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?
Amazing... Which so much variable factors at play how is it possible to make this impossible deduction ? By the way my system dont sound as any of yours ... It is normal, i adressed the room acoustic , the electrical noise floor level and the EMI interference and the mechanical vibrations/resonance problem ... I am very happy ...
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@ toddalin I respect your opinion on the sound and skill with speaker making. I am listening. Your system sounds really good and better than many much more expensive systems I've heard.Could we compare sounds with different music such as below? And am I hi-jacking a thread right now? I think I should stop here. Alex/WT |
@mihorn You would not be hijacking my thread if your speakers are to be compared to much larger speakers. I do think videos on Youtube tells us next to nothing about the SQ of a system, although many folk seem to believe the opposite.
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I have neither of those selections, nor do I stream. I prefer classic rock, especially in SACD format. I use an Oppo95 through a 22 year old Yamaha RX-Z9 RECEIVER with over 30,000 hours on it. |
Those big speakers do well on C. Rock but delicate music. I heard JBL Everest with Luxman 300B amp from my friend 30 years ago. He also had A7 VOTT. I was in heaven listening Rickie Lee Jones (Pop Pop). One of serious limitation for big horn speakers (compression driver) is the dirty and rough sound. Only thing it does well is hard hitting sound such as a drum. I don't want to listen C Rock all the time. My system does well on all kinds of sources (CD, MP3, MP4 (YT music), MOV, etc.) and genres (Rock, vocal, classical, small chamber, Piano, violin, audiophile, fusion, etc.). Live recordings below. Many of them are YT downloaded MP3. Alex/WT Schbert - Fantasie C Dur, Allegretto, Vivaldi - Winter (Four season) Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 3 - Hilary Hahn, Lidia Borda - Cuando silba el viento Stars Fell On Alabama - Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong |
