Powered speakers show audiophiles are confused

speaker dude wrote, "I won't speak for @donavabdear, but I will speak for myself that the question is essentially irrelevant and is begging an answer. Phase corrected is essential for any working speaker design, time corrected looks much better on a marketing sheet than providing verifiable listener benefits. And yes, I have personally done the testing. Dynamic correctness, dynamic excitement seem to be implying the same thing. How long can you play, and what effects of any concerning dynamic compression. Horn loading / compression drivers is not the only way to achieve this of course. Horns provide, properly designed, constant directivity, but using a standard woofer/mif-woofer and a wave guide tweeter provides similar benefits without the side effects of vertical directivity lobing which can cause unpleasant reflections off vertical surfaces, likely one of the reasons why some people "don't like horns".  I think we can agree that a real horn loaded speaker at 20Hz, even a tapped horn is rather enormous and outside the realistic realm for most people. To achieve true directivity at the frequency is just unrealistic and you are not going to avoid room modes. Velocity/position feedback eliminates power compression issues in subs, and cheap efficient amplification is plentiful. Just put in a bunch of power subs and be done with it."

I respectfully beg to differ.  My DIY speaker system uses Bill Fitzmaurice designed HT Tuba 25 Hz quarter wave folded corner horns.  The output at 25 HZ in my DEQX equalized system is identical to the output at the 1 kHz reference tone.  The output at 20 HZ is still audible and musically useful.  They are 18 cubic feet each but wearing a nice coat of Blonde Burmese teak veneer with solid teak and brass trim and tucked away in the corners where they need to be they don't seem particularly obtrusive to me. 

Including the horn path in the bass bin plus the distance out to the midrange horn which is well out into the room where it can image better makes the separation between the acoustic centers and the woofer and the AER BD3 midrange drivers over 16 feet.  The time correction provided by the DEQX DSP makes the acoustic centers of those drivers sound as though they are within 3 mm (less than 1/8 inch) of each other.  That is not in any way irrelevant.  If you have ever heard properly executed horn deep bass I think you would understand the difference between that and using a bunch of power subs and perhaps even learn what I mean by dynamic excitement.  I notice that Genelecs best subwoofer is already 6 dB down at 27 HZ.

My system is active using six channels of amplification. Contrary to donavabdears contention that audiophiles who don't use a bunch of little active cones and domes in a box are confused I respectfully beg to differ with him also.

@kingharold

They are 18 cubic feet each but wearing a nice coat of Blonde Burmese teak veneer with solid teak and brass trim and tucked away in the corners where they need to be they don’t seem particularly obtrusive to me.

Thanks for posting this, the pics you posted are stunning. Some of the wannabes in this thread are keyboard warriors who are simply posers. Your handle is certainly appropriate from what I see in your system profile, nice job.

I would like to know more about the deep horn loaded bass you describe. What type of space do you need, budget, etc. Thanks.

@thespeakerdude wrote:

Have you been following what I said I do? Speakers for professional applications? Do you think that just means studio speakers? @donavabdear mixes for movies where you are trying to "recreate" real dynamic events.

And your point is? @donavabdear made no effort to limit his views on dynamics to a given application of reproduction, but rather made a broad statement. I replied accordingly. To most here it’s about home audio reproduction. Dynamics should apply as one sees fit, however setting the bar high here isn’t some fad but rather acting on a hugely important aspect of music (and movie) reproduction. That it isn’t a higher priority has more to do with spousal demands and interior decoration (and even vanity) than a conscious "no thanks."

20CuFt is not really enough for a proper horn loading at 20Hz.

You wrote ".. a real horn loaded speaker at 20Hz," and I’m telling you a 20cf. quarter wave tapped horn with a tune a ~22Hz will do honest and proper 20Hz - period. What isn’t proper is asking a smaller size, lower eff. direct radiator doing the same, even with a surplus of power. And horn sub iterations can be in multiples as well.

Tell me @phusis, what is your personal definition of "dynamics"?

Let me put it this way: my take on dynamics is they matter more than many if not most audiophiles care to pursue via their home setup. Which brings me to your next question..

What is a sufficient peak db level?

To me "sufficient" peak dB level is a max. required SPL number with some +20dB’s of added headroom. A pair of corner placed (i.e.: with boundary gain) high eff. tapped horn subs and high eff. pro cinema main speakers with a combined 2.3kW actively per channel can shell out +125dB’s at the LP (~11ft. listening distance), full-range, so backwards math gives an easy 105dB’s with +20dB’s of headroom - within my actual required range.

Please note that I don’t blast my ears with +110dB peaks like a daily meal, if rarely at all. However, an abundance of full-range headroom provides wholly effortless, low distortion playback that few get to experience, even at levels that are downright physical in nature. The clean (and full-range) dynamic bandwidth not least comes in handy with Blu-ray/4K UHD playback of movies.

I could go on about describing this, but it really requires of one to experience it first-hand to know it. Suffice to say that when you have a bunch of high eff., large diameter transducers (or force multiplied via acoustic transformation) that move very little, yet while producing tremendous SPL’s at the LP, it can provide a very relaxed, full and immersive feel of sound that’s simply not attainable from smaller, low eff. speaker packages.

Coming down to it it’s really about the benchmark I’ve set out to go by within a range of core parameters, and has come to achieve in some measure. ’Core parameters’ may not apply similarly to all, and a MFR rarely has the luxury to go all-out in regards to core physics of reproduction, for reasons already outlined by you. Fortunately DIY and an open approach to which segment of gear is used can change that, relatively uninhibited.

What is a peak db level listening to an orchestra say 10 rows from the stage?

10th row with a large symphony orchestra during tutties? I’d say 105-110dB’s.

How often are you trying to recreate a Saturn V launch?

I don’t, really, and you obviously missed my point. Another example, here from the world of cars, and to hopefully get through with my point this time around: if, say, a Formula car is your effective out-of-reach reference, then for sure a Porsche 911 Carrera GTS is still faster than a Citroen Berlingo, and who among fast-car aficionados wouldn’t appreciate that difference in performance - even without achieving the speed of an F1 racer? Moreover, you’d certainly get a closer feel of what it means driving F1.

@kota1 --

Cool video. It's the first time I've heard of 21" drivers being referred to as "kick subs," but it makes sense looking at that 80" beast of an über infrasonics woofer..!

@kingharold On the contrary you are the audiophile who is not confused, you are the opposite of the normal audiophile who doesn't understand that a speaker and an amp/crossover should be made for each other.