Home theater towers vs. vintage boxes for stereo imaging

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plastic_avatar
plastic_avatar Posts: 687
in Vintage Speakers
Are the narrow-bodied home-theater speakers inherently poor at providing a great stereo image? At least when compared to vintage speakers designed strictly for stereo listening?

I also wondered how the RTA Polks compared to the wide Polks.

Just musing and trying to compare experiences while I work on my 1c.

I'm thinking about trying my Rti-10 with the new-to-me Yamaha amp I got a few months ago. They've been in the stack of 'part out and ebay' things since I fixed my Monitor 12. Curious if the 175wpc of the new amp will matter for imaging. They were great for theater thump, but failed on stereo joy with my HTR-5990, 5960, and AX-596.


The Thrifty Setups in Mah House Big thrifty stereo in the basement w/ my custom SDA-1C (built with help from kind forum members) * Beautiful 1966 MCM GE console upgraded w/ Bluetooth, Dual turntable, and Paradigm speakers in family room * Swanky 1980 Realistic system and great TEAC eq with dancing colored lights in the living room * Ye Olde college stereo in the garage
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  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,559
    edited June 2022
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    Cabinet has nothing to do with it. Many upper dollar manufactures have thin profile cabinets that are not geared toward HT. Many HT geared speakers are not very good at stereo because they are boosted in the upper frequencies. That is why they can be very fatiguing to listen to for long sessions in 2 channel stereo. Just to be clear regardless whether thin or wide bodied they will more than likely have the same internal cabinet size for the respected divers to operate correctly.
    Post edited by pitdogg2 on
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  • Emlyn
    Emlyn Posts: 4,369
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    Speaker designers know what the issues are with cabinet diffraction and imaging and have ways of working around the issues or not depending on what price points they need to hit. I agree, cabinet structure width is only one consideration for how well a speaker produces a stereo image.

    It doesn't take much wattage from an amp to produce sound from a speaker that images well. Some of the best imaging speakers are simple two driver bookshelf speakers.

    SDA speakers are a whole other story when it comes to cabinet structure.
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  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 28,020
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    I wouldn't say cabinets have no bearing on imaging... I would day the baffle has a huge, huge determining factor.

    Diffraction, time alignment, waveguide, etc etc... All makes a big difference

    A wide baffle with hard corners is maybe an audio no no. Sda has a chest sheet with the sda tech, disable that sda array and they ar enot exactly throwing out the best soundstage 😁

    Crossover components also have a huge effect on soundstage presentation and usually cheaper speakers have junk parts
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
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  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,559
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    VR3 Posts: 25,589
    3:32PM
    I wouldn't say cabinets have no bearing on imaging...
    Very true, I didn't do the best in my description.
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  • plastic_avatar
    plastic_avatar Posts: 687
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    [thinks]

    Thank you all for your responses.

    I'll be cleaning up the listening area again over the next 2 months. I might rotate the Rti10 in, just to see how they sound with the bigger amp (and compared to the older Polks).

    I *really* hate the thought of parting them out and trashing the cabinets =( But if they don't have a place in my stereo world, I gotta make some room.
    The Thrifty Setups in Mah House Big thrifty stereo in the basement w/ my custom SDA-1C (built with help from kind forum members) * Beautiful 1966 MCM GE console upgraded w/ Bluetooth, Dual turntable, and Paradigm speakers in family room * Swanky 1980 Realistic system and great TEAC eq with dancing colored lights in the living room * Ye Olde college stereo in the garage
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  • xschop
    xschop Posts: 4,684
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    Convert them to dedicated subs?

    I would be interested to see inside cabinets pics/construction.
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  • rooftop59
    rooftop59 Posts: 7,973
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    plastic_avatar wrote: »
    [thinks]

    Thank you all for your responses.

    I'll be cleaning up the listening area again over the next 2 months. I might rotate the Rti10 in, just to see how they sound with the bigger amp (and compared to the older Polks).

    I *really* hate the thought of parting them out and trashing the cabinets =( But if they don't have a place in my stereo world, I gotta make some room.

    I don’t him
    plastic_avatar wrote: »
    [thinks]

    Thank you all for your responses.

    I'll be cleaning up the listening area again over the next 2 months. I might rotate the Rti10 in, just to see how they sound with the bigger amp (and compared to the older Polks).

    I *really* hate the thought of parting them out and trashing the cabinets =( But if they don't have a place in my stereo world, I gotta make some room.

    l don’t think you’ll ever be happy with their sound of you prefer older polks and SDAs. The older speakers are so much warmer and a more coherent. Those RTIs were very bright sounding iirc…
    Living Room 2.2: Usher BE-718 "tiny dancers"; Dual DIY Dayton audio RSS210HF-4 Subs with Dayton SPA-250 amps; Arcam SA30; Musical Fidelity A308; Sony UBP-x1000es; Squeezebox Touch with Bolder Power Supply
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  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 28,020
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    Yeah very different design goals
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
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  • plastic_avatar
    plastic_avatar Posts: 687
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    xschop wrote: »
    Convert them to dedicated subs?

    I would be interested to see inside cabinets pics/construction.

    Well, it's easy enough to get the dimensions, right?

    And there's a sweet anti-chuffin' port thingie to transplant.

    And either running a dedicated amp to them, using the original crossover *or* getting a good pair of plate amps...

    Not an elegant, from the ground up solution, but extra oomph for whatever they sit under ;)

    Sounds like a silly project, right?
    The Thrifty Setups in Mah House Big thrifty stereo in the basement w/ my custom SDA-1C (built with help from kind forum members) * Beautiful 1966 MCM GE console upgraded w/ Bluetooth, Dual turntable, and Paradigm speakers in family room * Swanky 1980 Realistic system and great TEAC eq with dancing colored lights in the living room * Ye Olde college stereo in the garage
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,794
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    Sounds like a silly project, right?

    I dare say you already have the answer.
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  • plastic_avatar
    plastic_avatar Posts: 687
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    But will it work?

    That's the fun unknown in this equation =)

    If I sell the mids and tweeters, I can fund the cabinet rebuild... and maybe size them so they fit in with the 5B, or even as stands for the 1C... That would be ridiculous =)
    The Thrifty Setups in Mah House Big thrifty stereo in the basement w/ my custom SDA-1C (built with help from kind forum members) * Beautiful 1966 MCM GE console upgraded w/ Bluetooth, Dual turntable, and Paradigm speakers in family room * Swanky 1980 Realistic system and great TEAC eq with dancing colored lights in the living room * Ye Olde college stereo in the garage
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  • Gardenstater
    Gardenstater Posts: 4,182
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    Nothing DIY is ridiculous if you learn in the process and have fun doing it. Well ..........OK..........maybe building a subwoofer with only a Passive Radiator might be..........ridiculous :p
    George / NJ

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  • plastic_avatar
    plastic_avatar Posts: 687
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    Ha!

    But if I connected a dryer hose from the port on my bookshelf speakers to a port in the subwoofer box...
    The Thrifty Setups in Mah House Big thrifty stereo in the basement w/ my custom SDA-1C (built with help from kind forum members) * Beautiful 1966 MCM GE console upgraded w/ Bluetooth, Dual turntable, and Paradigm speakers in family room * Swanky 1980 Realistic system and great TEAC eq with dancing colored lights in the living room * Ye Olde college stereo in the garage
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