Do Big Speakers Actually SOUND Bigger?

[@dougbulldog9947]

It's not how big they are, it's how you use them.

[@troyporter287]

That's what all the guys who have little ones say 😂😂😂 lol

[@dougbulldog9947]

@@troyporter287 Not what she said

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Size of boats.

[@lawrence09151]

Ghey

[@Bradimus1]

I recall something about it taking a hell of a long time to get to England in a row boat. 🤔

[@JR-ho5qm]

I for some reason appreciate the sound of a wide baffled speaker like a CerwinVega! Or Klipsh heritage. There seems to be a certain sense of effervtlessnes to them that I like at medium to loud volumes

[@trog69]

My aDs 910s have massive baffles, containing two 10.5" bass drivers diagonally mounted, with the dome tweeter/mid right next each other vertically. When they're on their 8" stands, the tweeters/mids are right at ear level. They might be my end-game loudspeakers.

[@TimpBizkit]

I have a load of Bill Fitzmaurice speakers which probably sound like a less refined version of the Klipsch. That effortless detail in the horns (and the big bass reflex boxes) is satisfying to listen to.

[@mysock351C]

One thing the wider baffle will have is a lower baffle step, meaning it can project sound towards the listening position down to lower frequencies before the speaker starts to radiate in all directions (I.e. it’s listening window is maintained down to a lower frequency than narrow speakers). That will impact how it sounds. Same thing with the radiation pattern. Speakers with a wide pattern will sound more spacious than those with a narrower pattern, and that is one disadvantage of a lot of coaxial speakers. They are usually quite a bit narrower than conventional dome tweeters on a baffle.

[@rosschapman966]

Erin, I just have to say I really enjoy watching your videos. They are so informative and you explain it in a way that is easily understandable. I am currently not in the process of purchasing a speaker but I still watch every one of your videos because I learn something new from each one of them. You kick ass in what you do.

[@edwardasmannjr.2438]

I don’t know of anyone else who is presenting this information, and I’m grateful for it. I appreciate the data, and I appreciate the explanations of why, and how, the things we (you) hear relate to the data that the measurements produce. I wish I would have had access to this kind and depth of information 20 years ago. Thank you.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Awesome! Thanks!

[@jianboo]

Certainly, presenting data is advantageous. In my opinion, this video would benefit from a part 2 that includes actual comparisons. This could involve contrasting a two-way concentric speaker (such as a Tannoy model) or even a two-way horn speaker (perhaps from Altec) with large drivers against any two-way design featuring smaller drivers that are being promoted by manufacturers today.

[@josephreynolds6844]

Bob Carver’s “Sonic Holography” gave the best expansion of sounds beyond the boundaries of the speakers.

[@anandshah71]

Is that a album or a speaker

[@roberts3889]

I had his sonic holigraphy preamp back in the late '70s...loved it.

[@legrandgroves8560]

I have the sep unit, sounds great every so often. Crazy sounds!

[@razisn]

Sounding 'big' has much to do with bass. Take a small standmount speaker with little bass, add 2 well integrated subs and suddenly the whole soundstage seems larger. This is not larger as with phase phenomena in the sense of being wide but diffused, it just seems bigger. This is a psychoacoustic illusion it is not strictly a physics thing. Larger speakers generally (though not always) produce more bass than smaller speakers, at least as commercially implemented.

[@DomSchiavoni]

I'll add that the multiple small low-frequency drivers of a floor stander are typically no match for a subwoofer for multiple reasons including: Available Location, Size, Weight, & Amplification. That said, depending on the room and preferences floorstanders may be sufficient.

[@davidfuller581]

Big speakers (like, big drivers and wide baffles, not the "bunch of 8" woofers stacked" kind of big) tend to become directional lower. That combined with much lower compression at a given SPL makes them sound quite large in my book.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Yep, I covered that aspect as well. But because they become directional lower means that they typically will have a more narrow stage and tighter focus in small/medium rooms.

[@davidfuller581]

Yep, though paradoxically to me that makes them sound "bigger". Small speakers sound kinda muddled by comparison.

[@JamesWilliams-gf8gm]

@@ErinsAudioCorner here is a question for you? Do you think dispersion effects detail? I think dispersion hurts detail. Let me give you an example. I have 18 7” monster bass traps from GIK acoustics in my room (ok that sounds silly to say out loud but stay with me…). I also have a large room 26’x30’x8’ full baseman. When I had the Revel 228be I boxed in my speakers with the bass traps about 3’ on 3 sides of the speakers in free space (speaker 7’+ off the walls. The idea was to catch the reflections before they could reflect in the room. The increase in detail was staggering compared no first reflection treatment (did A/B back and forth for a few days). From the mid bass up it was amazing BUT the sound stage really shrunk in size. It went from wall to wall to where those traps sat in sound stage width. So from 25’ to 16’. Then the dilemma set in. I could not live with or without the traps. Without them the detail sucked, with them the soundstage sucked…. So I did what every good hobbiest does bought new speakers, a narrow dispersion 4367 lol. I find the first reflection points to almost not matter at all with these speakers and just leave the side walls bare. Now my traps are all on the back wall and corners….

[@rickyblair8802]

A very good job of explaining this.

[@stevenswall]

At a given SPL they won't sound any more or less compressed than another speaker operating well within its limits at the same SPL.

[@matthewcarpenter9933]

Good content here Erin. I have been designing and building my own speakers for many years. My primary focus with design in the last few years has been on creating a realistic sound stage, well as realistic as I can make it. The one thing I have found that effects "how big a speaker sounds" is its ability to saturate the listening area @ high spl levels with minimal distortion. Not to say the imaging doesnt play a part in that, it does to an extent. However, in my listening experience once a very high spl is reached, if the speakers can handle the drive input (power) with minimal distortion then they will win the "big sound" competition. In my quest for this type of sound I have moved to large high effiency pro drivers in my designs. Faital Pro, B&C, SB Audience...you get the idea. This is not the only thing in this quest though. The passive crossovers can get complicated and in some cases very expensive. If close attention is not paid to this I just have a big blaring box. Simulate, measure, listen, adjust. Simulate, measure, listen, adjust. Over and over and over. When I get it right, the sound is nothing short of amazing....and big.

[@KeithHeinrich]

Good explanation. Makes sense. We have what we call the Tardis. Its a small room system with 2 wall mount speakers high on the wall plus a sub. Sounds awesome and thanks to DSP you can't really tell where the sound is coming from, from the listening position. Neat trick.

[@cwcole02]

Feels like you read my mind with this post - I was just wondering about this. My experience matches your explanation. What made me think about this was another reviewer said they would be missing sound above their head by downsizing but later said the speakers being replaced had a tweeter on top.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Yeah, that’s what really matters, IMHO; the crossovers need to be good where there is no obvious handoff errors and you need to be able to sit on the design axis.

[@nooneusesthisname]

Thank you for posting this. It's dense with knowledge bombs about speaker designs presented in a clear and easily digestible manner. Ps. That Madonna album is amazing.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Thanks for the feedback! And, yes, that album is indeed awesome!

[@analogkid4557]

Perfect! A lot of people don't understand this.

