Shrinking woofer sizes for hifi ?

AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Any word yet on RBH new speaker line?
They got too many cooks in the kitchen and couldn’t decide on the final finishes for their cabinets. But no exact dates yet on when they are available to ship. :D
 
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shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
I trialed the MT110s. They were OK, nothing more. Sounded identical to my Klipsch RF62IIs. Same soundstage, imaging and voicing but without the harshness at high volumes. The center actually matched my towers better than my RC52.

They had no bass in my room, which I was kind of expecting based on the design. Despite their being a "true" 95db sensitive speaker they were actually 1.5db less efficient in room than my over rated RF62IIs.

My Kef Q750s were an improvement in every aspect at the same price. And I can use them without a sub if I want.
That is strange that the MT110s would be less sensitive than the RF62 speakers. By design, you would expect them to be more sensitive? What is more is that Klipsch inflates their sensitivity specs pretty dramatically. I would expect the RF62 to have sensitivity in the low 90s. It's hard to imagine the MT110s being worse than that.
 
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Sadie42

Audioholic Intern
When I first heard a good a three piece system, I really thought it might be the end of big loudspeakers - but it's tough to load a large room using monitors. Even in the day, you might find yourself stacking DQ-10's to get it done. It really comes down to room size and listening habits.

Thanks to advances in driver technology and computer modeling, you can do with multiple smaller drivers what you can do with one or two larger ones -- and the floor print is smaller. Generally speaking, space is at a premium, and people don't want to fill it with big rectangular boxes.
 
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highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
26” woofer wow ... even if sound quality wasn’t good that’s a Lot of woofer .
Modern rtr look like knock off cerwin Vegas , I consider them once but too wide too fit in my small room .
I have one vintage rtr pair but woofers only 8”!!!
Box was pretty big ..
high quality smaller speakers probably beat junk big ones .
Psa are awful expensive for a small waveguide.
My Klipch icons woofers are 6.5 in towers and 5 1/4” in center and bookshelves, 4” surrounds. Don’t get any bass from them just my subwoofers , cable lacks bass ?
Wonder how these would work https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/B215XL--behringer-eurolive-b215xl-1000w-15-inch-passive-speaker
Kef only has 1 woofer ? 2 fake ones
Did subs kill woofer sizes ?

Some speakers with tiny woofers cost a fortune ... kef r11 uses 6.5”x 4 for 3 grand each
If sound quality isn't good, what's the point?

Large woofers aren't needed when a sub is in the system. However, I think many speaker manufacturers have forgotten that mid-bass response is extremely important.
 
K

kini

Full Audioholic
That is strange that the MT110s would be less sensitive than the RF62 speakers. By design, you would expect them to be more sensitive? What is more is that Klipsch inflates their sensitivity specs pretty dramatically. I would expect the RF62 to have sensitivity in the low 90s. It's hard to imagine the MT110s being worse than that.
I did some reading about it since I was surprised and a little disappointed. I'm probably not totally correct on this but from what I could gather there is a difference in measured sensitivity and in room efficiency. The larger ported cabinets of the Klipsch seemed to translate to greater overall efficiency. The difference I was experiencing was with both using the AVR's setup test tones and playing content. It was easy to hear that with both speakers set to the same level that the Klipsch were louder at any given volume setting.
 
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shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
I did some reading about it since I was surprised and a little disappointed. I'm probably not totally correct on this but from what I could gather there is a difference in measured sensitivity and in room efficiency. The larger ported cabinets of the Klipsch seemed to translate to greater overall efficiency. The difference I was experiencing was with both using the AVR's setup test tones and playing content. It was easy to hear that with both speakers set to the same level that the Klipsch were louder at any given volume setting.
The problem with sensitivity is that it can be measured in a lot of different ways, and those different methods can lead to different results. As an example, a manufacturer might only measure it at 1kHz or might only state it as wattage instead of voltage. There isn't a standardized way to represent sensitivity, and that can lead to all sorts of number fudging, notably from Klipsch.

The larger cabinet from Klipsch definitely helps efficiency, but I would have thought the pro-style drivers that PSA uses would give them an edge in sensitivity. I am not saying you are wrong, but it is a bit surprising.
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
As I said I don't own them but they sound extremely dynamic. Other than that I only heard them twice and I was impressed. I will say I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to speakers. I have very inexpensive RSL speakers and they sound great to me. A lot of people would say they are garbage right off the bat based on the price alone.
KEF speakers are intriguing though. Beautiful speakers and I have never heard a bad word about them.
Eventually I'd like to stick with RSL and go from the GC3 line to the CG5 line but I'm very happy at the moment.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
Don’t worry Het. People are morons. Nothing wrong with the rsl’s. Especially if you love them.
 
