I've been playing around with the R3 meta and Lintons and decided to do up some quick MMM measurements just to get an overall idea of how each speaker is behaving in my space. I wrote some observations as some of the measurements explain some of what I heard, and also raises more questions. Also, I have 2 boys (toddlers), so a speaker that works with the grill on is important to me. I have owned 15+ speakers and pretty much only buy speakers with spins lately. I have to say that to me, these are the best I have come across, but for different reasons.
I've listened for months before doing any measurements, the Lintons definitely sounded warmer, fuller and more forgiving, but had some low mid resonances (maybe the entertainment unit is to blame). This along with the 1khz dip made it less intelligible for movie dialogue relative to the R3 meta. The R3 meta is thinner sounding, but man does it have a way of being ultra clear and detailed without being bright, likely attributed to it's very well controlled directivity and narrower dispersion (lower amplitude sidewall reflections). The difference in dispersion I think is why the Lintons sound bigger, but the R3M have way more space between acoustic elements, and imaging is far more defined and in focus. The R3M do a better job at tricking the brain into thinking sounds are extending past the sides of the speaker, especially when the sounds are higher in frequency. Really great with movie sound effects.
Both speakers sit on a cabinet with just a piece of cork on there, which I think may not be enough, as I find the cabinet really resonates when I have my hand on it. Makes me wonder how much of an effect it's having. I might have to find time to decouple it and remeasure both speakers.
Ignoring the room effects below 600hz, the response is incredible. This is with zero effort (placement, no room treatment, no peq) Kind of astounding. The stuff above 100hz is sbir and floor bounce etc, not 100% sure on the audibility of that mess. The 100hz peak and below is a total disaster but more on that later.
So the above is with the grill on. It doesn't look too bad but I found it audible and was a reason for me to dig out the measurement mic. It didn't sound the same to me.
And here is direct comparison to the Linton. If I saw these measurements, I would have assumed the linton's to be brighter sounding, and less forgiving speaker. I guess the wide mid frequency dip is responsible for it. What I don't understand is how the bass is so different. They're sitting in exactly the same position, woofers at the same height, a few inches different spacing for the port, but the lintons have 10db more bass at 40hz. I mean, it's pretty much a complete bass black hole below 80hz. That doesn't align with their anechoic differences, and there's clearly some room effect going on here I didn't account for. I can't help but think that the entertainment cabinet resonance behaves differently with either speaker resulting in massive cancellations? I know distributed subs will fix some of these issues, and I will eventually get around to building my subs. I just found it interesting.
Other than dispersion, I also wonder if the bass issue is also partly why the the R3M sound thin and don't have that big room filling sound in my space compared to the linton. Male vocals defintely are short an octave. Really doesn't do Johnny Cash or Louie Armstrong justice. Anyone know if a sub helps with male vocals?
Overall the R3Ms are an insanely good speaker, as close to perfect as I have found but I'm probably not going to keep either speaker. If the R3M grill was different, then it would be the one! (As I typed those last couple of sentences I felt like I'm being stupid but I can't quite put my finger on why. I'm sure my wife could point it out though). The Lintons are awesome for music, but I don't love their issue with dialogue for movies. I may play around with some damping material underneath to see if isolating from the cabinet helps, or if it really is just the mid range dip.
Really trying not to buy the mofi 8 or 888
I've listened for months before doing any measurements, the Lintons definitely sounded warmer, fuller and more forgiving, but had some low mid resonances (maybe the entertainment unit is to blame). This along with the 1khz dip made it less intelligible for movie dialogue relative to the R3 meta. The R3 meta is thinner sounding, but man does it have a way of being ultra clear and detailed without being bright, likely attributed to it's very well controlled directivity and narrower dispersion (lower amplitude sidewall reflections). The difference in dispersion I think is why the Lintons sound bigger, but the R3M have way more space between acoustic elements, and imaging is far more defined and in focus. The R3M do a better job at tricking the brain into thinking sounds are extending past the sides of the speaker, especially when the sounds are higher in frequency. Really great with movie sound effects.
Both speakers sit on a cabinet with just a piece of cork on there, which I think may not be enough, as I find the cabinet really resonates when I have my hand on it. Makes me wonder how much of an effect it's having. I might have to find time to decouple it and remeasure both speakers.
Ignoring the room effects below 600hz, the response is incredible. This is with zero effort (placement, no room treatment, no peq) Kind of astounding. The stuff above 100hz is sbir and floor bounce etc, not 100% sure on the audibility of that mess. The 100hz peak and below is a total disaster but more on that later.
So the above is with the grill on. It doesn't look too bad but I found it audible and was a reason for me to dig out the measurement mic. It didn't sound the same to me.
And here is direct comparison to the Linton. If I saw these measurements, I would have assumed the linton's to be brighter sounding, and less forgiving speaker. I guess the wide mid frequency dip is responsible for it. What I don't understand is how the bass is so different. They're sitting in exactly the same position, woofers at the same height, a few inches different spacing for the port, but the lintons have 10db more bass at 40hz. I mean, it's pretty much a complete bass black hole below 80hz. That doesn't align with their anechoic differences, and there's clearly some room effect going on here I didn't account for. I can't help but think that the entertainment cabinet resonance behaves differently with either speaker resulting in massive cancellations? I know distributed subs will fix some of these issues, and I will eventually get around to building my subs. I just found it interesting.
Other than dispersion, I also wonder if the bass issue is also partly why the the R3M sound thin and don't have that big room filling sound in my space compared to the linton. Male vocals defintely are short an octave. Really doesn't do Johnny Cash or Louie Armstrong justice. Anyone know if a sub helps with male vocals?
Overall the R3Ms are an insanely good speaker, as close to perfect as I have found but I'm probably not going to keep either speaker. If the R3M grill was different, then it would be the one! (As I typed those last couple of sentences I felt like I'm being stupid but I can't quite put my finger on why. I'm sure my wife could point it out though). The Lintons are awesome for music, but I don't love their issue with dialogue for movies. I may play around with some damping material underneath to see if isolating from the cabinet helps, or if it really is just the mid range dip.
Really trying not to buy the mofi 8 or 888
)
