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

mihorn,

I don’t use horns on the Mermans because I believe in time alignment and think that this is a prerequisite to a better soundstage and imaging.

I do have horns on my JBL L200/300s, and one-off, custom tri-amped, Altec Big Red Supers, but neither hold a candle to the imaging I get from the Mermans which is totally unlike anything I’ve heard at any price.

The History of the Mermans

I was dis-satisfied with the way the L300s rendered female voices (especially Joni Mitchell) and was determined to produce a speaker that could do females justice. But the caveat was that they had to play LOUD! Ethel Merman was well known for having a very powerful voice, but being Too Loud "Too loud they said," she says in one of her movies.

Ethel Merman (born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann, January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984) was an American actress, artist, and singer. Known primarily for her distinctive, powerful voice and leading roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage".

Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm" (from Girl Crazy); "Everything’s Coming Up Roses", "Some People", and "Rose’s Turn" (from Gypsy—Merman starred as Rose in the original 1959 Broadway production); and the Cole Porter songs "It’s De-Lovely" (from Red, Hot and Blue), "Friendship" (from DuBarry Was a Lady), and "I Get a Kick Out of You", "You’re the Top", and "Anything Goes" (from Anything Goes). The Irving Berlin song "There’s No Business Like Show Business", written for the musical Annie Get Your Gun, became Merman’s signature song.

Performance style
Merman was known for her powerful, belting mezzo-soprano voice and precise enunciation and pitch. Because stage singers performed without microphones when Merman began singing professionally, she had a great advantage, despite never taking singing lessons. Broadway lore holds that George Gershwin advised her never to take a singing lesson after she opened in his Girl Crazy.

Profanity
Merman was notorious for her brash demeanour and for telling vulgar stories at public parties. For instance, she once shouted a dirty joke across the room at José Ferrer during a formal reception.

While rehearsing a guest appearance on The Loretta Young Show, Merman exclaimed "Where the hell does this go?" Young, who was a devout Catholic, advanced towards her waving an empty coffee can, saying "Come on Ethel. You know my rules. That’ll cost you a dollar." To which Merman replied "Ah, honey, how much will it cost me to tell you to go f-ck yourself?"

daveyf OP

I heard your system at the last THE show; let’s just say that it might behove you at the next show you attend to actually go around the various rooms and have a listen to what the other exhibitors are doing.

I made some mistakes with my audio system at last Orange County show. I am not happy with that sound. My system is much improved after The SHOW 2023. Also, I didn't use the sub-woofer then.

I look around almost other rooms to hear any thing changed at the show every year. 

Thank you very much for your interest and watching me!   Alex/WT

@mijostyn wrote:

Watched the movie Oppenheimer last night. Highly recommended. 

Received the 3-disc 4K UHD last week on release day, and it's an excellent movie indeed while also sporting fantastic technical merits - both aurally and visually.

@lemonhaze wrote:

I firmly believe if more people heard speakers of this ilk with their effortless dynamics and convincing realism some would find a way to incorporate them into a domestic setting.

I'm not so sure about that. Many if not most audiophiles have been "conditioned" to a segment of speakers that are - by and large - direct radiating, inefficient and relatively small. Suddenly being confronted with very large, probably industrial and form-follows-function looking behemoths of horns/horn hybrid variants will likely go sideways of the known narrative to many an audiophile, and by the mere looks and anticipation of it will spell sonic calamity to them. "effortless dynamics and convincing realism" stands the chance of being regarded as a character, something exaggerated or just another flavor, not traits. 

@mihorn wrote:

One of serious limitation for big horn speakers (compression driver) is the dirty and rough sound. Only thing it does well is hard hitting sound such as a drum. I don't want to listen C Rock all the time.  

A ridiculous, ignorant statement. If anything it's all the more clear where you're coming from..

@phusis 

There seems to be a genital competition here. It has been my experience that most persons, lacking exposure, really have no idea. They like Hollandaise sauce but have never had real homemade Hollandaise. The trick is to leave the butter out overnight. The only horns most people have ever heard were something like Altec Voice of the Theaters which, to be polite, were the aural equivalent of chewing on cardboard. The best horn systems are expensive and very large, difficult to deal with. They are not common so most have ZERO experience. You have also made that leap to digital signal processing which has developed its own peculiar  mythology based on poor conceptualization. Speakers and rooms not being perfect, it is the only path to the highest performance unless you are extremely lucky. I have seen this once in my lifetime, the system of a high school teacher. This was in 1978 or so. The speakers were Pyramid Metronomes with Threshold Electronics thrown haphazardly into the livingroom of a small apartment in Miami Florida. This was the very first time I heard a system image correctly. What a wonderful system. 

mihorn    One of serious limitation for big horn speakers (compression driver) is the dirty and rough sound. Only thing it does well is hard hitting sound such as a drum. I don't want to listen C Rock all the time.  

 phusis   A ridiculous, ignorant statement. If anything it's all the more clear where you're coming from.

May be you could live record and post a couple of below (or similar) music. I need to hear your speakers more to see I am wrong.

Schbert - Fantasie C Dur, Allegretto, 

Vivaldi - Winter (Four season) 

Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 3 - Hilary Hahn,

Lidia Borda - Cuando silba el viento

Stars Fell On Alabama - Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong

Edith Piaf - Non, je ne regrette rien