[Vintage-Audio] small speakers

Wed Nov 21 14:43:22 EST 2007

Hi Michael,

After reading the commentary by my good friend, and audio compatriot, Wolf 
Man Bob, there is not a whole lot more one can say.

Correct me here if I am in error, but don't the smaller infinite baffle, as 
well as acoustically loaded, cabinets require more RMS power to drive them? 
As in 'less efficient". High Efficiency Vs Low Efficiency. I am thinking 
here of AR, most models, but I am not sure if the infamous AR-3 fall into 
the group or not, the Advent etc. Most of the smaller cabinets are two-way 
systems and require more RMS up front to move the cones from their state of 
temporarily suspended animation into active reproduction of musical 
frequencies. It has been my observation that the level of volume is 
generally rather high before these small cabinets produce comparable 
frequency response with correct note 'hang times'. Maybe this is why 
somebody invented the "loudness compensator"?

Personally I prefer being able to enjoy the full frequency response range of 
the music from the speaker system at a low audio level. Simply put, still 
being able to conduct a conversation in the same room as the speakers 
without having to use semaphore signals! However, in all fairness to Michael 
and others, since I am now totally blind I do have a more keen, perhaps 
enhanced, sense of hearing. This does make me more aware of many sounds that 
sighted people ignore because their vision is the dominant sense and the 
brain is instructed to filter out any sound that the eye deems undesirable. 
I do not have this automatic filtering going on, so I am aware of far more 
audio input from the environment that my sighted compatriots are.

Let me make one point clear. A person who is totally blind does "not" have 
superior hearing! Nor do they have truly enhanced senses! What they do have 
is a reason to use said senses more then someone with eyesight does. It is 
claimed that as much as 92% of what humans learn is through the visual 
sense. This leaves only 8% for the other nineteen physical senses! Yes, 
there are more then five senses. When I was at the University Of Michigan in 
1970 there were twenty known senses. When a person loses his/her eyesight, 
and since it is so heavily relied on, that 92%, he/she then must use their 
remaining senses to a greater extent. Hence, I learned to listen, to be more 
aware of smells, developed a very accute sense of taste, became so aware of 
temperature changes that I could tell when the air temperature changed by 
one half of a degree etc. Sometimes this results in a literal sensory 
overload! So I had to learn how to filter out some input to keep from being 
overwhelmed by all of what I was now very aware of.

Michael, I have my James B. Lansing Century L-100 mounted at ceiling level 
and directed so as to have the sound at ear level at the other end of the 
room when sitting on the eight foot couch. This eliminates the issue of 
"size". The Wolf Man Bob has been here and observed the placement of my 
thirteen speaker cabinets in the living room/audio room. Despite the images 
flashing through your mind right now, the entire middle of the room is 
completely empty! Since I am totally blind, and since knee high end tables 
or coffee tables tend to fracture the patella, I arrange all furniture and 
equipment against the walls or utilize corner space that is typically 
wasted. So the room does not look like this jungle of cabinets with vines 
made of "Oxygen Free" wire! (LOL!)

I spent thirty+ years on stage performing and "always" carried my own sound 
equipment with me. After what happened at the Beautiful Masonic Temple 
auditorium in Detroit, MI with "professional audio engineers" at their 
controls ... That's another tale! I used Bose commercial speakers and they 
were absolutely fabulous! Now the home systems you see advertised on TV ... 
Bose commercial and Bose home are two different 'things'! So on stage the 
small Bose 401's did an incredible job with the canned audio tracks I had to 
use and for wireless mikes. When needed, a pair of larger 802's filled the 
gap. Now there, the smaller Bose commercial cabinets did a fabulous job! Far 
superior to larger, and much heavier, cabinets with large speakers in them.

However, here at home, the reverse is true. The larger James B. Lansing 
Century L-100 that measure 24 wide, 14 high and 11 deep rule! Michael, the 
Century L-100 are not that much larger then what you are using. Heavier, 
yes. The weight is 55 pounds. There again though, it is a three-way system 
with 12 inch woofer with a 6 pound PM.

If you position your speakers on the floor, elevate them twelve or eighteen 
or thirty inches above the floor, mount them at ceiling level and so forth, 
you may be quite surprised, even pleasantly pleased, as to how it will 
change the quality of the audio! As the Wolf Man named Bob can testify to! 
Although I can not see his audio room, he has described it to me in vivid 
detail and it is absolutely awesome! How he managed to fit all of what he 
has in that 10X12 foot room in there is in itself a minor engineering 
wonder! Floor to ceiling racks, utilization of corner areas, wall suspension 
of speaker cabinets etc. He even has room for a comfortable chair to sit in 
while he absorbs those fantastic vibs his 'dream system' generates. He has 
managed to maximize the 120 SQF and get not only a tremendous amount of 
equipment mounting and storage area, but to also still compensate through 
his electronic wonderland of stuff to retain the beautiful audio his gear 
produces!    Where he is going to find room for "8.1"? He may need to borrow 
one of my Magic wands!

Michael, I wonder if you have done any lab spec checks to compare accurate 
frequency response, dispersion angles, strong - normal - weak frequency 
response areas, distortion etc? It would be most interesting to compare the 
data between your larger and smaller speaker systems.

Duane Fischer, W8DBF/WPE8CXO
dfischer at usol.com
HHI: Halligan's Hallicrafters International
http://www.w9wze.net
HHRP: Historic Halligan Radio Project
hhrp.w9wze.net

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Salmons, Michael" <SalmonsM at missouri.edu>
To: "Vintage home and professional audio equipment from 1975 back" 
<vintage-audio at mailman.qth.net>; <vintage-audio at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 10:01 PM
Subject: [Vintage-Audio] small speakers

> I'm answering Duane's clarion call. How about the topic of small speakers? 
> I'm a bit obsessed with them. Gradually my speaker collection has gotten 
> smaller over time- in terms of cubic volume, not number of pairs!
>
> My favorite pair right now is the EPI M60. The cabinets are 17"H X 9"W X 
> 7"D. I got this from the human speakers site 
> (http://www.humanspeakers.com/e/epi60.htm) but I can confirm it's 
> accurate. My pair is older than the model depicted on the site. The 
> tweeters are the same inverted dome but the woofer surrounds are butyl. 
> The sound of these speakers is just magnificent. Smooth highs and 
> startling present bass for cabs of this size. I guess I'm not totally 
> surprised since I get just as much bass from my older AR4as which are in 
> the same size range; it's also no concidence that both models are acoustic 
> suspension. It isn't a requirement for deep bass but the less 
> resonant-prone, more generally accurate bass that I've heard from smaller 
> cabinets have been that of acoustic suspension models. The cabs are 
> nothing special in terms of looks, it's got the standard vinyl you'd find 
> on virtually any bottom of the line speaker from that era, but the 
> fiberboard is super dense, making a very heavy little speaker for its 
> size. stray resonance is nonexistent.
>
> They are suitable for a range of musical styles. They will thump if you 
> want them to. They will sing delicately if that's what you want. Jazz 
> skillfully recorded by Ahmed Ertegun and played on my Harmon Kardon T55C 
> Turntable with Empire 500 cartridge, powered by a fluoroscan Pioneer 
> SA-6800 amp, makes about the best budget small solid state combo listening 
> experience I've encountered. I'm totally pleased and if the worst should 
> happen and I lose my M60s, I would get another pair in a heartbeat, I 
> wouldn't even want to consider other models.
>
> Okay, I've spilled. Who else loves a small speaker, and which one is it?
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