Do floorstanding speakers present more realistic imaging than bookshelf speakers?

[Emlin]

The most cohesive image I've heard at home was from Quad ESL63.

The most believable Soundstage was from Magnepan MMG (and I had owned larger versions).

Neither replicated live performances for me, where acoustic performances often competed with reinforcement amplification. Both had real problems that lead me to smaller, dynamic drivers.

At this (late) stage of the game, tone and dynamics trump the illusion of players in my music room.

I've never liked the sound of having the players in my room. That suggests that the acoustics of my room are dominating those of the recording. I prefer my room to be transformed into the one where the recording was made.

Take me there!

 

[Head_Unit]

The max distance between the drivers would be a good start.

This:
View attachment 121855

Versus this:
View attachment 121856

Well yes, but no, but yes The Infinity *ideally* would be emitting a plane wave, and the (vertical!) "distance between the drivers" would kind-of be zero. But I doubt the Infinity's plane wave is super perfect, just my acoustical hunch. As for the tower speakers, if the crossovers are low it shouldn't be a problem. A haiku:
How many are that low
I really truly do not know

 

[Trif]

A lot of open baffle speakers reach the floor and those guys have lots of freedom in terms of size and shape, so perhaps connecting the baffle board to the floor has some benefit.

 

[nerdoldnerdith]

The further drivers are spaced apart, the more vertically stretched out the image is. Line sources like electrostats have very tall images that don't sound natural. Point sources sound small. Tower speakers like the Revel Salon2 have something in between. For certain music like orchestral performances this sounds more accurate. For vocals the point sources sound more accurate.

To really get accurate vertical imaging, the best way would be to use point sources with point source height channels. This is the only way to truly represent a three-dimensional soundfield behind the speakers. You simply cannot get the same amount of information from two speakers.

 

[gsp1971]

This thread should be integrated with this

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ear-and-can-it-be-measured.25313/#post-860899

 

[tuga]

Coaxial mid-tweeter drivers and narrow directivity will produce the "sharpest" imaging. "Realism" is in the eye ear of the beholder...

 

[eddantes]

It's all about the BAAAASSSS... The rest ought to be identical or close to it. I just ran an experiment and it cemented just how important bass is to subjective evaluation.

You want to "experience" the answer to your question? Simply filter the low frequencies to the point where both speakers are capable, and match volume.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Could more drivers spread out over a larger area have a greater affects than purely measured bass extension? Maybe it's not just bass, but everything under 300hz having greater representation throughout the room? A more even sound field from more sources?

Yup. See other threads/sites which discuss the advantages of multiple distributed subwoofers, even smaller ones, vs. a single behemoth.

 

[richard12511]

Coaxial mid-tweeter drivers and narrow directivity will produce the "sharpest" imaging. "Realism" is in the eye ear of the beholder...

For me, it depends on the type of music I listen to, and what I’m trying to imagine.

For Rock/Pop, I think I try to imagine the lead singer in my room singing. For that, a super tight center image sounds closest to real for me, as that’s how the human voice sounds naturally. There are exceptions though. Enya “Only Time” is a good example of a song that sounds better “bigger”.

For symphonic music, I try to imagine I’m at a symphony hall, in the audience. There, a more realistic image is much larger. For that, a more diffuse center image(which towers give) is more realistic to my brain. Again, there are exceptions, depending on how much ambiance there is in the recording.

For electronic, I think I prefer tighter imaging, though I don’t really know why.

My general split is ~60%Rock(mostly everything except Emo and Death Metal)/Pop, 30% classical(mostly symphonic), 10% Electronic and Jazz. Overall, I tend to prefer a tighter center image, My end game might just be to have both, so I can hear either based on what I’m listening to.

 

[BrianP]

Speakers with narrow baffles generally exhibit better off-axis dispersion than wider ones -- they maintain an even power response higher in frequency before getting beamy -- and this seems to correlate with superior horizontal imaging. Especially if the off-axis response rolls off smoothly (no dips or flares) with rising frequency. Small standmounts and skinny towers often image with pinpoint precision, compared to old school wide three-ways with a large woofer beneath the mid and tweet. The latter tend to present broader, less focused images, which may actually more closely resemble what you hear at a live performance.