Time alignment and depth of sound stage, especially when going active

[Shadders]

Wilson, Avalon, Hyperion, kawero …my pics of the Munich show would surprise you of how many

Hi,
I ran a quick check on the last 12 issues of Hifi News, and 18 are not time aligned, and 4 are time aligned, essentially 18%. Which is a higher number than expected.

I am not surprised that time alignment is not discussed, as peoples ears are not that sensitive as they believe they are. If there was a product that could "time align" your existing design, i am sue people would be concerned about it, as the product implies imperfection in their existing speakers.

It does seem to be, if there is something to sell, then there is a problem to be solved. If there is no after market product, then there is no issue.... probably.

Regards,
Shadders.

 

[Fatmarley]

Of course,

My issue is that I don’t get why mechanical TI exists, is it actually possible to hear the difference of the CPS between a tweeter/mid?

Like I said in a previous post, It's purely to help achieve phase alignment throughout the crossover. There are other ways, like asymmetrical crossovers, ladder delay networks, or just using a high order crossover.

 

[tackleberry]

Do you go to hifi shows/bake-offs? do you only read product reviews and magazine news?

 

[Shadders]

Do you go to hifi shows/bake-offs? do you only read product reviews and magazine news?

Hi,
No, i don't go to bake off's or hifi shows. I build my own hifi, so i purchase Hifi News as it has the most informative reviews on equipment from a technical aspect. If what i have built does sound dire i can change it. Yet, i have not heard anything dire, just a different presentation. I am not one for chasing the perfect sound.

Regards,
Shadders.

 

[tackleberry]

Fair enough, I love building speakers, just wish I had more time to do it.

 

[tuga]

On this point we should mention the Line Array option, such as the Dali Megaline. This type produce a cylindrical waveform as opposed to a spherical waveform of a conventional speaker, minimising boundary interaction.
I find Line Arrays fascinating and if I ever had to get rid of the horns I would be looking at the Megalines and similar designs. The Megaline, though having umpteen drivers is basically a 2 way active with an 8ft ribbon - oh yes!

Jack NSM

Keele's Constant Beamwidth Transducers would be a good candidate:

https://www.xlrtechs.com/dbkeele.com/CBT.php

 

[tackleberry]

As a contradiction, line arrays fascinate me. I’d like to hear those.

 

[MF 1000]

I’ve always thought about building an active version of the Vistaton Grand Orgue line arrays

https://impactaudio.co.uk/products/visaton-grand-orgue-price-per-pair

 

[tackleberry]

Not many could get away with the look of those

 

[Lawrence001]

Sloping baffles are not the only way of achieving time alignment, Amphion put the tweeter in a horn which places it at the same depth as the woofer point source. Mission's inverted tweeter positioning made the distance to the tweeter slightly longer (if the mid-bass was at ear height). B&W put the tweeters in pods set slightly back.