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?

128x128daveyf

I am amazed by the fact that for most people the speakers alone is the source of the sound , which for me made no sense, because i always tought in acoustics terms , nevermind the speakers design , which i can build a room around and for it ...

Speakers design matter but without a very good dedicated room , i will not call anything high end ...Price tag is secondary ...Acoustics primary ...As a relative rule... But now beware, i never said that a 150 bucks speakers will compare with or without acoustics to a many thousand bucks speakers generally ....😊

 
 

 

 

toddalin

You killed all the ambience of the room. Sounds "dead" even compared to the original with no room ambience. Your clocks don’t sound "natural."

Let’s compare apples to apples. Make your recordings in a 5,000 cubic foot room.

My shop is 36’L x 28’W x 11’H (11k cubic ft) and my system sounds even better than my room in the video (22’ x 13.4’ x 8’).

Almost conventional speakers must pressurize the room with sounds to come alive because speakers blow sounds to walls, floor, and ceiling first rather than to to a listener. Almost all sounds a listener gets are reflected sounds. If the room is large, the sounds must travel longer (weaker and colored by reflected on dry walls) to reach to a listener. So, the room size is very important.

With natural sound speakers, more sounds travel directly to the listener and the room size is not that important. The room size difference with a natural sound speaker is like a real person is singing in a small room or a large room. Alex/WTA

Breaking this down to size is oversimplification to the point of misinformation. What matters most are the radiation patterns of the drivers, the maximum SPLs one wants, the acoustical properties of the room (size and proportions are just two of many aspects) and the goals of the system. Boomy bass is almost always more a function of room acoustics, specifically bass absorption than speaker size. Radiation patterns only come into play with dipoles in the bass (mostly). Room size does play a part in the bass but bigger isn’t always better. Bigger just means the problems are lower on frequency which is often harder to solve. But bass absorption in a room matters much much more than room size. Boomy bass is not a result of a speaker simply being too big. 

I never said it was a "trick" Do you not know what a straw man is?

My room and system are set up to minimize reflections at the listener. Speakers are ~7.5 feet apart on the 26 foot wall and about 10.5 feet from the listener. The ceiling above the speakers is ~14 feet high.

The rear wave is removed from the Heils and the 2251J crosses over at ~3kHz to minimize early reflections.

Tell you what, you bring your "technology" over here and we’ll listen together. I’m in Orange County, CA and I see you advertise on C/L in LA.

Very true .... Bass control in the room cannot be efficient without controlling the zone pressure distribution ...Helmholtz tuned resonators did it for me in my last room ...

 

 

But speakers in a small wood two way box are also Helmholtz resonators ...😊

You can modify the port hole and redesign it as i did ... You can redesign the tweeter radiation pattern as i did ...And the low cost speakers now punch way above his price ...( 100 bucks 12 years ago and i disliked them for 11 years😁 )

 

Speakers/room relation is one thing that most people dont understand ...

They bought costly speakers thinking that speakers give their optimal S.Q. in any uncontrolled room ... This is false ...

And small speakers without being as good as big one because of bass depth can be more than just good in near listening in a dedicated acoustically controlled corner ...

The impact and change of a small speakers with a 4 inches woofer as mine could be astonishing ... ( i go 50 hertz clear no boominess)

I believe only in acoustics .... Price tag means nothing without acoustics ... And with acoustics a well designed low cost speakers can punch above what is expected ...

 

 

 

 Then to answer the OP question , the best way to have good sound is learning basic acoustics knowledge not buying small or big speakers ...

 

Breaking this down to size is oversimplification to the point of misinformation. What matters most are the radiation patterns of the drivers, the maximum SPLs one wants, the acoustical properties of the room (size and proportions are just two of many aspects) and the goals of the system. Boomy bass is almost always more a function of room acoustics, specifically bass absorption than speaker size. Radiation patterns only come into play with dipoles in the bass (mostly). Room size does play a part in the bass but bigger isn’t always better. Bigger just means the problems are lower on frequency which is often harder to solve. But bass absorption in a room matters much much more than room size. Boomy bass is not a result of a speaker simply being too big.