[@steveluth3139]

MTM speakers are my fav to emulate 1 point source, currently on Q Acoustics

[@mrboat580]

I could always tell when larger speakers were in the room as soon as I walked in, but it had nothing to do with soundstage. Mostly with full range speakers and it was a whole room effect instead of just a sweet spot one. Take a two-way stand mount, and add a 15" sub and you essentially have a larger speaker. Multi-woofer tower speakers with smaller drivers are just different. Sealed, and TL designs tend to muddy this subject even further. I have both larger and smaller speakers (10 pairs) and I prefer the larger. The big 15" 3-way full range speakers are the most noticeable standalone. The 12" I have are closer in presence to the bookshelf speakers with 6.5" or larger woofers until we start getting above about 70db. I would say that 15" woofer designs is where it becomes more apparent. Right now I am using 8" 3-way full range monitors with a pair of 12" subs. They go plenty loud. I have my 12" two-ways in the same room. At some point, I will put the 8s away and plug the 12s and the presence differential is pretty noticeable. The 12s have three, 3" diameter ports, compared to two, 2" on the 8s. Smaller speakers mostly just don't have enough headroom and leave me hanging a lot without subs and bass management.

[@psyphonyxaudio]

Aye .. Now I've seen / heard all the factors ... Yes to all of them. Baffle size, driver diameter beaming,.. both will lead to how the sound pressure flows off the baffle width. Personally.. The number one say to make the stage wider or larger sounding in my rooms .. is sitting closer or physically placing the speakers wider. Toeing out or straight into the room will affect how much of the energy is bounding off the walls.. I mean, .. how large or big do the speakers sound Anechoic? I think the word " bigger " is mostly riding the coat-tails in the pool of ALL the other subjective terms and descriptive adjectives that common people will use. " Wider " and acknowledging a speaker's dispersion pattern / Acoustic alignment, etc .. would be less subjective and more observation. Good to detail .. I hope that people will take the details and re-evaluate how to describe the sound in room.

[@kyleo2113]

That Madonna album is crazy - always hear people talk about how tubes open up the sound stage in depth and width - maybe it’s something to do with distortion- idk ; I run solid state but I have noticed when running Audirvana and changing upsampling via r8brain and depending on using minimum phase or linear phase and or adjusting the bandwidth (% of nyquist) or stop band attenuation can change the way music is presented and sounds - I think it really depends on the equipment of course but haven’t seen anyone ever measure these things to show what each setting is actually doing to the sound. Image seems really tight and precise but a little thin with linear phase and high settings for each and with minimum phase and moderate settings a little more diffuse and fuller but a bit more natural sounding. I don’t understand exactly how it works and have yet to see anyone explain it in terms a layman (me) can understand. Would love your take on this.

[@markpocock183]

Thanks Erin, great video on an interesting topic. How do you see line array type speakers fitting into this analysis? I have Magneplanar 1.7i speakers, which essentially have 5' tall tweeter, midrange, and woofer sections. I find when properly setup they provide very precise horizontal imaging, with the appropriate material but also excel at presenting "life size" images, which I interpret as being related to the physical size of the drivers. Or would you say their dipole nature, which minimizes side wall reflections (and in my setup front wall reflections are largely absorbed) just allows better extraction of the directional information from the recording?

[@Clint3571]

Totally random thought, but I think it would be cool to get an average Joe to compare speakers with you. Not on a regular basis but if you do a $200 vs $2,000 speaker just because we know what you will say and you have an amazing ability to decipher very specific sound characteristics. I just wonder how that would compare to a non-audio-enthusiasts opinion.

[@danielezzet8870]

One example of your explanation can be applied with some small speakers sounding like "big speakers" like the ilouds micro monitors or Vanatoos transparent zero, mosly because those speakers had wide radiation thanks to the use of small drivers and the directivity is fairly smooth

[@bsbabcock]

Yet another great one! Glad to see new content Bro. Fun stuff!

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

What’s up, brother!?

[@bsbabcock]

@@ErinsAudioCorner killing myself in a new job. Situation normal somewhat. Been really digging the little CSS 1TDX’s I built through a Node X and Schiit Vidar 2. The civic is finally gone. I see it around town every now and then.

[@garryhammond3117]

Rifght bang on with Q-Sound! - I've been familiar with it since it first came out (~1990). Not sure why Q-Sound doesn't get much use these days - the nice thing is that it is system independant. Granted, Atmos makes it a bit of a moot point. 🙂 - Cheers.

[@BostonMike68]

If they are using quality drivers then a 10" woofer is going to sound a lot bigger and hit you much harder than even a 8" . I have 10" woofers in my reference pair of high end diy speakers that I designed and built and I have big mtms that have some really stout 6.5 that I built and they have a lot of drive and SPL bass everything but they don't hit or sound like the 10" drivers. You can grab a pair of crappy old speakers at the thrift stores with small magnets that look impressive that sounds boxy and thin. But if you have some high end drivers they punch you in the face. I was just listening to Metallica sad but true and Nirvana something in the way and I couldn't believe how full they sound and the impact of the kick drum. Bookshelves aren't going to give you that. I don't want to burst anyone's bubble. But try to find a really high end speaker with a 10" woofer and using a good source and then something with a smaller driver. It's not going to hit the same.

[@MarkusBeck-b5n]

By designing many different speakers, I have learned that every listener is extremely influenced be the appearence of the speaker. Big speakers are expected to sound large and it is really hard to overcome this bias. In fact, it very much depends on the bass performance and the position of the speaker. A small speaker can sound big, when positioned in the correct hight and supported by a well aligned subwoofer going deep. And when you close your eyes or dimm the light - you forget about the size of the speaker and it will sound big. Well, small speakers with a good subwoofer it is not a small system any more.

[@brandonmoore7797]

I've always had an affinity for towers, but i think that's because I was so late to the subwoofer game. That being said, I can't say I've ever noticed a huge difference in soundstage. Now if by "big" you mean full, it's hard to argue about the benefits of size. And I think one of the things a lot of people probably associate with big speakers is their increased dynamic capabilities, letting them get louder with less effort. So I think getting loud without as much compression, especially in the bass region, is something thats now part of the "big sound". So when people say a speaker "sounds big" they mean it is "loud and bassy". In a blinded listening test, I'm convinced you couldn't pick out a well integrated bookshelf / sub combo from a great tower. In fact, I bet more people would pick the bookshelf / sub as the "big" speaker.

[@NackDSP]

My friends Magnepan 3.7i speakers make a vocalist sound ridiculously large in his listening room. His room is maybe not super large, so we were 8 to 10 feet from the speakers. I assume this is in part due to the 9" wide woofer panels that are crossed over at 450 Hz with first order crossovers. At the time it felt like the room was approaching acting like a gigantic set of headphones. I've also heard the large Genesis Technologies speakers and very large electrostatic speakers. In a smaller room there is this effect. I assume if the speaker is so large that you are listening in the near field, this "headphone" effect comes into play. I have found that working on crossovers, a single three way speaker sounds large with first order crossovers but tends to shrink to a point with high order crossovers. With 4th order digital crossovers the Magnepan 3.7i looses some of that horizontally split soundstage effect for sure. For sure first order crossovers result in weird directivity patterns and overlap in the drivers at the two crossover points. Testing a speaker with different order crossovers is pretty interesting. It's a fun experiment to do, and it's easy to setup if you have an active digital crossover at hand like a miniDSP. I think this may be why many people are so impressed by speakers with first order crossovers, because the single speaker creates a sort of simulated stereo effect local to that one speaker.

