[Hifi Nut]

Hi everyone,

I live in the far east, and yet to have an opportunity to listen to any VMPS speakers. My typical experience with Ribbon tweeter seems that their soundstage is not as wide as the conventional dome tweeter. Can anyone share their experience on VPMS tweeter versus dome tweeter in the area of sounstaging? Thank you.

[Sedona Sky Sound]

If you live in the far east as in NYC, then you can go to Roop Audio and hear everything. If you live in the Far East as in Asia, then not sure where to go  .

In my experience, ribbon tweeters have a smaller sweet spot but not a smaller soundstage inherently. However, some things may need to be done to get the same level of soundstage. A dome tweeter is going to interact with more room boundaries than the more directional ribbon tweeter. For a given speaker placement location, the benefit of the room interaction is a sense of greater soundstage. However, this comes at the cost of increased congestion and lack of clarity.

If you put a speaker with a ribbon tweeter in the same location as the one with the dome, then you can expect the soundstage to be smaller but the clarity to be greater. However, there is no law that I know of that requires the speakers to be in the same place (except possibly the Law of the Spouse   ). If you move the speaker or possibly re-arrange some of the room treatment, you should be able to get the same level of soundstage.    

If having the ultimate soundstage is really important to you, then you can always migrate to the SST Trinaural processor. My experience is that the Trinaural will effectively double or triple the soundstage you currently are getting (about double the width and triple the depth). In my demo room I currently have the Trinaural in a set-up using the RM/X and RM40s and the soundstage is FAR greater than anything I have ever heard (and the clarity is still there).      

Julian
www.sedonaskysound.com

[Hifi Nut]

Hi Julian,

Thanks for sharing. I am indeed from Far East of Asia.

Well, I really enjoy system with a large soundstage. Let me do some reading up on Trinaural processor. Sounds like an interesting product.

Regards.

[John Casler]

Hi everyone,

I live in the far east, and yet to have an opportunity to listen to any VMPS speakers. My typical experience with Ribbon tweeter seems that their soundstage is not as wide as the conventional dome tweeter. Can anyone share their experience on VPMS tweeter versus dome tweeter in the area of sounstaging? Thank you.

Hi HiFi Nut,

I think Julian pretty well nailed it in essense, but I thought I might add a couple things.

Width of soundstage, or the "illusion" of width of soundstage are caused by several things.  The three most improtant are:

1) how wide you place your speakers
2) the reflected sound of room surfaces, speciffically the side walls
3) the phase relationship between the reflected and direct sounds

The phase relationship is not often discussed but is a factor which contributes to the illusion.  Without very sophisticated instruments it would be difficult to measure and or control phase relationship of the reflected sounds spaitial effects.  It is usually a very "trial and error" quality to acheive "if", in fact one wishes to acheive it at all.

It has to be noted that a Dipolar Ribbon or planar driver will offer some incredible air and spatial effects to the sound.  As beautiful as this might be, it is a "sonic mirage" and not true to the original performance by virtue of using room generated assisitance to the soundstage.

I might add that I'm not proposing that this is a "bad" sound, only less accurate.

Monopole ribbon drivers like in the VMPS, are at the far other end of the spectrum.

They offer highly focused sound (in comparison) and far less dispersion and subsequently room interaction.

This, in effect, gives you a "less forgiving" reproduction, since it does not "smooth in" the sonic edges.  Instead it offers an "edgy" precision and crystaline sharpness, that when properly set up offers a listening experience that is closer to that which was recorded.

The width, then of your soundstage with ribbons is determined almost entirely by the actual width of your speaker placement in relation to the listening position.

The Soundstage itself is then filled by what has been "engineered" between the speakers, based on the amplitude differences between the signal of those particular sounds.

This offers loads of blackness (if your room is not highly reflective) and sonic clarity.

It also offers the best "real" sonic depth perception.  As many know visual depth perception is created by two images converging on the brain, one from each eye.

The same is true for Sonic Depth Perception.  It takes two signals L&R meeting at the brain to offer the same effect.  I would suggest that in the future as recording and engineering techniques improve this will improve also.

To get this to look/sound like a "ViewMaster" (anyone remember those) 3-D sonic image, more attention needs to be focused on the relative phase relationships of the near and far sounds rather than just the blend of left and right at different amplitudes.

But I digress.

In any event, the short answer to your question is that the soundstage of VMPS ribbons "can" be made as large as your room will allow, simply by adjusting the width and convergence of your speakers to properly produce that width.