My TV sits in the corner of the room on a 20” high cabinet and there is no place for external speakers near it due to the room walls. Things I’ve tried with regular monitors take up a lot of space, come out into the room too far, and are visually distracting.
So I’m thinking about building some very skinny short towers with line arrays that will fit into the corners between the TV and the wall. At the most these would be about 2 to 3 inches wide and about 24 to 30 inches tall. Smaller is better.
I’ve been looking at the Tectonic 2” BMR to use in the array. At only $8 each the cost would be pretty reasonable even I use 12 of them in each array.
I know that such a short tower is not really the best way to implement a line array and it should be much taller. But I’m not expecting the ultimate in performance. I’m looking for something that is pretty good, particularly when watching and listening to opera, but not necessarily audiophile level.
So here are my questions.
Is this likely to give me an enjoyable level of sound performance or is it going to be too short and a complete waste of time?
Is there likely to be much difference if I use 8 drivers rather than 12 in order to keep the height lower? Or is there a different driver configuration than either of those that would be better?
Any caveats or other suggestions in implementing this idea.
Thanks.
So I’m thinking about building some very skinny short towers with line arrays that will fit into the corners between the TV and the wall. At the most these would be about 2 to 3 inches wide and about 24 to 30 inches tall. Smaller is better.
I’ve been looking at the Tectonic 2” BMR to use in the array. At only $8 each the cost would be pretty reasonable even I use 12 of them in each array.
I know that such a short tower is not really the best way to implement a line array and it should be much taller. But I’m not expecting the ultimate in performance. I’m looking for something that is pretty good, particularly when watching and listening to opera, but not necessarily audiophile level.
So here are my questions.
Is this likely to give me an enjoyable level of sound performance or is it going to be too short and a complete waste of time?
Is there likely to be much difference if I use 8 drivers rather than 12 in order to keep the height lower? Or is there a different driver configuration than either of those that would be better?
Any caveats or other suggestions in implementing this idea.
Thanks.
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If you use CBT shading then you can get away with a much smaller array. The only downside is that it doesn't control directivity as low, so you'll have to cross to a woofer and the low end directivity will not be completely uniform above vs below the CBT cross point.
If you would build a dipole CBT though, then the overall energy of the CBT is pretty much equal to the CBT so then you could get away with a smaller array without those problems. Don Keele used 10 2.5" drivers in his dipole implementation proof-of-concept. With a Dipole CBT you definently have to cross to a woofer of course, but the directivity will match good enough above and below the CBT cross point.
If you would build a dipole CBT though, then the overall energy of the CBT is pretty much equal to the CBT so then you could get away with a smaller array without those problems. Don Keele used 10 2.5" drivers in his dipole implementation proof-of-concept. With a Dipole CBT you definently have to cross to a woofer of course, but the directivity will match good enough above and below the CBT cross point.
A short array of 12 small drivers is more like a tall tweeter than a floor to ceiling line array. By that I mean, if you ear isn't near the same height as the center of the array, you won't hear much treble.
A short array like that would have to sit on top of a woofer in order to get much bass.
Check the data sheets. I think you will get better response from Dayton DMA series 2" drivers than a BMR. Cost of the Daytons is about the same.
You will need absorption on the near side and front walls for a wide dispersion corner array.
Its easy to model these arrays in VituixCAD and get a very good idea of the response you can expect before making any measurements. Use its SPL trace tool to trace the data sheet frequency response and use its diffraction tool to synthesize directivity for the drivers.
A short array like that would have to sit on top of a woofer in order to get much bass.
Check the data sheets. I think you will get better response from Dayton DMA series 2" drivers than a BMR. Cost of the Daytons is about the same.
You will need absorption on the near side and front walls for a wide dispersion corner array.
Its easy to model these arrays in VituixCAD and get a very good idea of the response you can expect before making any measurements. Use its SPL trace tool to trace the data sheet frequency response and use its diffraction tool to synthesize directivity for the drivers.
Sound likes this isn't going to work very well if I put them on the floor and keep the height to about 24". Probably isn't worth the effort.
Having the TV in the corner of the room imposes some real disadvantages for me with speaker placement. There is a fireplace nearby on one side wall and French doors on the other. No place for speakers except in the very tight corners.
Thanks.
Having the TV in the corner of the room imposes some real disadvantages for me with speaker placement. There is a fireplace nearby on one side wall and French doors on the other. No place for speakers except in the very tight corners.
Thanks.
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yes FP in corner is hard to work with! unless you can build into wall above mantle flanking flat screen. LA won't work there but small coax might
Fireplace is not in the corner. That's where the TV is on a low corner cabinet.
FP is very close to it, however, on an adjacent wall. Limits where I can put a speaker. Even worse on the other adjacent wall where a French door comes right up next to the TV cabinet.
That's why I've been thinking about very skinny line arrays. Trying to squeeze them into the narrow corner spaces available between the TV and the adjacent walls.
FP is very close to it, however, on an adjacent wall. Limits where I can put a speaker. Even worse on the other adjacent wall where a French door comes right up next to the TV cabinet.
That's why I've been thinking about very skinny line arrays. Trying to squeeze them into the narrow corner spaces available between the TV and the adjacent walls.
I use a couple 2" peerless ta6d with a bsc circuit in each for television. I eq for dialog so the bass and highs are rolled off, but I don't see any reason they couldn't handle the output from a single ended tube amp. They won't go loud but I'm only 8 feet from the tv. They aren't that deep physically. Not sure about opera.