Beyond Linearity: My Journey into the World of Speaker Dispersion
Four years ago, I stumbled upon ASR almost by accident, while troubleshooting an Emotiva amp issue. At that point, I had no idea I'd soon be diving headfirst into one of the deepest rabbit holes of my life: SINAD chasing. Before I knew it, I was buying every SOTA amp I could find and selling my old gear. With amps and DACs, it's easy—just compare the measurements.
But speakers? That’s where it got complicated. Thankfully, ASR started reviewing more speakers, helping clarify what to buy next. However, budget and existing gear made it tricky. I already had speakers I believed were excellent because everyone said so—except there were no reliable measurements to confirm it.
Determined to get some clarity, I teamed up with others from the German community and sent a speaker off to the USA for testing. That speaker was this one:
www.audiosciencereview.com
Well, not exactly this model—it was actually my surround speaker from the same NuVero series. Shipping my 70 kg NuVero 170 was obviously out of the question, but since the designs and drivers were very similar, we figured performance would be comparable.
After reading that review, reality hit: my speaker wasn't as perfect as I'd convinced myself. What does a true SINAD and linearity chaser do next? Exactly—I visited my local hi-fi shop, auditioned KEF and Genelec, quickly dropped Genelec (because I wanted passive), and settled on KEF Reference 3 Meta. I immediately sold off my entire Nubert system.
But after living with the KEFs for a year, I noticed something fundamental. Coaxial speakers like the KEFs have limited spatial imaging, especially in smaller rooms. They sound focused and clean, almost like listening directly to near-field studio monitors. Minimal early reflections, yes, but the room never felt truly filled.
This got me thinking about my Nuberts again—especially after looking at their radiation patterns. The magic, it seemed, lay in their incredibly broad horizontal dispersion, filling the room effortlessly even into the high frequencies.
Nubert Nuvero 60 KEF Reference 1 Meta (very similar to Reference 3 Meta)
To confirm my suspicion, I repurchased my old NuVero 70 speakers (no typo!). With their smaller baffles, dual BMR drivers, and a low 1900 Hz tweeter crossover, they produce a wide, live, and immersive soundstage. It's vibrant, natural, and what my ears instinctively expect. Sure, they're not flawless—they can sound overly bright, a bit undefined, and far from perfectly linear. But hey, that's why we have Dirac, Audyssey, and EQ, right?
Here's my point: chasing absolute linearity in speakers is like obsessing over SINAD in amplifiers—past a certain threshold, it becomes meaningless. What's the use of a laser-focused, super-linear speaker in a cozy living room?
Interestingly, this impression isn't just anecdotal. Research by Floyd E. Toole has shown that speakers with wider and smoother off-axis response tend to be preferred by listeners, especially in typical living rooms. Even when the reflections are uneven, they are still preferred over a narrow but clean reflection profile.
Room size matters a lot. In a smaller room (~18 m²), narrow dispersion speakers like KEF Reference, MoFi, or Genelec may disappoint, while broad dispersion speakers like Nubert truly shine. In larger rooms (30+ m²), the opposite might be true, as wide-dispersion speakers could sound overly reverberant.
Now I'm sitting here with two completely opposite setups: KEF Reference + KEF R3 vs. Nubert NuVero 70 + NuVero 30, both powered by KC92 subs. I'll likely keep both and rotate every few months. Maybe that's exactly the variety we audiophiles need—to keep things fresh, avoid endless gear chasing, and stay grounded.
Thanks for reading!
Four years ago, I stumbled upon ASR almost by accident, while troubleshooting an Emotiva amp issue. At that point, I had no idea I'd soon be diving headfirst into one of the deepest rabbit holes of my life: SINAD chasing. Before I knew it, I was buying every SOTA amp I could find and selling my old gear. With amps and DACs, it's easy—just compare the measurements.
But speakers? That’s where it got complicated. Thankfully, ASR started reviewing more speakers, helping clarify what to buy next. However, budget and existing gear made it tricky. I already had speakers I believed were excellent because everyone said so—except there were no reliable measurements to confirm it.
Determined to get some clarity, I teamed up with others from the German community and sent a speaker off to the USA for testing. That speaker was this one:

Nubert NuVero 60 Speaker Review
This is a review, listening tests, EQ and detailed measurements of the Nubert NuVero 60 3-way stand-mount speaker. It was kindly sent by a member from Germany and costs €1,650 (US $1780) a pair. I had to take my diffuser out of the lightbox to fit the speaker in there so please pardon the...

Well, not exactly this model—it was actually my surround speaker from the same NuVero series. Shipping my 70 kg NuVero 170 was obviously out of the question, but since the designs and drivers were very similar, we figured performance would be comparable.
After reading that review, reality hit: my speaker wasn't as perfect as I'd convinced myself. What does a true SINAD and linearity chaser do next? Exactly—I visited my local hi-fi shop, auditioned KEF and Genelec, quickly dropped Genelec (because I wanted passive), and settled on KEF Reference 3 Meta. I immediately sold off my entire Nubert system.
But after living with the KEFs for a year, I noticed something fundamental. Coaxial speakers like the KEFs have limited spatial imaging, especially in smaller rooms. They sound focused and clean, almost like listening directly to near-field studio monitors. Minimal early reflections, yes, but the room never felt truly filled.
This got me thinking about my Nuberts again—especially after looking at their radiation patterns. The magic, it seemed, lay in their incredibly broad horizontal dispersion, filling the room effortlessly even into the high frequencies.
Nubert Nuvero 60 KEF Reference 1 Meta (very similar to Reference 3 Meta)
To confirm my suspicion, I repurchased my old NuVero 70 speakers (no typo!). With their smaller baffles, dual BMR drivers, and a low 1900 Hz tweeter crossover, they produce a wide, live, and immersive soundstage. It's vibrant, natural, and what my ears instinctively expect. Sure, they're not flawless—they can sound overly bright, a bit undefined, and far from perfectly linear. But hey, that's why we have Dirac, Audyssey, and EQ, right?
Here's my point: chasing absolute linearity in speakers is like obsessing over SINAD in amplifiers—past a certain threshold, it becomes meaningless. What's the use of a laser-focused, super-linear speaker in a cozy living room?
Interestingly, this impression isn't just anecdotal. Research by Floyd E. Toole has shown that speakers with wider and smoother off-axis response tend to be preferred by listeners, especially in typical living rooms. Even when the reflections are uneven, they are still preferred over a narrow but clean reflection profile.
Room size matters a lot. In a smaller room (~18 m²), narrow dispersion speakers like KEF Reference, MoFi, or Genelec may disappoint, while broad dispersion speakers like Nubert truly shine. In larger rooms (30+ m²), the opposite might be true, as wide-dispersion speakers could sound overly reverberant.
Now I'm sitting here with two completely opposite setups: KEF Reference + KEF R3 vs. Nubert NuVero 70 + NuVero 30, both powered by KC92 subs. I'll likely keep both and rotate every few months. Maybe that's exactly the variety we audiophiles need—to keep things fresh, avoid endless gear chasing, and stay grounded.
Thanks for reading!
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