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Big speakers, are they really the best way to get great sound?

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to listen to some very large speakers that are considered to be at, or close to, the pinnacle in speaker design and ability. Needless to say, the speakers retail in the mid to high $300k range. These speakers, and I will not be naming them, were sourced by about $800k of upstream gear. Room size was about thirty by twenty, maybe a little larger.
To say the the overall sound was BIG would be accurate, but also I noticed something else, that I typically hear with big speaker systems. Generally, the speakers were right on edge of overloading the room, depending on music, the dreaded bass boom could be heard. But, the whole presentation was greater in impact than most any smaller speaker system, yet it was almost unlistenable for the long term.

The question I asked myself, is do we really want this type of presentation in our home audio systems? The speakers threw a pretty large soundstage, but also made things sound somewhat larger than life. I also thought that this type of speaker is akin to the large box dynamic speakers of yesteryear. For example, a set of large horns from Altec Lansing or similar was reminiscent of this sound. Makes me believe that if one has a big room, a similar sound can be obtained from most any large speaker system and at a fraction of the price.

I listen in a very small room, and by necessity in the near field, yet I think the overall intimacy of this type of listening experience is better for me, your thoughts?

128x128daveyf
jim2
165 posts
 

@lemonhaze wrote:

@jim2, That is one of the best posts I've read on this, you summed it up beautifully.

There are some manufacturers of speakers who have a model or two just below their flagship full range speakers that use the identical mid range and tweeter drivers mated to a lesser performing bottom end in a smaller enclosure and at a substantially lower price. It is these that represent the best value and mated to an intelligent application of room treatment and proper installation of subs will at lower cost outperform the flagship model for the reasons you mention. Of course the dealer with an opportunity to move his overpriced 'white elephant' might suffer from selective amnesia.

And it's also why I've spoken to a Wilson Audio dealer who was read the riot act by Wilson Audio for selling customers the Wilson Audio Duette and subs rather than one of their exponentially priced floorstanding speakers... But... people don't buy Wilson Audio floorstanding speakers for "value" anyway... so they don't mind being the sucker, as long as they look good / feel good. 

inna
7,296 posts
 

Rats in the maze.

coltrane1, they can't "Go big".

daveyf's avatar
daveyf OP
2,880 posts
 

Going 'big' in a small room is a recipe for disaster, which you might know, if you had a clue!

jim2
165 posts
 

@inna 

Rats in the maze.

coltrane1, they can't "Go big".

Noise... outa. 

mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,190 posts
 

There is no going "big" concept in acoustics...

There is room of different size and geometry and bigger room ad infinitum or almost 😉 ...

The "rats maze" is in your head...There is two doors ...They are called "ears" ...

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