In my opinion, the biggest problem nowadays is no longer the quality of the speakers and the electronics, but the room is the decisive factor in stereo reproduction!
Many of us are increasingly living in rooms with little furniture, curtains and carpets. The problem specially in small rooms are the reflections from the side/back wall who arrive too early and irritate the brain when locating the instruments.
In my case there are also strong early reflections from the wall behind the listening position because it is a very small room. The picture shows the situation (red) and my solution (green).
It is a combination of a LXmini (known here in the forum) and a Gradient 1.4. Both developments had the same goal. The reduction of side and rear reflections, especially in the midrange.
The driver in the sphere (with damped hole in the back = Dipole) is a 4“ Fullrange for the middle/high’s and on top of the tube a 5.5“ bass/middle-driver (Monopole. It doesn't look like, but the arrangement is a point source. The place where the sound is generated is not the membrane but something in front of it/above it. This differs depending on the membrane size and shape.
Crossover: 600 Hz/12 dB/Linkwitz-Riley (settings-> custom 2nd order with Q=0.5)
Delay fullrange : bass = 0.17 msec. (approx. 2.4 inch)
Results:
Frequency near field (after equalizing):
Step response:
Room acoustic:
Range for optimal music hearing. The room has only 150 square feet! Goal reached!
Some more pictures:
Best regards
Norbert