[@hoth2112]

Line-source speakers, like Magnepans, Infinity IRS-V or Genesis 1 towers often tend to make vocalists sound unnaturally large especially when compared to similarly sized point-source designs.

[@1337sim1]

Awesome video full of great explanations! Lots of times, I feel we listen with our eyes. We see a bigger speaker and WE WANT it to sound bigger because it has lots of woofers. Then, we crank the volume way past the volume at what we played the bookshelfs... Psychology and speaker efficiency play a big role in that impression I think 😅

[@loudandclearmedia]

You know, Erin, all this talk about baffle size and point-source and imaging makes me realize, I don't think I've ever heard you talk about electrostatic speakers. Is that because you don't have much experience with them, or because you don't like the very narrow, bipolar radiation pattern?

[@rainier939]

In my limeted experience building speakers, I found that big woofers simply don't image as well as smaller ones. This gives the illusion that the sound stage is bigger but also les precise. When it comes to the big sound. I would say that higher sensitivity speakers have an edge to sounding powerfull. Your amp has a way easier time with the load. Therefor they can sound more " dynamic". If you want sensitive speakers and play anything below 80Hz you need a pretty big speaker already because math and science reasons.

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

Want to know how wide your "soundstage" is? Get some music playing at roughly conversational levels (70 to 75 dba) now ramp up your shoulders and with your eyes closed try to point at your speakers. When you think you've got them bulls-eyed, open your eyes. With proper placement you should be pointing well outside the width between your speakers. This happens because your hands and arms will cause a diffraction effect localized near your ears that will stop when you get beyond the direct radiation area of your speakers.

[@davidcross890]

Your thought process is lacking full transparency and is Completely devoid of the multiple comb influences of room interactions even at lower listening levels

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

@@davidcross890 Nope. It takes advantage of that, giving you a way to detect the outer edge of the speaker's direct radiation area. Try it and come back and *honestly* tell me it doesn't work...

[@davidcross890]

@@Douglas_Blake_579 why would any decent person be anything other than honest?

[@davidcross890]

@@Douglas_Blake_579 I seem to get a repeated impressions that you may be talking for lack of better words carriage and buggy techniques and technology implementation and quite frankly I am interested in creating the bleeding edge repeatable developmental performance level without regard to cost

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

@@davidcross890 Well lets start by noticing that in all of your comments on this thread you've been claiming to have designed and invented super high end speakers but your rebuttals are not technical or insightful... you're just hurling insults at a total stranger. Thus I conclude that you are not a decent person.

[@deepsouth1748]

I love big speakers but can appreciate all the bonuses of a small more accurate speaker. I have custom built 3 ways in my living room with a 12" woofer. I can feel the bass in any room of the house if i want that or i can listen quietly while sitting on the couch with no lack of bass. Movies on the same speakers are a blast. But when I'm at my desk i would not want anything near that large because it wouldnt be able to do its job in that kind of space.

[@Gunmastercomua]

Thank you Erin!

[@joentell]

Do larger drivers or more drivers with more surface area inherently cause more room interaction due to taking up more physical space in a room or is that practically irrelevant? I could swear when I reviewed that KEF KC62, it interacted with my room less than the Monolith THX 10" placed in the same location.

[@JamesWilliams-gf8gm]

It is a wash. Work = force x distance so pressure = surface area x distance. At the same frequency/output the work is technically the same, though the required power to achieve that work could be different. Maybe it had more to do with wavelength and boundary. The KC62 sound would come from the center of the two drivers and the thx would come from the driver face, so maybe they were not at the “same” spot due to different acoustic centers. Maybe it was the KC62 limiter kicking in lol… oh how I hate tiny subs lol.

[@joentell]

I think it's more related to the acoustic centers. I might be thinking about this wrong, but I would imagine that a 21" woofer is going to be closer to nearby walls and the ceiling than a 6.5" woofer, and therefore will have different room interaction. I wondered if that's why people think that smaller woofers = "tighter bass" because they're actually hearing less room interaction, whereas the larger driver couples to the room more. I could be way off. I've yet to read this Loudspeaker Design Cookbook, but I'm sure the answer is in there somewhere.@@JamesWilliams-gf8gm

[@truman4956]

I love your science approach to speakers. Have you thought about designing and selling speakers or speaker kits?

[@ajzepp8976]

Personally Ive always a nice 2-channel stand-mount with properly blended subwoofer has always sounded biggest to me.

[@theoracleprodigy]

Used to have an Arcam A/R receiver. It always sounded out of phase, but created a huge sound stage. Also had horrid dialog. I would say a large speaker loads up a room differently. Also as you stated a large speaker can play at a higher volume. What I find is that a 2 way doesn't have the impact / clarity when you have a lot of mids and bass hitting at once.

[@FOH3663]

So many thoughts and comments on this topic ... first being; that Madonna release CD came with a scented liner notes insert. Last I checked, the scent was still intact!

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

What?! That’s crazy (for you). (Catch the pun?)

[@FOH3663]

@@ErinsAudioCorner Surely others remember the patchouli dominant scent, ... uh right? Any help here?

[@MK-rn2hm]

Spot on. Add a pair of subs and small can sound big

[@bilguana11]

My ELAC Vela 403s and 409s do everything it right.

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

People might also be surprised how many speaker cabinets are actually too large for the drivers used in them. This is probably an offset of "bigger sells" but it also will provide an increase in bass output. But it's rubbery bass, because the woofer cone is not well damped and ringing and doubling effects do occur, making it all seem a little bigger than life.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Very true.

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

@@ErinsAudioCorner My current speakers are a pair of modified Pioneer SP-FS52s. That's a 1" tweeter and 3 5 1/4s ... These are shipped as a single chamber speaker and of course there's the issue of cancellation because with the crossover, you have two speakers in the same chamber, but doing different things. It also means the chamber is way too large for either set of speakers. So what I did was to add a baffle between the top mid-bass driver and the two lower bass drivers, splitting the sound chamber in two so that neither chamber is too large. Essentially the isolation made them into a 2 way sitting on top of a subwoofer. The improvement is not trivial. It is measurable and people have even commented on it. Even on bookshelf or stand mount two ways adding an internal baffle, usually on about a 45 degree angle between bottom and back under the woofer will tighten up and clarify the bass considerably. Note... a baffle is not a brace, it is a full width air tight surface.

[@davidfuller581]

That depends on the driver and port tuning, but yeah - often times they're too big.

[@ChuckCelticCarNut]

What about a full range speaker like the Zu? Would it not closer to a point source?

