Nearfield listening - once more

I did a combo experiment one time. What I mean by that is I put some small, wide dispersion speakers at a normal listening distance in a small room. I crossed them over pretty high, about 600 Hz, to some larger ported speakers which were within 1 foot of each ear, off to the sides. Those were attenuated and time delayed to match level with the smaller speakers. The result was that when I sat in the sweet spot right between the bass speakers the bass was very full, rich and smooth, but seemed to be coming from the soundstage in front of me. If I got up from that chair and moved away it sounded like there was virtually no bass in the room. It was really a very compelling sounding arrangement, allowing me to experience solid bass and a soundstage that seemed to fill the room, without much in the way of room interference muddling things up in the lower midrange and bass. It was also good for not bothering other people with bass. One downside was the need to sit fairly still and be well positioned between the bass speakers. Slight movement toward one speaker or the other would cause a rapid change in relative level between the left and right ears.

I think it's time I try repeating this experiment with my current setup.

Interesting experiment asctim ...

I used a foldable wood screen with absorption and diffusive surface as a focusing lens between my ears and the room speakers and walls ...It was not farfield nor nearfield ... I was in my listening position at 9 feet from the speakers...

Astounding... I felt like the best of headphone intimacy  coupled with speakers holographic and  realistic impression...

In some recorded albums the soundstage extended all around me almost behind me ...

But my room was heavily tuned with 100 different resonators ...

After this experience i understood why sound experience is mostly acoustics and psycho-acoustics ... Not taste ...

@atmasphere - my experience is that the sub needs to be cut off at a lower frequency than 80 hz. The Velodyne DD18 is the sub I've owned that really went low, and the crossover could be set to 40 - 45 hz. Even lower than with the two REL Strata subs I had before. Yet even at that low crossover, I was concerned about the sub positioning, and found that the DD18 sounded best, positioned in line with the speakers, or a bit in front, very directional - although this should not be the case. I have not (yet) experienced truly non-directional subs.

@o_holter My experience is similar in that I have to cross the speakers over at a frequency much lower than 80Hz. If you think about it, 40Hz is only an octave down so unless your crossover has a really complex and steep filter, there will be a substantial amount of energy above 80Hz with a 12 or even 18dB slope.

I have my sub's drivers facing the wall but my subs are Audiokinesis Swarm subs and so are designed to operate inside the room boundary effect. Most subs are not, so have to be placed well away from the wall otherwise they will be tricky as the room boundary boosts bass by about 3dB per octave as you go down. Duke's subs take advantage of this and so are designed to roll off at 3dB/octave starting at 100Hz. In this way they are flat at 20Hz, yet are compact and can be right against the wall, which is really important for space in my room.

Near fields are used specifically for studio environments where you are working close to your console, such that their polar response is quite narrow in the mids and highs  in order to reduce console reflections. they in general should not be used as everyday listening speakers unless you don't care about the room response. Most good near fields like Adams or Focal are also quite expensive ( $1000+ each),  most these days are bi-amped with XLR and digital inputs as well as 2pi or 4pi padding (low end EQing)  

Unfortunately marketing has stolen that phrase these days. satellite systems is the proper term for consumer items like what you have described.

for most listening its just better to be able to hear the room acoustics, and for better enjoyment to get your room analyzed  to see where unwanted resonances are and mechanically  remove them using  things like bookshelf's or phase detraction devices and bass traps . depending on how bad your room is. In the studio we spend a fair amount of time correcting room responses before we start using them. Best money spend is on getting your room sound good in the first place. DSP room eq's won't correct a bad sounding rooms either. 

Book shelfs work very well at preventing standing wave which cause those resonances, and are pretty cheap in comparison.

But dont use near filelds for your entertainment needs.