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Using a mono speaker instead of stereo?

So I’m going to build a new speaker soon and have been pondering just building a single speaker and mixing stereo music down to mono.

There are many practical benefits to this.

Obviously it would be half the price (or twice the budget) and half the labour.

Using any stereo receiver you will have 2 channels at your disposable for one speaker and this has a bunch of uses.

The 2 channels can be used to provide an active or digital crossover for a 2 way and reap all the benefits , even for a 3 way the woofer to mid crossover can still be done digitally or actively, where the biggest and most expensive components would be normally be required for a passive crossover.


With 2 channels you can also bridge the channels and have double the power available to a mono speaker with passive crossover, while providing a balanced load to the amp.

Ok, you get a lot of benefits but it comes at the cost of stereo... but is this really all bad?

The real reason I’m considering a mono build is that when I was building my last stereo speakers I was testing and fine tuning the crossover using a single speaker, after some time I had it dialed in and it sounded really fantastic, I went ahead and built the same crossover for the other speaker.
Upon listening to them in stereo, the ’magic’ I was hearing when tuning the single speaker wasnt fully there in stereo, the single had much purer tone and cleaner image, but obviously did not have big, wide sound you get with stereo...

Large portion of sounds in stereo music are really just monoaural with different degrees of panning, for reproducing any of these sounds a stereo speaker is actually inferior to mono since 2 speakers will never be perfectly matched. 2 speakers will play it louder and that’s all.

I’m pretty close to moving ahead with a mono build but it is pretty much unheard of.... anyone have any thoughts on it?

suix6
fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,496 posts
 

Better you than me.

I would never do it for any reason especially yours.

Less than perfect phase survives most stereo, NEVER "downmixiing."

 

elliottbnewcombjr
5,112 posts
 

I think what the OP is hearing is the result of reduced distinction comparing mono to stereo. If you proceed with the project, I suggest you pay careful attention to the precise matching of all components.

DISTINCTION

It’s the word I choose when describing the advantage of playing a Mono LP with a true Mono Cartridge. Even more distinct when playing mono with only one speaker. Not imaging, but distinction of different instruments. Actually the prevention/removal of any inadvertent imaging. Additionally I have learned not to sit in the dedicated listening position, to keep my mind from it’s habit of seeking imaging.

MATCHING Needed for PERFECTION of Stereo Sound

Matched output is critical for speaker manufacturers. Nearly everything is Phantom in Stereo, good best better based on matching L to R.

Keeping a singer’s voice dead center thru many octaves is no joke, see the ranges that need to be matched to prevent any lack of distinction at any frequency:

https://www.newstalk.com/news/which-singer-has-the-greatest-recorded-vocal-range-of-all-time-699955#:~:text=Based%20on%20the%20findings%2C%20Guns,Christina%20Aguilera%20and%20David%20Bowie.

 

ANY slight mis-matching of output, from any driver, any crossover component, any interconnect/connection, component’s internals, from time delay, from varying surface reflections will REDUCE DISTINCTION in a Stereo Image.

 

 

 

pryso
1,905 posts
 

Some years ago I read an article about small bars or tea rooms in Japan which included quality mono audio systems.  Typically they had SET tube amplification with a single cabinet horn or other HE design speaker and vintage idler-drive turntables, such as Garrard.  Source material was either vinyl or tape.  This was more recent than the mid-80s so into the digital era.  Still, from this article, these small, commercial bars/rooms were very popular.

This is not to suggest any of us should throw out half of our systems, but there are many who still do appreciate quality mono playback.

tsacremento
63 posts
 

Different strokes for different folks. If monaural floats your boat, go for it. I went in the opposite direction with my system to multi-channel and prudent application of DSP to adjust the acoustic space to fit the venue and performance of the music I'm playing.

I consider stereo to be a significant improvement over monaural with respect to reproducing a credible facsimile of the original performance, But I think multi-channel, even upmixed from 2-channel sources, is an even greater advancement over stereo in that regard, so that's my preference. Please don't throw stones.

kingharold
304 posts
 

I used to, 1980s,  play all music, even that from two channel sources, in surround sound with DSP  and seven high quality DIY speakers with all Dynaudio drivers. The more I improved the quality of my two main front speakers and their electronics the more the surround sound became a distraction instead of an improvement with everything except movies.  Now for music listening I am strictly a two channel listener.

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