[@michaelweber5968]

Ok its a very complicated thing Been building my own speakers for about 5 years now i have made two-way bookshelves three-way bookshelves and towers The speakers i use in my living room are my first experience at a hybrid design sealed woofers(2-8") in each open on top side by side( 2-8") plannars mids and beside them open (4-3") plannar tweeters open in the back I made a few mistakes but overall fantastic speakers (a tinybit foward but will be corrected later ) I never heard dipole speakers before so this blew me away at the soundstage of these absolutely amazing the depth and precision of them is crazy The bookshelves i made were good and i can tune them much easier but the big dipole floor standing are definitely better for big sound Problem with the big ones is you need space lots of it 8 to 10 feet apart is best put them 6' apart everything seems to get smashed into the middle of the soundstage too much and i suppose alot of people do this put big speakers too close together But just my opinion others will definitely differ with me Have a wonderful day 😊

[@AntonSafonov]

Most 2-ways have inherent flaw because of the Doppler effect. Standard tweeter can't play very low which means that bass must play up to 2, 3 or even 4kHz. Which means that bass is now 2 speakers in one: low frequency one moves with high amplitude and then middle frequency driver basically moves in space at that low bass frequency, so important freqs at 2-3kHz start to rapidly change their pitch. The only solution is to have big bass like 12" or 15" playing no higher than 1000Hz and then a compression driver which is able to play down to 1000Hz without too much distortion. And the second problem with bass playing high is that crossover frequency at 2 or 3kHz is right in the middle of the very important range where our ears are quite sensitive. So no, 2-ways are not good and out of choice.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

I’m with you on Doppler being a real thing. But the levels at which it is audible is a different matter. Crossing a 12 or 15-inch driver at or even near 1kHz is a really bad idea. Unless you have a very good design, it’s almost guaranteed there will be a significant directivity issue that is going to be more audible than IMD effects will be (at least, unless you’re trying to fill a venue with sound).

[@realitykicksin8755]

The total cross sectional area of all moving membranes must be an influence of things sounding "big" ... e.g. you cannot escape the sound of an Infinity IRS Beta ... big speakers with lots of membranes correct the room acoustic damage by brute force.

[@richh650]

As motor enthusiasts used to say... There is no replacement for displacement. LOL Good tower speakers should cost much more than good bookshelves, otherwise, one knows they are giving up driver and crossover quality in floor standers in many cases. In many smaller rooms, a well-built 2-way speaker can be almost perfect but if there is room for additional costs for a well built and designed tower, that is my personal preference.

[@frostycanada6404]

Hey Erin, another solid and informative video. Sending you a few bucks.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Thanks, man! That’s truly appreciated!

[@DG-rc6rr]

Seems like a clear solution is to buy a good point source speaker…coaxial design

[@davep2945]

The biggest benefit of a stand mount speaker is the ease of integration and positioning within a room. It is also easier to make a small speaker cheaply that has attributes of a higher end large speaker in terms of sound staging and imaging. In today's world where style is more important than sound quality people want small and easily integrated speakers so small speakers, especially stand mounts, are the most popular. Even then they are almost never positioned optimally because that gets in the way of aesthetics, don't you know. However, if you have the space and the will to implement a large and or tall floor standing speaker correctly and that speaker was designed and constructed properly then it will do the same disappearing act and sound stage magic a smaller speaker can do with the added benefit of increased scale, bass extension, realistic dynamics and more realistic spatial cues. Everyone likes to think adding a sub to a small speaker gives the same effect but it's actually not even close though it does help. But dedicating a space to such large and expensive speakers and the associated electronics is something that not even most who can afford to do so want to spend their money on. That sort of audio addiction is a niche market to say the least. So, if you want the most bang for your buck a larger stand mount with confident output down to 50 or 60 hertz and a sub or two will do it. But if you're just going to shove them against the wall or actually put them on a bookshelf then buy anything you fancy under $500 because you're wasting your money on anything higher end due to placement issues. Heck, a good pair of in walls and a sub might be preferable if you have to go the "on the bookshelf" route.

[@carlitomelon4610]

Erin, I was waiting for you to mention the KEF Blades in this analysis (?) I split the field with 2 systems/rooms: 2.2 KEF LS50/REL & 2.2 Magnepan LRS/REL While not "accurate" or as tightly focused, the Maggies are addictively spacious in their presentation. Why is that? 😅

[@dl6519]

My inclination is to characterize soundstage size and/or sound image size in terms of "spatial quality", rather than in terms of "how big the speaker sounds". And I readily acknowledge the imprecision in my use of terms. In my little pea-brain vocabulary a speaker "sounding big" correlates with (but is not solely determined by) its dynamic contrast. Going way way out on a subjective/speculative limb here, imo it seems to be related to how well the leading edge of the waveform stands out from everything else that's going on.

[@brucebarnes311]

erin you said if the floow speaker the tweeter is above your head thats where its at unless you take a chainsaw to the speaker. putting your seating on blocks would probably be a better plan ;)

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Sure. But scorched earth on the speakers is way more fun. 😂

[@DavidStafford-zx8lk]

Hi Erin, do you have an opinion of open baffle speakers and would you consider reviewing a pair if given the chance?

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

I do. I would. 😉

[@giangpham6348]

​@@ErinsAudioCorner i am curious too. Open baffle is claimed to be more open and musical, natural

[@rockroll9513]

Caladans

[@brendanhoffmann8402]

I just got some larger speakers. They're pretty good for the price I paid for them but honestly not that impressed by them. Yamaha NS-777. The mid/tweeters sound quite beaming sometimes. I find it all sounds more cohesive when I experiment with different filters on my DAC though. I ended up running a second set of speakers to fill out the sound, using a 10 inch active sub with them too. All in all I'm pretty happy with the end result but didn't like them on their own.

[@jamesmoore1456]

Small mission 70s mark ll +yamaha 120 watt per channel old school 45 lb amp and nakamichi cd unit paired with old onkyo pre amp and less than 300 ..yes big sound...

[@OferGover]

Thanks for the explanation. I wonder if digital crossovers could solve the issues of phase shift at the crossover point in three way speakers.

[@danmar007]

Some people believe that if you listen to mono music on two speakers, it becomes stereo.

[@seanb3303]

How would you tell in the measurements if the woofer and tweeter are out of phase, if they sum flat? I think that summing flat can hide a lot of issues.

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

The usual give away is a dip in output at the crossover frequency, where both drivers are equally active, causing cancellation.

[@seanb3303]

@@Douglas_Blake_579 that makes sense. Seems like most 2 ways have that crossover dip. Jim Thiel designed high part count first order filters…presumably to keep everything in phase

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

@@seanb3303 "High part count" is a very bad thing in passive circuits. The more junk you stick in there the less efficient it becomes. When I see a crossover with lots of extra bits and pieces I generally interpret that as someone who doesn't really know how the filters work. The usual way of fixing that dip, when it is a phase issue is to reverse wire the tweeter to eliminate or at least reduce the misalignment. A crossover is a blunt instrument, it's not an equalizer. It's job is in two parts: First to get the right pitch ranges to the right drivers and Second to make sure nothing goes up in smoke. Beyond that extra parts are just a waste of your amplifier's energy.

[@Mark_2GP]

Big Speakers = Larger (+ more?) Drivers + Larger Cabinets + more power (watts) = Bigger Sound 😊

[@bigmacfullerton7870]

My big old Energy C9’s sound way bigger than any bookshelf speaker I have ever had. Way more deep down bass but still has the great mids and highs.

