Imho the more air you move, the better. So, the bigger the better, … relative to room size and room tuning.
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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@unreceivedogma Your proviso makes sense. Room size and room tuning are important regardless of the size of the speaker. But it is indeed all relative. Which brings me to @phusis The point you seem to be making is that a big speaker can be made to work well in a small space. I would not dispute this, but what it also means is that the big speaker is probably not working to its fullest in said space due to size limitations. What you say about a small speaker in a large space is not always true either. IME, a small speaker can be made to work well in a large space, but the job is also not easy.
The point I think some are missing here, is this. If you try and shoe-horn a large speaker into a small ( not even medium) space that is too small for the speaker, then you will not be listening to what the large speaker can deliver, assuming that it has decent SQ in the first place. Conversely, if you try and place a small speaker into a too large space, then you will most likely also have to deal with various issues, and if not done, the small speaker will probably sound...small. Which is why i do believe that fitting your speaker size to the size of your room is very important, otherwise you will have to fight the lack of synergy at the very least. |
I will compare to any audio system in the world. Please you show me any audio system’s live recording video sounds better than mine. Alex/Wavetouch audio |
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