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New speakers for a new start?

Hi all, this is my first thread on this forum. I am returning to audio after a 20-year hiatus, and I am planning a new-to-me, music-only, 2-channel system. I'm pretty excited!

Other than my Thorens TD-320 series I, I am (re-)starting from scratch. I plan to focus on speakers, then build the rest of my system around them.

I look forward to hearing folks' feedback and advice during this process.

How I listen: I have a pretty big room, 9' ceilings. I can set speakers in a 10' triangle with about 16' clear behind them and 3' to 6' to the sides. I normally listen around 75 - 85db at 10', but sometimes I like to crank things way up. Also, I can't sit still for extended periods of time so I tend to move around quite a bit.

What I listen to: 30 - 40% blues, 30 - 40% industrial, punk, post-punk, noise, and hip-hop, 10-15% ambient, 10 - 15% various pop styles, 5 to 10% jazz and classical. Nearly all are studio recordings. Source-wise, 75-80% digital streaming, 20% vinyl and (very occasionally) CDs.

Things I like in speakers: A generous amount of fast, tight, well-controlled bass with great extension. Little to no coloration - it can always be added in later through component selection. Fast transient response. Detail. Coherence. Transparency. Great dynamics. I'm OK with "analytical" or "dry" within reason.

Things I don't like: Boominess. Flabiness. Ear-piercing mids.

Here are a few speakers I'm interested to learn more about (in no particular order):
- Thiel CS5
- Dunlavy SC-4, SC-5
- Tyler Acoustics D1x, D10
- Nearfield Pipedreams 21
- Infinity IRS (probably not the Reference behemoths though... realistically)
- I am also intrigued by open baffle designs (Spatial, Jamo R909)

I prefer full-range speakers because I don't love subs with music listening. They're a must in a home theater though.

I love planar speakers for their speed and transparency, but the fact that I can't sit still in their minuscule sweet spot for very long, coupled with their general lack of bass probably makes them a less than ideal choice for me.

I will buy used gear unless something I want happens to be available new at a huge discount. I am more interested in value than in staying within a specific dollar limit and be able to resell at par or at a modest loss if, as time goes by, I find I'm no longer as enamored with them as I once was.

I am interested in your experiences, especially with the speakers I mentioned above, but any and all feedback is appreciated. Thanks in advance!
 

devinplombier

Showing 1 response by audiokinesis

audiokinesis
2,755 posts
 

@devinplombier wrote:

"I love planar speakers for their speed and transparency, but the fact that I can't sit still in their minuscule sweet spot for very long..."

So if I understand correctly, you would like a wide sweet spot area.

Let me suggest three possible approaches to getting an enjoyable soundstage across a fairly wide listening area.  First, a bit of background:

The ear localizes sound by ARRIVAL TIME and INTENSITY.  When you are sitting in the center sweet spot, the arrival time and intensity are the same from both speakers for a vocalist in the center of the soundstage.  When you move off to one side, the near speaker normally WINS both "arrival time" (because it is closer) AND "intensity" (because it is louder, especially if you are now more on-axis of the near speaker and more off-axis of the far speaker).  Normally the location of the center vocalists shifts further than YOU do:  If you move one foot to the left, the center vocalist may move two feet to the left, because the left speaker is "winning" BOTH arrival time and intensity.  If  you move too far to the left, the vocalist seems to be located at the left speaker.

Okay the first approach that gives you an unusually wide sweet spot is to use omnidirectional speakers.  The near speaker will still "win" arrival time of course, but it will "win" intensity by only a small margin, so the image shift towards the near speaker is not as severe.

The second approach that gives you an unusually wide sweet spot is to use line-source-approximating speakers that have a fairly wide and exceptionally uniform radiation pattern.  Sound pressure level falls off more gradually with distance from a line source than from a point source, so the difference in intensity (loudness) betwen the near and far speakers is often even less than with omnidirectional speakers.

The third approach is to use speakers with exceptionally uniform but not very wide radiation patterns (maybe 90 degrees wide), and toe them in aggressively such that the patterns criss-cross IN FRONT OF the main listening area.  So what happens is, as you move off to one side you are moving off-axis of the near speaker but on-axis of the far speaker.  So the far speaker is actually LOUDER, and this somewhat offsets the earlier arrival time of the near speaker!  This is called "time-intensity trading".  In order for it to work well, the output of the near speaker must fall off SMOOTHLY and RAPIDLY as you move off-axis.

This is a big subject and I've only addressed one aspect of it here. I can go into more detail if you'd like.

Duke

dealer/manufacturer

 

 

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