I am currently using 4 pair of speakers in stereo and two subwoofer cabinets. Each cabinet has its own eq curve and time alignment. It was such a pain to get it right. It took me weeks to set up, but the outcome is near perfect to my ears. The bass response was by far the most difficult to get right. At listening position, you can't tell the sounds is coming from any particular speaker, even if you look right at it. Friends of mine had no idea music could be so enveloping. It's so satisfying.

I made some stereo distributed mode loudspeakers for some fun. A/B them with some elac debut 5.2’s, very different sounds. Then I ran together because why not and and loved it, perfect complements.

Under 4 minutes to the best point of the video; as someone that produces music I apply comb filters to sound to create nulls intentionality, and it’s crazy how much that made understanding stereo fields just click in my brain. Great vid as always.

I run my 4 speaker setup with the other 2 speakers as surround speakers, as you mentioned near the end of your video. I like it. Also, don't have to turn up the music as loud to get that "immersive" music sound and disturbing the neighbors. 😁

Great info as always Gene. Thanks for the post.

Much to my surprise I never thought I would endorse more then on pair of L/R mains... Until I heard a pair of jamo 507a's (ran as the inside pair) and a pair of Mirage Omni 150's (ran the outside pair) the two seemed to compliment eachother and really made an amazing sound stage for all that was listened to. Now that being said don't know how that does with home theater and all only listened in stereo modes with music.

I had these considerations when setting up my latest and probably final incarnation of a stereo system in our retirement home(I'm 71 and have been involved with audio (non-professionally) since the late '60s). I decided to pull out the stops and build the best system I could put together. The system is a mix of old and new and is only used for Stereo/LPs, no streaming or radio which can be had on the HT next to the stereo. Turntables Thorens TD-160C with Shure V15III (New 1976) - using Project Tubebox S2 VPI Prime, 10.5" printed arm, Ortofon 2M Black 250 LVB.(2021) using the McIntosh phono. Amps McIntosh MA352 (20201) McIntosh MC275 VI (2022) on the 2nd pre-output of the MA352 Speaker Selector Niles Audio selector with volume control to balance the speakers Speakers: JBL L100 (New) Century on the MA352 output 1 (Inside pair) Klipsch Forte II -(New 1989) modified with new tweeters and x--over. The Inside pair are about 10' apart and the listening position is about 15' back. The speakers are about 3' from the wall. So far I find I prefer the mix of the 2 amps/speakers. The speakers appear to compliment each other and fill in each others shortcomings. I tried 2 subs in the system originally but have pulled them, preferring the sound without them. It's possible (more likely probable) that my ears are getting old but I am finding the sound to be exquisite. I switch back and forth to the individual speakers and keep returning to the 2 pairs. I find I can get lost in the sound (with or without bourbon) and I have not found an issue with the soundstage. Maybe I just got lucky? Maybe the laws of physics don't apply in my man-cave?

Back in the 70’s when I was in college, people were stacking AR 3a’s or similar, with the top speaker inverted. It’s not too dissimilar to the modern tall speakers of today.

Comb filtering, exactly! ~Great topic Gene! Thank you.

Musical harmony can happen when blending bi wireable dipole tower planar magnetic tweeter, planar midrange with cone subwoofer. Addingthe dual woofers of a typical tower box speaker (in this case a B&W and not using its cone tweet and mid range). The Dipole planars, as you know are not affected by an adjacent box speaker. I tried this today and now get fast clarity and decay in acoustic with gut punchier bass. I would never thought to do this until I watched your video. A big thanks.

I've briefly thought 'what if I put some bookshelf speakers on top of those floorstanders, maybe I'll try it one day' then never bothered or given it any further thought... Now I know why not to bother or give it any more thought! Thanks Gene

Also, when mixing two different types of speakers, the different group delay characteristics will often cause more cancellation.

Haha, very timely video. I finally just got my Thiel 2.2's back from my ex after not seeing them for 6 years, but haven't hooked them up for the reasons you bring up. I have a pair of Focal Kanta No 2's I could set them next to - but the only thing I'd be accomplishing is to make sure they're still fully functional! But I wouldn't be able to evaluate them against the Focal's in any meaningful way. Each speaker needs to have a very different positioning for optimum soundstage and response. One or the other would necessarily suffer. Unless I can employ the services of a friend or two - they'll remain in their boxes until I do my secondary setup in the den.

