[ctviggen]

While I'm not that great a lover of specs for speakers, one graph I wouldn't mind seeing for VMPS speakers is a radial graph that shows how the dispersion varies around the speaker.  In my particular situation, with a RPTV and matching stand between the speakers, a narrower dispersion might be better.  Today, I took my cone speakers (Linn 5140s) and pushed them back toward the wall (along with the RPTV and stand) in order to get better bass response.  I am getting better bass response, but I'm not sure what this did to clarity, detail, and separation.  Unfortunately, I also changed speaker cable (which is actually what allowed me to do this -- the previous cable was too short).

Anyway, in my situation, with a RPTV and stand between the main speakers, is narrower dispersion better?  Does VMPS really have narrower dispersion than a cone speaker?

[Brian Cheney]

Ribbon mids have poor vertical dispersion, which is why we have tall arrays in the bigger systems.  The FST tweeter has 30 degress of vertical dispersion, still less than a 1" dome, but does not become directional at 11 kHz like a 1" dome.  Horizontal dispersion is broad and even up to 25 kHz.

[ctviggen]

Thanks!  I'll be interested to compare the cones of my current speakers with the ribbons of the VMPS speakers, particularly being placed where the speakers are now (which is close to the edges of my RPTV/stand).

[James Romeyn]

The center image with my VMPS Ribbons is better than any cone/dome I've tried.  Even with an RPTV in the center.  I drape velour over the screen when listening to music (unless it's a music DVD of course).  In my experience the ribbon's controlled dispersion is always beneficial.

[ctviggen]

I haven't tried putting anything over the RPTV, although that's one thing on my list of things to try.  I think that narrower projection is also better in my particular situation, with few seats and a lot of stuff in between the speakers.  However, I'm going to invite my girlfriend's friend over to listen to music, because she has a ton of CDs.  I'll let her sit in the sweetspot and I'll sit to the side (actually -- this reminds me to do this now, before I receive the VMPS speakers, so that I can compare).  So, I'll get to see what difference there is between being in the sweet spot and off the sweet spot.