A good biggun will always beat a good littlun. Discuss
My speakers are good littluns. I believe, on balance, the RR3s are the best small speakers I've heard.
But I hanker after good bigguns, a situation made worse after hearing a pair of homebrew horn-ish enclosures with a couple of bass-mid drivers and a ribbon tweeter. They really did put the weight of musicians and their instruments in the room, and despite problems at both the top and bottom end, gave an experience that the RR3s fail to deliver, for all their greater accuracy and my system's ability to present detail at a level my friend's system wasn't.
I don't have the space at the moment for bigguns, but hopefully will have sometime in the future. Am I right to lust after bigguns?
Comments
What about something in the middle, You can then keep that image/speed quality only L'ill one can do but add more weight and presence that the phat one brings.
large stand mounts are the biz IMHO. I've been on a speaker quest for about 25 years and have found 9" LF 3 ways speaker active or passive to have the bollox.
I wonder pensively if I can realistically better my speakers for real-world money. I - like Dave - don't want to gain scale but lose world class detail, imaging, pace etc...
I'd like to have the funds to embark on such a journey. There are so many interesting speaker designs I'd like to try.
You do like horns?
You could shove some ice-cream in it for the summer months...
I think your point reveals the crossover area too - you refer to "small floorstanders" as a benchmark to beat - I think there are probably more examples of great stand mounts than small floorstanders. I'd take a great standmount on open stands any day.
In terms of a good bigun - the current craze in the UK is for 12" and 15" dual concentric Tannoys - often rebuilt & upgraded. A standmount has little hope of moving anything like that much air in a room! Or even large horns, such as the Cessaro ones @coops sells, which will likely decimate the Tannoys for scale.
The larger the box, the harder it is to not lose detail IME. This is largely down to cabinets coloring the sound, but I would suppose the more complex crossover arrangements for multi-way speakers eat up detail a well. That is probably over simplifying it, but going on what is on the market (both new & second hand) it seems it is harder to make good biguns than good littleuns.
There are some interesting hybrids around, such as @quickie Audio Physics Virgo II's, which are a small monitor with a large side firing bass driver at the bottom of a slim cabinet (placed to couple with the floor, like the Allison designs) which might give the best of both worlds - I can't see them delivering massive scale either though TBH, however good they are.
Roy Allison made some beautiful speakers by all accounts, and I would love to try some Allison ones some day. The other hybrid type design (by which I mean capable of full range, massive dynamics and scale) that I wan badly to try is the impulse H2.
Finally - on your specs point - I don't see the point in such specs as each room is different and most speaker makers measure different things....my Royds go down to 20hz according to the paperwork (but I can't remember if there are any charts). Who would believe that? - and I can't be bothered to test it out. All that matters is how they sound.
It was just missing http:// at the beginning of the link. That's a classy ear trumpet!
:-D
I think the AP's are a good compromise.
True you are never going to get the scale of a good speaker with 12 or 15" bass drivers,but then I think in the case of the Virgo's 3's they have pulled off the mini monitor mated to some bigger bass drivers very well indeed.
I don't think I would ever go back to a monitor on stands.
Paul.
Hi Col,
Yes,the big Tannoys are very nice..........can you imagine a pair in my room....? lol.
I remember the Broadswords and some of the bigger Ruarks (crusaders ?) used the Dynaudio Drivers.........I think the original Sabres you have are SEAS ?
Which drivers do you need for Briks ?
Paul.
Keith.