speakers for classical music

dcstep1,518 posts06-09-2008 11:31am06-09-08: Chadeffect said:

"Box speakers are always going to give you problems though, and IMHO a bad place to start if listening to classical music only."

Lot's of us disagree with your opinion here.

Later you mention B&W 801 and 802s somewhat favorably. Is that not a "box speaker"? Anyway, many of us think that floor-standing, three-way speakers are the logical place to start for high quality, highly dynamic, full range sound for classical music reproduction.

People that can't afford the three-ways should consider two-way, stand-mounted mini-monitors, IMHO, and accept the compromise in low frequency response.

Dave

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sure 
How can Chad make the claim ~~box style speakers /problems~~ 
Then go on to suggest the ever popular, if not famous ~~B&W~~ which I associate with  none other than Bose, like Bose' bigger brother. 

Yet Chad is correct, there is not 1 box/xover speaker which holds any interest for voicing full symphony orchestra. 
I made attempts, but none worked out.
Then after spending alot of cash upgrading my Thors, and countless hours of research..
I began ~~Thinking Outside The Box~, pun intended.
Ordered some chinese **full range** for test purposes only, 
Yes , now here were the missing pieces  to the puzzle.
Wide band/Point Source/Higher sens/Full range, tag it how you wish. 
This is the ~~Holy Grail~~ I've been desparetely seeking these past years.
My tech friend made a  comment, to the effect, 
**Don't be surprised if they fall short on crushing passages when full sym opens up**
Can't be any worse that how the Seas Millennium handles symphony orchestra. 
Box speakers with xovers have a  fatguing midrange,although the Millennium was the most accurate and least fatiguing of any  tweeter I've heard, , Still at 87 db, its just not offering up the goods whena  symphony is in full bloom. 
Less than 1 inch voice coil, with 100++ instrumentation all trying to get a  piece of that miniscule voice coil. 
For jazz the Millennium is a  wonderous marvel. 
2 other seas high quality tweets  worth considering for jazz, are their newest Cresendo(87db) and their 20 yr old design the Exotic Alnico(94db)
I'd go Exotic for the higher sens.
But its not made for full orchestra. jazz only. . 

shadorne7,467 posts06-18-2008 2:03pmAnother example, on the subject of compression, in this case "ringing" may rob the midrange of dynamic range Stereophile Review. Ringing also reduces the contrast or sharpness in transients which is why Quad 57's are cherished (with its nice waterfall) for being "fast" and beautifully detailed even if they are limited dynamically.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You see I think this is where tweeters fall apart, whena   full orchestra is in full bloom, Schnittke, and such. 
A dome tweeter is being taxed to the max, and starts ringing and  begins shutting down. 
This is why the new designs  in wide band have addressed these issues and are able to voice these massive loads of fq's with a  more relaxed and ease in performance. 
The Quads need power and lack bass, highs rolled off. I believe the newer wide bands have addressed these earlier (Fostex/Lowther) faulty designs,  now with superior bass and highs.  

Atmosphere......that section of Das Reingold I think you mean is called the Rainbow Bridge.....after the giants Fasold and Fafner complete Woton's new castle, and Lockie summons the storm clouds to explode the scene.   I hope this little description gets people to hear this....absolutely goose pimply.