My dear friends, for years I've dreamed about the sound system I could build once I had my own house and plenty of room. I had plans for big open baffles using my current 2-way drivers but augmenting with a 15" woofer on the bottom. But the Seattle housing market dropped a big fat dollop of reality sour cream into my fantasy borscht. (Really, Chaz? Ok...)
Now I'm not complaining about our new townhouse, far from it. But the fact is that SWMBO and I bought it for location, not for size. And my current system which fit perfectly fine into an apartment just won't work here. I knew it was going to be an issue before we bought, but obviously this by itself can't be a disqualifying factor in a seller's market. So here I am. The geometry of the living room just won't accommodate a floorstanding stereo set despite hours and hours attempting to do so; not without significant and unacceptable consequences to the rest of the room arrangement. So the current system goes to my brother as a lovely Christmas present and I have to start thinking about a new project. What to do?
I had one thought which is to replace my stereo speakers with a single mono, omnidirectional floorstander. The concept of omnidirectional speakers has always interested me, and maybe this is an excuse to give it a try. But what would a mono, omnidirectional speaker even sound like? Would it provide any substitute for stereo as such? I would appreciate feedback on this idea from anyone who's dabbled in either one. (Bigun, are you still around?)
The other more conventional solution would be a 2.1 way with speakers that I could mount on the wall or ceiling. But I hate the Bose baggage that this comes with. And I also doubt that I could recover the experience of an 8"/1" two-way from such an arrangement, though maybe I'm wrong.
Anyway, I'd love to hear what others have done in similar situations and just some general recommendations. Maybe there are other choices that I haven't yet considered.
Now I'm not complaining about our new townhouse, far from it. But the fact is that SWMBO and I bought it for location, not for size. And my current system which fit perfectly fine into an apartment just won't work here. I knew it was going to be an issue before we bought, but obviously this by itself can't be a disqualifying factor in a seller's market. So here I am. The geometry of the living room just won't accommodate a floorstanding stereo set despite hours and hours attempting to do so; not without significant and unacceptable consequences to the rest of the room arrangement. So the current system goes to my brother as a lovely Christmas present and I have to start thinking about a new project. What to do?
I had one thought which is to replace my stereo speakers with a single mono, omnidirectional floorstander. The concept of omnidirectional speakers has always interested me, and maybe this is an excuse to give it a try. But what would a mono, omnidirectional speaker even sound like? Would it provide any substitute for stereo as such? I would appreciate feedback on this idea from anyone who's dabbled in either one. (Bigun, are you still around?)
The other more conventional solution would be a 2.1 way with speakers that I could mount on the wall or ceiling. But I hate the Bose baggage that this comes with. And I also doubt that I could recover the experience of an 8"/1" two-way from such an arrangement, though maybe I'm wrong.
Anyway, I'd love to hear what others have done in similar situations and just some general recommendations. Maybe there are other choices that I haven't yet considered.
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funny you should ask !
I have been thinking exactly along these lines myself. I have plenty of space, I live in a far less expensive city and have enough room for whatever but I still use a single albeit huge mono speaker for regular listening. But I have been thinking about an omni-directional speaker as a better option. I have been reading about the latest and greatest from Linkwitz and about the flooder speaker options and like what I have been finding. I haven't yet done the experiments - time is not my friend these days but I would give a big 'yes' vote to your thoughts. But rather than commit to a big project I would suggest doing some experiments with some DIY speakers, perhaps using foam core boxes that have been popular at DIY audio and see what combinations work for you - including a stereo pair of small omni's [http://trevormarshall.com/ground-effect-omni/]. Then once you've got it "80% there" go ahead and build formally. Gosh, don't wait for 100% or you'll never get anything done, like me!
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What are your wall options? Can you soffit mount something like your current speakers?
Have you seen the Cornu / foamcore thread? They'd be easy to fit in a difficult room. Use small drivers and a sub, or scale it up for 8" and 1"
How about a 2.1 where the mains are 8" coaxials in the walls or ceiling?
...or think inside the box, and DIY your hifi into an egg chair?
https://www.wired.com/2011/06/soundegg/
The LM-1 speaker kit is a true bookshelf. Meant to be about 4-6" from rear wall on a shelf. Put together with a sub it's pretty sweet.
https://speakermakersjourney.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-lm-1-bookshelf-version.html
Lacking BSC, it's devilishly efficient for a small speaker, and the tweeter is da bomb under $50.
Best,
Erik
https://speakermakersjourney.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-lm-1-bookshelf-version.html
Lacking BSC, it's devilishly efficient for a small speaker, and the tweeter is da bomb under $50.
Best,
Erik
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The trouble with stereo in smaller rooms is the 'listening triangle' which limits how you can arrange your furniture to put the listener in the right spot. Never mind dealing with boundary reflections. The Linkwitz solution looks to be a better alternative and the floor level speakers by Trevor a low cost option to get into the game.
I may be a few hours away, but I am quite happy with my 2.1 system. Pretty much invisible and fills the room well.
the link is a slideshow of our living room. You'd be welcome to visit and listen.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
the link is a slideshow of our living room. You'd be welcome to visit and listen.
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I actually built two pairs of foam core cornu horns, including one for a 5" driver which was MASSIVE (3'x3'). I don't see those being an option here either.
Let me attach a model of the living room to get an idea of what I'm dealing with. It wouldn't be a problem except for the fireplace taking up one corner of the room. It makes most sense to keep a TV on top of that, so that's where it's staying for now. Having the speakers almost anywhere on the floor is just getting in the way. Maybe I should just build a soundbar.
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a single (mono) up-firing coaxial loudspeaker can provide a very satisfying spatial quality of sound, the sound image it conveys is more realistic than conventional stereo with regard to some aspects
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I have recently built a number of one box stereo systems. Stereo in a single cabinet about 24" wide. Depending on how it's configured, you still get a surprising amount of stereo effect. And if you are willing to play tricks with phase, you can get some cool effects.
Think small stereo console or large boombox.
Think small stereo console or large boombox.
No, it gets rotated depending on the direction we're watching from. It may end up being wall mounted eventually.
Could you be more specific in what you mean? I'm certainly curious about this.graaf said:
On that subject, I found this a long time back when I was pondering omni speakers. Wouldn't this make a perfect deflector? It's 14" wide though so it would have to be a big speaker.
Thanks by the way Erik for your recommendation as well. I need to put more thought into where I might mount speakers of that size if I choose to go that route; I also have to consider a location for a sub.
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I was also talking about this in my first post, but didn't link to Graaf's thread:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/121385-advantages-floor-coupled-up-firing-speakers.html
Maybe here cutting corners could be a plus. The current layout gives the whole right end of the room to the stairs and makes it a dead space. Not sure how close to scale the model is but if good them maybe something like this would work. I put large plants behind the couch but you could put a corner bookshelf behind the the right one, leaving a plant in the left for the window. The thingy at the top wall is a bookshelf, couldn't you tell?
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deflectors are diffraction generators, not good
here is what I mean in a simplest/crudest form:
You should try the stereophonic Sound from a Single Loudspeaker from Elias Pekonen
http://elias.altervista.org/html/SingleSpeakerStereo.html
http://elias.altervista.org/html/SingleSpeakerStereo.html
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