I run two pairs but of the exact same models purchased at the same time. I would never dream of running two pairs of different models as "audio intuition" would suggest it would be a disaster. I absolutely love my setup. I still have great imaging and soundstage PLUS massive output with very low distortion as none are working very hard.

Good topic. I have not seen this topic done until now.

depending on my seating i can run a two set system or even a three set system. it not comb filtering uncontrolably, preserving details and having a great stereo image is a coicidence created by positioning and my room. it started when using the boombox on the wall behind my seat on my desk as back speakers for surround sound. for curriosities sake i ran both from the same 2 channel signal, which resulted in a cancelation at my seat that created binaural stereo. i now use binaural instead of surround. when moving from the desk chair to my tv seat (the wall 90° to my desk) i noticed the two speaker sets creating a correct stereo image centered on my tv, so i ran the tv speaker setup (center, sub, L-R, L-R ultrawide) in synchronization to see if it still fits, and it did. all these things combined have a better frequency response than any of the sets alone. and the image is awesome. so i now use this frankenstein wall of sound made from desktop speakers, a boombox and the tv setup as my cinema and listening system.

Good content Gene. I've tried the multiple speaker setup in my younger days with JBL L-166 bookshelf speakers. The best results I've gotten was stacking them. Two pairs, left & right each on top of each other. The impact was quite satisfying! The bass hit with much more authority & depth! It totaled four 12" woofers! If you want to feel concert bass there's no way around cheating physics. The thing with the L-166 Horizon were their mid/tweeter arrangements. They were positioned side by side in vertical. In horizontal the mid/high are better aligned, not perfect. Weird that JBL would make a bookshelf horizontal rather than the classic standard vertical ? Also weird, they weren't mirror pairs either? But stacking them helped them do a better job at producing realistic sound levels monitoring. It only made clear to step up to JBL L-150A. They were towers with two 12" woofers each. That achieved the effect in a 12" square foot print. It wasn't utopian..but it was very impressive for young ears & poprock & 70s Fusion.

I run 2 pairs of speakers in my tiny living room for a different reason: the main speakers of the main amp are aimed broadsided because of the television that they happen to accompany. When listening to music lengthwise and also because of the small room dimensions, it's very easy to step out of the speakers field of sound. So I have two book shelf speakers on a mini amp aimed lengthwise and above ear level, to continue the sound when I get up from my seat, or for people standing around during a party.

Magnepan did listening tests with non-professional listeners where they did three channel stereo with a center channel that played L+R at half the volume (- 3 db) and for orchestral music people found it to sound more like an orchestra. In the 1930's Bell Labs published that this was the way to play orchestral music. For opera where you might not want the effect of a center channel if you want to place individual singers I turn off the center channel or play it in 5 channel if the disc has it and I use 5 channels for SACD. I have a selector switch on my center channel amplifier and I have the drivers of the 45 triodes driving an extra pair of 45 triodes the outputs of which go through one output transformer to get L+R without interfering with the stereo channels. Then I transformer couple the stereo channels to the grids of 833A radio station transmitter tubes run gently at 1000 Volts through Hammond's biggest air gapped output transformers to get enough power to use Magnepan 0.7 speakers and because the Magnepan center channel is slightly different from the stereo speakers I use a more modest GM70 triode.

Multiple point sources of sound do more harm than good, with the exception of a carefully well designed line array. it is all about timing, phase, and arrival times. Many good videos on comb filtering, which you need to understand that to get the basics of what is going on here. Great topic, hope it helps folks.

Very informative !

I have a pair of 1976 Celestion 15's and a pair of Elac b5.2's. Celestion's are placed on the floor and Elac's are placed on top of the Celestion's. I'm not happy with the sound of those speakers separately, but, when I play them together, I'am. I'm sure I'm not having an ideal representation, but I like the sound they produce together: Celestion's help with the bass, Elac's with the mids and treble. I still think I want a bit more treble, but I like it. Thanks for your video. Very informative.

