Speaker size and soundstage

Well, I’m no expert, but can only report what I recently heard. I listened to three levels of Focals: Aria, Kanta, and Sopra at a dealer with all the same electronics.

While there are other differences of course in design, they all are from the same manufacturer, and all step up incrementally in size.

All very good speakers, but without question the sound stage increased by big steps. For me at least, there is a threshold for speakers where they disappear and I am just immersed in the music. So far in my limited experience, the bigger the speakers, the more they “disappear”. Interesting, on my second visit to the listing room, the Sopras were so much smaller than I had remembered because they through such a massive enveloping sound that in mind they had to be huge, but weren’t. 
When I returned home, I listened to my Electons. They completely fill the room like the Kanta, are less detailed and smoother, and a bit darker. Mind you I have a hybrid amp and my vintage tubes are definitely smoothing the sound. 
As an aside I recently added a x10 Paradigm sub to my Electrons and it really improved the overall depth of the music and my engagement.

andy21,365 posts06-16-2021 6:46pmIn general the bigger the speakers the bigger the soundstage.

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Cavat
The bigger the speaker = more likely to be LOUDER vs a 4 inch FR in midarnge, but certainly more likely to have distortion, fatigue.
WE are not after huge massive wide soundstage via high db/loudness.
Not at all. We are all after the delicate nuances hidden within all music and produced ona  level that  sparkles with fidelity/clarity. 
This can only be achieved via high quality full range.
Due to its super sensitivity. 
All speakers under say 92db may produce a  huge loud sound stage, but most assuredly will lack the fidelity we all demand. 
Big speakers, heavy speakers have never impressed me. Back then, nor now. 

The mastering engineer can mix any sound/instrument recorded in only three ways all the volume in the right speaker, all the volume in the left speaker then anywhere in between. Unless he resorts to staggering phase and other tricks the sound is going to come from the right speaker, the left speaker and anywhere in between. If an instrument images outside of the stereo pair it might sound cool but there is an acoustical problem with the room. This is the only way that can happen under normal circumstances. Forget about how the recording was made although it is nice to get the acoustic ques of the venue into the recording it is because of their low levels that reflections can compete with them and make it seem as if you are in that venue but the high level of the instruments themselves should always come at or between the speakers. There is no other way to mix them without tricks. This is not IMHO Magister is a matter of fact.

You describe here the recording process forgetting that it is not a description of the acoustic experience you just did...

I listen to the "Gabrielli" album from Empire brass ensemble for example...

The sound comes from the external right and external left OUT of the speakers simultaneously with a very good deep front/back imaging...

I listen to many album and many present a deeper front/back imaging sometimes filling the room and between me and the speaker.... I am among the players and not sometimes in front of them at distance...

In general more than half of my albums make me forget the location of my speakers because the piano for exemple may sound in my room with a chord distibution from front near me,to back behind the speakers....i am near the piano able to touch the instrument....

Example: Moravec Chopin Nocturnes or Feltsman Bach Well tempered Klavier...Try these 2 and if the piano dont fill the room few inches from you , your system is boring and not acoustically very impressive... Sorry...
Buy these  2  albums very well recorded and if the sound dont fill your room your acoustic control is bad ....Simple....

Must I called it a sound between the speakers because you think that it is the norm? The sound is AROUND or coming way out of the space between the speakers and sometimes the 2 at the same times it is relative to the mic location in the initial event... ....


You forget that acoustic is NEVER perfectly seized by the recording process but the recreation of the 3-d atmosphere of the initial recording is most of the times possible IF we control the room....It is not magic it is science....

BEFORE my acoustic controls were in place the sound was always between the speakers, never outside them by the right or left and never near me, and never with a great front/back distribution in space....

After with the SAME components the situation were completely different...

Then acoustic controls explain it most of the phenomena ( with vibrations control for some degree)

In front of or behind the speakers is fine although in my experience the instruments and stage tend to be behind the speakers but this is volume sensitive and will vary depending on the type of speaker you have.
If you like the experience you have with instruments imagining outside of the speakers then don't change anything. But, it is an aberration of acoustics and not a product of the reproduction process in 2 channels.
I suppose you can get this in a 5.1 system but I wouldn't know as I have never taken them seriously. It is really only useful for theater. Getting two speakers to work in unison is more than enough.  

@fstary,

"I suppose having a system sound like a grand piano in the same room does not mean the system is perfect in all ways, but that memory stuck with me as well."



As it should.

Most (ok virtually all) of the systems that I've heard had no chance of even getting close to start with.

Other genres of music can place serious demands upon your loudspeakers but few make their shortcomings as obvious as piano can.

For some speakers it's a risk not worth taking, as I once found out when one of midrange drivers began to make some strange noises when playing back some Glenn Gould.

No jokes please.