[@MRPC5]

All I know is that my Revel m126bes crossed over at 80hz seem to have waay less bass (oomph?) than my Dynaudio X34s crossed over at 80hz, using the same sub in the same room calibrated to the same curve. I've swapped them in and out several times thinking it must just be in my head, but I really don't think it is.

[@markusherold2581]

Absolutely on the point.

[@alwayspushing2031]

When someone says pull your speaker or suggests like 16" off a boundary wall do they mean measuring from the rear (where my port is) or the mid or front of the speaker? My speaker is 10" deep so just kind of testing and hopeful you could share your experience on that.

[@aceofspades6667]

My Maggie 1.7i sounds huge tall wide and deep. Imaging placement is not pinpoint.

[@TheMirolab]

Good talk, but your description of baffle size is a bit off. A 5” midrange does not have a 5” baffle. The baffle is the surface that the speaker is mounted to. It’s the physical barrier that blocks the pressure wave between the front and back of a speaker driver. A 5” midrange mounted on a 6” wide baffle will have wider dispersion than on a 14” baffle. If you have a 12” woofer, then you’ll likely need a 14” wide speaker of a traditional box design. My 30yr old B&W 801’s have a midrange ‘pod’ on top, making it a baffle-less design, with very wide dispersion. They image like mini-monitors.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Yeah, I said that. The 5" midrange is going to need at least a 5" baffle. The baffle still influences directivity. Picture a driver playing free air vs a driver mounted in an infinite baffle. The latter has zero dispersion behind the speaker.

[@bartoszp2135]

Please review Dynaudio BM5 MKIII. It should be good sounding budget active speakers.

[@philipteater3714]

The ultra high end allows “tailoring” beyond accuracy, including image height, and tends to confusion and chasing for elusive, stable satisfaction

[@philipteater3714]

These individuals drive new possibilities, the leading edge, good. Not my personal style though

[@davidcross890]

I built my ultra high end components for ultimate level accuracy with vanishingly low levels of distortions not the most basic tests done by most manufacturers or testers

[@lsaideOK]

I always heard that bookshelf speakers have better imaging than four standards. More precise. So I don't really know what you mean by bigger imaging. I would think a bookshelf speaker is much more likely to be isolated from the floor than a floorstander. So that may make it feel less impactful. Nothing like the sound of China breaking!

[@Artcore103]

His explanation makes sense. I always thought it was just because the sound was coming from a larger area, and I still think that may play a part. But I believe his explanation actually explains most of it. I have a pair of custom speakers, and while I like them quite a bit, the fact is they have some of the problems he was describing. Poor crossover design / poor matching up between the woofer and midrange horn, in terms of radiation width and the x-over point simply being too high for the woofer so it's beaming. One of the results is a very "large" soundstage, as was described. This can be a cool effect, but it is exactly that - an effect. It's not a faithful reproduction of the source material. The higher frequency content can be localized as coming from a higher place than the lows. Now this is better than the other way around - if the highs were coming from a lower place than the lows. This is because it just makes logical sense IMO... higher things are, well, higher, lighter, and bass is lower and foundational. So the frequency spectrum itself is actually somewhat represented like the idea of a pyramid... there's a height component to the sound relative to frequency. Once again, it can be a cool effect at times, but it is just that, an effect, and not as intended. But it really can be cool, depending on the source material, sometimes it just WORKS! Depending on how vocals are recorded and mixed/mastered, sometimes they can sound disjointed. Example... let's say a male voice is mastered in such a way that it's very full and completely full range, from lows to highs. This is actually less common than you might think, because usually vocals are purposely designed to FIT into the mix somewhere, and are EQ'd that way... there's usually some degree of bandpass going on with vocals. With bandpassed vocals sometimes my speakers can sound (I presume) quite correct or normal... no missing parts, no weird crossover handoff, no disjointed location effect. But with a very full range vocal (male or female with lower register), now that crossover region is fully in effect and the voice is less than coherent. In these scenarios the speakers shortcomings really can't be ignored. But in music where this isn't happening, they sound fine, and you get some of that completely incorrect but pleasant height effect... lows are more grounded, and the highs literally rise.... you close your eyes and the bass becomes the base (with an e), the floor... and the highs are both figuratively and literally elevated above that. It can be neat as an effect is all I'm saying. But I'm planning a new speaker build that shouldn't suffer from this issue nearly as much. I can't say it won't have ANY of it, because it's not a small bookshelf or point source. I like 15" woofers, like my current speakers have (jbl 2225h). But I'll be using a much bigger and better horn with a compression driver that can cross over much lower to mate up with the 15". Erin said 15"'s beam at 500hz, which is rounding down just a bit but is approximate. Most designers and DIY'ers (if you browse the forums and I have for many many many hours) will happily accept the half-wave rule, otherwise by the quarter wave rule MOST speakers would "fail" in this regard, and speaker design would be much harder and more expensive. Anyway, with the half-wave rule and the ACTUAL nominal size of the moving part of a "15 inch" driver, that ~525hz is actually ~1050hz technically. My cross-over goal will be to cross a 1.4" CD at or below that level, which for home use (lower SPL required than what CD's are actually rated for - and their x-over suggestions are thus based on protecting the driver at higher SPLs) at 1khz or below. There are several options to achieve this, probably getting down to 700-900hz without getting too crazy expensive or exotic. Given that this is roughly HALF the crossover point of my current speakers it should be worlds better. Also my current speakers have "super" tweeters (ribbons in my case) above my midrange horns that cross at around 9-10khz, and that shouldn't be necessary with the right CD/horn combo, so it should all be quite a bit more cohesive. I love horns and can't even consider going any other direction. If I really wanted to spend the $ there is actually a couple even better horn/CD options that could get down to the 500hz range and still extend to 20khz with EQ - either the new Celestion axiperiodic CD (which is used in the latest large format klipsch heritage horns), or a B&C co-axial compression driver on a b&c ME464.... but the latter is over 700 for the CD and over 700 for the horn... that's 1500 bucks per side NOT including the woofers, box, or crossover components. And the celestion is $1k for the CD and is also going to require an expensive horn like an SEOS 24 or 30, or a klipsch horn, or something custom. B&C would be easier and cheaper but that's gonna be 4 to 5 thousand dollars for the set. If I stick with a 700-900hz cross-over goal, I can get that to around 2.5k$ for some top tier parts. You could do it for closer to 1k with cheaper parts, but I'm going for quality. It'll be like TOID's big 15" 2-way horn design but better... a lower cross-over and better drivers and horn and a lower tuned box. With EQ they'll do 30hz easy, and probably lower than that. No subs to start, just grade A 2 channel listening. I could add subs in the future and raise the box tuning a bit (for better efficiency and punch) with a port change. My 15" JBL's now are quite happy and capable to push down to 30hz flat with EQ (actually I like a bass boost so 30hz is well above "flat") with the boxes they're in now. I may do the build in steps, using my existing JBL 15"s to start, before swapping to a newer B&C 15TBX100 that has nearly double the x-max. If I thought allowing for a 3-way with a super tweeter again was a good idea, I could get a 2" CD instead of 1.4" and then easily do 500-700hz x-over without spending too much... but that really complicates things and I like the idea of a single driver covering such a wide range... though once you're talking such a high x-over point (from a 2" CD to a super tweeter) it probably doesn't matter as much that it isn't quite a point source. Sure your polars won't look quite as good vertically but I don't think that matters much, and it isn't in the vocal range, so that's an option too. And I may do DSP crossover and bi-amp them instead of physical, which won't be cheaper, but will be better and easier to tune/"design".

