ideal characteristics for "background music" speakers

[kenshone]

What would be the ideal characteristics of a speaker system for background music? To be clear, by "background music," I mean music, and sound in general, that does not need to be the center of attention, but can become the center of specific people's attention by their choice.

My initial guess is that you'd want a sound system with a more airy quality that ideally has low power requirements. Any other thoughts?

 

[sarumbear]

Wide dispersion. Small size. Simple mounting gear.

 

[tomtoo]

A littel bit v schaped fr curve. If you cant eq.

 

[AwesomeSauce2015]

Ironically, for a friend's house I'm helping them with building, we will be putting a pair of KEF Q950s (and possibly some sub) in the main room as part of the whole home audio system. We will be putting Q350s in some of the offices / bedrooms as well.

The important thing was the ability for the system to handle playing it loud if there was a party happening, and for it to be very clean and detailed, so that it doesn't draw needless attention to itself.

Basically, because the speakers sound natural and clean, you don't get annoyed listening to them for hours on end, and you can run them at lower levels and still hear the music.

So I would say that for a background system, the speakers need to have good dispersion, need to look good, and also need to have low distortion and clean FR. Basically, the speakers need to be good speakers, just they don't need extreme SPL capability unless you are using them for parties / events...

 

[Timcognito]

Boombox like Bluesond Pulse

 

[More Dynamics Please]

One important element I've found when playing music quietly in the background is to dial in extra deep bass response. Deep bass helps create the illusion that the music is playing louder without the intrusiveness of louder mids. I like the feeling of getting a little extra tickle in the gut while playing music at a level that doesn't interfere with discussions with my wife or guests. Background music with insufficient bass makes me feel like I'm in an elevator or a doctor's office.

 

[Doodski]

One important element I've found when playing music quietly in the background is to dial in extra deep bass response. Deep bass helps create the illusion that the music is playing louder without the intrusiveness of louder mids. I like the feeling of getting a little extra tickle in the gut while playing music at a level that doesn't interfere with discussions with my wife or guests. Background music with insufficient bass makes me feel like I'm in an elevator or a doctor's office.

Yes, I agree and I was thinking that Yamaha's variable loudness would be a very good arrow in the quiver for this use.

 

[kenshone]

Is this something you want to do, or just information you'd like to have? Jim

Something I may do.

 

[HansHolland]

many loudspeakers, in that way it is everywhere loud enough without at some places not loud enough. It also helps for reaching a louder maximum sound pressure in the case you want (for a party).

mono, for making sure that you at certain places in the room you hear everything (not only the bass player from the left speaker and half the drum kit)

Further: just as good as it gets louspeakers. I would prefer to do the loudness curve with an equalizer and not opt for loudpseakers with a build in loudness curve (to stay flexible).

 

[kokakolia]

You can build a wonderful speaker for background music for $15. Search "World's Greatest Speakers" on YouTube.

The idea is to buy a $10 exciter driver and glue it onto a thin board of plywood. Hang the board with string. The result is an extremely detailed speaker in the mid frequencies. The sound is surprisingly omnidirectional. So placement doesn't affect the sound at all. The major drawbacks are rolled off treble and bass. But that's not an issue for background music. A lot of folk/indie/chamber music/jazz is basically all mids.

If budget is not a concern, then the Devialet Phantom is a wonderful little speaker for filling a room with sound. And you'll get surprisingly deep bass.

 

[Ciobi69]

i built an open baffle speakers with a full range driver, they have huge dispersion, only for the purpose of having background music, powered by an smsl 300 managed via bluetooth

 

[HansHolland]

i built an open baffle speakers with a full range driver, they have huge dispersion, only for the purpose of having background music, powered by an smsl 300 managed via bluetooth

Ehh, the sound cancels out to the sides (sound from the front is opposite from the sound from the back). So no hugh dispersion.

 

[Ciobi69]

Ehh, the sound cancels out to the sides (sound from the front is opposite from the sound from the back). So no hugh dispersion.

That is true but they have a great dispersion ,i tried them, it's a 18 inch full range driver , i don't have the dispersion graphics ,just built them for fun ,and they works wonder

 

[Timcognito]

 

[Killingbeans]

Any other thoughts?

A single speaker. Mono. Omnidirectional.

 

[Timcognito]

Shades of Burhoe (the Silent Speaker) and Shahinian (Compass and Starter)!

Had not heard about those. I like that some view the two box world differently. Will read up on them. Difficult to test with a Klipple I bet. Thanks

 

[LTig]

Bose Wave Radio - no kidding, I'm serious. My late uncle had one in a big room (about 5 m x 10 m and maybe 6 m high) with lots of window area on the wide side. It is positioned on a table not close to a wall and when it plays it fills the room with kind of a relaxing sound.

 

[Snarfie]

Bose Wave Radio - no kidding, I'm serious. My late uncle had one in a big room (about 5 m x 10 m and maybe 6 m high) with lots of window area on the wide side. It is positioned on a table not close to a wall and when it plays it fills the room with kind of a relaxing sound.

Samen experience here. Found one at a thrift store last week. Put it on a table an sounds relaxing with firm warm bass room filling. Looks better than a soundbar.