Does Time alignment and Phase coherency make for a better loudspeaker?

Lots to unpack in this thread.

Would it not be best to start with how we perceive sound? Our hearing is sensitive to timing over a narrow frequency range, about 200-1500Hz. It would make sense to have time alignment over that frequency range. Many speakers with mid-woofers in the 5-7" range by virtue of where their crossover frequencies are already are time aligned in this frequency range (single driver).

In terms of sound stage, all the other information we use for position, is frequency and volume based, not timing based. With that being the case, is there a good argument for time alignment over the whole frequency range?

@mijostyn , you appear to be advocating that a flat in-room frequency response is the ideal scenario. That is not supported by most people's listening impressions or research into preference, all which suggest a sloping reduced output at higher frequencies.

There is a misconception that in-room frequency should be perfectly flat in order to perfectly recreate the original performance. It sounds great on the surface but it is a flawed premise as you are not trying to recreate the performance, you are trying to recreate what was heard by the recording/mixing engineer, and they have already adjusted the frequency response based on what they were hearing at their workstation which is usually two somewhat near field speakers, but the total response ends up closer to downward sloping at higher frequencies, especially true when they do final mix and test it on larger audio systems and/or headphones which appear to sound best when targeted at a downward slope past about 3KHz.

Some of this may even harken back to the attenuation you would experience seeing a live orchestra or concert hall at typical seating distances and distance to instruments (the front row is rarely where the best sound is).

Speakers that have sharp dispersion limits such as horns, planar speakers and linear arrays have large advantages acoustically in residential rooms. A properly deadened small room say 16 X 30 sounds better than a really big room with high ceilings because these rooms usually have acoustic signatures that are harder to get rid of, they echo.

There is more sense and more useful information in the paragraph above than in every thread and post on cable and fuses combined, and you could probably throw in 90% of the threads and posts on DACs and amplifiers too.

I am not saying that these types of speakers are without their own unique flaws as well, but far too much energy is spent painting the pig, not dealing with the little "gifts" the pig has left all over your listening space. Seems pointless to get hung up on things that "may" make a 0.01db, or a few microseconds of difference, and ignore the things that make 1, 2, even 10db of difference, and even 10's of milliseconds of difference.

@mijostyn,

If you like your system, I would not necessarily recommend anything you are doing other than what you have right now. However, since you have the equipment and I get the impression like to tinker, I would look at doing a gated frequency response (over the frequencies you can) to see what your on axis frequency response is and how flat it is and see how that compares with the room response which is what I think you are saying is flat. Not as a rule, but as a guide, a flat on-axis with a declining room response after about 3KHz seems to match best average preference across a range of music. Your speakers will have less room interaction which is a good, but it also means one less variable to play with. For most rooms, as you noted, that is probably better. You may have some latitude though, since you have full equalization capability, that you can adjust your toe in to adjust direct/reflected balance, while using the equalizer to flatten the on-axis while achieving a different off axis from what you have now.  Will you like it better? Your two headed coin is as good as mine. I am certainly interested in what happens if you do. I expect a whole lot of worse, but possibly you will find a new sweet spot you like even better. This is not a 15 minute exercise.

@ghasley , I have no idea who or what a kenjit is, but I take great offence to being compared to amplifierdude or mivmike or mikemiv, or whatever he goes by today, knowing him from another site, and in the my limited time on here. What he thinks he knows about electronics and audio far exceeds what he does, and it is pretty painfully obvious.

@tushiman1 - please grow up, this is your 4th troll post and unlike you, I am mature enough not to be baited. I am sorry you are so offended by what I say. May I suggest a book to catch up?

@ghasley , I did not take offence. It would be hard to confuse me with amplifier dude. Honestly, I am just about ready to murder myself with a fork what I am doing is so boring w.r.t. work. Terribly important, but brutally boring. I am helping to source components so we can ship product. I have been writing emails and talking to brokers at all hours negotiating prices and trying to find out if their stock is real (multiple will list the same stock). I actually ended up here due to amplifierdude on another forum, and when I searched his name, came here and got caught up in the conversations. I type fast, so it take no time to bang out a bunch of posts, but the hostility here is ... honestly, just wow.  See the post just before mine ...

No matter what i write as an introduction will get torn apart. That seems be to be de riguer (sp?). I will be either too technical for some or not enough for others. I am obviously technical and I will let my works speak for themselves. I am also totally into audio being a subjective experience, i.e. we all like different things, and heck that changes with the day of the week. I just know the difference between what I subjectively like, and have no delusions about it being accurate. Love digital playback, love turntables and have several, spent far too much money on my main system, but also have several vintage systems that change about twice a year. Love the used market for that. Big money on my main system is in the room. Totally into DSP for the incredible flexibility it gives me. My system can be SS one day, and tube the next with the push of a few buttons (on the screen). Don't get too hung up on equipment except speakers, but could talk for hours and hours and hours about setup.