[@jamesatkins8344]

I'm poor do you recommend anything under 400 for bookshelf speakers or is this a unrealistic dream

[@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah]

Get a pair of Kali LP-6 V2

[@JamesWilliams-gf8gm]

I do like the use of the big wilson in the thumb nail lol. Because they are $600k people think they are amazing (I have never heard them) but I see a defraction nightmare. I have always felt the best wilson’s were their smaller 3 ways. But even the Sophia had really unstable soundstage. Any shift in seating positions caused it to move.

[@carlosoliveira-rc2xt]

You are typical of people who say stuff without knowing what they're talking about. Price is $350,000 USD and $485,000 to $520,000 CDN and they are amazing. Erin is way off topic here. Big speakers almost always sound big and small speakers almost always sound small. Simple! Should have been a one minute video. Erin's convoluted maybe this, possibly that, and budget this is not worthy of a video. The topic should only have regarded well implemented speakers.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

That’s the problem with many reviewers. They assume they understand something and that it can be boiled down to a one minute answer. It’s never that simple. They’re always trade-offs and you need to understand speaker design. Also, you seem to take offense to me using the Wilson in my thumbnail but that is a perfect example of a very big speaker. I also used the JBL 3800 which is a fine, but large, speaker. I never said anything about either of these specifically, so there is no reason to get your britches in a bind. 👍

[@JamesWilliams-gf8gm]

@@carlosoliveira-rc2xt ah I thought it was the Wamm. The highest wilson I have had in a private demo (not a show) was the Alexx. It is dynamic and fun to listen to. Thanks fully we have data so your and my opinion does not matter, but you can easily see the diffraction in stereophile’s measurements. Slouching and sitting up straight is enough to change how some of the wilson’s sound. This shift in soundstage will be seen in measurements for sure and is what Erin is talking about. Large line sources are probably a better work around to dynamics without other trade offs. Horns too maybe, or best of both worlds a line source made of horns lol.

[@carlosoliveira-rc2xt]

@@JamesWilliams-gf8gm If it was the WAMM it was $750,000 USD initially and up. It has one more driver than the XVX. Additionally, I don't speak in opinions unless one is called for. I deal in facts and have been in this hobby/industry for 45+ years.

[@carlosoliveira-rc2xt]

@@JamesWilliams-gf8gm My current reference speaker is a custom linesource but I'm known to have 20 pairs of speakers on hand at any one time in rotation for experimentation and as in Cosmology, science in audio is struggling to explain what we experience in reality and often complicates things needlessly denying what's in front of our eyes and ears.

[@chrispri]

so how many watt rms is it?

[@davidmiller1534]

The lighting changes going on throughout this video (due to editing) had me laughing out loud at one point. Kinda like a show at the Fillmore West AFTER I tried the lemonade. Generally agree with idea here, floor standers look bigger obviously, which has a psychological effect, and they usually can reach a higher SPL more efficiently.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Yep. I was trying to make it apparent that it was a secondary thought. It tripped me out when I was editing it. 😂😂

[@deckers222]

La Musica actual ya esta grabada para escucharla Gigante,

[@ericbenitez1915]

What's your thoughts on GR-Resewrch speaker?

[@blaze2051]

Thanks!

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Thank you!

[@svtcontour]

it depends

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

It always depends. Funny enough, that was gonna be the title of one of my upcoming videos.

[@svtcontour]

@@ErinsAudioCorner Hah nice. Its true. With audio, no real hard and fast rule to blanket statement anything. Though I will say that my 6.5' tall open baffles do sound much larger and project a larger image mentally if I close my eyes vs my Kef LS50 :)

[@FOH3663]

Want a large, dimensional soundstage? - It must be 𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙙, 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙚𝙙, then 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 by the listener. In all, a ffnng monumentally challenging pursuit. (short version) 1.) the recorded event must possess those characteristics 2.) those characteristic cues must be captured 3.) the cues must be reproduced by drive units, acoustically summed and recreated by the loudspeaker Only then is it wavelaunched into the space, propagating as a sound-field. If the room's not right, you'll never hear it. Challenges; Small mic capsules vis-à-vis large diaphragm microphones. (20hz to 20khz spans wavelengths of 1000 times size difference) Capturing the essence and magnitude of the fundamental, while resolving the smallest acoustic arrivals of detail defining the acoustic space ... its a bitch! Capture all that or create it electronically, hand it off to be fully resolved and recreated, dimensionality intact. Perfect L-R matching, ideal directivity, in a well sorted room with a proper ITD Gap. If it's first captured, then reproduced, for the 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙙 dimensionality to be experienced, an ITD Gap with diffuse late returns is needed. But, there's other ways too ...

[@anandshah71]

I had a question is 2.1 ok cause 2.2 ie second sub looks too much in my setting I don’t want tower speakers and feel a bookshelf pair with a great single 12”!subwoofer to create pressure under 100hz. Is bass in stereo or single sub will work

[@crazydwarfer]

Awesome video, as always.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Thanks again!

[@hiresaudiocosta873]

Bigger sound generally comes from moving more air. Bigger drivers generally move larger volumes of air. Phase cohesion between drivers and precision imaging is a totally different topic.😊

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

It’s really not, though. Flip one of your speakers out of polarity. You should know what happens.

[@hiresaudiocosta873]

@@ErinsAudioCorner Yes, phase can be manipulated to diffuse sound. But that’s not the same as scaling up in speaker size. Two Wilson Audio Master Chronosonic speakers with one speaker out of phase is going to manipulate more of the air in the room than a tiny pair of bookshelf speakers with one out of phase. Common sense dictates more air movement = bigger sound. Why is this even a question?

[@keith6872]

How fast do crossovers deteriorate. I hear of capacitors need replacing after a few years. Measure an original old Forte 2 speaker before and after crossover rebuild.

[@JamesWilliams-gf8gm]

Modern capacitors last 20 years.

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

15 to 20 years is pretty typical in designs using electrolytic caps. The newer film and polyprop caps, will probably outlive the drivers.

[@keith6872]

@@JamesWilliams-gf8gm Damn ! alot of capacitors that need replacing.

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

@@keith6872 Rule #1 ... If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If the sound quality is not deteriorating, leave it alone. Seriously, changing out the caps is not just a soldering job. It will affect the sound balance of the speaker and it can be quite the expensive chore, involving multiple tweaks and tests to get it back in line.

[@JamesWilliams-gf8gm]

@@keith6872 I worry more about the ferrofluid turning rock hard in the coils. Not sure that is based on reality…

[@stephengreen8058]

A really interesting video

[@pkhammu2005]

Gr8 education Erin, reviews everyone does with some measurements but this kind of tech education not many do besides Mathew poes i believe.

