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Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater. |
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Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater. |
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In Reply to: reply posted by Duke on March 2, 2007 at 10:35:32:
Duke,I think Richard is more concerned with arrival time anomalies. That wasn't something I worried about when I bought my REL for placement in my system a few years ago. After moving it a few times I came up with a location where I was happy with the results and there it sat, at least for 2 years.
Then one day I decided to move it to my second system, a 2 channel system built around my TV. That system has a Denon receiver with Audyssey room EQ functions and it also time compensates for different distances from the listener to the driver. I was amazed at how much difference that time compensation made and how much sharper transient attack became. I also noticed that the receiver's calculation of the distance from listening position to the sub was longer than the physical distance with the difference, according to the manual, being caused by time delays in the sub's filters and active circuitry.
I was also surprised to find that, although I missed the bass extension the sub provided in my audio system, I preferred to leave it in the TV system because not only did I think that the results sounded better there but I also appreciated the cleaner and sharper transient attacks I was now getting in the audio system without the sub.
I never heard anything from the sub that I thought was bass components of a chord arriving last, preceded by the sound from the mains, when I had the sub in the audio system, even though it was probably around a metre further away from me than the mains, yet though the sub wasn't perceived as delivering a sound that lagged the mains, I'm forced to conclude that there was enough of a difference to blunt the effect of transient attacks and lose a little clarity.
These days I'm a lot more appreciative of Richard's view on placing subs close to a main speaker. In fact I'd probably prefer to see them placed a fraction closer than the main because of the inbuilt time lag in the circuitry. I have toyed with the idea of moving the sub back into the audio system and trying such a location but still haven't gotten around to it and I've slowly readjusted to the sound of my audio system without it. Since my speakers there deliver quite useable bass into the low 30 Hz area and I don't listen to much music with content lower than that, there isn't a musically compelling reason for me to try the shift. Admittedly the sub would add some useable cues and flesh out the acoustical space of the recording venue a bit more but I've also added a bit more acoustic treatment to the listening room which has meant that I'm getting more from the mains on their own than I did previously and that has helped 'compensate' for the loss of the sub.
While I agree with you on the importance of getting the soundfield right, I also agree with Richard on the timing issue. I think you really need to attend to both in order to get the best results.
David Aiken
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