BIG in speakers small room

[DNV47]

Where did the "conventional wisdom" come from that says you can't use big speakers in small rooms?
I've read over and over in different forums over the years that big speakers can't be used in small rooms but how many people have actually tried?
Being a BIG speaker fan and not having a large listening room didn't stop me from buying Model 19's for my 11 X 11 listening room and they sound awesome.
With added EV T-350 tweeters it's like listening to live performances and I've never been happier with any other speaker even in larger rooms.
I find the more intimate listening more engaging than at louder levels in a larger room and the wall of sound is absolutely spectacular.
With mono recordings the 19's image so large and well front and center that it's amazing to listen to.
I find the bass to be more than adaquate and pretty solid down to 40HZ without being boomy and I'm still wondering why some people say the horn and woofer don't blend listening that closely.
Just thought I'd throw my experience out there for some comments because I think some people may be missing out on what they would really like because of the room size issue. Would I be as happy with smaller Altecs for the samll room? I think not.

[ngccglp]

I think whether the bass is boomy depends a lot on the natural freq of the room and nothing to do with the size of the speakers. Having said that, square rooms are usually more troublesome than odd same rooms. I have A7 in a 3.5m square room before I moved it out to my living room. The excitement is like front row seats, especially when I thrash Audioslave at max volume.

[bowtie427ss]

This has inspired a question.

Can the volume of a room become small enough to have an adverse effect on the LF tuning of a system?

My thought is that once room modes and reflections are dealt with, the only drawback of the above scenario is that in an 11x11 room the ideal listening position or "sweet spot" is probably only going to be large enough to accomodate one listener.

[Altec19]

When it comes to audio, there are no hard and fast rules about what sounds "best". If there were, every vendor would strive to have their product sound just like the "standard". Do M19s sound their best in a small space? Probably not. Do they sound a lot better than many other speakers in a small space? Depending upon your personal opinion of what "better" might be, then maybe. If M19s agree with you in a small space and a small space is the only option, by all means go for it! It is better to have listened to M19s in a small space then to have never listened at all. Perhaps at some point you will have the opportunity to listen to them in a larger space and then you can decide for yourself. The great thing is that no matter what you decide, you will be right.

Listening to recordings of music is, in part, about creating the illusion of being in the space intended by the performers and recording engineers. If they are trying to create the illusion of a large space our mind may be less likely to accept that proposition while listening in a small space. Not that it should cause you to enjoy it any less.

Isn't audio a great hobby?

[selmerdave]

With two 20 ft^3 cabinets in a 7'x 9' room, I can verify that it does work. Now, I would much rather have a larger room and reflections are quite a significant problem for me, but it still sounds very good.

Dave

[scott fitlin]

Large roomns are neccesary for correct performance particularly with large basshorns.

In a small room, say 15ft length, an A7 will first start to sound good where the room is ending. But closer in you wont get good bass response, or the proper imaging as these cabinets were designed to throw, so sitting back 20ft and the sound begins to blossom.

Direct radiator speaker systems like the Model 19 have a much shorter throw in the LF so the wavelength developps much closer in. Model 19,s are supposed to be really nice, but they arent what I would consider LARGE speaker sytems.

[RonSSS]

I have always preferred to listen to my Altecs in the near field. This included, A7's, M19's (set up now) and my Duplexes.

The soundstage is huge, imigeing is excellent. My room is fairly large, 13 x 24 x 8 and is treated to be dead. so I get the LEDE effect.

It takes a bit of effort to get everything set up correct, but the results are well worth it!

Ron

[zelgall]

Fom Scotty J:
"Large roomns are neccesary for correct performance particularly with large basshorns.

In a small room, say 15ft length, an A7 will first start to sound good where the room is ending. But closer in you wont get good bass response, or the proper imaging as these cabinets were designed to throw, so sitting back 20ft and the sound begins to blossom.

Direct radiator speaker systems like the Model 19 have a much shorter throw in the LF so the wavelength developps much closer in. Model 19,s are supposed to be really nice, but they arent what I would consider LARGE speaker sytems."

I have admitted repeatedly to be a non-technical type Altec user but please explain why a shorter throw would affect the wavelength. I understand that the integration between drivers requires a longer distance and have experienced this myself and this will make imaging better or worse. You're not suggesting that a bass note needs a wavelength to unfold are you? My understanding of sound is more in the line of pressure pulses and rarifications rather than waves.

[Russnohio]

My M19's are running in a room 14'X 22'. Personally I find this 14X22 room WAY too small for my Altecs but since I've no other choice I deal with it. Yeah they sound great but I think they'd sound even greater in a room twice as big. Hey DN if the 19's are working fine for you in a 11X11 room more power to you! That's cool. But, my god I can't imagine those horns/drivers in such a small place!

Just my 2cents
Russ

[cclark65]

Originally posted by zelgall:
[QB]Fom Scotty J:
You're not suggesting that a bass note needs a wavelength to unfold are you? QB]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I don't know for sure if this means the same thing or not, but I do a lot of live shows, and the bass player standing right in front of an Ampeg 8x10 cabinet has a hard time hearing it, but if he moves a few feet in front of it, he'll hear if just fine. I have seen this with drum monitors also. I can actually see the cone of 2 18" woofers moving in and out almost an inch, but hearing nothing till I move a few feet away. Of course, this is in extremely loud environments also.

So, according to those scenarios, yea, bass takes some length to develop. As for horn loaded vs front loaded, I think it has more to do with the cabinet tuning and ports helping you hear them at a shorter distance than it does the wavelength of the note. That can't change, no matter what type of speaker it is. A low E is a low E on any speaker.

Somebody please chime in and explain more!