picking speakers (and electronics) for a relatively large room - new

thanks for the definitive response @audiotroy   appreciated.

OP:
The SF Stradivari.

Wide baffle speakers are amazing in terms of how much of the recording's room acoustics they bring into the room. Those are some of my all time favorite speakers of all time.

Best,
E

Erik a pair of SF Stradivarius no matter how great they sound and they sound wonderful, would accomplish these goals.

The issue is sheer cubic volume, which affects bass response, to overcome this you need multiple high output subwoofers and a way of rolling off the bass reponse that the smaller mid woofers or lower woofers in the main loudspeakers would see therefore, those drivers would not have to go as low which would increase power handling and provide enough sound pressure levels to provide clean undistorted sound to fill up the room. This can only be accomplished by an electronic crossover either in the preamp or a control processor.

Same things with panels they can only move a tiny fraction of space before they compress and hit the limits of their physical stops, which is why any flat panel loudspeaker needs to be gigantic to play loud and they still won’t play that loud, ever go to a concert and see a planer?

The way to accomplish this goal

1: Multiple subs 2 with an electronic crossover which can get expensive and most electronic crosovers suck then you have the cost and physical look of two large boxes in addition to the mains.

2: A horn loudspeaker which again tends to be big and ugly and many times very colored without the delicatness of a great conventional speaaker, but great for rock and EDM ala a Klilpsh Lascala

3: A high efficiency large conventional loudspeaker with an electornic crossover and dsp.

4: A Golden Ear Triton Reference is nearly the perfect answer but we think this gentleman wants to move into an even higher end loudspeaker.

4: Pro audio loudspeakers or PA or DJ rigs.

If room volume and desire to play loud weren’t an issue than almost any good high end loudspeaker would be fine.

So there are a number of issues to make this gentleman happy which is why we recommended the Legacy Focus and Wavelet combo.

The Wavelet’s Bohmer room correction system provides a phase coherent sound in the room at the listeners seat.

The Legacy’s high power handling and high efficiency means that there will be many nights of fun parying without melted drivers.

We are also not saying that our products are the only game in town see comments as stated above.

We also build professional theaters the concepts of high dynamic range, high output and room filling bass all apply. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Legacy dealers

I concur with AudioTroy’s assessment that high dynamic range and a lot of low-frequency air-moving capability would be really nice to have in gryphonite’s situation.

Legacy’s large floor-standing speakers have these characteristics. And as AudioTroy posted above, there are theoretically other possible solutions. I’d like to comment on one of them:

"A horn loudspeaker which again tends to be big and ugly and many times very colored without the delicatness of a great conventional speaaker, but great for rock and EDM..."

We all have bad memories of horn PA speakers so harsh they hurt our ears. This kind of speaker is designed for maximum SPL per dollar or per pound, along with durability, with sound quality being way down on the priority list. Unfortunately many audiophiles associate this sonic disaster with horns in general. While I’ll readily admit that many home audio horn speakers do have audible colorations, I believe that, with good design, there can be worthwhile exceptions.

Note that there is an extremely demanding area - extremely demanding from a QUALITATIVE standpoint - where horns are widely used. And that is, high-end studio main monitors. Many of the world’s best recording studios use horn or waveguide loudspeakers for their most demanding applications. A "waveguide" in this context is a type of horn that focuses exclusively on radiation pattern control, without acoustic amplification as a consideration. Among the prosound speaker companies that build horn and/or waveguide studio monitors are:

JBL, Ocean Way, Augspurger, Kinoshita, Meyer, Westlake, Genelec, Amphion, Reflexion Arts, Neumann, and Dutch & Dutch.

My point being, among an intensely demanding group with extremely good ears, who isn’t handicapped by prejudice but only cares about performance, whose very livelihood depends on having accurate loudspeakers, horns and waveguides are very competitive.

In addition to the low coloration and good SPL capabilities that a GOOD horn or waveguide speaker brings to the table, they can also be a good match for gryphonite’s somewhat kinetic listening style:

“I mostly listen around my living area rather than in a dedicated listening position.”

Briefly, the right kind of horn/waveguide speaker, set up properly, can give not only good tonal balance pretty much throughout the room, but also still recreate an enjoyable soundstage for listening positions that are well outside the traditional apex-of-the-triangle “sweet spot”. This is somewhat counter-intuitive so I can explain it if anyone is interested, but I think this post is already plenty long enough.

Duke

dealer/manufacturer/yup I do horns & waveguides, including custom studio main monitors

The issue is sheer cubic volume, which affects bass response, to overcome this you need multiple high output subwoofers and a way of rolling off the bass reponse that the smaller mid woofers or lower woofers in the main loudspeakers would see therefore, those drivers would not have to go as low which would increase power handling and provide enough sound pressure levels to provide clean undistorted sound to fill up the room. This can only be accomplished by an electronic crossover either in the preamp or a control processor.

Well, I've been schooled. I guess this is my first time hearing how a real audiophile would approach the issue. Thanks so much, I'll go do more research.

< sarcasm>


Erik