H

Hetfield

Audioholic Samurai
Don’t worry Het. People are morons. Nothing wrong with the rsl’s. Especially if you love them.
Oh it's all good, I am way past the point of caring what people think or are snobs about how much money was spent. I was not putting out that there are people that will dismiss a product based solely on price. If Gene says they are excellent and we know he has access to extremely expensive stuff but still finds RSL speakers to be a great value that says a ton. The fact that I love them is the biggest reason not to care what people say because I'm the only one I need to please.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
 
H

Hobbit

Senior Audioholic
It does seem a lot of speakers have multiple woofers/mids to allow a small footprint tower speaker. I would also think most manufacturers at this time assume you're going to have a subwoofer for a lot of the lower frequencies.
 
K

Kevi9590

Enthusiast
Id love to get some monstrous towers in my humble setup. But now that I’m putting my own setup together month by month/year by year, I’m much more interested in getting a linear experience down to below 20 hertz than having the biggest tower with the biggest woofer.

I also wonder if speaker lines are designed around the limitations of the corresponding horizontal center channel, though I really don’t know if thats the case

An actively powered subwoofer seems more practical to me. I just position it and plug it in. Its not so easy or cheap to power a passive tower with an oversized woofer effectively. And the optimal position for a tower might not be the best position for your bass woofers.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
The heart wants what the heart wants.

There is a speaker, amp, pre-pro, AVR, system for everyone. We don’t have to like or own the same things.

And we never have to justify our position as being good enough. Or that what we buy is the best or better than everyone else.

So whether you want giant towers of power with big drivers or small speakers with small drivers, you go ahead and own them.

Whether you want high-end amps and pre-pros or mid-level AVR, you go ahead and own them.
 
Kingnoob

Kingnoob

Audioholic Samurai
The heart wants what the heart wants.

There is a speaker, amp, pre-pro, AVR, system for everyone. We don’t have to like or own the same things.

And we never have to justify our position as being good enough. Or that what we buy is the best or better than everyone else.

So whether you want giant towers of power with big drivers or small speakers with small drivers, you go ahead and own them.

Whether you want high-end amps and pre-pros or mid-level AVR, you go ahead and own them.
Is there any reason for massive towers when CEnter does almost everything? Or so the fronts have a lot of the total effects and sound ?
You could make a case center channels have shrunken a lot like typical woofers getting smaller , year by year . Some towers use 4-5” woofers !!!??
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Is there any reason for massive towers when CEnter does almost everything? Or so the fronts have a lot of the total effects and sound ?
You could make a case center channels have shrunken a lot like typical woofers getting smaller , year by year . Some towers use 4-5” woofers !!!??
Most of the heavy-lifting sound is from the 3 main fronts and subs, unless your surround speakers also happen to be subwoofers like mine.

So if people want 4"-5" woofers, that's fine for them. Everyone is different. But they do make 8"-12" Woofers for guys like me.:D
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
The heart wants what the heart wants.

There is a speaker, amp, pre-pro, AVR, system for everyone. We don’t have to like or own the same things.

And we never have to justify our position as being good enough. Or that what we buy is the best or better than everyone else.

So whether you want giant towers of power with big drivers or small speakers with small drivers, you go ahead and own them.

Whether you want high-end amps and pre-pros or mid-level AVR, you go ahead and own them.
This is the way.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
I honestly don't know, but I see it a lot and it fit your post perfectly. ;)

That reminds me, I really need to watch that show.
Yeah, those Mandalorians keep on saying the phrase "This is the way" over and over again. :D
 
Kingnoob

Kingnoob

Audioholic Samurai
But wasn't that a dogmatic splinter group insisting on that, as I recall from the series?
Hmm I gotta watch that series..
Are soundbars driving this woofer shrinkage ?
Pricey for there duel 5” mini speakers cool tho ..
 
H

Hetfield

Audioholic Samurai
Hmm I gotta watch that series..
Are soundbars driving this woofer shrinkage ?
Pricey for there duel 5” mini speakers cool tho ..
I have CG3s surrounds and they are fantastic, CG23 LCR and a little more fantastic. I'm extremely happy with them.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
 

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