Bispeakering...am I the only one?

Howdy folks! I really didn't think I would get any replies so it was with great delight that I read your posts.

Joe - I always knew you had a bunch of speakers but didn't realize you played them at the same time. JM Lab and McIntosh, great combo! ;)

I have tried all sorts of combinations - the Mc running both pairs was good but even with 490W into 4 ohms, the big dynamic peaks at loud levels got compressed. Imaging suffered a little too. I guess this is why biamping is popular.

I swapped the amps around but that didn't work out too well. The CJ doesn't care for the JMs at all! Turned its nose right up at them. The Mc was just too much for the Triangles - too "hifi" sounding with way more detail than my poor recordings deserve. But I left this test feeling that the majority of the sound signature definately boils down to the speakers.

I feel that having different speakers would be a requirement. Intuitively, two pairs of ET sound like imaging would suffer. That is part of the reason that I got some monitors for the imaging part of the work and left the big dogs to do the soundstaging.

I see all this stereo business as one massive experiement. That is why I named my system as such. There is so much we don't know and so much we speculate about, why not try anything just to see what happens? There are no rules if we don't know everything! I feel it is a shame that so many folks come to Audiogon for others to tell them what to do. They should forge ahead and make their own paths, just like you guys, so thanks for your refreshing posts.

Arthur

Have you considered trading the JM labs for a killer sub? Since you love the Triangles so much, this would allow much easier use, less amps and probably better detail and soundstage. The sub will do wonders...

I used to do a lot of speaker combining (before I was married), and achieved some results that were phenomenal with really run of the mill speakers. I live across the street from a Goodwill, which up until 3 or 4 years ago was a constant source of fun, cheap vintage equipment - McIntosh, Klipsch, Marantz, Dahlquist, Sequerra, etc., etc. At one time I had 10 pairs of speakers in my living room (not all runnning at once).

As someone above mentioned - the best results are from pairing speakers that have different strengths and weaknesses. Combining similars seems more problematic with less to be gained.

It's true that careful attention should be paid to time and phase alignment of the midrange drivers relative to your seating position. But it won't be as perfect as a really well put together 3 or 4 way single pair. Somehow, though, the more disparate the speakers' tonal balances, the less phase anomalies seem to have been an issue in my experience.

While purists would scoff, if you want to really get the most flexibility in achieving crazy sound on the cheap with this type of setup, one or two equalizers can be helpful. If you've got one with an accurate analyzer you can still achieve flat freq. response while tweaking the best parts out of each speaker pair.

A couple of actual examples -

I combined Dahlquist DQ-20's with a pair of Sequerra Metronomes gradually taking over the upper mids and highs, which the DQ's are little soft on. The result was the smooth DQ sound, but with more zip in the highs. Imaging was still great because the Metronomes, being small, could be placed in the same vertical "line" as the DQ drivers while maintaining the same distance to listening position.

Combined an early 60's pair of University 12" w/whizzer cones full-range drivers in giant cabinets with Ohm/Walsh 2's (which have great super tweeters). The University's had almost non-existent highs but fast and accurate lows and decent mids. So I ran both pairs practically full range, except to reduce output in the mids of both to achieve flat freq. response (with 2 eq's) . The Ohms were placed to the outside but forward of the Univ's to keep distance to listener constant. The sound was phenomenal - holographic, 3 dimensional imaging and amazing slam. Total cost of the speakers: $80
Listening enjoyment: Priceless!

Combined a pair of Spica TC-50's with (hold your nose) a pair of Bose 501's. Just sat the Spica's right on top of the 501's and ran both full range. Obvious loss of some imaging/detail - but so what. They sounded way, way better than the Bose's alone and significantly better (as in more fun to listen to) than the Spicas alone.

Combined a pair of Dahlquist DQ-20's and DQ-20i's placed side by side. The increase in slam and dynamics was dramatic but there were phase cancellation issues that I couldn't resolve satisfactorily because of the cabinet shape and size, or maybe the oversize grills. I came to the conclusion that they might be a true giant killer with one pair stacked upside down vertically above the other - but to do that right would require welding up a rack to hold the top pair, some cabinet size reductions, and building a new set of grills to hide the whole mess. Impending marriage nixed that experiment.

Combined Spica TC-50's with a pair of Magneplanars (don't remember the model - large single panel) but interestingly, the result was almost no change.

Have fun.

Man Opalchip - you are the master experimenter! Really cool to hear about your combinations. Playing to each pair's strengths is definately the way to do it.

My McIntosh C42 preamp has an excellent EQ and I adjust it to make my room response flat with warble tones. I use a Radio shack SPL meter and compensate it for accuracy.

There is no way a subwoofer could do what the JM Labs do in the mids and highs. That is the beauty of this setup is to have the two pairs of speakers contribute to the important areas of the sound spectrum for improved soundstaging. Besides, my bass response is flat to 24 Hz, which is enough for me, and if I want more midrange body, all I need to do is twist a couple knobs on my preamp! A sub would just excite room modes which would kill my detail and crystal clear imaging.

Another benefit of this two speaker pair is that the amps don't have to work as hard for the same SPL. My CJ bias lights hardly come on anymore and my Mc amp rarely reads over 20W - two things that were definately not the case before.

Arthur

No . . . many people are bispeakering, and help is available.