Using PA Speakers In A Home "Audiophile" Application!

I haven’t read the entire thread, so this might have already been mentioned.

But if one cares at all about imaging and soundstage, then pa speakers should be avoided.

I have heard dozens of pa speakers at many different price points in home systems, driven by good quality amps, and have never heard a wide, deep soundstage, with good layering, nor precise placement of musicians within it.

They all tend to project the music out into the listening space, and reproduce it in a very flat (not talking about frequency response).

@deep_333 

The culprit is largely PA electronics, imo. For example, I’ve tried Crown amps on my hifi rig and the soundstage flattening is immediate. I have also observed it when trying out Mcintosh hifi amps (not meaning to offend any Mcintosh users)...the flat wall of sound with no depth, layering and nuance. Denafrips dac --> Luxman, Schiit, Yamaha hifi amps, etc should remedy that situation...is my theory for now/will know an answer in the next month.

Not in the various circumstances I've heard them in. 

Everything from: modern tube amps (low powered 300B, to high powered push-pull), Nelson Pass class A, high powered A-B, vintage amps, etc. 

Not all of them have been in well treated rooms, but most were on the better side of home living rooms, 

Some certainly sounded better than others, but none of the gear made any appreciable difference in soundstage and imaging.

@toddalin 

If you are ever in Southern California, you need to come to my house and hear what PA components set in the right cabinets can do for imaging and soundstage, clarity, and precision of instrument and vocal placement.

Some of the "PA" components are/were of extremely high quality and placed in the right cabinets, driven by the right electronics, can do just as well as the high priced spread of today.

For example, take the 18" and 9.5" JBLs I used in the Mermans. You really think some Parts Express woofer is the same quality? You really need to step up your game to come close, and I’ve had people say that my speakers can "out-image" systems costing 6 figures. I do use a modified Great Heil AMT over 2.5kHz.

Remember that back in the ’60s, 70s, and 80s, JBL would use many of the same components in their PA systems as they did in their studio monitors used in mix-down of so much of the music that we still love.

I live in the San Fernando Valley, just outside of LA.

Who said I was comparing any drivers to "some Parts Express drivers"? But there are plenty of other companies that carry higher end drivers, anyway.

I am a big fan of HEIL drivers. I've used them in the past in a couple of projects.