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If you don't have a wide sweet spot, are you really an audiophile?

Hi, it’s me, professional audio troll. I’ve been thinking about something as my new home listening room comes together:

The glory of having a wide sweet spot.

We focus far too much on the dentist chair type of listener experience. A sound which is truly superb only in one location. Then we try to optimize everything exactly in that virtual shoebox we keep our heads in. How many of us look for and optimize our listening experience to have a wide sweet spot instead?

I am reminded of listening to the Magico S1 Mk II speakers. While not flawless one thing they do exceptionally well is, in a good room, provide a very good, stable stereo image across almost any reasonable listening location. Revel’s also do this. There’s no sudden feeling of the image clicking when you are exactly equidistant from the two speakers. The image is good and very stable. Even directly in front of one speaker you can still get a sense of what is in the center and opposite sides. You don’t really notice a loss of focus when off axis like you can in so many setups.

Compare and contrast this with the opposite extreme, Sanders' ESL’s, which are OK off axis but when you are sitting in the right spot you suddenly feel like you are wearing headphones. The situation is very binary. You are either in the sweet spot or you are not.

From now on I’m declaring that I’m going all-in on wide-sweet spot listening. Being able to relax on one side of the couch or another, or meander around the house while enjoying great sounding music is a luxury we should all attempt to recreate.
erik_squires

Showing 2 responses by audioman58

audioman58's avatar
audioman58
3,838 posts
 
One thing to mention speakers ,since  I have been modding them mainly for myself and a few others for many years, your Xover is the ❤️ or brain 🧠 
of any Loudspeaker, the Vast majority of Xover parts are average quality  at best.
out of a scale 1-15 on average a 7.
Also your binding post 90% are cheap gold over brass, not very musical.and poor conductor.high resistance.
a decent WBT copper gold with  Furutech copper gold crimp on terminals is far better then solder, and upgrading the Xover essential for expended soundstage 
width,depth and precision imaging ,the quality of stock capacitors,resistors, inductors,
even wiring many times is average at Best. If you love your speaker, and the drivers are of good quality well worth the consideration ,if limited on internal space ,then a external Xover with small custom boxes would be the answer ,better quality Xover Bigger parts = a Huge upgrade ,look at Tony Gees capacitor cook book fir starters Humblehomemadehifi capacitor test, and Original pre 2011 Mills resistors excellent ,sonic craft carry, or the Best but $$  Path audio resistors Jantzen awg 14 inductors waxed foil, or open coil for bass,excellent value $$
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
3,838 posts
 
MBL 101 are great speakers ,if you have electronics that are powerful ,yet 
refined ,you also will need $100 k to start . From great monitors with subs 
that image better then most Big speakers ,
or big Electrostat panels that may not be realistic in instrument size but 
create a very good wall of sound , everyone has their favorite audio
parameters that keep them sitting for hours enjoying their music .
It’s  far from just the speakers though ,from  specific brand audio cables ,to power cords and electronics Everything counts ,and by changing one item 
sometimes can make or break the synergy .thats why when you get it where 
Its close to ideal just be thankful for it .
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