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Speaker disappearing act?

There's new $25k per pair speaker, that according to everyone who matters, disappears? I've heard this disappearing act before, but what, if any does it have to do with the quality of the sound? If you're blind, or close your eyes when you listen to music, does that eliminate the need for a total disappearing act? I know what they mean by speakers "disappearing" but can it be overkill in the descriptive sense, considering there are oodles of other factors that are important in describing a speaker/quality of sound. Have you ever listened to a pair of speakers that are drop dead amazing, but when you open your eyes they may not be the purest "disappearing" act you thought? Does that matter?
128x128warrenh
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
Davt- I hear that Jerry Douglas can really knock back a few...
krell_man
827 posts
 
Warren,

You should know what a disappearing speaker is. My Caravelle's completely disappear when I have them set up correctly. I just sit there wondering why I have these two boxes sitting there in the middle of my soundstage.

Chuck
opalchip
355 posts
 
I have fairly big conventional box speakers, and find that if I place my wife directly behind either the left or right speaker, I can get HER to disappear for a while. This may not work with a larger wife though - unless you have planar speakers.
tarsando
578 posts
 
It's like magic (not magico) and that's part of the appeal.
dpac996's avatar
dpac996
676 posts
 
"The big problem with using very small or narrow "disappearing" speakers is that they employ small drivers => the trade off is higher distortion (particularly in the bass and lower mid), poor dynamics, and poor performance at higher (live music) volume levels. However, for nearfield listening at close range (most domestic situations) this design is clearly the most popular in the industry today."

The Dynaudio S3.4 comes to mind, as it is only 7.5 inches wide, and has two 17 cm (6.5 in) woofers...anyway this is a very remarkable, serious high end loud speaker. It can fully "dissapper" in the sense that when you look at the speakers during play, they seem like they have nothing to do with the enveloping soundfield all around you, and they can play loud as hell with very deep well defined bass. They are very thoughtfully designed/manufactured and have to be one of the best values capturing modern speaker design, available. And this at 9-10 feet from them, not what I call near field for 1st order designs.

I happen to have their little brothers, the contour 1.8 MK II's, that also image well, but do not go as deep or as unrestrained during super loud passages.

AGain, both of these are fine examples that one need not spend 25K on speakers to get the dissapearing act. Sure you can do it, but your speakers are not the only things dissapearing at that point (savings account balance anyone ;) )

Happy Holidays All
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