Even when I was doing car stereo contests I found the best sound was with three sets of speakers two tweets two mids, two subs. I found, when I introduced even rear speakers, it would draw the soundstage back would even do cancellation to my subs. With six speakers, 4 in front and 2 subs in back, I was running about 141+ db, and listening to "thriller" I could plainly hear the door open in the left of stage and the person walking across the stage, then the door closing on the right. When listening to music you could point to where each musician was standing on stage,. And orchestra's were breathtaking! I even had a recording of the Saturn 5 liftoff, and it would rock the car on it's springs! Anything above 1/2 volume you couldn't light a lighter in that car, even at a standstill. Excellent video. One set of speakers wave time alignment and bunches of power was my ticket, and I have some trophies to prove it. Now I want to get my old pioneer amp going again 160 wpc with. 02 distortion.. and caps as big as beer cans... Lol

I have a different and somewhat unique use case. I like omnidirectional speakers. My first were gen1 Bose 601's (stolen in a break-in unfortunately). Currently have Ohm Walsh 5000 Talls. Also have pair of Magnepan LRS+ on order. Seeking a budget, quasi-omindirectional setup for a non-primary listening space. Current "experiment" is 3 pairs of Sony SS-CS5's ($113 per pair from Amazon) stacked one upon the other on custom tripod speaker stands to insure the middle, primary pair's tweeters are aimed directly at primary listening position with tweeter exactly at ear level. Bottom pair are aimed "out" exactly 90 degrees from primary pair (HUGE room with sidewalls 10 feet away). Top pair are inverted and aimed "in" 90 degrees from primary pair, and bouncing off 120" home theatre screen on back wall. Distance between stacks is approximately 10 feet. In summary, the "stacks" are pretty much squared up at their corners -- and held in place with some Blue Tac -- with the top and bottom speakers drivers facing in opposite directions.) Also present are a pair of SVS 1000 Pro's crossed over at 80Hz. Have only completed preliminary listening tests, but initial experience is that it sounds good -- for the money (3 x $113 = $339). Much more listening in store as summer winds down and we head into a Michigan winter. NOTE: Have purchased the GR Research upgrade for the primary, on-axis pair but have not yet had time to install.

I’ve had really great results running multiple stereo speakers. Haveing a inner and outer set widened the sound stage to floating between the two speakers. No loss in positioning or clarity. Same signal to both channels. The outer set sit 3 feet farther out and two feet closer. The are Omni directional speakers so that might be helping the comb filtering

Back when I was a kid, around 15 years old I did this as well but quickly discovered that no matter how you do it it’s still better with one pair alone than with dual pairs. More often than not those setups sound horrible. The last two systems I saw like this were both Klipsch. It’s like they buy the lower one and then buy a higher model but want to keep them both connected somehow. Then they get used to the wall of sound, and there’s no going back.

Great info. Thanks!

Cool video. I just figured this out for myself when I added a pair of Focal chorus 807v to my system. The speakers sound great but I like them played by themselves with a subwoofers ×2 . I tried them as front presence channels and running the Polk r 200s as my mains but it didn't sound right.

I did it for years in the 90's it was my poor man's surround sound system and it worked great. I had a stereo hifi vcr and an eq which I still have and in fact I still have my equipment except for the vcr and all of it still works I no longer use 2 pairs of speakers anymore but back then when surround systems cost more than what I made I to make do with what I had. I just used this set up mainly for movies not so much for music but I did a few times and it sounded pretty good. Oh by the way I had a pair in front and a pair behind me never next to each other.

Seeing this gave me the idea about trying to distribute the center channel between the inner set and leaving the outer set left and right. It would seem to be a way to create a phantom center image directly in the center of the screen.

I run 3 pairs and a small sub. Two pair of floor speakers run through the receiver's 2 zone-control pre-outs and have their own dedicated amplifiers with independent tone controls. They are strategically placed in a 270 degree arc from the front to rear corners to maximize and balance sound distribution in the room. I also have 2 high-end bookshelf speakers that are placed in the rear bookshelf at listening level height, which run from the receiver's output, and drives them nicely. These fill in the gap between the rear floor speakers and balances out the sound in the room. I never play music very loud, just at a reasonable listening volume. The effect is extraordinary. Everyone who hears it is stunned at how clear and balanced the dynamics work to influence the music. It took a good number of combinations of receiver, speakers, and amplifiers to get it just right, but it's literally the best-sounding ensemble that I've ever cobbled together. I don't think I could ever intentionally go back to a one-speaker setup after experiencing this.

