New-Castle Howards.....Used-Gradient Revolutions.....both are designed to take the room out of the equation. Both are world class. |
Acarians do that and are often synergistic w/VTLs. Cheers,
Spencer |
I can only compare Dynaudios with Von Schweikert and find the soundscape to be taller and wider with the VS with the speakers in the same footprint, and without loss of precise location of instruments and voices. I don't know how they do it. |
I'll second that the VSA speakers have very good off-axis reproduction. In my stairwell off of the living room they still sound very good. This would be about 45 degrees off axis and four feet below. |
If you mean by larger sweet spot, the ability of someone sitting to either side of the sweet spot to get a good sense of soundstaging width etc, and not just hear mostly the speaker in front of them.........
Before you venture out to get new speakers, often getting a larger sweet spot can be accomplished by simply positioning the speakers so that the axis of the speakers cross in front of the listening position.
Works very well with a lot of dynamic speakers, and other than looking odd there is little down side, in fact it also tends to give a bit better focus to the center image because of a possible reduction or change in side wall and ceiling reflection patterns. Try it, its free.
I do it in my room and folks sitting in front of the speakers get a credible stereo image, not as pure as the sweet spot, but quite credible non the less. A side benefit is that I can also place the speakers closer to the side walls because of the reduced effect of the 1st reflection points. |
The Daedalus DA-1 loudpspeakers are designed to address exactly what you are looking for. They have 2 tweeters in each channel that are at offset angles to provide a very wide "sweet area."
Even at demo/used pricing, these are a tad out of your price range. However, they do what you desire. If you can swing the higher price, you should look into these. There are several recent threads. |
Barrelchief beat me to it--Ditto the DA-1's which provide excellent off-axis response. Went to a live concert yesterday and was reminded again how live music doesn't present a precise image--not sure why we insist on one with our hi-fi setups. |
I'm not sure what speaker system you have. I would try repostioning your speakers first. One method I have used with my Revels, is to mount a laser pointer to a yard stick and use it while following Newbee's advice above. The laser pointer is a bit more precise and if you use one of the newer ones that emits a line, even more effective. I've found the more precise you are the better the image quatlity. Also make sure to level your speakers left to right. If your speakers can be adjusted vertically to increase/decrease the tilt, that can help too. You might want to experiment with widening the distance between your speakers and nearfield postioning.
If you have not done so finding and treating the first reflection points can sometimes widen the listening sweetspot. You may want to use some diffusion.
Hope this helps. |
Newbee's suggestion is good. Toe-in the speakers so that lines drawn from each driver at 90 degrees to the face of the speaker would cross a couple of feet in front of the listening position. If necessary move the speakers slightly further apart. This helps to broaden the sweet spot for imaging.
Following the Cardas room placement rules have helped broaden the sweet spot in terms of tonal balance for me.
It worked well for me. |
Barrelchief--send me your contact information I lost your number! |
Wow! All of these suggestions sound good. Actually, right now, I'm using B&W 801 Matrix 3 speakers. I was thinking of replacing them anyway, because (although they do sound pretty good)I think I might be able to find a better match for my amplifiers. I did toy with the idea of spending $1600.00 on the Northcreek crossover upgrade, but I'm not sure if that money will be well spent. I though that I'd be better off starting from scratch with a new speaker. |
your 801's(matrix) are one of the most sought after loudspeakers in the world by collectors. relax and enjoy them........style always lasts beyond fashion....keep em |
Hi,
Thanks for the comment on my B&W 801 speakers. Unfortunately, the main problem is that they're not very efficient. Also, I wasn't sure if I'd be better off selling these speakers instead of investing another $1600.00 in the North creek crossover upgrade. Any thoughts on that?
Thanks, Nick |
Green Mountain Audio Callisto make your whole room the sweet spot. One of the things I love about these, besides the huge soundstage, is the ability to sit in any chair in the room and enjoy the music. 91-92 db effecient, first order crossover and I cannot say enough about the sound.
http://www.greenmountainaudio.com/Speakers/Callisto/Welcome.htm |
