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Can you get "bookshelf sound" from a floorstander?

Listened to B&W's 6 series and much prefered the 686 and 685 to the more expensive floorstanders. I'm a junkie for clear and coherent vocals and the floorstanders seemed to muddy the sound.
Listened to Dynaudio Focus 110s and loved them. Compared them to the Contour 5.4s and I loved the top end of them even more than the Focus' but was again bothered by what I want to call an incoherence... lack of focus... integration... with the low end.

Owned Totem Arros and Dreamcatcher monitors with Dreamcatcher sub and prefered the dreamcatcher monitors over the Arros and without the sub, too.

Am I just a bookshelf guy? Was it my choice of floorstanders? Setup? Anyone have better words to describe what I'm trying to say? I certainly love the low end and dynamic grunt of the big ones but not at such expense.
eyediver
bobbyapalkovic
729 posts
 
9rw, what marty did say is that there are different types of coherence/accuracy and imo, some may be more important than others as far as what is actually heard. this will vary depending on the listener and the product considered. there are no absolutes here.
mapman, when you have a chance e-mail me the information or link to the augmentation/filter device and i will have a look for you.
best, b
mapman's avatar
mapman
15,679 posts
 
Bobby,

Thanks for your kind offer, but there is not much technical info available that I know of for the OHM SBA other than some tidbits on the OHM site that describes what it does for the listener with specific speaker models in very general terms.

The SBA is a circuit board that inserts inline between crossover and woofer and provides a combo tailored boost and filter there as I understand it.

The kit also comes with a port adapter that you insert into the built-in port to tune it to a somewhat lower frequency, I believe.

OHM sells this as a low end enhancement for most every speak they've ever sold, both conventional and Walsh, plus use it in most all newer speaks out of the factory as well, I believe. There have been dozens of models of OHM speakers sold over the 30-40 years they've been around I'd say. The kit cost me ~$70 dollars for a pair of OHM Ls that listed for about $500 new 30 years ago.

I suspect the exact technical specs of the SBA device might well vary by model in terms of the boost, filtering and frequency the port adaptor is designed to tune the specific model to, but I do not know this for fact.
bobbyapalkovic
729 posts
 
mapman, yes, it should be designed with a specific model of speaker in mind to have its effects as positive as possible. let me know if anything ever gets published. have you read the page on the sbam?
http://merlinmusic.com/vsm_bam.htm
this describes it and its effects quite well.
best, b
mapman's avatar
mapman
15,679 posts
 
Bobby,

Yes, Merlin BAM and OHm SBA do appear to be very similar in concept.

Cheers!
bobbyapalkovic
729 posts
 
m, is the sba passive or used in the line level signal path like the sbam?
there is no doubt that these types of devices work and work very well indeed. i am totally surprized that more are not using them. the positive aspects totally out weigh any negative ones that you could think of. however, they are not easy to make sound like they are not there.
best ,b
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