[Texbychoice]

Been experimenting with vertically stacked speakers, 2 sealed enclosures each for L and R.  Separate Sub in the middle.  Looks odd, but the sound stage is larger both vertical and horizontal.  The speakers don't totally disappear, but good recordings float in the air to a greater degree.  Going back to just 2 speakers sounds a bit lifeless.

I understand it is recommended open baffle speaker be placed 3 feet from a back wall  If placed 2 feet away from the back wall, will the sound quality be significantly worse?  Dealing with a 10 x 12 listening room.  The X-Statiks really interest me.  The multiple drivers would seem to be similar to my stacked enclosure arrangement. Obviously a better design than my rube goldberg arrangement. Maybe the NX-Studio Monitors?  However, are open baffle speakers just not a good option if not positioned as recommended?  More difficult choice than anticipated.  Thanks.

[corndog71]

You might be able to get away with 2 feet if you can put diffusers or absorption panels behind them.  Open baffle is designed to be away from the walls.  3 feet is considered minimum for good sound.  You could always pull them out more temporarily for listening.

[Texbychoice]

Have to get away from moving speakers around, not feasible.  2 ft from the wall is the limit.

[opnly bafld]

Have to get away from moving speakers around, not feasible.  2 ft from the wall is the limit.

Might want to look at a late ceiling splash setup.

[Texbychoice]

Thanks for the replies.  Unfortunately, 2 ft from the wall for the front baffle is the limit and room modifications are not an option.  Sounds like open baffle is out.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

For your placement constraints, the NX-Studios are going to be your best option if you want to experiment with OB, since it's sealed mid/bass driver allows for near-wall placement. And can easily grow with your system once you have a larger room to play with room placement and can decide if you want to move to a full OB setup, like the NX-Otica & Subs, and then use the Studios for a near-field desktop setup.

[corndog71]

I would recommend X-LS Encore or a pair of X-CS Encore.  They’ll still give you great sound for the money.  Just need stands for them.

[Tyson]

Thanks for the replies.  Unfortunately, 2 ft from the wall for the front baffle is the limit and room modifications are not an option.  Sounds like open baffle is out.

NX-Studio is built for exactly these types of positioning issues.

[Danny Richie]

I made a post on the effects stacking speakers: https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=124751.msg1315189#msg1315189

And for open baffles applications to work you really need at least three feet.

If not a boxed design will serve you better.

And as Tyson noted the NX-Studio has an open baffle sound and was designed for those closer wall locations.

[Texbychoice]

Thanks for the information about stacked speakers.  Always eager to learn.  My experiment gave me a bigger sound stage with individual speakers less identifiable.  Discovered a sweet spot in tweeter vertical plane alignment.  They are not vertically aligned (one directly above the other).  Tweeter performance sounds really good.  If anything, lower mid range is a little thin.  With high quality recordings almost not noticeable.  Lesser recordings, yep.

The stacked experiment gives me a larger overall pleasing sound stage.  Therefore, my simple mind says more drivers like an X-Statik will give me the desired larger sound stage even at the expense of optimum performance.  If 2 feet from the wall totally ruins the sound, OK I have to give it up.  Or, maybe the answer is a multi-driver sealed enclosure?  Thanks for listening. 

[mlundy57]

Thanks for the information about stacked speakers.  Always eager to learn.  My experiment gave me a bigger sound stage with individual speakers less identifiable.  Discovered a sweet spot in tweeter vertical plane alignment.  They are not vertically aligned (one directly above the other).  Tweeter performance sounds really good.  If anything, lower mid range is a little thin.  With high quality recordings almost not noticeable.  Lesser recordings, yep.

The stacked experiment gives me a larger overall pleasing sound stage.  Therefore, my simple mind says more drivers like an X-Statik will give me the desired larger sound stage even at the expense of optimum performance.  If 2 feet from the wall totally ruins the sound, OK I have to give it up.  Or, maybe the answer is a multi-driver sealed enclosure?  Thanks for listening.

The X-CS Encore is an MTM model that can be used as main speakers with either midbass modules or a sub. The X-CS Encore can also be built into a ported floor standing cabinet that is -3dB at 40Hz and can play lower with room gain. When built into the floor standing cabinet, the X-CS Encore becomes the X-MTM Encore.

X-CS Encores as mains with midbass modules built into the speaker stands:






X-MTM Encore:

[AlexH]

Man! those look nice Mike. I really like the grills. I started making some for my build today. I don't know what it is about making grills, but I just hate it.

[Danny Richie]

Thanks for the information about stacked speakers.  Always eager to learn.  My experiment gave me a bigger sound stage with individual speakers less identifiable.  Discovered a sweet spot in tweeter vertical plane alignment.  They are not vertically aligned (one directly above the other).  Tweeter performance sounds really good.  If anything, lower mid range is a little thin.  With high quality recordings almost not noticeable.  Lesser recordings, yep.

The stacked experiment gives me a larger overall pleasing sound stage.  Therefore, my simple mind says more drivers like an X-Statik will give me the desired larger sound stage even at the expense of optimum performance.  If 2 feet from the wall totally ruins the sound, OK I have to give it up.  Or, maybe the answer is a multi-driver sealed enclosure?  Thanks for listening.

There are ways to make multi driver combinations work and work well, but stacking two speakers (using two tweeters) will cause significant comb filtering that really jacks up the response.