advertisement


Loudspeaker compromises

M

marshanp

ellipsis addict
Having always had time for the eccentrically-expressed thinking of Harvey Rosenberg, I found this an interesting article:

https://www.meta-gizmo.org/Tri/june/Darkness.html

...the essence of which, applied to numerous speaker types, is "...serious compromises, but they can do what no other speaker can do..."

My own chosen compromise is omnidirectional loudspeakers, because the illusion of life-sized large scale music that they create in my modestly sized room is unbeatable. I do yearn, though, for an as-yet-unheard immediacy which I suspect is only available from horn loudspeakers.

The trouble is that [omni + horn] is a vanishingly rare category... particularly if colouration is a to-be-avoided thing for your preferred music.

What is your consciously-selected compromise? Does it leave you wanting more?
 
I don't feel I am missing out. I play at low volume in a small room. I am perfectly happy listening to a JBL charge5 Bluetooth speaker. Just add a phone or tablet.
 
With my in-situ 2-way Ergo E-IXs, I sacrificed ultimate loudness and some of the bottom octave for a totally seamless and coherent music replay. If anything, the scale and gravitas they bring seem to defy their diminutive dimensions. So, not much sacrifice at all.

I have three other pairs of 3-way loudspeakers I can rotate in to appease any appetite for loudness, stunt bass - but not the ultimate in coherence.
 
2 way, 1 cubic foot floor standers with soft dome tweeter and high performance 6 1/2" woofer. Deep and controlled bass, sweet non fatiguing treble, good medium (not as good as a real LS3/5A !) and good enough imaging for me but don’t push them for more than 100 dB, it won’t happen :

 
I find vowel colorations difficult to tolerate, and have rather sadly sacrificed dynamics for timbre. I'm jealous of the things that big Altecs, Klipsch, and JBLs can do, but I can't live with the tonality and coherence sacrifices they give up in exchange for their dynamics, scale, and ease.
 
Esoteric K-07 Xs, PrimaLuna Evo100, QED XT-25 speaker cable, Naim n-Sats. I have the piano sound I want, percussion and general transients are fast and clean, bass is reasonable for home audio. The rest is not much missed.

I've recently heard this:
ND555/PS555
SuperLumina IC
NAC552
NAP500
SuperLumina speaker cable
Focal Grand Utopia Evo

in a large, acoustically treated room, with my own WAV files from my MacBook. Speechless, an acceptable substitute for reality. But not feasible for humans. So my system is perfect. It took me a long time, money and lots of changes to arrive at what I have, but this is the best possible compromise in this room.
 
I too have walked the Omni path with my Duevel Venus, and amongst others of the ilk over the course of time. I just find they suit me very well, and to my ears, the compromises are small, or I do not put such a key on them. I would love to try the next models up from my Venus, but am quite happy and content where things play now.
 
marshanp said:
My own chosen compromise is omnidirectional loudspeakers, because the illusion of life-sized large scale music that they create in my modestly sized room is unbeatable. I do yearn, though, for an as-yet-unheard immediacy which I suspect is only available from horn loudspeakers.

The trouble is that [omni + horn] is a vanishingly rare category... particularly if colouration is a to-be-avoided thing for your preferred music.
Click to expand...

I'd include omnis and horns, (along with electrostatics) amongst the best speakers I've ever heard. They seem to get a bad press in current hi-fi circles, but I wonder how often opinions are based on hearsay rather than actual experience.
 
I'm not prepared to compromise timbre, but I have compromised dynamics by using JR149s -- reluctantly but I have done it for interior design reasons. Every time I hear my big electrostatic system I kind of regret the mini monitors in fact, but they are quite satisfactory in some music.

I should say that I think that good timbre is about the amp/speaker combination, and probably the DAC too. It took me quite a bit of time to find a satisfactory solid state amp to go with the little monitors -- one what wasn't class A.

My elecrostatics are absolutely satisfying to my ears at the moment. But the compromise there is the size of them, the cost, the unreliability, and the sheer amount of electronics I'm using to make it sing, not to mention the bass traps. It has taken me 15 years of jigging about with it to get it to a place I like.
 
narabdela said:
I'd include omnis and horns, (along with electrostatics) amongst the best speakers I've ever heard. They seem to get a bad press in current hi-fi circles, but I wonder how often opinions are based on hearsay rather than actual experience.
Click to expand...

I wonder this as well. Many seem to think omni’s are a one trick pony, or bag of parlor tricks and not much else. Almost like just because such a high percentage of speakers are direct firing, monkey coffins, other types cannot do the music thing? Seems that the HiFi press is so enamored with this pinpoint detail, or accuracy as they go on about, that much else is left in the dust. While I can and do enjoy some box speakers, I always return to omnis as my consistent go to speaker system. They just seem more lifelike to me, and not this etched cutout of music pasted to the wall. We all have our own preferences of course, live and let live!
 
marshanp said:
What is your consciously-selected compromise? Does it leave you wanting more?
Click to expand...

Quite a good article IMO. For me the things that really work are panels, mini-monitors, BBC cabinets, horns, and point-source designs. The things that don’t work to my ears tend to involve large amounts of drivers spaced over a tall baffle, and/or high-mass cabinets (the key areas I disagree with the author). Nothing is perfect, but I’m certainly getting a good handle on where my tastes lie. My current compromise is both huge point source monitors and BBC mini-monitors.
 
Having always had boxed speakers in the past.
I finally got some panels Maggie 1.7i's and just love them to bits.Their just so listenable and engaging.The seperation and detail,timbre,voices is just amazing.
The only thing they lack is that visceral bass when you feel it in your chest when your listening loud.But apart from that best speakers I have ever had and can't see my self changing - Just magic really.
 
Love horns, the presence and scale is addictive, but the best need to be big speakers in a huge room. Had jbl’s with custom horn subs, omg.
Had esl 57 and thought them near perfect, but need serious amps (Berning otl in my case) and my cats kept scratching cloth and knocking them over,two big 22lb Maine coones. Also so wide obscured tv in new house.
My compromise is size of living room, I miss my Victorian flat in southsea, 22ft by 26ft (32ft inc bay) 15ft ceilings. I had a party and a band fitted into the bay window area. Space allows volume, big speakers breathe giving deep bass, and proper scale and dynamics, with less fuss over positioning.
Don’t like compromises, ocd (real) makes me obsess over every detail, I changed every plug on my kondo avocados from Furutech to Oyaide , one I realised there was a significant gain in musicality I was hooked, rhodium 037 for analogue,gold 079 for digital. Wasn’t cheap, but until I completed change the presence of Furutech plugs really bugged me.
 
JTC said:
I traded speaker size for sex. I get big fancy speakers, she withdrew privs. Ummmm.... maybe not such a great thing ;)
Click to expand...
Plenty on the internet saying size matters...you didn't draw her attention to any of this?;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top