I believe that to have a sweet spot big enough to walk around the entire
room, one would need sound sources that originate from well beyond the
confines of the room. Otherwise you can't get around the fact that as you
approach a particular speaker, it's output will dominate.
Of course, one could perhaps envision having hundreds of speakers, all with
their own discrete signals. But this would be quite impractical.
From: Lang Elliott <>
>
> Walt:
>
> Actually, when a recording is rich in binaural cues, speakers that are
> directional perform better because they tend to reduce the effects of
> crosstalk (for stereo, such crosstalk has to do with the right ear hearin=
g
> the left speaker and vice versa). If the recording itself captures the
> "ambience" of a place, then there is no need to bring room reflections in=
to
> play.
>
> I'm sure the magnaplans produce a spacious sound and feeling, but it woul=
d
> be artificial, meaning that it's not the same as what was actually
> experienced. It's like adding reverberation to increase the sense of
> spaciousness.
>
> Does this sound correct?
Not necessarily correct, you are thinking entirely within the confines
of conventional speakers. Magnaplans don't have any moving mass to speak
of, so very accurately reproduce the signal they are given. But instead
of being a focused point source resonating the cone like a regular
speaker, they move a large area of air in a flat plane with this signal.
Very significantly different than anything a regular speaker can
produce. Their sound is pretty unique and accurate to the original sound
signal. Many fine details speakers don't reproduce come through with
magnaplans. If you managed to record them. Just the sort of details
common in ambiance.
Magnaplans work best where there is no room reflection, in my opinion.
Room reflections with them can produce phase problems that detract from
their clean sound. In most setups where there are reflections to deal
with they are set well away from reflecting surfaces. So just like
regular speakers they would need little or no room reverberation for the
type of material you are talking about.
Hard to convey if you have not heard them set up right. Mine are far
from optimum. Though about as good as I could do given the room design.
Note I don't know if they would help or hinder a setup like yours, but
I'd sure like to hear what they did with it if set up in a configuration
optimized for it.
Magnaplans are not for everyone. Many are unhappy with the lack of
speaker resonance, which shows up the most at the low end. So, often a
system will have a conventional sub to mix enough of that in.
In your criteria you left out one part of my criteria for full surround,
namely no sweet spot, or a very large one. You should be able to walk
around in the room with the full effect being everywhere in any
direction. That's going to be even tougher to meet than what you are
trying. And I don't know if it can be done. But I'm pretty sure if it's
done it's going to require area sources like the magnaplans. Or a bunch
of speakers. Back to the wall of sound concept.
Walt
"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
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