Preference for large drivers?

Limited excursion maters much in audio reproduction small drivers are pushed harder than large they have to work harder to produce same SPL or frequincy range. Large excursions also mask detail that limited xmass drivers reproduce. You see more small for one reason cost. Much cheaper to manufacter design,sell,ship stock small thin speaker systems keep in mind it costs much to ship from china;) and most speaker designs are designed as much for shipping as sound quality, how many fill fit per palet. Plus many manufacters have most in this hobbie thinking small speakers perform better or as well as large. Bose has done much to give this false info much press if you shop for speakers again you will be told 5.1 + cubes is what you need. And now many folks believe its true and that large loudspeakers are dated designs. Sad no wonder so many in this hobbie are gear hounds constantly changing, upgrading. One reason is they keep the small loudspeakers. I will stick with very large loudspeakers with large powerful transducers. For they are the only loudspeaker designs capable of reproducing realistic SPL,image soundstage size and dynamic range.Plus the detail they reproduce and little to no listening fatigue. I can play mine all day long ears never protest unless I push SPL into the crazy range and still loudspeakers hardly working always at ease never hard or forced sounding no mater what SPL I listen too..Sure small has a place many cant afford or dont want a large speaker this I understand but to say small is better is way off the mark. For a monitor I would listen not go by driver size so much unless SPL is very important. A monitor in nearfield is a diferant beast than a floorstander in a main system.

Onhwy61,

While an array of smaller drivers can equal the total surface area of a one or two much larger ones and exceed them in efficiency, doesn't the line array introduce it's own problems of sound source localization?

In a tall line array, the distance between the center of the lowest drive and highest is quite far. Wouldn't the ear be able to detect the different points of origination?

Darkmoebius...The line array is the only valid reason to use small drivers. As far as spatial effect is concerned, a line array produces a sound wavefront like a point source far away. The distance to the simulated point source can be varied by curving the line array.

I agree with Onhwy61 about total surface area. In fact, my current speakers have four 8" woofers per side and extend beyond 20 Hz with abundant SPL.

As always, it's more complicated than just size. The drivers have to be designed for bass. If you were to make an array of several midrange drivers they would still be limited, although the SPL within their range would be stunning. The impedance of a typical midrange cone rises at it's lowest limits and an array of them can reach up to 50 ohms @ 50 Hz, depending on how they're wired, etc....
It's possible to have an array of eight 7" drivers that extend no deeper than a single 7", although it'll probably play a lot louder with much less distortion and handle a lot more power.

Darkmoebius: No. It's difficult to explain but well executed line arrays do not have the point source effect due to dispersion patterns, even at nearfield. The concept of pinpoint imaging from a line source is counter-intuitive but entirely possible, actually probable.

Dr_joe
Has it all straight.. Facts are facts, bigger the more you can do no doubt..

However I will add the reason for slimmer, smaller cabinets is exactly that. Appeal mostly, and to be fair most small speakers are used because they will perform better in smaller rooms, and smaller enclosures, so if you want Multiple 10 inchers, or a 12 inch, or a 15 inch etc.. You need enclosures the size of most peoples Closets in a house to get optimal performance and make them do what they should be doing.

some subwoofers get past this these days with high excursion and tight cabinets with TONS of power to overcome the need of Huge enclosures, basically Overpower it and it will put out some good bass, or do it the right way and have speakers that take up a whole wall and are very efficient needing less power :-)