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In the Forum: Audio For Dummies ™
In the Thread: Do not pursue full-range without being ready.
Post Subject: I have a "theory" regarding F-R productsPosted by Gregm on: 3/12/2007
I admit I haven't statistically substantiated this to any great extent with commercial speakers (only with a pair of non-ribbon Genesis).

 Romy the Cat wrote:
 drdna wrote:

Lately, Romy, you have been saying again how people should not try to expans certain aspects of their stereo until they have become comfortable with what they have, but my question is still how do you know when you are comfortable, and shouldn't we look at the deficiencies in the stereo and see if modifications can improve things? 

For me, I think it is okay to experiment, because I never know what will make a difference in my system, and I think you can never know really where the deficiencies are (although you can have strong suspicions!) so I try it and see.  Sometimes, it is a flop, but it always is an educational experience.
Adrian,

(...) The point that I was making is that extend HF and LF response very frequently masks out a poor performance in “simple” 60Hz and 12KHz range. Also, the point was that BADLY implemented frequency extensions very frequently, if not always, make the enter playback to sound worst. So, it is not a surprise that most of hi-fi speakers do sound better when they high-passed with a large coil….


I think many of the best systems will play one of two frequency-ranges -- but not full-range -- well. And badly implemented extremes seem to me too, to multiply the spkrs deficiencies: in other words, they draw more attention to the bad things than the good things. So, the listener may be initially impressed with the spkrs product, but still not completely "gut-feel" satisfied.

There seem to be two distinct frequency areas where so-called full-range speakers may perform OK in either one OR the other:
*one is, the extremes, say up to ~100 and above ~5-6kHz
*the other is ~80- 10/12kHz.

Each frequency area, taken alone, may offer some sonic coherence. (The frequency extremes playing alone, amazingly, offer a sound that reminds me of MP3 or iPod.)
However these spkrs are manufactured to play "full range" of course. So, when you play music the two frequency areas are playing together in the same package and disaster usually occurs: the deficiencies of the spkr are multiplied rather than obscured. The spkr plays better either of these areas -- but not both together.

As I said, I haven't experimented with this (except for one pair), it's just an idea that comes from listening to very large "full-range" speakers. Also, I can't offer an explanation -- except that it may ver well be just my impressions (for example, what part of tis is attributable to the actual spkr design and which to the amplification???)

Finally, 60-12kHz that Romy refers to, seems to me an excellent and enviable range...

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