[@DearSX]

I think I'm good with my Bookshelves!

[@dajikbatarang1]

I guess this doesnt apply to line sources, like planars and electrostats?

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

It doesn't. I should have mentioned that. They're kind of a different league... sometimes better... sometimes much worse.

[@dajikbatarang1]

@@ErinsAudioCorner would be great if you could do a video on those type of speakers

[@Birmingham_racing]

My b&w 707 s2 sounded a lot bigger than they look

[@abboberg]

Maybe this is why the "World's Best Stereo" guy (may he rest in peace) was never satisfied with the sound?

[@davidcross890]

Even with some of the highest quality source materials available, many, many, of even the highest price ultra high end speakers fail to faithfully reproduce a uniform ultra low set of distortions in ANY ROOM. This is achievable but vanishingly few truly know how to get there.

[@DavidStafford-zx8lk]

I'd like to hear your opinion on which manufacturers do accomplish this difficult task. Always interesting to understand the few who really get the design and engineering done correctly.

[@davidcross890]

@@DavidStafford-zx8lk hi David. From my perspective I have come to learn from my own inventions and build developments that even if a speaker design or audio component is thought to be perfected it is NOT even close to being perfected due to SOME OF THE VERY IMPORTANT VARIABLES that are capable of being fixed that the manufacturer apparently failed to address or the manufacturer does NOT know how to address. I have tried to directly help a trade show producer, dealers, audio influencers, manufacturers, etc. to inform and tried to help through design a number of high end and ultra high end influencers, manufacturers and I have been told that my power circuits technologies and power cords with networked power circuits would upend the industry if publicly compared to even the ultra high price offerings out there. In my particular case when my designs have clearly demonstrated to seriously outperform even the best of battery designs or power regenerators, or power conditioning units it has shown to get a lot of manufacturers, dealers, and influencers up in arms. I PUT OUT THE Very clear CHALLENGE TO ANY MANUFACTURER, DEALER, OR INFLUENCER AND I HAVE BEEN MET BY CENSORING, BLOCKING OF SHOWING TO THE PUBLIC AT LARGE, AND KZbin AUDIO INFLUENCER BLOCKING. It shows how weak much of the industry is and the even weaker people in it and apparently how manipulated the industry is. THEY ARE APPARENTLY VERY NERVOUS OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES BEING RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC. THROUGH MY INVENTIONS AND EFFORTS I CHANGED HOW WE LIGHT THIS PLANET AMONGST OTHER THINGS. APPARENTLY NOW ITS TIME TO CLEAN UP AUDIO SO PEOPLE CAN ENJOY THE DREAM THEY WISHED FOR AND BELIEVED THEY PAID FOR. As for ultra high end speakers and equipment if it's up to me the true ultra high end will become much, much more affordable compared to what seems to be the ridiculous prices/performance offered by many today

[@davidcross890]

@@DavidStafford-zx8lk hi David. From my perspective I have come to learn from my own inventions and build developments that even if a speaker design or audio component is thought to be perfected it is NOT even close to being perfected due to SOME OF THE VERY IMPORTANT VARIABLES that are capable of being fixed that the manufacturer apparently failed to address or the manufacturer does NOT know how to address. I have tried to directly help a trade show producer, dealers, audio influencers, manufacturers, etc. to inform and tried to help through design a number of high end and ultra high end influencers, manufacturers and I have been told that my power circuits technologies and power cords with networked power circuits would upend the industry if publicly compared to even the ultra high price offerings out there. In my particular case when my designs have clearly demonstrated to seriously outperform even the best of battery designs or power regenerators, or power conditioning units it has shown to get a lot of manufacturers, dealers, and influencers up in arms. I PUT OUT THE Very clear CHALLENGE TO ANY MANUFACTURER, DEALER, OR INFLUENCER AND I HAVE BEEN MET BY CENSORING, BLOCKING OF SHOWING TO THE PUBLIC AT LARGE, AND KZbin AUDIO INFLUENCER BLOCKING. It shows how weak much of the industry is and the even weaker people in it and apparently how manipulated the industry is. THEY ARE APPARENTLY VERY NERVOUS OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES BEING RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC. THROUGH MY INVENTIONS AND EFFORTS I CHANGED HOW WE LIGHT THIS PLANET AMONGST OTHER THINGS. APPARENTLY NOW ITS TIME TO CLEAN UP AUDIO SO PEOPLE CAN ENJOY THE DREAM THEY WISHED FOR AND BELIEVED THEY PAID FOR. As for ultra high end speakers and equipment if it's up to me the true ultra high end will become much, much more affordable compared to what seems to be the ridiculous prices/performance offered by many today

[@davidcross890]

@@DavidStafford-zx8lk @DavidStafford-zx8lk hi David. From my perspective I have come to learn from my own inventions and build developments that even if a speaker design or audio component is thought to be perfected it is NOT even close to being perfected due to SOME OF THE VERY IMPORTANT VARIABLES that are capable of being fixed that the manufacturer apparently failed to address or the manufacturer does NOT know how to address. I have tried to directly help a trade show producer, dealers, audio influencers, manufacturers, etc. to inform and tried to help through design a number of high end and ultra high end influencers, manufacturers and I have been told that my power circuits technologies and power cords with networked power circuits would upend the industry if publicly compared to even the ultra high price offerings out there. In my particular case when my designs have clearly demonstrated to seriously outperform even the best of battery designs or power regenerators, or power conditioning units it has shown to get a lot of manufacturers, dealers, and influencers up in arms. I PUT OUT THE Very clear CHALLENGE TO ANY MANUFACTURER, DEALER, OR INFLUENCER AND I HAVE BEEN MET BY CENSORING, BLOCKING OF SHOWING TO THE PUBLIC AT LARGE, AND KZbin AUDIO INFLUENCER BLOCKING. It shows how weak much of the industry is and the even weaker people in it and apparently how manipulated the industry is. THEY ARE APPARENTLY VERY NERVOUS OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES BEING RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC. THROUGH MY INVENTIONS AND EFFORTS I CHANGED HOW WE LIGHT THIS PLANET AMONGST OTHER THINGS. APPARENTLY NOW ITS TIME TO CLEAN UP AUDIO SO PEOPLE CAN ENJOY THE DREAM THEY WISHED FOR AND BELIEVED THEY PAID FOR. As for ultra high end speakers and equipment if it's up to me the true ultra high end will become much, much more affordable compared to what seems to be the ridiculous prices/performance offered by many today

[@davidcross890]

