[cloudbaseracer]

"LX521 - Constant Directivity Monitor

For many years now I have refined, lived with and enjoyed the ORION (2002) and PLUTO (2005) loudspeakers. I have learned that the loudspeaker's radiation pattern and placement in the room are more important than the acoustics of the room"

From the Linkwitz Lab website == http://www.linkwitzlab.com/LX521/Description.htm


Do you guys agree with this statement?

[JLM]

Yes (I'm a 'speaker guy').

But the room is the most ignored, misunderstood, and underrated part of audio reproduction.

[rollo]

 Nothing is more important than the room unless one designs a speaker to eliminate room interference. Placement in the room is just as important. Both room acoustics and placement are key. One compliments the other. One can if dedicated enough can design the room around the dispersion characteristics of said speaker. That's my take on it.



charles

[Ethan Winer]

Do you guys agree with this statement?

It's impossible for any speaker to radiate in such a way as to avoid room acoustics problems. That would be called headphones.

Once sound gets into the room, it bounces around creating peaks, nulls, flutter echo, early reflections, modal ringing, and reverb in larger rooms. There is no avoiding this. So in order of importance:

1) The room
2) The speakers
3) Everything else

--Ethan

[jk@home]

I'm seriously thinking about building those speakers. Asked on their forum what room treatments they recommended...pretty much crickets.
But then again lots of folks spend thousands on dollars on all sorts of speakers, with no room treatment, so that's nothing new.

There really is a resistance to make the room look like a recording studio, and in many cases, I don't blame them. Pretty sure that is Siegfried's opinion, the listening  room should be normal, ie. one that looks lived in.  Now would my wife allow those speakers in her living room?.... 

 

[GT Audio Works]

It's impossible for any speaker to radiate in such a way as to avoid room acoustics problems. That would be called headphones.

Once sound gets into the room, it bounces around creating peaks, nulls, flutter echo, early reflections, modal ringing, and reverb in larger rooms. There is no avoiding this. So in order of importance:

1) The room
2) The speakers
3) Everything else

--Ethan

Yes. Agreed....
 Sound waves all behave the same, the only difference being the intensity and direction they radiate from the source.
Consider a speaker as a rack of billiard balls about to be hit with a cue ball. Depending on how hard and at what angle you hit it will result in different angles off the bumpers and different ball interactions which will result in varying patterns on the table.   Greg

[jimdgoulding]

Nothing is more important than the room unless one designs a speaker to eliminate room interference. Placement in the room is just as important. Both room acoustics and placement are key. One compliments the other. One can if dedicated enough can design the room around the dispersion characteristics of said speaker. That's my take on it.

charles

"Placement in the room is just as important."  Yep.  You shouldn't want reflected waveforms arriving to quickly or out of time with one another.  Think of a concert hall with you sitting in the middle.   Overdamping walls can potentially darken the sound and lessen the sense of space of recordings made onsite.     

[SoCalWJS]

How the Speakers interact with the room is far more important than anything else in the chain.

A bad room can make great speakers sound bad, and bad speakers in a great room is pretty much a waste of time. You can treat a bad room and make it sound better, but there is very little you can do to make bad speakers sound good.

Saying that the room is always more important than the speakers, or vice-versa, can only be a generality and not correct all the time. Just make sure you take both ends of the equation into consideration when planning or seeking the best possible sound.

[GT Audio Works]

Want a speaker with no room interaction ?? Try these.  http://www.holosonics.com/
they are so directional you can bounce the signal off a wall to converge on a point...headphones without headphones !!

[*Scotty*]

Here is additional information on similar technologies.
 http://www.internationalrobotics.com/iaapapres.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_from_ultrasound
http://www.google.it/patents/US6577738
http://www.lradx.com/site/
Scotty

[rbbert]

A speaker's radiation pattern can affect position and type of diffusors, absorbers and reflectors.  It won't affect bass, which will be determined by room dimensions, speaker placement and bass traps.  Most of the Linkwitz speakers are open baffle dipoles, which means you need to pay more attention to the back wave than with most speakers.

[bummrush]

Its tough. Equipment is easier to control .Rooms to many variables

[Rob Babcock]

I tend to agree with Ethan- you simply can't remove the room from the equation unless you're talking headphones.

[SteveRB]

Those speakers are not very attractive... neither are a ton of acoustic panels.

Got to have balance.

[Folsom]

I'm highly suspect of anything that's first tendancy is to use toe-in.

Supposidly my speakers need it, but let me tell you the only thing that does is give you mono... Once your source and amp can truely throw the music out with enough umph, toe-in becomes wrong. (Umph is unrelated to wattage). Maybe not all speakers can but... If mine can then I have no idea what wouldn't.

[PMAT]

" but there is very little you can do to make bad speakers sound good." Are you kidding? There are lots of things. Vodka, bourbon, short skirts, herbs, blondes........I could go on and on. You guys are too serious.

[JLM]

How the Speakers interact with the room is far more important than anything else in the chain.

A bad room can make great speakers sound bad, and bad speakers in a great room is pretty much a waste of time. You can treat a bad room and make it sound better, but there is very little you can do to make bad speakers sound good.

Saying that the room is always more important than the speakers, or vice-versa, can only be a generality and not correct all the time. Just make sure you take both ends of the equation into consideration when planning or seeking the best possible sound.

+1

[Glenn Kuras]

I would say speakers and acoustics are just as important. Both play a major role in the quality you hear.

[rollo]

It's impossible for any speaker to radiate in such a way as to avoid room acoustics problems. That would be called headphones.

Once sound gets into the room, it bounces around creating peaks, nulls, flutter echo, early reflections, modal ringing, and reverb in larger rooms. There is no avoiding this. So in order of importance:

1) The room
2) The speakers
3) Everything else

--Ethan

  Agree.

charles

[Ethan Winer]

Those speakers are not very attractive... neither are a ton of acoustic panels.

With acoustic treatment your choices are:

Effective
Attractive
Affordable

Pick any two.

If you don't like the look of acoustic treatment, you can hide it behind fabric or even build it into the structure. But that costs more. Me, I embrace the high-tech look, and nobody that visits me has ever complained about the look of my living room. They do rave about the sound.

--Ethan