directional speakers

One brand that is not thought of as directional, but is is ATC. Those famous midranges are very much in waveguides and have limited dispersion.

As one who mixes dipoles, omnis', And 'directional' drivers with some ruthless abandon....

I will withhold commentary....it's 'not normal', and subject to suspicion...

...considering AXPONA, but April is already complicated for moi'...

@asvjerry The truth is I've never done "normal" well in any domain.  Why start now?

Seriously, the object of the Bacch system is to eliminate crosstalk, as I understand it.  We will see if it is worth the money.  It's an experiment, but no different than trying a new amp or DAC.

The Bacch system is going in a room as yet untreated, but I will get to that this summer.  Main reflection points on the ceiling and side walls will get primary attention.  Not sure about bass, but I have two tube traps that can be moved around.

I (and my wife!) am quite enjoying the small Spendors driven by the modded GaN1.  I just thought that now would be a good time to consider other speakers - and so I will look into the Harbeths, ATC's, the ML, the Fritz and Zu's. My read of the Theoretica info is that in a well-treated room speaker directionality is not crucial for what the Bacch does.  However, I don't want to defeat the system by getting speakers with wide dispersion.  My guess is that among the recommended speakers I can get the SQ I want and not do anything that defeats Bacch from eliminating crosstalk.

Thanks very much for all the advice above.  It's very helpful.

Tom

I think Narrow Dispersion is the wrong way to go.

Imaging, wide and precise starts with the engineering, then IF vinyl, the cartridge's wide channel separation and tight center balance make a big difference for imaging: both before you send the signal to the speakers. Digital (CD, Streaming -not me) already produces separate L/R, again, the engineering making the difference. The recorded signal is producing better or worse imaging prior to the pre/amp/speakers.

Tweeters are the narrowest dispersion, thus they need to be directed at the listening position, both horizontally and vertically to seated ear height, (slanted front face or leaning the speaker back solves this) and has the advantage of altering the initial reflections off the floor and ceiling and eventual reflections off the rear surfaces.

Horns, for tweeters and midrange typically, are designed for controlled directivity, oriented correctly, go for wide horizontal dispersion, combined with limited vertical dispersion. (as well as horns increase in a driver's output (thus high sensitivity) Check the Polar Graphs to see both horizontal and vertical dispersion.

Toe-In, and Angle of the drivers are important. As noted, tweeters need to be aimed directly at the listener. Wide dispersion will maintain better frequency balance better than narrow directivity.

Alternate Toe-In (forget spikes). For two listeners, I aim the left speaker directly at the right listener; right speaker directly at the left listener. This uses the DBX Imaging Concept: you are nearer one speaker for volume and you get more direct dispertion/volume from the other side.

Rear Wall/Corner/Ports. I am no fan of ports, if so, front. Distance from corners can be messed with, and measured via sound pressure meter and cd test tracks (not LP)

It looks like there is a divergence of opinion about how wide the speaker’s radiation pattern should be.

Given that the BACCH-SP system is using the spatial information already on the recording to present an exceptionally wide soundstage, rather than relying on strong early same-side-wall reflections to do so, I agree with Theoretica’s recommendation of speakers that are "more rather than less directional".

I pursue spatial realism in my speaker designs by a different route than what Theoretica is using, and in the course of product development I conducted quite a few controlled blind listening tests. I find a trade-off relationship between soundstage width enhancement due to strong early same-side-wall reflections on the one hand, and image precision, soundstage depth, and clarity on the other. I prefer the latter package of attributes, hence my preference for relatively narrow-pattern speakers, BUT my approach DOES give up some soundstage width relative to wide-pattern speakers.

The BACCH-SP arguably offers "you can have it all, and better than before", and in the context of what their processing does, strong early same-side-wall reflections are counter-productive.

Duke