Are planar speakers less prone to room interaction


Ok, here's my situation: my listening room is nigh untreatable, due to room issues and wife factors. The room itself is 30' x 15', with windows on one side and it opens up into the kitchen halfway down the other wall. The back wall partially lofts into a 18' x 15' bedroom. The ceilling is 14' high.

Just due to volume and the insanely varied surfaces and general asymmetry of the room, I'm not sure what I can do to contain the room interactions that I have to deal with. I have some home-built acoustic panels high up in the adjoining kitchen to contain the standing waves that would develop there, and that helped but I'm not sure the wife will let me put up any more of the things.

My question: are planar speakers less prone to room interaction? It seems like they would be, simply due to the dispersion pattern. I've always coveted Martin Logans (and used to own and love a pair of Maggies) so I'm certainly open to the idea.

Second question: how do electrostats do in large rooms?
hudsonhawk

Showing 1 response by shadorne

Room interaction is much greater for panels due to the forward and rear radiation. They are also more challenged to create the higher SPL's needed in large spaces..

Your best bet would be a narrowly focused Appolito type design such as a Dunlavy SC V or similar...these will limit the room interaction somewhat at the expense of a smaller sweetspot.

However, I would add that in general a wide dispersion speaker tends to sound the most "natural". Although a speaker that also radiates to the rear can actually over excite the room (this can simulate typical reverberant concert halls, school halls, churches and typical venues where you get a lot of ambient reflected energy - so classical concert hall goers will often favor panels foor the exciting ambient sound field. Listeners who crave accuracy tend to favour near-fields or Dunlavy designs)