What does a "dynamic sounding speaker" mean?

[gian60]

This is the best system i never listened and far from all best system i listened

 

[Folsom]

I have to agree. Go stand by a drummer and the dynamics are amazing. No speaker seems to be able to get close to it. Mine actually have a good stab at it better than most.

Ask Ked

Well you can't really have a speaker replicate drums for the simple reason that the recording isn't replicating them. Putting a mic up close to them means they have to shuffle off LOADS of volume. They're just so damn loud! I don't expect to ever have the full dynamics of standing next to drums. But that's a very good thing. I don't enjoy that ear blistering loudness of standing next to drums!

Although I did hear a proper dynamic live setup once. The kick drum would almost knock you off the sidewalk a ways out from the stage. The PA speakers were large horns that are 107/db sensitive at 8ohm I think they are, and they obviously had lots of power behind them. They're the only speakers I've heard like that, ever, in a live setting.

Do low frequency compression drivers (the diaphragm?) tend to be relatively large in diameter? Or is it mostly the throat/mouth size. I'm trying to get a better handle on the 'physics' you mention - longer wavelengths and the mechanical to acoustic 'interface'.

They have to be larger because of the wavelength size. 30hz is 36foot. So if the driver is smaller it has to move farther to displace more air (so SPL will be sufficient). Basically the bigger you get, the less Xmax is needed & the smaller you go the more is needed because basically surface-size*xmax = output.

The throat/mouth size has to be 1/4 the wavelength or longer to provide the horn effect where directing the sound forward gives a boost that otherwise wold be sound that travels other directions away from the listening position. If you think about a since wave you realize every 1/4 represents a change in the movement.

Example could be like this; 0 to 90 is the driver pushing out, 90 to 180 is coming back to rest, 180 to 270 is going toward the magnet past resting, 270 to 0 is coming back to resting, repeat. The distance from 0 to 90 on Y axis would be the volume, how scrunched or far apart the peaks are is the frequency.

There's a lot more to it, but hopefully that gives you a very minor conception of why the sizes matter.

 

[JackD201]

Dynamics in simplest terms is about contrast. Quads may not do high SPLs well but they surely excel at fleshing out very low spl sound events thereby recreating said contrasts.

I know many people that grade a system's "dynamics" on how hard and how fast it can knock you off your ass. This goes against the basic definition of the word IMO. Calling such systems punchy or powerful would be IMO be more informative.

 

[bonzo75]

I think tonal contrast, dynamic contrast, and dynamic range are all different things. Dynamics can be looked at as dynamic contrast

 

[JackD201]

I think tonal contrast, dynamic contrast, and dynamic range are all different things. Dynamics can be looked at as dynamic contrast

I agree. In fact, I think dynamics is just shorthand for dynamic contrast.

 

[bonzo75]

I agree. In fact, I think dynamics is just shorthand for dynamic contrast.

But to have that contrast, you will need that macro dynamic slam at one end

 

[JackD201]

It's all relative right?

For me the state we put ourselves in dictates how much slam there is in slam. If we're looking to push boundaries and limits say in the pursuit of that total visceral immersion then yes it will take a lot more to get the adrenalin flowing. That said, in a relaxed more passive state, maybe just little gut punches is enough to tell the song's story.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

The only confounding thing regarding dynamic contrast is measured dynamic range. What do I mean. Well you can hear systems with ridiculously wide theoretical dynamic ranges - playing digital files via class D amplifiers of -130dB with ~1000 watts into 92dB speakers so should have large dynamic range yet can sound lifeless and grey dynamically versus say a SET/analogue/single driver system.

 

[bonzo75]

For me dynamic contrast and dynamic range are two different things. Dynamic range is low to high, where we say watch that instrument soar. Dynamic contrast is like soft to loud quickly.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

For me dynamic contrast and dynamic range are two different things. Dynamic range is low to high, where we say watch that instrument soar. Dynamic contrast is like soft to loud quickly.

Yeah I see your definition and makes sense. So do we feel that dynamic contrast is more desirable than out and out range (I know the 2 are kind of inextricably linked theoretically)? I say this because of my example earlier. I rather trade a little absolute range for increase contrast to show my hand lol (hence SET/horn preference).

 

[bonzo75]

No I am not saying one is desirable over the other, they are different attributes. For violin, cello etc more dynamic range while for Orchestra both have to be good.

 

[the sound of Tao]

Yeah I see your definition and makes sense. So do we feel that dynamic contrast is more desirable than out and out range (I know the 2 are kind of inextricably linked theoretically)? I say this because of my example earlier. I rather trade a little absolute range for increase contrast to show my hand lol (hence SET/horn preference).

Just been thinking and I’d also consider dynamic contrast is a quality that really impresses me as a virtue day to day and is probably one of the main reasons that my horns are now the default listening speaker for me.

I do listen to large scale classical works and other music with large dynamic range so also love it when the music is scaling up without compressing and that sense of effortlessness and ease. So yes, I figure a system needs to be very good with dynamic range but for me it might be the quicksilver of fleet-footed dynamic contrast and the way that reveals much of the nuance in performance that makes music via the horns really connect for me.

 

[Robh3606]

I had an interesting experience concerning dynamics last week.I do a lot of small venues in Manhattan and I bring a small video/audio recorder to many of them to record a couple of songs from each show. I like to get in close so many times I am actually behind the main speakers right up at the stage, I was at a show the other night and was having a hard time relaxing and getting into the music and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why.

I was anxious and irritated and then I took out my recorder. When I checked the levels to start a recording I saw why. The VU's were barely moving. Apparently the guy mixing hand the limiters and compressors on and it was the loudness war live! It completely took the life out of the music and actually made it irritating. I have heard that at big stadium shows but never before in such a small venue. Constant drone way too loud!

Usually I have a to be really careful setting up my recording levels as the dynamic swing are typically quite large that close to the drums and stage monitors and miked guitar amps. I hope I never experience that again as it was so unnecessary and really took away for the experience and did not do the performers any good as the lack of nuance and intimacy typical of such a small venue was completely lost.

Rob

 

[Al M.]

Just been thinking and I’d also consider dynamic contrast is a quality that really impresses me as a virtue day to day and is probably one of the main reasons that my horns are now the default listening speaker for me.

I do listen to large scale classical works and other music with large dynamic range so also love it when the music is scaling up without compressing and that sense of effortlessness and ease. So yes, I figure a system needs to be very good with dynamic range but for me it might be the quicksilver of fleet-footed dynamic contrast and the way that reveals much of the nuance in performance that makes music via the horns really connect for me.

Yes, the quick dynamic contrasts are where it's at. Just today I experienced this again on my blisteringly fast two-way monitor/sub combo, playing Stravinsky's big orchestral piece The Rite of Spring (Stravinsky conducts Stravinsky). It's not just about the absolute contrasts soft/loud, which were staggering, but about sudden dynamic deviations of instruments or instrument groups from a certain general dynamic texture.

For example, in an already loud passage a sudden quick brass lick that explodes above the texture, or on the other end of the spectrum, in a softer passage a woodwind instrument that, even though it may not play very loudly, jumps out in attack and volume from the broader fabric that continues its merry way.

Of course, none of that happens if the upstream electronics do not deliver a signal that is dynamically competent and differentiated. With lesser electronics, the speakers would be comparatively sleep inducing.