Martys room is i think one of the most listeninviting / classic /beautifull listening rooms i ve ever seen .
like the veneer on the closet and speakers too
I had the original Magneplanar Tympani 1U loudspeakers and found they imaged far better with tweeters on the outside. I never understood why anyone would listen to them any other way. As far as tweeters on the outside, I still prefer to listen to Maggie 3.7i's the same way. I also think that if one is using subs, inboard subs next to the bass panels is often preferential, but this may be room and system dependent.
Having spent a few hundred hours on this including taking dozens of room measurements, I think this is both room dependent and determined by personal preference (I own the T-1Ds, owned the 3.5s, and now have heavily modded 3.6s). The good news is a dipole's radiation pattern allows closer side wall placement without interference so you can try it both ways.
Interesting observation. I'm big on measurements but the flattest frequency response (changing room absorption, etc.) was the worst sounding.
I read that article on Marty's system with interest. I too, am a big believer in DSP. I agree wholeheartedly with his remarks about the importance of time alignment. Once I time aligned all my drivers, the improvement in performance was extraordinary. In my system, the effect is very easy to demonstrate. I can switch filters that turns on and off time alignment and do it within seconds.
Barry, I am guessing that the flat frequency response was unacceptably bright?
Actually, no. I removed some absorption from behind the speakers. The reflected rear wave sound smoothed the overall frequency response, but it really unacceptably muddied imaging with its late arrival time at the listening position. The sound stage was bigger and better, but a low level layer or hash was added. Interesting to listen to but not natural.
I've since been able to improve the size of the sound stage a bit by substituting better caps in the crossover network.
Nice, I agree with most all of the comments wrt analog vs DSP for mids-highs and the timing issues involved with that particular setup... It's how my speakers are designed and despite the fact that DSP has a latency based on sampling rate and there being no way to delay the mids/highs that use simple analog xos, getting phase alignment is good enough. There are so many myths used to market speakers and the great majority of folks just take it for fact. DSP is well worth it for low frequencies so this compromise works out very well. So much with speakers is just marketing BS and really doesn't matter, time alignment at low frequencies is one of them, so are super-exotic cabinet materials, and much more....
A friend of mine has Pipedreams w/ two dual 18" subs, he uses different tweeters and xo setup vs stock, the mids run full range and a Pass electronic xo handles the subs and tweets. Sounds great imo! Very nice looking setup and room, Marty, even if it's the old setup!
