GuyDebord;323294 Wrote: > I thought all speakers (except MBL's, German Physiks and some other > exotics), were uni or duo directional...
No, not at all. Speakers have a complex angular dispersion which varies strongly with frequency. Standard box speakers are beamed tightly forward at high frequencies, but are close to monopoles at low frequencies. As a result their perceived frequency response depends strongly on the room (and varies with position within it). In my opinion that's one reason why box speakers always sound like box speakers. It's true (to a lesser extent) even a carefully tuned listening position, probably because (unless your head is locked in a vice) small movements of your ears will reveal comb filtering effects from high frequencies. > live music is omni-directional, and even omni-directional exotics dont > come close... Again, not at all. All instruments and voices have their own complex and unique dispersion patterns. None that I'm aware of have a dispersion pattern remotely like a box speaker, but many are roughly dipoles. In my opinion that (along with the reduction in room mode loading) is why dipoles sound so realistic. > so how can you compare the sound of uni/duo speakers to live music? All > speakers need to be positioned with precision to sound their best and > the listener needs to be placed at a certain precise distance from the > middle of both speakers to hear clarity, soundstage and focus. Carefully positioned audiophile speakers tend to give an unrealistic soundstage, in my opinion. Next time you're at a concert, close your eyes and try to localize the instruments. In a concert hall it's impossible, because almost all the sound you hear is reflected. There are rare exceptions - an outdoor amphitheater, for example - but generally the sound stage in a real live event is not very well focused. > Down the hall a little way? really...? Try it with a good set of dipoles - you might be surprised. In any case, I think we agree that sound reproduction is not at this point yet. Nevertheless, some systems (and some recordings) come a lot closer than others. -- opaqueice ------------------------------------------------------------------------ opaqueice's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4234 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=49757 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
