buschorn or small array?

[Sheldon]

I'm planning speakers for a second system. High spl are not required, and imaging is not critical as it will be used mostly for background tunes, but I would like something with good tonality. Some directivity would probably be good, as the room is pretty long and reflective. I would also like something fairly small that will sound fine placed pretty close to the back wall (read, high saf - I can do anything I want downstairs but this room is her domain). I was thinking about the buschorn with a fostex fe108, or perhaps the mini line array with jordans. What does the braintrust suggest?

Sheldon

[Timn8ter]

I find mini-arrays work well for far-field listening.

[Sheldon]

Originally posted by Timn8ter
I find mini-arrays work well for far-field listening.

Thanks,

Thinking of maybe using them with the tv too. Would they serve ok for that? Any specific suggestions as to implementation?

Sheldon

[Timn8ter]

If the drivers are all the same the near sound field will have a defined "top". Either make sure the center of the array is at ear level somehow or use a tweeter in the mix to provide more dispersion of highs. This is not an issue in the far field. Of course, if you make a floor to ceiling array this doesn't happen at all but you weren't planning on that I think. On mine I ended up tilting them back slightly which helps. In a TV or HT situation it doesn't matter because you'll most likely be sitting down. This is why I prefer mine in my HT. The SPL level and wide soundstage are great for that. I think the Jordan array design calls for wall mounting which would work well also.

[planet10]

Originally posted by Sheldon
I was thinking about the buschorn with a fostex fe108, or perhaps the mini line array with jordans. What does the braintrust suggest?

There would be a serious difference in budget required for these 2 speakers, since the FE108 is less expensive than any Jordan, and you'd need at least 8 Jordans vrs 2 Fostex.

A single JX92 vrs a single FE108 would be a better comparison (and something that would be interesting to hear) -- both would be right fine.

Price-wise a single FE108 would be about the same as 8 TB W3-871s... (my guess on this that the Fostex would come out ahead). May get a chance to test this guess end of May.

dave

[Sheldon]

Originally posted by planet10


A single JX92 vrs a single FE108 would be a better comparison (and something that would be interesting to hear) -- both would be right fine.

dave

Thanks for weighing in Dave and Tim,

Dave, you're talking here about the Jordan satellite enclosure? The Jordan has the advantage of being small (good for this application), but on the other hand I could probably get by without a sub with the horn enclosure. If I had a flat screen TV, the Jordan satellites (either 92 or 53 array) might fit the bill. As it now stands, I would have to mount them on either side of a good sized cabinet (about h-1.3m, w-1.5m, d-0.5m) That seems to go against the Jordan's design parameters, which suggest a wall with no obstruction between the speakers. Any guess how they might work on stands, pulled out to the front of the cabinet? No free lunch here. Decisions, decisions.

Sheldon

[Timn8ter]

Price-wise a single FE108 would be about the same as 8 TB W3-871s... (my guess on this that the Fostex would come out ahead).

A driver only sounds as good as it does no matter how many of them you have.