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You can set up 2 stereo speakers so that the listener sits in a "sweet spot". In the sweet spot, everything sounds great, and the listener hears a panorama of sound, like the placement of instruments in a orchestra that a conductor would hear. In other words, left is left, right is right, and the center is stable.
But if the listener moves their head, this all disappears. If the listener moves left, all the "image" collapses into the left speaker. And if the listener moves to the right, all the image collapses into the right speaker, too.
I use the nearfield listening position. This seems to make the effect much worse; just a little head movement causes the "collapse", whereas stereo speakers in a room only "collapse" with quite a bit greater movement.
I don't want to give up my nearfield, but this very, very small sweet spot is driving me crazy.
Is there any solution?
As always, thank you. jj
You can set up 2 stereo speakers so that the listener sits in a "sweet spot". In the sweet spot, everything sounds great, and the listener hears a panorama of sound, like the placement of instruments in a orchestra that a conductor would hear. In other words, left is left, right is right, and the center is stable.
But if the listener moves their head, this all disappears. If the listener moves left, all the "image" collapses into the left speaker. And if the listener moves to the right, all the image collapses into the right speaker, too.
I use the nearfield listening position. This seems to make the effect much worse; just a little head movement causes the "collapse", whereas stereo speakers in a room only "collapse" with quite a bit greater movement.
I don't want to give up my nearfield, but this very, very small sweet spot is driving me crazy.
Is there any solution?
As always, thank you. jj
My answer might sound a bit controversial but here goes.
Yes, there is a solution, perhaps more than one solution. The cheapest is to invest in better electronics. What's happening is the lowest level details which includes ambience cues are getting obscured by noise from your system. That's not static noise as in 'signal to noise' rather noise modulation. A much more expensive solution is to invest in omnidirectional speakers. The only system I've ever heard with no 'sweet-spot' at all, the imaging was holographic wherever you were in relation to the speakers was with MBL radialstrahler speakers.
Yes, there is a solution, perhaps more than one solution. The cheapest is to invest in better electronics. What's happening is the lowest level details which includes ambience cues are getting obscured by noise from your system. That's not static noise as in 'signal to noise' rather noise modulation. A much more expensive solution is to invest in omnidirectional speakers. The only system I've ever heard with no 'sweet-spot' at all, the imaging was holographic wherever you were in relation to the speakers was with MBL radialstrahler speakers.
Hmmmmmm. Have you seen the price of those MBL speakers? I'm old. Please don't give me a heart attack! 🙂 🙂 🙂 jj
Turn your speakers outwards rather than firing at you. You will lose treble, and it's only a rough approximation of omnis. Or fire them upwards. And there are much cheaper omnis, at least in Europe. But isn't that what Bose 901s were about?
Yes you can fire upwards, but it's not that easy. I have done this for many years, but just taking a speaker and lay it down is not good. Mirage makes some nice omnis, but there are actually more omnis than you perhaps know, just search and they will pop up. I have moved towards normal front firing again
I understand that, but it was a very simple answer for someone asking questions about something that you and I have more knowledge of. At least it might point him in the right direction.
I'll try some of these things. Thank you.
Last question (for now):
Marchand Electric used to make an amplifier named "Eclipse". It was a single-ended MOSFET amp, very much like a single-ended Triode amp except it was solid-state. Marchand made kits, and they were in 2 forms. One was "transformer-coupled" and the other was "capacitor coupled."
I don't understand electronics. What is being "coupled" here? What is the difference between transformer coupled and capacitor coupled?
These kits, or something similar to them, sound like something that I would like to try. They might be simple enough for someone who doesn't understand electronics.
Yes? No? jj
Last question (for now):
Marchand Electric used to make an amplifier named "Eclipse". It was a single-ended MOSFET amp, very much like a single-ended Triode amp except it was solid-state. Marchand made kits, and they were in 2 forms. One was "transformer-coupled" and the other was "capacitor coupled."
I don't understand electronics. What is being "coupled" here? What is the difference between transformer coupled and capacitor coupled?
These kits, or something similar to them, sound like something that I would like to try. They might be simple enough for someone who doesn't understand electronics.
Yes? No? jj
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That is, the capacitor or transformer 'couples' the AC signal to the loudspeakers while preventing any speaker destroying DC from reaching them.
In this case, there is no simple answer, so chew on this! 🙂
http://www.idc-online.com/technical...nic_engineering/Input_and_output_coupling.pdf
Now THAT was useful! It was simple enough that I could understand it! Thank you!
And a big "Thank You" to everyone who helped me! 🙂 jj
Valve (tube) power amplifiers generally use transformer coupled outputs as these can match the high impedance of the valve to the low impedance of the speaker. But I suspect you won't be practising on these just yet!
In Europe, Velleman kits are useful; I have no idea what is available in the US.
In Europe, Velleman kits are useful; I have no idea what is available in the US.
I have an old Luxman that uses a heat pipe to conduct the heat to heat sinks that are about an inch from the output transistors.
Ohmigod things get worse. And in the jj video I was waiting to 4:55 to know what the last area contains... No, I wont spoil! But that also is wrong. The Male Version is much more complicated, but most men didn't understand the details.
BTW, aint this a ThreadJack? From Heat Pipes to Hot-Crazy?
Yeah .... partially. But why be boring if you can have a little fun? jj
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Okay .... back again with another question. This one is on speaker. OLD speakers.
In probably the '50s or '60s, there was a speaker system that was kinda "different". It was a conventional box, but the back had either a port or a cut-out area. I don't remember which because I was too young to care at the time, and I haven't managed to find ANY pics or info on this speaker.
Anyway ... on the back of the speaker, covering the port or cutout, was a heavy piece of either carpet or a heavy mat, about the size of the back panel. When the system hit a certain point (which I now believe was probably bass resonance) the carpet would move, letting air escape.
I'm old now, and I can't remember any more than that. Does anybody have any recollection of the kind of speaker design to which I refer?
As always, Thank you. jj
In probably the '50s or '60s, there was a speaker system that was kinda "different". It was a conventional box, but the back had either a port or a cut-out area. I don't remember which because I was too young to care at the time, and I haven't managed to find ANY pics or info on this speaker.
Anyway ... on the back of the speaker, covering the port or cutout, was a heavy piece of either carpet or a heavy mat, about the size of the back panel. When the system hit a certain point (which I now believe was probably bass resonance) the carpet would move, letting air escape.
I'm old now, and I can't remember any more than that. Does anybody have any recollection of the kind of speaker design to which I refer?
As always, Thank you. jj
I remember seeing an ad sometime, somewhere for that speaker, but have no idea what brand it was.
You're not imagining things.
You're not imagining things.