Downfiring Powertowers

[walter duque]

Is there any reason why nobody ever came out with a downfiring Powertower. All powered speakers have front firing woofers, that I know of.

 

[Nomo]

A friend of mine years ago had a set of Empires.
Similar to these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PAIR-VINTAGE-EMPIRE-7000-GRENADIER-END-TABLE-SPEAKERS_W0QQitemZ250472426602QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVintage_Electronics_R2?hash=item3a5151ec6a&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

I was never impressed with them.

Edit: Oops didn't see you said "powered"

 

[adwilk]

Is there any reason why nobody ever came out with a downfiring Powertower. All powered speakers have front firing woofers, that I know of.

I honestly dont have a clue, I'm not even sure if I know exactly what you're talking about.... but my assumption is that (if you're not talking about drivers that handle the sub stuff) the drivers used for the wavelengths that the woofers produce for their appropriate frequencies dont have the off axis response to create accurate in-room reproduction.

What?

 

[markw]

"Downfiring" is only good for subwoofers, which should only operate below 80 hz or so that cannot be localized.

Woofers can operate up to several hundred cycles and if these were "downfired", a lot of the upper bass/lower midrange would be shooting at the floor and sound muffled.

Empire tried something like this with their Grenadier series of speakers in the late 60'/early 70's and while the were physically gorgeous, they tended to have a muffled sound.

[edit]Thanks for the link to pics, nomo. Great minds think alike.

 

[walter duque]

I do mean with downfiring subs.

 

[abboudc]

Is there any reason why nobody ever came out with a downfiring Powertower. All powered speakers have front firing woofers, that I know of.

It's a cost and aesthetic issue.

Front/Side firing doesn't require anything additional, other than cutting a hole in the existing enclosure. Downfiring would require "jacking up" the speaker, and putting in some sort of baseplate. Most speakers with powered towers are already pretty tall, and making them taller will cause the speaker to be more tippy unless you significantly expanded the footprint of the base. And it could certainly harm the look of the speaker.

Many subs downfire, but once you get into the larger subs, aesthetics are already out the window. Many subs these days are front firing too...many people want to impress guests by showing them the size of the drivers. To each his own.

 

[Loren42]

A friend of mine years ago had a set of Empires.
Similar to these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PAIR-VINTAGE-EMPIRE-7000-GRENADIER-END-TABLE-SPEAKERS_W0QQitemZ250472426602QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVintage_Electronics_R2?hash=item3a5151ec6a&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

I was never impressed with them.

Edit: Oops didn't see you said "powered"

Too funny! Those are just across town from me.