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Post by Westie on Jul 12, 2022 7:07:19 GMT
Folk who swear by big speakers often see it as a given that their choice is “right”. Is it really that easy?
Firstly, there’s the whole question of where you put them. Most British homes are too small to accommodate big speakers and use them in the way they were designed to be heard. They are either too close to room boundaries, too close to each other, too close to the listener, or any combination thereof.
Then there are room effects. Once you inject 40hz and below into a room, you often hear more of the room than you do the speakers. The number of systems I’ve heard that are drowning in room reverb is incredible.
Finally, there is the inevitable need/desire to listen at realistic levels. Big speakers often don’t get going unless you wick them up. At lower volumes they are often seen off by smaller speakers. This only exacerbates the room problems, issues of placement, and the issues around the listener being too close to speakers and room boundaries himself.
Unless you have a big room, with space for you and the kit, and a detached house, a smaller speaker can often outperform a bigger one. If you want to listen to a concert, you need a room the size of a concert venue and amps ready and willing to do concert levels. Most of us just want to listen to music in our living rooms, and small speakers can often do this more effectively.
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Post by classicrock on Jul 12, 2022 10:13:39 GMT
Few large speakers go as low as 40Hz. Low thirties is usual if we are talking extremely large. For low frequencies a sub woofer is now popular even for stereo. In fact even those Large Wilson's need a sub to go full range as they make a matching pair.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2022 10:43:06 GMT
Never ever ever have i had a pair of big speakers that have worked in any of my homes like a small speaker has. Large speakers are absolutely no good for me. Ive absolutely no intentions in modifying a living room around a loudspeaker. If you have to modify your listening space to make a speaker work well my answer is drop them in the nearest canal & buy a speaker that works out the box in any room & guess what all small speakers i have used did just that.
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Post by dsjr on Jul 12, 2022 12:00:37 GMT
Few large speakers go as low as 40Hz. Low thirties is more usually unless we are talking extremely large. For low frequencies a sub woofer is now popular even for stereo. In fact even those Large Wilson's need a sub to go full range as they make a matching pair. Not true - these do and they're a mere £1250 with stands too
When you take the step forwards into proper mid size actives, 40Hz is often achievable for clean domestic levels.
Many domestic subs still have output at 100hz even if set low, so choice is critical here to get a couple of good ones (one alone fecks with bass nodes in-room and in the US where subs are commonplace, it appears two or more subs is what's used to better fill their larger rooms).
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Post by Westie on Jul 12, 2022 14:06:56 GMT
Oddly, I’ve had no issues with subs in any room, because you can tune them. If I was going full-Range I’d rather do smaller speakers and a sub. Spicas and an REL Storm were very good indeed. Dave has a point about two subs though, as Spica themselves recommended this. I’ve never had that pleasure though.
I dunno if De Capos would work well with a sub but I might try one day.
The Snells I’m currently using sound big enough for me and they do go loud if I want, without upsetting the room. I have to keep them well away from room boundaries though and that puts them only about 9 feet away from me and 7 feet apart. It all feels too close.
Maybe bigger speakers need some form of available EQ, like you get with a sub?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2022 14:32:22 GMT
Oddly, I’ve had no issues with subs in any room, because you can tune them. If I was going full-Range I’d rather do smaller speakers and a sub. Spicas and an REL Storm were very good indeed. Dave has a point about two subs though, as Spica themselves recommended this. I’ve never had that pleasure though. I dunno if De Capos would work well with a sub but I might try one day. Maybe bigger speakers need some form of available EQ, like you get with a sub? The Snells I’m currently using soun big enough for me and they do go loud if I want, without upsetting the room. I have to keep them well away from room boundaries though and that puts them only about 9 feet away from me and 7 feet apart. It all feels too close. Theres been quite a few old speaker with control pannels to tailor responces. But this obviously infingers on audiophiles idiotic brainwashed ways
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2022 18:39:17 GMT
KEF made an EQ unit called the 'KUBE' to go with the 80's '102' which made them sound a lot bigger than they were being not a big speaker.
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Post by classicrock on Jul 13, 2022 8:00:15 GMT
Oddly, I’ve had no issues with subs in any room, because you can tune them. If I was going full-Range I’d rather do smaller speakers and a sub. Spicas and an REL Storm were very good indeed. Dave has a point about two subs though, as Spica themselves recommended this. I’ve never had that pleasure though. I dunno if De Capos would work well with a sub but I might try one day. Maybe bigger speakers need some form of available EQ, like you get with a sub? The Snells I’m currently using soun big enough for me and they do go loud if I want, without upsetting the room. I have to keep them well away from room boundaries though and that puts them only about 9 feet away from me and 7 feet apart. It all feels too close. Theres been quite a few old speaker with control pannels to tailor responces. But this obviously infingers on audiophiles idiotic brainwashed ways Seems attitudes are changing as these speakers are getting good reviews (KLH and JBL mostly do this to emulate 70s models).
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Post by Westie on Jul 13, 2022 8:05:36 GMT
I must say I like the move towards wider baffles on speakers too. Slim ones sound shite. It goes against what you’d expect, but it’s been my consistent experience.
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Post by dsjr on Jul 13, 2022 9:16:18 GMT
Apparently, it's to do with baffle-step rises in the response and how to 'tune' them. the Wharfedale Linton was wide in a retro sense but according to designer Peter Comeau, for genuine good reasons - the Linton has a mid driver too and this helps as part of the design-whole apparently.
I'd love to hear the old IMF pro monitors again, especially the RSPM IV's which had controls on the bottom plate to trim the bass and tilt the response a little. Very wide baffles but the mid and tweets set to the side in mirror image pairs. Fecking HUGE by tofay's standards, owners in the 79's had their wives put pot plants or pictures on them to help disguise the looks...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2022 9:35:54 GMT
Chance of hearing those big IMF RSPM again is so slim id forget about it. LOL
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2022 10:00:45 GMT
TANNOY 'MAYFAIR' is one of the big speakers i liked. These had Passive Radiators & Responce controls under a glass lid. Downside for me was the Plastic cone driver however they are nice to listen to.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2022 10:03:21 GMT
Some there. They dont sound as toppy as that in the flesh tho LOL
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2022 10:11:43 GMT
B&W 'DM6' had Low Frequency contour controls. I did actually like these speakers
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2022 10:24:08 GMT
MORDAUNT SHORT 'PAGEANT' had High & Mid cut switches. These were very good speaker that seem to stay under the radar for some reason. Only downside was the dreadfully cheap quality inductrs on the crossover board.
The 'SIGNIFER' also had what they called ACOUSIC ENVIRONMENT BALANCE CONTROL. They were also great speaker.
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