Speaker recommendations

[camcroft]

Hi. At the moment I have the Monitor Audio Silver RX 1 and was wondering if an improvement could be had by changing them for the B & W 606 speakers or does anyone have any other suggestions. T.I.A

 

[bigfish786]

those look like decent speakers. what is it you are looking to improve? maybe your next step could be floorstanders?

 

[camcroft]

I have a small room long and narrow and I have to have the bungs in as the RX1 need to be positioned very close to the back wall and I can't separate them to the normal distance they are about a meter either side of the stand although I don't get any feedback / vibration to the turntable. I originally had a Marantz amp when I bought the speakers so was wondering if things could be improved upon now that I have the Cambridge amp.

 

[bigfish786]

The improvements will only come with optimum positioning. that's when your speakers will sound their best and create a stereo image. buying a different speaker and putting them in the same position will provide no gains of note.

 

[chris661]

Afraid I have to disagree with Bigfish above.

Different speakers absolutely can make a big positive difference, even positioned where other speakers struggle.

The speakers you seek have controlled directivity, meaning they are designed to have some control over where the sound does/doesn't go. My speakers (link in my sig) are an example there. Others include the Gedlee range, pretty much anything from Danley and JTR, among others.

Most HiFi speakers spray nearby surfaces with sound. Given lots of space around them, they can sound really good. However, few of us have the luxury of a room large enough to give each speaker a few feet of space in all directions. The fix for that is pretty obvious, and yet very few manufacturers seem to be inclined to try it. I suspect it's due to a market that's resistant to change, but there you go.

Chris

 

[Deleted member 116933]

I don't think you're going to gain much if anything from that switch in all honesty. If I were to do anything it would be to try a sealed design, in my experience ported speakers sound a poop when the bungs are in place and rob them of there performance. But using a speaker designed from the get-go as a sealed unit, now your talking. Like a ATC smc 7

Though im sure with a little thinking and some comprise you could move your speakers around bit 5-6cm here and there and make a massive difference and might allow you to remove the port bungs changing the sound substantially.

Why don't you try an experiment! take the port bungs out, Move the speakers well into the room. Playing the same piece of music on replay slowly move them back until the bass becomes too much, then move them forward slowly till the bass JUST starts to back off again. Then see where you're at in the room, bet it isnt any more than 30cm away from rear wall. And if that acceptable stick with it. It's free what do you have to loose.

 

[rainsoothe]

B&W speakers are pretty strong in the bass, so they need distance from walls. Try either sealed speakers, like ATC SCM 7 or 11, or stuff that's designed for on-wall placement (like Guru Junior or Q10 - Guru speakers are very well regarded).

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Try either sealed speakers, like ATC SCM 7 or 11, or stuff that's designed for on-wall placement

+1 👍 and ATC also offer on wall versions of the SCM7's and SCM11's passive monitors in the form of HTS7 and HTS11 passive monitors 🙂

 

[bigfish786]

Everyone will have their opinion when it comes to speakers and positioning etc, but think about it this way... would you wear headphones lop sided? On one ear but not on the other? And expect to hear 100% of their performance and ability?
by failing to place your speakers correctly, that is in effect what you are asking them to do.
you could spend all the money you want, but if you don’t put them on your ears you aren’t going to hear them.
same applies to speakers and positioning. If you don’t create the soundstage, how are you ever going to hear the potential?
spend a million on sound and stick your head in sand, all you will hear is sand.

 

[Deleted member 116933]

Everyone will have their opinion when it comes to speakers and positioning etc, but think about it this way... would you wear headphones lop sided? On one ear but not on the other? And expect to hear 100% of their performance and ability?
by failing to place your speakers correctly, that is in effect what you are asking them to do.
you could spend all the money you want, but if you don’t put them on your ears you aren’t going to hear them.
same applies to speakers and positioning. If you don’t create the soundstage, how are you ever going to hear the potential?
spend a million on sound and stick your head in sand, all you will hear is sand.

Agreed. People will always spend your money quicker than water.

 

[davidf]

Larsen loudspeakers are designed to sit right up against a wall, and Ophidian loudspeakers work pretty well up close too. Some Amphion models with bass radiators rather than ports do a better job than most too (although slightly more expensive).

 

[chris661]

Everyone will have their opinion when it comes to speakers and positioning etc, but think about it this way... would you wear headphones lop sided? On one ear but not on the other? And expect to hear 100% of their performance and ability?
by failing to place your speakers correctly, that is in effect what you are asking them to do.
you could spend all the money you want, but if you don’t put them on your ears you aren’t going to hear them.
same applies to speakers and positioning. If you don’t create the soundstage, how are you ever going to hear the potential?
spend a million on sound and stick your head in sand, all you will hear is sand.

It would be nice if you'd considered there might be some truth to my reply, instead of claiming it's the same as wearing headphones incorrectly.

Take this Danley speaker, for example: https://www.danleysoundlabs.com/products/loud-speakers/synergy-horn/sh50/

It's not a small box, that's for sure, but it'll be a good illustration of my point.

Speakers like these are designed to put sound only where you want it. As you start to move outside of the coverage angle (in this case, it's 50x50 degrees, but there are other coverage angles available), the sound drops off very quickly. Because of the design of the thing, they manage to pull that trick evenly across most of the frequency range. ie, from a few hundred Hz upwards, the sound is being sent out towards the listening area, but very little is being sent directly sideways or backwards where it'll interact with the side/back walls.

Compare that with a typical 6" 2-way HiFi speaker. Those end up basically omnidirectional below 800Hz-ish (ie, lots of room interaction), directivity narrows as you move up, and then the tweeter comes in at about 2kHz and they end up almost omnidirectional again.
Not only do typical HiFi speakers throw lots of sound at nearby surfaces (which seriously disturbs the stereo image - it'll tend to collapse down to just hearing the speaker locations), they do so in a manner that's uneven with regards to frequency. ie, the overall tonality of the speaker in the room is strongly dependent on those nearby reflections.

The Danley speaker linked above would be just fine positioned near walls etc, because it simply wouldn't interact with them.

Just because you haven't experienced the benefits of controlled directivity speakers, it doesn't mean I'm sticking my head in the sand.

Chris

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Point taken Chris. I'm sure these are incredible, but not many wives would allow such a large fugly speaker in the lounge. I have no idea as to how much these cost but imagine that they are rather expensive as they weigh in at over 60Kg each!! How can you possibly compare a typical 6" 2-way Hi-Fi speaker with these behemoths? Please be more realistic with your comparisons.

 

[chris661]

My point isn't so much about the size of the speaker, but what the design priorities were.

The Danley speakers focus very strongly on controlled directivity and putting sound where it should be, thereby avoiding nearby reflections etc.
Conventional HiFi speakers do not.

In my opinion, if you want to place a speaker in a position that's normally considered "compromised", then controlled directivity is the answer.

Chris