@@DavidStafford-zx8lk @DavidStafford-zx8lk hi David. From my perspective I have come to learn from my own inventions and build developments that even if a speaker design or audio component is thought to be perfected it is NOT even close to being perfected due to SOME OF THE VERY IMPORTANT VARIABLES that are capable of being fixed that the manufacturer apparently failed to address or the manufacturer does NOT know how to address. I have tried to directly help a trade show producer, dealers, audio influencers, manufacturers, etc. to inform and tried to help through design a number of high end and ultra high end influencers, manufacturers and I have been told that my power circuits technologies and power cords with networked power circuits would upend the industry if publicly compared to even the ultra high price offerings out there. In my particular case when my designs have clearly demonstrated to seriously outperform even the best of battery designs or power regenerators, or power conditioning units it has shown to get a lot of manufacturers, dealers, and influencers up in arms. I PUT OUT THE Very clear CHALLENGE TO ANY MANUFACTURER, DEALER, OR INFLUENCER AND I HAVE BEEN MET BY CENSORING, BLOCKING OF SHOWING TO THE PUBLIC AT LARGE, AND KZbin AUDIO INFLUENCER BLOCKING. It shows how weak much of the industry is and the even weaker people in it and apparently how manipulated the industry is. THEY ARE APPARENTLY VERY NERVOUS OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES BEING RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC. THROUGH MY INVENTIONS AND EFFORTS I CHANGED HOW WE LIGHT THIS PLANET AMONGST OTHER THINGS. APPARENTLY NOW ITS TIME TO CLEAN UP AUDIO SO PEOPLE CAN ENJOY THE DREAM THEY WISHED FOR AND BELIEVED THEY PAID FOR. As for ultra high end speakers and equipment if it's up to me the true ultra high end will become much, much more affordable compared to what seems to be the ridiculous prices/performance offered by many today

[@alexvoiculescu1646]

it's physics, a big driver moves more air, a small driver can't compete with a big one, size matters :D

[@876oprah-winfrey9]

Those Wilson audio speakers

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

The yellow ones, yes.

[@dannyrichie9743]

Hey Erin, a couple of things.... First, I watched your video earlier when it first launched. I think it is a great subject. It would be a fun topic to cover in a live stream. I'd do one of those with you some time if you want. Secondly, I was alerted just a little bit ago by a customer that one of my fans posted here (below) in this thread and it drew a troll as well. I have really happy customers, a big fan base, and haters. When customers, fans, and haters get into it then it just becomes a mess. I think the guy doing the trolling is a guy that I had to ban from my KZbin page for posting false or misleading information. Feel free to dump (delete) anything like that that is not positively contributing to your page.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Thanks, Danny. One of the fellas in that reply/thread emailed me and told me to feel free to remove the comments so I just wiped those. Hate having to moderate my videos like that. Sometimes people get really heated.

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

Hello Danny ... I got booted for pointing out your leap into snake oil cables. It went that way because I genuinely hate seeing people get ripped off and your channel is no great loss.

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@ErinsAudioCorner I hate having to moderate mine and delete comments too. I don't mind a respectable debate, but when it becomes name calling, being disrespectful, or cries of snake oil, then it is better to remove those people (like DB) than to waste time engaging them.

[@wedsg]

bigger drivers have a larger wavefront..so ..

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Not really. They narrow more quickly. As per the example I gave (which is based on speed of sound divided by cone diameter).

[@Error2username]

Size matter, but it might not help you😅

[@carlosoliveira-rc2xt]

Just be honest Erin, everyone knows you're talking about Jay's Audio Lab and the XVXs have minimum baffle faces.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

I actually received a PM from a Patron this afternoon asking about someone else’s review of a different speaker. It wasn’t about Jay. That gentleman can reply if he sees this. But in my reply, I asked him if he thought it would be a good topic for video, and he said yes. I agreed.

[@JamesWilliams-gf8gm]

I recall hearing Jay talking about how good the soundstage was because he heard sounds “behind him and over head” I just face palmed. I have nothing against the guy and there is something to be said about hands on experience with a lot of equipment.

[@TexasCorgiGun]

That's what she said 😅

[@jedknutson8373]

my wife is fine with bookshelves....😁

[@Tsxtasy1]

@@jedknutson8373I told my wife she should embrace her mistakes. So she gave me a hug.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

Uh oh. Wife jokes!!!

[@Tsxtasy1]

@@ErinsAudioCorner where do bad rainbows go? To prism. It’s a light sentence and it gives them time to reflect. Ok, I’ll stop.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

@@Tsxtasy1 lol

[@gage4375]

Bigger is always better.

[@melaniezette886]

When it’s about ease to reproduce a broad bandwidth whith low distortion.

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

Want to hear your soundstage change _drastically_ ? Move one of your speakers back half an inch. Seriously... the distance from speaker to ear is probably the hardest thing to get right. At treble frequencies, with shorter wavelengths, even half an inch can make a huge difference.

[@CC-xu2yz]

😂

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

@@CC-xu2yz Huh?? You think I'm joking? The audio wavelength at 10khz is roughly 1.2" (3cm) ... with a difference in distance side to side of half of that (half a wavelength) your tweeters can actually be out of phase at your listening position causing sound cancellations in the high treble range. At 5khz... you will be roughly 90 degrees out of phase which will also cause some reduction in level (about 6db) in the treble/brilliance range. I always position speakers to be within 1/4" of the same distance and equal angles from the sweet spot.

[@davidcross890]

Comments are being censored and removed

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

I deleted one thread of comments where you and Douglas were arguing. And that was actually at the request of the man you were defending, with which I agreed. If you guys want to get into name calling and going extremely off topic then I encourage you to do that elsewhere. If anything else of yours is being censored or removed it’s because of KZbin’s filter.

[@davidcross890]

​@@ErinsAudioCornerErin, I appreciate you taking your time to reply. What I was referencing is a very clear pattern of censoring by some and some in the industry attempting to block innovation that I invented that provably improves audio on several levels. This could benefit many including your audience. What would you do if You paid the price to exhibit your market changing innovations and your space to show was cancelled? Then by the actions of restriction of the public awareness or gaslighting the innovations without Allowing REAL COMPARISON THE PUBLIC IS SHORTCHANGED. Then industry influencers claim the debate is over without ANY REAL METRICS COMPARATIVE TESTING? RESPECTFULLY I FIND THAT LEVEL OF ACTION DESPICABLE. THANK YOU ERIN FOR TAKING YOUR TIME AND THOUGHT TO RESPOND. KIND REGARDS, DAVID CROSS

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

FWIW ... I contacted Erin privately to suggest he have a look at what was going on. When he suggested some deletions, to keep the peace, I agreed. I have no intention of being unfair with anyone ... but I also will not tolerate someone who does nothing but put other people down. You want to dive into the technical depths of a topic ... I'm there. You want an exchange of information... I'm there. You want to show me something new ... I'm there. Call people stupid and you'll get a fight ... *every single time*

[@molecularaudiocanada]

Hi Erin. Your talking points here are indeed rather on-point key factors. I have invented a technology that will eventually provide solid credibility, supporting the factors you've outlined in this video. The tech has been verified by industry leading professional representation, and things are in the patent process now. Cheers!

[@michaelwyckoff7593]

Yo E Dizzle😊

[@TriAmpHiFi]

. Tower speakers are not the evolution of a better sounding loudspeaker design. Tower speakers are the manufacturers' response to consumer home theater demands. Better musical playback was never in the mix. Acid Jazz, Funk & Brass 🔈🔉🔊 P.S., Kudos, imaging & soundstage is really a function of the recording.

[@danemoreno88]

My psa mtm-210 sound as big as they are