Can you have too much speaker presence?

As I see it there is "Large Speaker" sound and "Small speaker" sound.

The difference primarily being the chest impact a 15" speaker makes

when it moves a higher volume of air than a 6" speaker can.

I enjoy my 2 way speakers supplemented with subs so the whole

frequency range is presented. The impact of being there will not

be the same with smaller speakers. But the clarity & soundstage 

can be every bit as good or better.

I can not enjoy 70+dB sound levels for long. It literally hurts my tired ears.

But I can enjoy music at 65 dB which many of my friends can not.

From my way of thinking if a speaker can not sound good unless it

is blaring it is a poor speaker. If I am listening without any discomfort

at at a level say 75-85dB then I credit the system for producing sound

I can enjoy at higher than normal levels.

In other words it is a great system.

Make any sense?

newbee

4,556 posts

07-16-2023 at 05:34pm 

FWIW when I have seen the word 'presence' it has been referring to the mid/upper mid range. 

I was recently watching A British Audiophile's youtube channel. He referred to the "presence region" as being between 2k - 4k. 

Buy the biggest speaker you can  afford.......very rarely does a bookshelf give you the "full" presentation that a Floorstander will give you. You'll get lower bass....equally nice mids.....equally great highs and be able to play them enjoyably at lower volume levels And enjoy them at Higher volume levels without going into distortion. The bigger the better. Good luck in your search.

Stereophile's definition: 

“presence A quality of realism and aliveness. 

presence range The lower-treble part of the audio spectrum, approximately 1-3kHz, which contributes to presence in reproduced sound.”

As I currently have a post about looking at New or Used speakers,it's interesting this post came up. I had a small second room set up  13x13" give or take and a pair of Aria948 Focals, with nice electronics. Too much bass, no matter what I tried. I eventually spoke with FRITZ,  and bought a pair of Bookshelfs,  Fritz Carbon 7's SE model, and have been floored  by the Sound!! (Complimented by SVS SB 3000 sub) WHAT a difference, one of the posts I think addressed this.  Clarity, punch, so revealing and impactful, compared to the Focals. I'm sure most of it was room related. Just adding my 2 cents. Thanks for the above posts. Robert TN