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time-aligned speakers: stepped fronts vs. sloping fronts

Let me first say my understanding of these things is rudimentary.

But I was thinking about manufacturers who used stepped back fronts (several vertical planes) to achieve so-called time-alignment, vs. those who slope back the whole front baffle at a certain angle/rake.

Thinking about, for instance, the tweeter driver mounted on a sloped baffle, won't its axis of radiation be shooting at a corresponding angle upward, meaning that a listener located directly in front of the speaker and with ears at tweeter height would already be listening off-axis?  Or am I missing something?  Or is that the point?

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twoleftears OP
5,313 posts
 
These musings were in part a response to a recent review of the NSMT model 100 speaker and a reply by the reviewer to a question I posed.  He assured me he could hear no difference whatsoever when a felt mat was present or absent, a mat that sits under the tweeter box and on top of the main box and is clearly designed to absorb early reflections.  Hmmm.

Also after noting a fairly extreme rake on the upper units of some older models of Von Schweikert speakers.
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears OP
5,313 posts
 

So many variables!

So when listening to speakers with tweeters mounted on sloping baffles, perhaps best to start listening to them pointing directly at you; if not, you'll be hearing the tweeters doubly off-axis (which admittedly, may be still be the design intent).

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