I love these questions. Why is it the big speakers matter? Why is it the cables matter? Do I really need to spend a lot of money?
you don’t have to do any of this. You can just bang on rocks with sticks,
Big speakers, are they really the best way to get great sound?
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to listen to some very large speakers that are considered to be at, or close to, the pinnacle in speaker design and ability. Needless to say, the speakers retail in the mid to high $300k range. These speakers, and I will not be naming them, were sourced by about $800k of upstream gear. Room size was about thirty by twenty, maybe a little larger.
To say the the overall sound was BIG would be accurate, but also I noticed something else, that I typically hear with big speaker systems. Generally, the speakers were right on edge of overloading the room, depending on music, the dreaded bass boom could be heard. But, the whole presentation was greater in impact than most any smaller speaker system, yet it was almost unlistenable for the long term.
The question I asked myself, is do we really want this type of presentation in our home audio systems? The speakers threw a pretty large soundstage, but also made things sound somewhat larger than life. I also thought that this type of speaker is akin to the large box dynamic speakers of yesteryear. For example, a set of large horns from Altec Lansing or similar was reminiscent of this sound. Makes me believe that if one has a big room, a similar sound can be obtained from most any large speaker system and at a fraction of the price.
I listen in a very small room, and by necessity in the near field, yet I think the overall intimacy of this type of listening experience is better for me, your thoughts?
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"Big speakers, Big problems" is probably true 90+% of the time; but not always. If one has the room, the ancillary gear and the set up expertise, then they will provide a sense of scale, which IME, small speakers cannot. BUT the question is what you are also leaving behind. Personally, I totally dislike horns for this reason. Almost all horn designs are large and fall into the saying you posted above. Plus, the issues typically are not that recognizable, until a listener gets to hear a system with none of the problems. Only then do they become glaringly (pun) obvious, IMO. |
@mihorn wrote:
The problem is going from the original performance or production of sounds/music to its reproduction (i.e.: recording + home playback), the latter of which I’m referring to here; this invariably involves compromises and making prioritizations, and not everyone agrees on which aspects in reproduction (because it involves choices) that most effectively mimics naturalness, if it’s even articulated and actually sought after as a trait with a live reference.
The specific gear/brands is not really the point, but rather the designs, how they adhere to core physics and their overall implementation. I might send you a video or refer to a listening session that, as a standout experience, was really about a successful implementation, but upon learning of that most would likely point to the gear and make it about that mainly - that is: the brands, models and the price level. It’s about the gear also from a design point of view, but everything is only a potential that has to be more fully brought out. I prefer active configuration via DSP, because it optimizes the amp-to-speaker interface getting rid of the passive crossover in between. I prefer physically more all-out speaker designs with high efficiency over the entire frequency range, preferably emulating a point source (or as few crossover points over the mains as possible) per channel with flat power and phase response. Loads of headroom, everything working effortlessly without strain at any SPL, less room interaction (with limited and controlled, fairly even dispersion characteristics), etc. All of this is not exclusive to a brand or some guys wanting a gazillion for their secretly sauced statement product. I’ve mentioned design details already from systems I’ve heard that in different aspects represents some of the best you can achieve in a home environment - irrespective of price. Making it all come together with these physical means, cleverly used (i.e.: relatively restrained and sonically evaluated) acoustical measures and DSP tools is what it’s all about to me. Some audiophiles want to convert their self-imposed or externally influenced limitations into advantages so to feel better about their situation. Maybe we all do that to some extent, but the damn fact of the matter is you can’t cheap out on physics with speakers, and size being an inconvenience to most ’philes makes it an excellent example of what is sacrificed NOT for reasons of considering the best sound, but because it’s DICTATED upon them or brought on as the BS rationale of "fitting your speakers to the listening room size-wise." End of rant. |
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