Time-Phase-Alignment- Point Source-Classical Musicians


Here's my story. I owned a HiFi store in Providence, RI in the 80s. We had a huge customer base of professional classical musicians. They would come into the store and audition speakers....KEFs, EPI, Advent, AR, etc. We had a very well designed switching system that could balance the SPL of the speakers using a sound pressure meter for A-B comparison. As we would play various, extremely popular  speakers they would sit there patiently. Just about 100% of these musicians would light up when we would play B&O Red Line speakers, Dahlguist DQ10s and Magnepans......the only thing these speakers had in common was some form of "time alignment". The drivers were "aligned" in some fashion or in the case of the Magnepans, a single panel in space. They reaction always amazed me. And this happened time and time again (no pun intended) I remember reading an article many years ago about 15% of the population being very susceptible to what was referred to as "time distortion" in loudspeakers. I suggest that folks that really know what live music or maybe their particular instrument  is supposed to sound like are among that 15%.......I'm extremely impressed with my recent acquired KEF LS50 Metas and my Magnepan MMGs among all the hundreds of speakers I've had the pleasure of auditioned in a 50 year career in HiFi. 

 Recently , after listening to the Metas for a few months, I was smitten by the concept of Point Source loudspeakers. This led me to a number of Single Driver, no crossover designs that are receiving rave reviews. The brand that really got my attention is Pearl Acoustics and the Sibelius speaker. Since I couldn't afford tio buy a pair, I decided to build what some consider the DIY version...The Pensil 10.2.....Totally blew me away! So simple to build....So easy to listen to! (You can read all about my build here...

 So where is this going.....Is there any validity in anything I've written? Has anyone else experienced similar?  

rbertalotto

My speakers are very good at 3D imaging/soundstage, but I had Thiel 1.6es in my system for a bit and there was something special about what they did in that realm that I attribute to being time/phase coherent.  Just my take. 

My speakers are very good at 3D imaging/soundstage, but I had Thiel 1.6es in my system for a bit and there was something special about what they did in that realm that I attribute to being time/phase coherent.  Just my take. 

Thiel 1.6es were (are) great speakers.....A real bargain when you find them used in perfect condition...

 

Always here for DIY!

A kind of interesting take too is the Woofer-Assisted Wide Band.

It is essentially a 1 driver speaker down to about 200 Hz or so, when a conventional crossover brings a woofer into the mix. Another way to think about it is a 2-way with a very low crossover point.  Many feel it has all the benefits of a 1 driver speaker, but with great bass.

I wonder if you can measure time alignment outside of an anechoic chamber? Certainly don’t see ASR or others reporting any measurements if this is supposed to be important. I also observe many box speakers claiming time alignment in their design including Gershman, Wilson’s etc.