

realworldaudio
174 posts
 
I agree with the inmates, bigger speakers have the potential to give a much more realistic sound stage than smaller speakers, which create the "porcelain muppet show". (Sorry, I did not coin that term but it's just so accurate!) The misnomer comes from the fact that at a budget price point it's easier to make a small speaker image sharper / crisper, but in general terms, it's quite misleading.

I think the main reasons are:1. much lower cost2. much better WAF
3. amplifiers have more and more power nowdays, so slap in high excursion drivers and advertise as same spl capacity. (With greater excursion comes greater distortion - if you see the cone move it's not high fidelity anymore... sure, it can be made to sound good, but slammer cone movement will sound better give same attention to design details...)
Some useful info on speakers size / imaging correlation:Small speakers do a fine job of imaging small, intimate, simple events.Really large scale performances need big cabinets.

realworldaudio
174 posts
 
I always had, and I still have full range speakers around.A smaller pair (mini tower) is the main speakers in my second system. It's about 91dB efficient, and does a fine job down to the 30s - wonderful for all genres, and bass quality and extension is much better than multi-way bookshelves. No need for sub for the material and volume I listen to with them. I have a Nakamichi tape deck and a turntable with that system, (no digital there), amplified by a flea power Darling Loftin-White amplifier (sporting 600+VDC power supply) and use it for quiet listening. It is just absolutely wonderful for quiet volumes: the emotional connection, atmosphere is very very deep.
(Regular bookshelves fizzle out at low volumes.)

For main system (main audio and movies) I moved to 10 cuft size ultra efficient cabinets.... they seemed humongous when I built them, but now they seem to have positively shrunk as I got used to seeing the size. In hindsight I think I could have made them 15cuft each... LOL. Curiously though these giant speakers have exceedingly high WAF. Who would have thought. Also, no need for subs, as they are practically monster size subs. Bass is transformatively different when you have the lung size to produce it.
More to discover