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Speaker size and soundstage

Question: for floor standing speakers, how does speaker size affect sound stage, bass response, and the depth of music?

I’m searching for a new speaker, and just tested Dynaudio Contour 30 against Tekton Electrons (16x18 room with cathedral ceiling). Tekton’s are bigger (48 vs 45 high, and 10 vs 8.5 wide, about the same depth) and had a much larger sound stage and greater dynamics and depth. Tekton’s as a rule are much bigger than most other brands, which can be imposing in a room, but the size must equate to a greater sound stage. 
But can a smaller tower be designed to achieve the same sound stage and bass depth of a bigger speaker? If so, what what speakers pull this off?
w123ale
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Nowhere near that simple.
tweak1
3,561 posts
 
I remember a few decades back at a Chicago show, HSU had a pair of bookshelf speakers and a powered sub (or 2) in a very large room. It was pretty impressive. I came home and bought a pair of Reference 3As and tried 2 different Sunfire subs, but did not find them a good match for 2 channel HiFi. I sold both and bought several pairs of 3 ways and Maggie 3.5Rs.


Fast Forward to the present, I have a pair of Emerald Physics 3.4s (2 way with 12" concentric driver with 1" polyester tweeter) + a 10+ year old pair of SVS powered subs (the volume controls in their BASH plate amps are the weak link), BUT, is very enjoyable

hth
corelli
951 posts
 
Speaker size has a lot to do with bass response.  It has very little to do with imaging.  Many times a simple two way monitor will offer a superior and huge image when set up correctly.  One of the things that amazed me with Tekton DI's and the Electron SE was how well Eric designed these to image so well in spite of their size and multiplicity of drivers.  Quite a feat.  
chayro
2,935 posts
 
I think people have different definitions of soundstage.  IMO, it means a speaker's ability to portray the musicians in the places they were put in the recording so instruments can be identified by location.  Just know that few recordings have natural instrument placement and most are placed by the engineer through the use of panpots, or however it's done now.  But I think many people use soundstage to mean the physical size of the instruments.  I've never liked the Wilson Watt/Puppy because it always sounded like it made everything sound unnaturally big.  But their success in the market place certainly proves Wilson knew their target audience. But in the end, as with all things in audio, everything matters - the speakers, the rest of the equipment, the room, the recording and - most of all, your personal preference.  As far as bass response goes, IMO it depends on the room/speaker interface.  I'm getting better bass response with little Harbeth P3s in my room than I did with the much larger M30s.  Just the way the speaker works with the room.  
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