Big Sound = Big Speakers = Big Problems?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "big sound" so I'm going to assume you mean a dimensionally large soundstage.

I agree with Sogood, larger speakers aren't necessarily going to help you at all, except that some panel speakers and line stages do present a taller image than the point source dynamics (and Quads).

What I have observed is that some dynamics (including my speakers which are based on Dynaudio drivers) like a fair amount of power to open up. Run at quiet to medium volumes the image is rather compressed, but at higher volumes they are very expansive and fortunately undistored because this is my preferred way of listening to them. Some other dynamics that I have listened to seem to open up at much lower volumes (but there are other tradeoff's) as do horns and some electrostats (including my Quads which you can never play loud!)

In my view it is more about the speakers design than size and how well you can accomodate them in your room. The acoustic problems that your room presents in the bass will be pretty much the same for most full range speakers.

In my room which is not much larger than yours, but with taller ceilings, I have noted one exception - full range panel speakers and dynamic's with upper bass/midrange woofers 3&1/2 to 4 (or higher feet off the floor seem to excite room resonance at 160 to 200 hz This hump doesn't exist at all with my Quads or my main dynamics in which the bass is crossed over at 400hz, so I suspect that the heighth of the driver producing sounds in this zone are exciting those frequencies. Interestingly with panels it was 16db, with the dynamics its 5db. With the Quads and Dyna's it was 0 dbs.

So in my view bigger speakers don't necessarily produce bigger sounds, nor do they necessarily produce bigger problems. The issue is speaker design and room/system integration.

There is no subsitute for large radiating surfaces :)

You said you use “no name” copper wires for your speakers. I found that when I went from my ten year + Monster cable speaker wire to the Nordost stuff the different was night and day. By that, I mean the sound was so huge and wide that I had to toe in my speakers at first because I was not use to such an open wide soundstage. Just something else to look into.

I'm probably not sure exactly what I mean by "big" sound either - it's probably a combination of a few things, including soundstage size. But also the "size" of the instruments being played - does a piano sound like a full-sized piano being played, or a miniature-sized piano, for example.

My guess and my assumption is that the #1 thing that affects most of this is the recording itself, but it seems like physics probably plays at least a part in recreating the proper presentation. Room physics certainly do, as well as proper setup. I know that many recordings are severely limited from the start, but it also wouldn't surprise me if, to recreate the sound of an electric guitar, for instance, in a non-miniaturized size, you need a bigger, physical speaker.

I'd be glad if it's not the case, or if I can close the gap in other ways, as I really like the Dyn's for the sound quality vs. physical imposition - they fit very nicely in the room, and as I say, in most ways keep me completely satisfied.

Sure, your correct...many times it is the recording. A recording mixed with even the best intention towards sound quality may not sound very good when played back for several reasons:

A big one as far as bass goes might be and often is..the person doing the mix for any number of reasons does not understand or has no control over the acustics of the room it's self.

He will boost or cut those freq's as he hears them at his location...of course if his location is at a null point, he will boost the bass to compensate.

When played back at home (on your audiophile system and even in your audiophile tuned room), the bass would be to strong.

One reason audiophile records and cd's sound so good is because they were controled at every step by audiophiles...

Those "other" recordings that you mentioned above (the ones with all the life bled from them) so they sound loud on the radio are another story..what a waist in the hunt for $$$.

As far as large full-range speakers sounding fuller...this is often true. The main reason is simply the fact that they often contain more drivers...push more air.

My Apogee Duetta Signatures and VMPS Supertowers are large full-range.

My Apogee Centaur Minors and VMPS 626's are not full-range but I do have a VMPS sub that I have used with both at times.

While the sub does make them full-range...it does nothing for the upper freq. heft that the much larger speakers can produce.

You can get a heck of a lot of horsepower out of a six cylinder...but it will never sound like big-block V-8.

Dave