How big of a sweetspot is there for the RM/X and the RM-40; in tech talk what is the horizontal dipersion and the vertical dispersion? If you stand up while listening do you lose all the right sound like you do with the Innersound Electrostatics? Do you need to keep your head in a vice while listening to capture the perfect sound? Thanks!
Hi Seaddogs,
One of my favorite questions
Occasionally you'll hear some one mention that the VMPS ribbons have a "limited" sweet spot.
And sometimes it is mentioned as a negative!!!
In the world of "high perfromance" sound gear (or anything for that matter) as you approach the higher levels of performance some sacrifices are made to acheive that level.
In the world of performance autos, there are "NO" Formula One rides that seat four comfortably. And there are no "Sports Coupes" (that do seat four) that can run a course anywhere near the F1 car.
VMPS is the F1
So when we talk about sweet spot just what do we mean?
When we set up our listening postition between two speakers our goal is to get an "equal" signal from each speaker, so that our brains assemble those two signals into a "virtual soundstage" in our "mind's eye".
Your ears and brain are "very" good at this. They are also very good at letting you know when you are getting an "unbalanced" signal in one ear or the other. As soon as the brain determines that the signal is "unbalanced" the Virtual Soundstage collapses to the dominant signal and boom you are out of the sweet spot.
What does this mean when we compare VMPS neopanel and ribbons to other more "dispersive" speakers?
One of the traits of VMPS is the "detail" and resolution of layers of sound.
That very quality is a function of a limited dispersion driver with a more "focused" sonic signal.
Much like one of these maglite flashlights. You can focus them in a very tight precise circle or you can "fuzz them out" into a highly dispersed and larger pattern.
The more focused beam is smaller, clearer, brighter, and has more defined edges and clarity. The more dispersed beam is not as bright, fuzzy, and not clear at all, but it "is" bigger.
Edit: I just thought of another way to "illustrate" how this works with the flashlight example.
I you were in a dark room and had two of these flashlights sitting on your speakers and focused the beam to "just cover" your ears you would notice that if you moved left or right, or up and down, your ears would "leave" the bright beam and go into darkness or at least very reduced light.
Out of the sweet spot.
If you then refocused the beam to expand out to cover the area of a foot or two on each side of your ears, you would notice that you could move to these areas and still have a very similar amount of light on those ears.
BUT.... you would also notice that even in the sweet spot, the light would not be as clear and bright and detailed as it was when you spread it out.
That's kinda how it works.
In the real world of Audiophile enjoyment, most of our listening is done sitting in the sweet spot. Anything less than that postition, even with highly dispersive speakers will not yield the "best" result.
So how does "greater dispersion" yeild a larger sweet spot?
Well just like the fuzzy flashlight beam, the images are slightly less precise. As I explained above this allows a bit more lattitude of movement left or right or up and down before the image collapses, because the magnitude of difference is not as great than a more detailed sonic signal.
Now to me, I would rather have a more detailed and focused "serious listening postition" than one where I could sit to one side of my sofa on occasion.
But what other advantages are there to either "greater" or "lesser" dispersion patterns?
The greater dispersion your speakers have laterally, the more side reflections you will have if you have side walls.
The greater dispersion you have vertically, the more ceiling and floor reflections you'll have.
Each of these cause sonic problems, if our goal is to bring the original event to the listening position.
Reduced dispersion reduces these problems slightly.
So, in selecting a speaker you have to decide, do I want the F1? or do I want the Sport Coupe or SUV?
Both will give great satisfaction but neither will do "all" the things the other will.
And to come full circle, and answer your question, "YES" by their very nature the ribbons are more precise and less dispersive, which "does" limit the "sweet spot", but in my preferences and listening criteria, that is exacctly what I want.
Others may want to have the same perfromance over a "broader" listening area, that they have in the "sweet seat".
And I should mention, I don't have my head in a vice
, (although some might debate that point
) and I certainly can "bop" around to the music as much as I want, but I won't be sitting in any place for serious listening except "center cushion"
grooving on the detail of the VMPS ribbons.
