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What makes a speaker near-, mid- or farfield? What measurements show that?

Marc v E

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Hi there,

After the Mesanovic review and thread somebody remarked that these speakers were obviously midfield and that you could derive that from sound power in one of the klippel graphs.

Can anybody explain how to read from the graphs if a speaker is near, mid or farfield?

My assumption up till now was that there is not such thing as near, mid or far field; just that one type of speaker is more suitable at certain distance due to achievable sound pressure. Ie bigger drivers and more power mean further away. And wide directivity and coaxial mean closer is possible.
 
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In the first place, we need to define nearfield, midfield and farfield. These might help:

https://community.sw.siemens.com/s/...ee-versus-diffuse-field-near-versus-far-field , which is better explained here:


One of the characteristics of air is that it absorbs higher frequencies more efficiently than lower frequencies. A speaker that provides a balanced sound for the listener at close range will therefore sound rolled-off at greater distances. Conversely, a speaker that provides balanced sound at greater distances will sound "hot" at closer distances.

Then there is the old rule of thumb. (Yes, I'm a dinosaur). The nearfield is the listening area where the direct output of the speaker dominates room reflections, and the farfield is the area where room reflections dominate the direct output. The midfield is where the two are more or less balanced.
Like most rules of thumb, this isn't so much scientific as it is convenient. :)
 
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As a longer answer, nearfields are designed with controlled dispersion such that one or maybe two people can sit in the sweet spot. Sound radiation outside that sweetspot is limited (as possible) to avoid exciting the far field: obvs. it is still excited, but the response arrives outside the ear's source acceptance window. This is VERY different to what you want in hifi speakers (or home theatre) where you want to entertain a room full of people.

A reasonable exposition is here:

 
It also depends on speaker designers decision at which min. distance all the drivers will integrate properly.

Nearfield speakers will usually integrate <1m so that they can be used on the desktop at arms length.

Midfield speakers typically integrate at 1m.
 
Here are some excerpts I saved from Floyd Toole's book:

Main monitors:
Large, usually in-wall installed, powerful full bandwidth systems capable of very high sound levels.


Mid-field Monitors:
Medium-sized loudspeakers that may be full bandwidth or may use subwoofers, localized at moderate distance in front of the main console, positioned to minimize reflections from the working surfaces.


Near-field monitors:
Small loudspeakers placed on the meter ridge of the recording console. The reflection for the working surface is part of the sound heard from thee loudspeakers, and their locations may cause them to interfere with what is heard from main or mid-field monitors. Listeners are in the acoustical near field of the source, meaning that the small changes in head location cause changes in the sounds arriving at the ears.
 
- SPL. Some near-field speakers can be bass monsters for their size because they EQ up the bass but that doesn't work when you also want to push the speaker hard. Farfield speakers will roll off the bass early or have a lot more surface area to achieve similar volumes in large rooms. Some far-field speakers use 6.5", 8" or 10" woofers which are not ideal for directivity but provide the desired volume level. Certail near-field speakers use 4" and 5" woofers which would struggle below 200 hz or so in a larger room (no house parties).

- On-axis tuning vs. in-room tuning. The perfect speaker would have perfect on-axis response and perfect in-room response. In real life, nearfield speakers tune for on axis response. Genelec and Neumann 2-way speaker usually have a 2-3 dB dip for in-room response around 2-3 khz due to the crossover. Farfield speakers typically have great in-room response but at the cost of some on-axis wiggles. For example, Revel F206/208 have near perfect estimated in-room responses but some 2-3 dB on-axis wiggles. There are certain defraction effects that may be measurable when perfectly on-axis near-field which seem less impactful in far-field.

- Size. Because near-field speakers can have less SPL, they can be smaller speakers with the drivers closer together. This makes a more coherent image when siting <1m distance. A tower speaker cannot be coherent at 2-3 feet distance because the bottom woofer is about 45 degrees off-axis below you and is twice as far away as the tweeter. Many far-field designed "bookshelf" speakers are really not a size that is practical to place on a desk or studio console.
 
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Just to add that coaxials can be used near/midfield even when not strictly speaking intended for such. I use both a pair of Neumann KH310s and a pair of Tannoy V12s midfield with subs. Both work well. Tho the Tannoys are primarily made for use at greater distances, as they are coaxials, they work well at closer distances too nonetheless. Similarly, the larger Genelecs etc will too. My 2c.
 
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In the Pro world is really about two factors.
First is the sound combined at the given distance? For instance if you were to place a tower on a desk you wouldn't hear the combined sound of all the drivers. You would hear more of the woofer or Tweeter or whatever is closer to you. So in the near field speaker the sound will be combined typically in less than 1 meter. Although there is no official designation.
Second is SPL capability and being able to reach a certain level at a certain distance.

In the consumer world there really is no definition of near, mid or far. I want to see Klipsch, but Polk or any other consumer manufacturer say this is near field or midfield or farfield.

Each speaker whether it is for Pro or consumer market has its intended audience. There can be a lot of crossover. Where I work we have a lot of customers that use Genelec in their living room. But, if I was to look on Genelec's site they are supposed to be near field. Their sound doesn't become garbage as you get further away. They obviously can't play as loud further away, but if someone's doesn't intend to play loud they will work fine.

Dispersion is not really part of it the definition. You will find speakers in the Pro world and in the consumer world would very similar characteristics. And one is meant for a living room and one is meant for near field. But if you look at their measurements and their dispersions they are extremely similar. Speakers are about application, and you need to get the speaker that best suits your application whether that be from the pro market or the consumer market.

A typical smaller bookshelf speaker with a small woofer and a tweeter can be used in the near field, but can also be used in somebody's living room. If you want loud you need a bigger speaker, whether it's a bigger monitor or a tower speaker in the consumer world. And because of the larger drivers or multiple drivers they wouldn't work in the near field because the sound wouldn't be combined that close. Don't get hung up on the labels unless you have professional needs that require it. If you like a speaker and it works in your situation then use it.
 
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