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Big Sound = Big Speakers = Big Problems?

Do these three necessarily go together? I currently have the Dynaudio Confidence 3 speakers, and my only consistent sense of shortcoming is that, on some pieces, the sound is constrained in size. Given that I consistently read in reviews of monitors the description (inevitability) of a sense of scale, I have to assume that to get appropriate "size" of sound, I'd need to use bigger speakers.

Unfortunately, I have also read in more than one place that big speakers create big problems. My room is 14x18x8, so medium sized. Paired with a Velodyne DD-15, I get nice full-range sound, and on pieces that are over-hot in the bass, I can just turn off the Velodyne for a while.

So, is it reasonable to expect that a physically bigger speaker would likely yield a bigger sound.

And, is it likely that a bigger speaker will inevitably lead to bigger problems getting good sound in a room of my size.

Thanks
kthomas
dopogue
1,773 posts
 
In my experience (and only that), big speakers don't necessarily mean big sound. Some years ago I went from large Magnepan MG 3s to small ProAc Response 2s. I thought the ProAcs sounded better and certainly no "smaller." Last September I went from Gallo Nucleus Ultimates (huge 4-ball speakers in a five-foot-high "cage") to diminutive Gallo Reference 3s. I swear the sound is substantially "bigger," but found that many friends believed their eyes instead of their ears. BTW, my room is approx. 18 x 40'. Good luck, Dave
sogood51
2,157 posts
 
Well, if you look at your rooms dimensions you have a room mode at 282.50hz. Room modes are caused by the dimensions of ones room.

The reason I mention the 282.50 freq. mode is because that one is common to all three dimensions, so is stacked one upon another. There are many other room modes of course but none are stacked (in your room) and are evenly spaced out and fairly close together so as not to cause major problems.

If we look at a 10'x10'x10' rooms modes (cube) we would find many stacked modes which are common to all three dimensions:

56.50hz
113.00hz
169.50hz
226.00hz
282.50hz
339.00hz
395.50hz
452.00hz
508.50hz

and on and on, You can see why this room could cause problems and why people say the worst room would be a "cube room".

To answer your questions: It's not likely that large speakers have an advantage over smaller speakers plus subs.

It's more likely that any one person would only find a difference between the two because of poor speaker/sub integration caused by x-over settings and or placement issues.

The Velodyne DD-15 is a very good sub...are you having integration problems?

" I get nice full-range sound, and on pieces that are over-hot in the bass, I can just turn off the Velodyne for a while."

This statement does suggest a setup problem, you have the subs level set to high, or a placement issue, or both.

Dave
moemoney's avatar
moemoney
158 posts
 
I would like to know what wires, amp/pre amp you are using. In addition, how far from the walls is your speaker?
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