Recent experience with both large and small systems has me thinking about system capabilities, especially when it comes to scale and the sound of music. A few days ago, I heard fellow WBF member, Al M.'s system. It is a superb small system that seems to do just about everything right. The interesting thing about this system is that it is based around a pair of monitors and a subwoofer. It produced a very large, coherent, extended and effortless room-filling sound while maintaining correct image sizes. It also was able to accurately portray the critical distinction between the scale of the instrument or singer and the sound that that instrument or singer projects into space.
I like large speaker systems for their ability to reproduce large scale symphonic music, but I’ve been disappointed when they try to scale down to reproduce solo instruments or small chamber ensembles. Or worse, a single voice or guitar is as large as the front wall. These systems, in my experience, often produce a wall of sound in which rock music and symphonic pieces sound great but smaller music, including solo instruments, is just too big.
The system I heard the other day produced incredibly palpable images that seemed accurate in scale and they projected the sound into the room in a very realistic or convincing way. It shared a trait with the best systems I’ve heard which is that it was able to maintain the correct relative balance between image size and sound projection. Think of a soprano on stage. Her figure is relatively small, yet her voice can project a huge room-filling sound.
I’d like to start a discussion about the accurate portrayal of image scale and the relationship between the size of the instrument making the sound and the size of its projected sound into space. What is it about various systems that can reproduce different scales with equal success? Is it more about the room than it is about the system? Is it all about how the system is set up in the room? Can large, multi-driver speakers truly disappear and create the illusion of a solo cello in one’s living room, and can only large systems reproduce the image, scale and projected sound of a full orchestra?
Below is a photograph of Al M.’s system. It can produce a sound which is both big and effortless when the recording is of large scale music, and it can sound intimate and personal when the recording is of a smaller scale. In both cases, it disappears, gets to the heart of the performance and portrays the music in an emotional and natural way.
Perhaps peripheral to this discussion is how a system can sound so good even if it is not the last word in resolution and transparency. These components are mostly twenty or so years old, and yet, the system is set up so well and works so well with the room, that it sounds very convincing. Tone, dynamics and presence are excellent. The sound is smooth, relaxing, warm with great body, and quite detailed, yet there is no sense of fatigue. During loud passages, the system sounds at ease with no congestion or stress. It is a remarkable system, but what is almost unique in my experience is its uncanny ability to reproduce scale accurately and also to distinguish between the scale of the source of the sound and the size of the sound as it is projected into the room.
System details written by Al M. are below the photograph.
Room dimensions are 24’ x 12’ (small bay window next to the left speaker 13.5’) x 8.5’.
Older components, mostly more than 20 years old, with exception of the subwoofer (14 years old):
1. Ensemble Reference mini monitors (Stereophile review on the web), internally modified with large crossover caps and better cabling.
2. Single REL Storm III subwoofer
3. Audio Innovations Second Audio parallel push-pull triode 2A3 amps (2 x 15 W), heavily modified to great effect over the years by a specialist in Connecticut (Steve Marsh, reviewer at 6moons).
4. Cables: Monster Sigma 2000 interconnects and speaker cables
5. Power conditioning: Tice Power Block II
Recently purchased components:
6. CD front end: Simaudio Moon 260 DT transport, MIT Proline digital interlink, *Berkeley Alpha DAC 2
7. BorderPatrol MB external power supplies which have turbo-charged the amps (greatly contributing to the, as you describe, effortless sound) and removed a lot of electronic noise. That noise removal has tremendously increased the timbral and spatial resolution of the amps.
8. Shunyata Dark Field v2 cable elevators
9. Room treatment: 6 tube traps, 11 Tri-panels, sub trap (ASC)
I like large speaker systems for their ability to reproduce large scale symphonic music, but I’ve been disappointed when they try to scale down to reproduce solo instruments or small chamber ensembles. Or worse, a single voice or guitar is as large as the front wall. These systems, in my experience, often produce a wall of sound in which rock music and symphonic pieces sound great but smaller music, including solo instruments, is just too big.
The system I heard the other day produced incredibly palpable images that seemed accurate in scale and they projected the sound into the room in a very realistic or convincing way. It shared a trait with the best systems I’ve heard which is that it was able to maintain the correct relative balance between image size and sound projection. Think of a soprano on stage. Her figure is relatively small, yet her voice can project a huge room-filling sound.
I’d like to start a discussion about the accurate portrayal of image scale and the relationship between the size of the instrument making the sound and the size of its projected sound into space. What is it about various systems that can reproduce different scales with equal success? Is it more about the room than it is about the system? Is it all about how the system is set up in the room? Can large, multi-driver speakers truly disappear and create the illusion of a solo cello in one’s living room, and can only large systems reproduce the image, scale and projected sound of a full orchestra?
Below is a photograph of Al M.’s system. It can produce a sound which is both big and effortless when the recording is of large scale music, and it can sound intimate and personal when the recording is of a smaller scale. In both cases, it disappears, gets to the heart of the performance and portrays the music in an emotional and natural way.
Perhaps peripheral to this discussion is how a system can sound so good even if it is not the last word in resolution and transparency. These components are mostly twenty or so years old, and yet, the system is set up so well and works so well with the room, that it sounds very convincing. Tone, dynamics and presence are excellent. The sound is smooth, relaxing, warm with great body, and quite detailed, yet there is no sense of fatigue. During loud passages, the system sounds at ease with no congestion or stress. It is a remarkable system, but what is almost unique in my experience is its uncanny ability to reproduce scale accurately and also to distinguish between the scale of the source of the sound and the size of the sound as it is projected into the room.
System details written by Al M. are below the photograph.
Room dimensions are 24’ x 12’ (small bay window next to the left speaker 13.5’) x 8.5’.
Older components, mostly more than 20 years old, with exception of the subwoofer (14 years old):
1. Ensemble Reference mini monitors (Stereophile review on the web), internally modified with large crossover caps and better cabling.
2. Single REL Storm III subwoofer
3. Audio Innovations Second Audio parallel push-pull triode 2A3 amps (2 x 15 W), heavily modified to great effect over the years by a specialist in Connecticut (Steve Marsh, reviewer at 6moons).
4. Cables: Monster Sigma 2000 interconnects and speaker cables
5. Power conditioning: Tice Power Block II
Recently purchased components:
6. CD front end: Simaudio Moon 260 DT transport, MIT Proline digital interlink, *Berkeley Alpha DAC 2
7. BorderPatrol MB external power supplies which have turbo-charged the amps (greatly contributing to the, as you describe, effortless sound) and removed a lot of electronic noise. That noise removal has tremendously increased the timbral and spatial resolution of the amps.
8. Shunyata Dark Field v2 cable elevators
9. Room treatment: 6 tube traps, 11 Tri-panels, sub trap (ASC)
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