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Does anyone play two pairs of speakers at the same time?

I have found that certain combinations of speaker pairs produce a better sound than the single pair alone. For example: Klipsch Quartets and PSB Image 4T (new tweeters from Vifa) Quartets inside pair and volume matched to PSBs. I have done this over the years and found some great combinations.
aburnhamuu
jtgofish's avatar
jtgofish
515 posts
 
That sounds almost as bad as having two wives!
canibefrank
406 posts
 
I don't seem to have any serious comb filtering or phase issues. Sounds bloody righteous
rocray's avatar
rocray
1,448 posts
 
If you are not running 2 amps off of your pre,(providing the pre has multiple outputs) isn't the amp seeing potentially damaging low impedance?   
canibefrank
406 posts
 
i am running all actives... i am still doing some eval on this setup... while i am losing a bit of crystal best-in-class midrange detail from running only the AirPulse Model 1 , the heft and soundstage of this arrangement cannot be denied. the JBL 305 is no slouch and as it onle goes to about 16Khz I am only feeling the love from these 200 dolla boxes... a livelier all-around sound.. i love dem horns
simonmoon's avatar
simonmoon
517 posts
 
Running 2 pairs of dissimilar speakers at the same time is such a bad idea, in a stereo system. Especially in the high frequencies.

Not sure if the OP is talking about stacking them, or playing them on 4 different walls, but either way, not good.

People, comb filtering is a thing. The frequency response would be completely unpredictable, there is no way to know if some frequencies are going to increase or decrease due to frequencies from one speaker’s dips or rises in frequency response meeting the other speaker’s dips and rises.

Then there are difference in lobing caused by different drivers and different crossovers. I am sure that imaging and soundstage would be close to nonexistent.

Check out the following video by speaker design wiz, Danny Richie. He explains why 2 tweeters on the same baffle is a bad idea, but a lot of what he says can be translated to multiple speakers of different designs also. Unless special circumstances are taken into consideration, like line arrays, for example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGSfaKWcetQ

I would guess that any result that would sound ’good’ would be the result of certain frequencies, like maybe the presence region (4-6 K), being increased or decreased, depending on if the listener like bright or rolled off sound, or increase in bass response, etc.

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