I agree with you, but I had DCM Time Window speakers that had two tweeters and two woofers in the same enclosure that were at an angle to each other that sounded and imaged very good, with those speakers the trick was to keep them away from the walls.

Hi Gene, helpful video thanks for uploading. I have an SVS Ultra LCR 3.2 setup with an Emotiva XMC-2+Amp in my living room (plans to move them into the basement once finished and setup Atmos) so far I have watched most of your videos and have been able to make that magic phantom center with great imaging happen. Thanks for all the helpful information! At one time I had a pair of Klipsch towers set up as dual LR with the SVS towers to play around with listening. While interesting, the image I get now is far superior. I'm just trying to figure out why would someone feel the need to do dual front LR towers? It does look cool, but most towers today can handle enough power for volume way above where I like to listen. e.g. 300W/channel on my front LCR gets me above 90db with clean output. Above that, my house starts to make so much noise and there is so much reverb and interference that, besides being too loud for my taste, the image becomes distorted. I feel like the money for that second pair would be better spent on better speakers/amp/processor etc and no benefit added from dual LR other than "looks cool." IMO neither physics nor practically backs up doing dual front towers.

Hi , great informative video, I use 2 sets of speakers but mine front and rear of the room with a and b on Rotel A 11 , so can either front on or rear on , or both together, I recently replaced my b&w 602 s3 for 606 s2 , but I still like my old speakers so that why I have this set up. Totally agree with your findings having 2 sets of speakers side by side . Regards mark

I'm so happy that you mentioned back in the day with quadraphonic, it was in my time,4 chs playing independently,pioneer qx949a, really greatly technology at the time. Now keeping up with all the new stuff is so complicated and expensive, so much combinations WOW. These days I'm still enjoying a 5.1 Set up. My advice is to work with a budget and keep it simple. All the best.

I inherited a pair of Vienna Acoustics Haydn speakers and found the sound fantastic, incredibly clear. They aren't very big, but for my small office they are perfect. The only thing I wasn't happy about was that they didn't produce enough bass for my liking, so I've tried a second set of speakers and it somehow didn’t make me smile as much, so I've removed the second set, and added an Onkyo subwoofer that I've bought at a thrift store instead and after fine-tuning the subwoofer amplifier, the sound in my little office is 👌

The other way I’ve set it up, was using Cambridge sound works cubes with Boston acoustic cr6 on there back behind the sound cubes

This is interesting, because I have two sets, a medium sized set of floor standers (made myself) and a set of Yamaha bookshelf speakers. When I run them together with my Rotal A11, sure there is a fuller sound, but there is also a definite quality drop in imaging, both with depth and channel separation. Even more peculiar, when I run both, there is a definite shift of sound to the left channel at my 'normal' listening position. Moving my head closer changes and even eliminates that, but there are some bad sonic aberrations happening with the mix of the 4 total speakers and my room acoustics.

I feel well positioned 4.2 configuration is great just not all up front

I agree gene....how people don't notice this is scary...i am willing to bet those people listen more to music than movies....but i think 🤔 if they are identical now you talking,but amps does the same creating a big dynamic sound ...thats all you do id doubling the sound coming from a set of 4 identical speakers...great video

Love the channel ❤️

Hi,. How about if all the speakers are the same and placed or located in each corner of the room. I also use multiple amps. One drives the treble, one drive the mids and one for bass. What's your opinion on this setup. I am interested to know what you would say to this. One thing I've noticed is stereo speration is very good. It sounds very good at low volumes. This is the best sounding and realistic system I've ever built.

I agree 100%. I’ve actually had my Klipsch Heresy beside my La Scala’s and when the Heresys were playing you thought the La Scala’s were playing. So not a good idea.

Short answer-Depending on the size of your room you can use 2 or 4 speakers and that can give you better results...

