Gentlemen, with the Spirits, does the cross-over sit outside the speakers as a separate box? Or is it an option to have it that way? (I swear I remember reading that in the promotional literature.)
Does anyone understand the pros and cons of this approach?
Xover size can be an issue if it gets inside the speaker enclosure, so vibration control and flexibility. My Ascents sport outbox enclosure for their Xover and might think it is one of the main reason they are so close, or sometimes better sounding, than other new/larger Avalon designs. My two pesos...
Here's some pictures of my new room with the Spirits. Please pardon the distortion from the wide angle lens. A friend of mine who is a professional photographer took these when he was here the other day.
btw; the term 'near field' has to do with the listening position relative to the tweeter spread. if your ears are closer than the distance between the tweeters then you are in the near field. it's not a distance issue but a relationship issue. 'far field' obviously being where you sit farther from the tweeters than the distance between them. and significantly; to sit in the near field typically requires a well treated and balanced room since otherwise the reflective energy will drive you back into the far field.....and if that is happening when you move up into the near field don't blame your speakers......it's your room treatments or lack thereof.
FWIW I don't believe you got the definition of near field correct. Near field came out of recording studios where behind the glass in larger rooms there would be full - sized monitors flanking the console and there would inevitably also be smaller monitors on the mixing console. The monitors on the console would naturally be nearer to the recording engineers and as such deemed "near field". As an artifact of the on - console monitors' proximity to the engineer they were sometimes closer to the engineers than the distance they were apart, but just as often this was not the case especially in smaller studio rooms. So it is a distance "issue" even though I wouldn't call it an issue since it's essentially a preferred listening for audiophiles but a necessity/reality for many studios.
