If you don't have a wide sweet spot, are you really an audiophile?

I wanted to share what Richard Vandersteen thinks about sweet spot.  This is a direct quote:

Most speakers today especially those with narrow baffles have a wide dispersion pattern and therefore will have a decent stereo image off axis. Having noted this if there is only a small improvement when sitting in the “sweet spot” this is a sure indication of low resolution as imaging is created by small differences in time, phase, amplitude and differential time between left and right channels. Most of these ingredients are at least compromised when the listener is not equal distance from the two speakers. Evidence of high resolution, time, phase accuracy and reasonable acoustic symmetry within the room is a significant improvement of all things coveted by most audio enthusiasts when seated in the “sweet spot”. The only way to make the “sweet spot” larger is to lower resolution and homogenize the signals enough to make the presentation mediocre everywhere. RV    

It comes to my mind an interesting metaphor about how active and able to be activated a room is.... The room is not ONLY a set of passive walls waiting for the sound waves to bounce on them partially reflected, absorbed or diffused also... This is market mythology of those who simplify acoustic to sells easy to use products... Like i already said this is only HALF of the story...


The other Half is connected with my metaphor:

What is the difference between a violin and a room?

No difference at all....

Imagine if the waves of sound cross my room 80 times in one second , that these waves could be modified by their multiples crossings of my room each second by a tightening of the air, a compression of the air in different zones which will work exactly like the mechanism on the violin that will tighten or relax the tension of the strings , here in the room different pressure engines with the form of bottles or tubes and pipes devices will make the air tighter on a set of different frequencies in fonction of their volume/neck ratio exactly like the violin mechanism will tighten the strings ...

The room become a violin and acoustic is the art of tuning it...

Then nevermind the source of information, digital or analog, coming from the speakers in the form of waves, what we listen to is the room/ violin interpreting this physical direct waves of the speakers ALWAYS mediated by the early and late reflections yes but also mediated by the different pressure zones of the room in the form of the pressure engines but also in the form of the interacting waves themselves in relation to the geometry of the room which create in the room an array of cellular pressure zones themselves....

This impact of the room on the sound we hear is so huge that arguing about the sound of different piece of gear is most of the times ridiculous.... For sure no speakers or no amplifiers sound alike, but the room/violin is hugely more impactful on the sound you will hear than the choice between a Pioneer amplifier or a Sansui one....More than that you could modify the room and transform completely the response of the room and make your amplifier an another beast completely.... It is true also of the speakers.... It is the reason why reviews are relative to say the least...The sound of ANY system is mediated and transformed by the room at the end because ou ears/brain  use the room to make the sound like a violonist use the shell of the violin to amplify and transform the sound....

For sure there is many other factors, like the way we can use materials to act on timing of the direct waves with the early and late reflections and the use of reverberations.... I used all that also but in an intuitive way, listening to my room for the tuning, and i will let the specialist explain all that way better than me...

My post is only here to say something rarely said and never insisted on, compared to the huge marketing of electronic design in audio threads....

I am in no way a scientist nor an acoustician....

All these reflections are more the results of my experiments than direct knowledge...

If i am wrong correct me....

Thanks....

Thanks Pete :-) aim high brother 

I wonder why KEF chose to time align and phase correct the amplified LS-50 ?
I am guessing they too are aiming..... low.