As someone who dove into a similar challenge a few years ago, I don't have a complete solution but here are a few considerations I learned along the way:
- Midrange (and separation thereof) is the most overlooked aspect when trying to emulate the 'club sound'. Fairly aggressive separation at the crossover level, coupled with placement of dedicated speakers is key. Funktion 1 does this extremely well, to the point of sounding 'unnatural' or having a 'sound'. (As mentioned in the comments under that RA article shared above) I personally never understood the application of hi-fi ideals to club setups: Club sound systems are designed to create a very specific experience in a very specific environment. Throw in a few hundred people mingling freely under various states of the mind(:) into the mix, and things like 'accurate reproduction', or 'transparency of sound' become useless consideration. Having experienced Funktion 1 setups in many possible variations from small to ginormous, their magic lies in the fact that you can carry a conversation with another person without shouting and fatigue no matter where you are in the space, while still 'feeling' the music. That's due to that aggressive separation of low / mid / highs. Anything you run through a Funktion 1, well, will sound like Funktion 1.
As a takeaway, I would go for speakers that imitate that, or at least have a strong, dedicated midrange component in their design.
- Take into account the music that's designed to play in the club environment. Electronic music that's mixed / mastered for clubs is a complete different beast than anything that would be acceptable as a good source, at least around here :) (Intense bass emphasis, maniacal dynamic compression techniques, and exaggerated transients that are designed to cut through any background noise etc.)
- While it's true the older club setup did make use of them, I would stay away from anything involving tubes especially if Funktion 1 is your reference. I've been frequenting a few 'hi-fi' clubs that are popping up in and around NYC (mostly trying to imitate the ones in Tokyo), which mostly have systems that are either made up of, or emulate that altec / klipsch / bose setups and I have to say they leave a lot to be desired within your context. A quiet listening session of some delicate ECM record works really well, but the moment you throw in something meant for the *dance* club, and people moving about, those systems start to fall apart, IMO.
The Bag End suggestion above is an interesting one. I'm not familiar but it does seem like they're going for something similar to your goals.
Do report back where you end up! This is a very interesting discussion.
- Midrange (and separation thereof) is the most overlooked aspect when trying to emulate the 'club sound'. Fairly aggressive separation at the crossover level, coupled with placement of dedicated speakers is key. Funktion 1 does this extremely well, to the point of sounding 'unnatural' or having a 'sound'. (As mentioned in the comments under that RA article shared above) I personally never understood the application of hi-fi ideals to club setups: Club sound systems are designed to create a very specific experience in a very specific environment. Throw in a few hundred people mingling freely under various states of the mind(:) into the mix, and things like 'accurate reproduction', or 'transparency of sound' become useless consideration. Having experienced Funktion 1 setups in many possible variations from small to ginormous, their magic lies in the fact that you can carry a conversation with another person without shouting and fatigue no matter where you are in the space, while still 'feeling' the music. That's due to that aggressive separation of low / mid / highs. Anything you run through a Funktion 1, well, will sound like Funktion 1.
As a takeaway, I would go for speakers that imitate that, or at least have a strong, dedicated midrange component in their design.
- Take into account the music that's designed to play in the club environment. Electronic music that's mixed / mastered for clubs is a complete different beast than anything that would be acceptable as a good source, at least around here :) (Intense bass emphasis, maniacal dynamic compression techniques, and exaggerated transients that are designed to cut through any background noise etc.)
- While it's true the older club setup did make use of them, I would stay away from anything involving tubes especially if Funktion 1 is your reference. I've been frequenting a few 'hi-fi' clubs that are popping up in and around NYC (mostly trying to imitate the ones in Tokyo), which mostly have systems that are either made up of, or emulate that altec / klipsch / bose setups and I have to say they leave a lot to be desired within your context. A quiet listening session of some delicate ECM record works really well, but the moment you throw in something meant for the *dance* club, and people moving about, those systems start to fall apart, IMO.
The Bag End suggestion above is an interesting one. I'm not familiar but it does seem like they're going for something similar to your goals.
Do report back where you end up! This is a very interesting discussion.