High/Wide Speaker Designs - Thoughts?

[hsbrown2]

So, I am considering adding in High/Wide speakers to my home theater system to give that extra sound field a try.

Has anyone done this? Suggestions? I'm thinking of designing something using a three-way model with 8" woofers and horizontally aligned tweets/mids to keep the speaker a lower profile.

What do the gurus think?

Thanks

[billfitzmaurice]

Re: High/Wide Speaker Designs - Thoughts?

So, I am considering adding in High/Wide speakers to my home theater system to give that extra sound field a try.

Has anyone done this? Suggestions? I'm thinking of designing something using a three-way model with 8" woofers and horizontally aligned tweets/mids to keep the speaker a lower profile.

What do the gurus think?

Thanks

You'll get exactly the opposite of the desired effect. Wider sources have narrower dispersion, while horizontally aligned tweeters and mids are a formula for comb filtering.

[Æ]

Re: High/Wide Speaker Designs - Thoughts?

So, I am considering adding in High/Wide speakers to my home theater system to give that extra sound field a try.

Has anyone done this? Suggestions? I'm thinking of designing something using a three-way model with 8" woofers and horizontally aligned tweets/mids to keep the speaker a lower profile.

What do the gurus think?

Thanks

High wide loudspeaker baffles have their advantages, but like Bill said, you never want to mount your midranges and tweeters horizontally, except for maybe the center channel.
Take a look at this picture.

[jcpahman77]

Re: High/Wide Speaker Designs - Thoughts?

Unless I am mistaken I think he's asking about adding a pair of speaker as a high or wide front channel. Many new AVR's have this option and it's supposed to change the front sound field.

[Æ]

Re: High/Wide Speaker Designs - Thoughts?

Unless I am mistaken I think he's asking about adding a pair of speaker as a high or wide front channel. Many new AVR's have this option and it's supposed to change the front sound field.

Makes more sense. But he should have said that he intends to mount additional loudspeakers high on the wall and horizontally instead of vertically. We can only interpret what he tells us. As you can tell the general mindset around here is primarily two channel audio and if they don't explain it to us. . . .

[Pete Schumacher]

Re: High/Wide Speaker Designs - Thoughts?

Unless I am mistaken I think he's asking about adding a pair of speaker as a high or wide front channel. Many new AVR's have this option and it's supposed to change the front sound field.

The easiest way to get a "wider" front center is to remove it, and rely on the left and right to produce it "phantom." Center imaging remains, but the sound is fuller. I doubt I'll ever install another center channel in any system where you sit between the left and right speakers, for that reason. I'd rather listen to a mono source with two speakers than with only one.

[Æ]

Re: High/Wide Speaker Designs - Thoughts?

Here is a link with good information.
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/setup/...ide/index.html

[Silver1omo]

Re: High/Wide Speaker Designs - Thoughts?

Here is a link with good information.
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/setup/...ide/index.html

For 7.1 Dolby specs rear surrounds, Audyssey DSX specs front height or wide.

http://www.audyssey.com/technology/dsx.html

They say:
These Wide channels are much more critical in the presentation of a realistic soundstage than the Back Surround channels found in traditional 7.1 systems.

Now, I guess it will depend on your room, you may not have space for FW or not a good place for FH... If you have the room for any of them, well, then try both :D

[RINNAV]

[jcpahman77]

Re: High/Wide Speaker Designs - Thoughts?

I'm interested in more info about the Audessy system. The Onkyo AVR I'm getting at tax time features it. I'm surely going to experiment with it's different options, but feedback from those here, especially from someone else with firsthand experience, would be nice.

[hsbrown2]

Re: High/Wide Speaker Designs - Thoughts?

Sorry for the ambiguity, I thought it would be understood.

As some have surmised, I am talking about a loudspeaker configuration that creates another set of front channels for either high or wide (or both - I will be using a 9.2 THX Ultra2 setup) placement to use either Audyssey DSX or (in the case of high only) Dolby Pro Logic IIz.

I will be using Wide loudspeakers in my configuration only - as I understand it this is the more critical sound field created by DSX (which is really just matrixed out of the fronts, as I understand it, and not discrete channels from the source).

Space and all other environmental factors that one might have questions about are not a concern (again, this is THX Ultra2 - big space).

I will be driving 180W into 8Ω, and the speaker I'm envisioning would be *similar* in design only to the Klipsch (bleaaah) KL-650-THX (http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/product...-thx-overview/

[fbov]

Re: High/Wide Speaker Designs - Thoughts?

That Klipsch you link to only works because the horn enables a very low XO frequency, low enough that the geometry has less effect than conventional drivers.

If you have a strong need for a horizontal geometry, consider any of the several center channel designs: 2-way MTMs with tight M-M spacing and low XO points, and 3-way WMTWs with vertical MT are two options that several designers have used. In a ceiling corner, you would want to build an on-wall version; you don't need BSC.

A specific recommendation would depend on what speakers you have. Options range from 3" MTMs to 7" WWMTWW, and beyond.

I also suggest trying it out before investing a lot in speakers. I have a similar capability, and plan to try it out with my next pair of speakers, but I'd be building these speakers regardless.

Have fun,
Frank

[GTB]

Re: High/Wide Speaker Designs - Thoughts?

I'm interested in more info about the Audessy system. The Onkyo AVR I'm getting at tax time features it. I'm surely going to experiment with it's different options, but feedback from those here, especially from someone else with firsthand experience, would be nice.

I have a Denon with Audessy in a 5.1 system. It does a lot of things right...but you need to take the time to learn terminology to correctly understand what different settings really do. For example, "speaker distance" as determined by Audessy is reported in ft, however it is really a time based measurement and takes into account other factors. Correcting the system's findings based upon a tape measure isn't always the correct approach.

Used properly, it is a very powerful tool.

Greg

[[email protected]]

Re: High/Wide Speaker Designs - Thoughts?

i understood what you were talking about right away.
my thoughts are somthing small that will blend not stick out. a single full range driver would probably work great or somthing like a overnight sensation. i think even a couple of those little htib speakers would work great. let us know how you like it.

[Kevin G.]

Re: High/Wide Speaker Designs - Thoughts?

I have the Onkyo 807, that features the Wide and Height channels. I have added the Height Channels to my system. (With some old Bookshelves from an HTIB, that I had sitting around....) My room does not support the addition of the Wide, for now...
I have noted some of the movies are, shall we say "enhanced". but nothing that is leaps and bounds above my original 5.1. I have run Audyssey, and factored in 80 hz as my LPF cutoff. (My Paradigm mains were set at 40, and the Height channel were set at 120...)
I also felt I needed to bump up my Sub, as the setting that was found by the automated setup was lacking. There are a few raves about the addition of the extra channels over at the dedicated threads for the respective receivers at AVS...Look up your model and do some research...do a little playing around, see if you like it...