I fully understand the limitations of smaller speakers and certainly don't expect them to sound as convincing as very large speakers when reproducing the sound of a full symphony in a well designed large room.
Indeed. Even though smaller speakers can be quite good at it, they just cannot reproduce large-scale music at a size that large speakers can. Even though I like my sound at home, I am under no illusion with respect to this.
But I have heard small speakers reproduce small scale music exceptionally well and wonder if large speakers can do that as well.
I am wondering as well. A number of the proponents/owners of large speakers here seem to pretend that 'it's not even an issue'. Well, I got bad news: it
IS an issue. Why else would Harry Pearson, an eminent figure in audio, have written the following in his review of the large NOLA Concert Grand Reference Gold speakers:
http://thehighfidelityreport.com/nola-concert-grand-reference-gold/
But where the CGRG stands alone is the ability to properly, and thoroughly, reproduce all variations of music, including the smaller, the softer, and more delicate moments.
They provide appropriate and accurate image size on solo voice and smaller groups, a most difficult task for large loudspeakers. They sound as fluidly natural on soft and delicate passages as they do on the fireworks (and they will knock you flat on the loud, dynamic, demanding stuff). Typically, mega-speakers are most suitable for “large scale works”, to be played at loud levels, because these speakers always sound “large” (this is the trade-off). But this tendency to produce “large” sounds occur even when the program is a “smaller” source, stripping away the natural elements, taking you away from the source.
Big speakers DO have difficulty reproducing small scale, as even Harry Pearson points out. I personally have never heard any of them do it right. But that was always at dealerships, and there may be always issues with set-up. So I still give them the benefit of the doubt. Why? Because I know how hard it is to get a speaker to sound optimal, especially at a dealer. I have never heard imaging and soundstaging from my speakers at a dealership like I have now at home. Heck, in the 23 years that I have had the speakers at home I have never heard soundstaging and imaging from them even remotely close to what I have now until recently, with all the room treatments, electronics and optimization in set-up (however, not surprisingly I have never heard bloating of images from my small speakers, except with weird recordings).
So let's assume that large speakers indeed can sound small. What is it that enables this? What is the difference in set-up at a dealer and optimized set-up at home? Lloyd had very good posts on vibration control and noise control, but is that it? A Magico Q7 does not vibrate, but in the few minutes I have heard it, it played precisely into the stereotype of a large speaker that can't do small. So what is it that makes large speakers 'tick' so that they can reproduce small size properly? Can all of them do it under optimal circumstances, or can just a few do it?
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Edit: I just realized that the comments about the NOLA Concert Grand Reference Gold speakers cited above are not from HP, but from someone else offering additional thoughts to his review. My apologies. Nonetheless, the observations obviously stand.
