Hard to say, juniper. I haven't moved yet, but I suspect that wherever it is, 12X17 would be about right. I've always read the bigger Altecs (19's, Valencia's, etc.) needed room for the drivers to "mesh." I've never had a problem with my 604E's in that regard. I'm just wondering if the opportunity arises to get some 14's or 19's (or Valencia's), would I regret selling the 604's when they are placed in a smaller room. Thanks.
I'd stick with 604's, but that's just my opinion.
This subject gets a bit involved and don?t have much time now to elaborate, but it basically boils down to where the first reflections will occur; so where in the room the speakers can be placed, the axial distance to the listening position [Lp] and its width/depth [AKA ?sweet spot?] will determine the speaker?s required polar response.
For a generally ?good enough? starting point in a HIFI app, just draw to scale a plan and side view where the Lp is either in thirds or fifths from the sound wall [ideally the HF horn?s centerline will be spaced from the floor in thirds or fifths also], draw the axial lines from the speaker locations to the center of the Lp [at an average ear height in the side view], then add the polar response angles that cover the Lp without intersecting any of the room boundaries ahead of it.
If there?s no angle that allows this, then that boundary ideally needs to be damped and/or dealt with at the horn/baffle interface, which is generally a ?pain? to do if WAF is a factor.
For HT apps, I recommend following DD/DTS/THX room layout guidelines, which will severely limit your speaker, Lp location options.
Once this is done, post them along with any budget/cab size/WAF restrictions.
GM
Loud is Beautiful if it's Clean! As always though, the usual disclaimers apply to this post's contents.
This is why so many like the sound of the 604's myself included is that they are already meshed.. They are a point source speaker meaning the sound HF & LF emit from the center of the driver. I really like the 604's for smaller rooms.And my 19's in my larger listening room. They both excel in their specific applications for my purposes.I have been tinkering with a home theater setup for a little while now.But I too prefer the 2 channel stereo for my louder listening sessions(19's).Originally Posted by stlblue
To help you correctly.The members here will need a lot more info IMHO.. Especially the type and size room you are going to have..Since you already have the 604E's I would keep them and then try to find 14's or 19's.. Unless money is an issue... But there has been a few pair recently (Model 14's) selling for $400 an absolute steal IMO.
I typed out a long reply & then a storm wiped out the Internet and everything I typed. Anyway, thanks for the replies. I can't answer the questions you guys raised because I don't know the answers. I am hopefully moving for a job. As such, everything is packed & ready to go. I suspect it will be an apartment, so I will probably have to merge the tunes & TV. The stereo consists of 604E's, Red Wine Audio Sig 30 amp & DAC, and a Squeezebox Touch. To make things more interesting, I no longer have the 612's I used w/ the 604's, so if I keep the 604's (new cones & diaphrams, around 5 years ago by GPA), I'll probably have some 620's built for me.
Why not just wait & see? Because I am sure I will be VERY busy upon moving (probably hundreds of miles away). I want to just hook it all up & not have that to think about,too. I don't want to have to look for a cabinet builder, or 14's/19's. So now is the time to decide and either have cabinets built or hunt down new speakers. I will consider a powered sub later on. I like lots of different kinds of music (rock, blues, jazz, pop, R&B, easy listening, classical).
Any more thoughts are welcomed & appreciated.
Last edited by stlblue; July 10th, 2012 at 01:04 AM.
Stlblue - You are halfway there, IMHO - you already have drivers you like, so run with them! If you get 14s/19s, you dont know what you get till you get them and you will likely have to do some work anyway. Build some boxes, and maybe some good Markwart xo's, and you are golden!
I have a small/medium sided room - 15x17 and am 100% satisfied with the 604s in them. Much more so now that I have build these - http://www.hostboard.com/forums/f700...-604-mltl.html and gotten them more dialled in. They are GMs design, and really do sound excellent now (I know, I need to update the thread but I am not quite done tweaking) with only 3 watts! The sim he sent me looks very good, too. ;-)
More info in threads here - High Efficiency Speaker Asylum
And here - High Efficiency Speaker Asylum
If you want, I can send you a cut-plan I have and some general info I put together from emails and various threads. PM me if you want with your email addy.
Thanks, gortnipper. I have crossovers already. They are the original prototypes for these: http://www.iconicspkrs.com/downloads/dn604e_16su.pdf.
I'm pretty sure they use Stonehenges. Do you think those crossovers would be a good match w/ your MLTL design or would I be better of having Stonehenges built?
BTW, eds in your third link is me. :^)
Your help is genuinely appreciated.
Sorry - I cant give you any meaningful advice about those xo's, but they should work fine in GM's speaker design, I would think. I would think that there may be diffs in the sim with a 604E vs. a GPA 604-8H-III, but he would know far better than I. But you would need the series-R.
A 604's XO point is well above the cab's 'sphere of influence', so has no bearing on its design/performance. The baffle area OTOH affects baffle step diffraction requirements [if any], but as long as the XO is adjustable it can usually be dialed in. Worst case, additional series resistance may be required if a very narrow baffle is used, so the rule-of-thumb is to maintain the same [or larger] baffle width as the cab the speaker was 'voiced' in.
GM
Loud is Beautiful if it's Clean! As always though, the usual disclaimers apply to this post's contents.
I did find this: Thiele Small Parameter measurement question for a 604E. I'm going to lean on a buddy to get them built correctly. Needless to say, I'm going to just keep the 604E's. Thanks for all your help.
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