Is it possible to have Good Imaging close to wall


I keep looking for the best speakers to stand flush against the front wall and end up looking at the usual suspects: North Creek Kitty Kat Revelators, Allisons (now old), Von Schweikert VR-35, NHT Classic 4s, Audio Note AN/K, and other sealed or front ported speakers. But I have never understood how, even though the bass is controlled, they can defy the law of physics and image as well as, say, my great actually owned other speakers, Joseph Audio Pulsars, far out in the room? Is it physically possible for these flush mounted speakers to image as well?
springbok10

Showing 5 responses by frazeur1

Bodotes, I am coming in a bit late to this conversation, not that I will have much to add to it really, other than to comment on the Larsens you mentioned. I have lived with the smallest of the line, the Model 4, and as you put it, it is one fantastic speaker, one of very few wall boundary types of speakers that seems capable of doing depth and eliminating the typical 2-D cardboard cutout effects that most seem to have. These speakers are indeed very good! Good to see them finally getting some press and appearances at some of the shows.

I alternate speakers every now and then, and my other "reference" for what it is worth, is a pair of Shahinian Obelisk 2's which I have owned for a year now. I also have owned Ohm Walsh in various types, never the real Ohm Walsh however. I do tend to enjoy the omni/semi-omni presentation in general more so than any other speaker that I have owned.

The Obelisk has gotten to be quite expensive over the last few years, well worth it in my opinion, yet I find the Larsen maybe a bit more cost effective, and as it stands, I dare say the small Larsen Model 4 gives up little in comparison. Yes the Obelisk to my ears is better, but in general, either one does the job for me.

And probably, if I wasn't fortunate enough to own these two, Ohms would be what I would own, again a serious contender for reasonable prices. I would also give the nod to the Ohms for their sheer dynamic ability over either of the two speakers that I own. Especially when you are in the 4000/5000 series of Ohm, a very good speaker indeed.

I would love to someday hear Dukes creations as well, a very well thought out and interesting design. I try to not get too worked up over design and theory, but allow my ears to tell me what is good for me. Many ways to skin the cat so to speak.

I am glad that the Larsen was brought up though. I have tried to maybe temper my thoughts at times on these, some may think I am too Fanboy about them! At any rate, good discussion here! Enjoy guys. Tim
Well somehow my last post must have gotten lost in cyberspace....

Bedotes, congrats on the Larsen purchase, I hope that these will continue to make great music for you for many years to come! I would love to get a listen to the 6 and 8's, someday I am sure.

I would love to know more about your electronics that you are using with your Larsen as well, and also maybe a bit of detail on your room and how the Larsens are spaced with relation to your listening position.

I find with my Model 4's, they can be spaced fairly far apart, mine are about 11' center of each speaker, and my listening position is about 7-8' from the front plane of the speakers, although the nice part is, there isn't a real sweet spot with them, and that is what I like.

I have never gotten a chance to listen to the "real" Ohm Walsh, the A or F, my experiences with the Walsh line have all been mainly the CLS versions and a few of their box speakers as well. I did have some comparisons with the Ohm 3000 and my Larsens, I would have to say they are very similar overall, more so than not, but I felt as if the Larsen was a more detailed speaker and had more clarity in the upper mids and treble region. Probably would say the Ohm went a bit deeper in the bass end, but not by much.

The Ohm Walsh 4000/5000 I would think would be a great comparison to make with the Larsen Model 8, and price wise, a fairly close match. Would be interesting indeed! I certainly would like to see how these two would compare bass-wise to each other.

While the current Walsh series can be sited fairly close to the wall, this is one thing I find very nice about the Larsen, it gets tucked right up to the wall as close as you can get it, and on you go. Nice to have a bit of floor space back and still retain very good depth of image etc. Just not a lot of fuss with regards to setup in general.

Again, good to see some comments around omni-types of speakers here, and while Ohm has a good deal of information in the infamous MWT thread, good to see the Larsen making an appearance too. I hope that it continues to get some good exposure as they are very good transducers! Tim
Map, the Larsen Model 4 might work okay in that room, just don't shoe-horn them too much into the corners, but they are fairly tolerant of that to some degree. The little guys are only about 30" tall, and 9" wide by about 10.5" deep. Easy to position, play a bit with listening distance, the usual stuff. Give them about 50 wpc and reasonable current delivery and you should be good to go.

These come in at $1995/pair, which is really pretty decent for a product brought in from Sweden. Mine are in a cherry veneer, and while maybe not quite up to say Totem or Paradigm Studio levels, fit and finish are very good, better than Ohm in most cases.

Certainly Map, I could also recommend Ohm's Micro Walsh Tall, maybe in an omni configuration that John does special for those, and it is actually cheaper too. But you already know about the MWT's obviously....
Bodotes, that is a fairly decent sized room, glad the 6's are doing a great job there! How is your bass quantity/quality there? Also, have you tried them further apart, with your listening position you might find things open up a bit more. I certainly find the Larsen to be a very spacious sounding speaker, without losing the musical plot.

Yep, tubes can work very well with them too, again all about feeding them with good quality power, tube or solid state. Enjoy them! Keep us posted as time rolls along. Tim