I am running 4 pairs of Polk Audio T-15 Bookshelf speakers from a Yamaha AS301 (60 watts per channel). The speakers are 8 Ohm impedance so I wire them in parallel so the impedance is 4 Ohms. I connect each parallel pair to the A, B speaker terminals so I can switch then from the front of the amplifer. If iset it to A+B I have 8 speakers running. I can perceive no differnce between running 4 at a time vs all 8 if I adjust the volume. I stack the speakers (on their sides) in sort of a poor mans linear array. I have a large family room with high celing. I love this set up as the amp runs cool to the touch. I cannot turn the voilume up more than half way or its too loud. I have a Polk SW-10 subwoofer (gain set at the mid point) connected to the LFE output of the Amplifier. I have connected my TV to the amp via the optical output and even though it is only in 2 channel stereo it sounds great. For example in action movies you can hear a helicopter moving across ythe sound stage and dialog is clear ( I ahev no center channel). I prefer 2 channel becuase I mainly listen to music. I paid $49.00 a pair for the T-15s, $349.00 for the Yamaha amp and $119.00 for the Subwoofer. I consider it a budget hi-fi system. I'd like to upgrade but I think I spend most of my hi-fi budget on CDs ( I have over 1500 CDs + hundreds of cassette tapes and Vinyl). Is there a simple way to determine how many watts are going to the speakers .....I tried measuring the voltage & current with a multimeter as I know Power in Watts = Voltage x Current (at least in a DC circuit). Anyhow to my ears I get a lot of enjoyment out of the system as the Yamaha brings out great detail and stereo imaging. For the price I have not been able to find anything that beats this however I am on the lookout to upgrade one day.

I was an authorized Hi-Fi audio tech I worked at a high-end store in the late seventies I bought a pair of JBL L150s and then a pair of JBL 4311s. I currently listen to a Marantz receiver although I've got Phase Linear and SAE systems too normally I just listen to the 4311s they're at perfect listening height sitting on top of the l150s when I get pissed off I'll turn on the l150s too

👍🏽 great video . Can you do a video on adding a sub to the center channel speaker connected via speaker line outs from the sub. Also the sub would be below the screen.

I had a pair of B&W DM 570s and B&W DM 300s running next to each other and I thought it sounded amazing the 300's had a punchier bass and the 570's had more present treble

I run 3 pairs,, sounds awesome

My rear surrounds are Martin Logan CLX + MBL 116f 👍

Promoter: How big do you want your speakers? Audioholics: Yes

I have 4.1 setup (never found a center I liked, but that's a different discussion). This is of course 2 main and 2 rear, not side by side. If I play 2 channel it sounds great, but I feel it's fantastic in all channel stereo. Belive the setting on my pioneer is Ext.Stereo (Extended Stereo). But I have wondered if this is a loudness bias, as I do Jump back and forth. Also you didn't talk about power subs and how that could change the dynamics. I have a large record collection, and a sub feels like a must for pushing out those lower frequency. Does the source change your opinion on this?

Decades ago, people would buy a pair of Advent speakers (now referred to as OLA's, or Old Large Advents) and fall in love with them. They would then buy a second pair and stack them vertically, with the woofers together (bottom speaker upside-down). This gave 3-6 dB more output, a tad more bass extension, and less distortion for a given SPL. But again, I emphasize, these were stacked speakers, not side-by-side.

I am running 1.5 sets of speakers from an amp with A/B channels and I definitely care about "accuracy". I have LS 50s about 7 feet off the wall with Rti A9s (woofers only) 3 feet behind and to the side. I plug the ports on all of my speaker because I need tight and accurate bass. The speakers totally disappear and present a very wide and deep layered sound stage. I have a much better system, but what I like about this set up is that I get strong bass even at lower volume with port plug in. It's like having a loudness button without degrading the signal with tone controls. The Polks are 6 dB more efficient than the LS 50s, so the bass is louder but in a good way, because I use port plugs for tight and accurate bass. I despise bloated or resonated boomy bass, but I am getting none of it in this set up. I know it's not really what you are referring too. I would not waste time setting up two pairs of mids and highs. That would be a given disaster.

Very good analysis! I wondered how it would be in a Studio Room where it is common to have Near-field , Mid-fields and Main Monitors side by side? Your thoughts

Kinda a different subject, but I listen to all my music in multi-channel stereo and love it. 2 front, 1 center, 2 side , 2 front height. It sounds fantastic!!

Most audio here is on ambient settings, Stereo source or ATMOS stream, just emulating the source on the 12 speakers i own. I can switch to front speakers for all sources. My front channel are just 2 very large custom JAMO speaker, for if i need that old stereo sound, only 2 with 6 meters between them

Absolutely agree with that analysis. My question is this. Years ago some audiophiles stacked one on top of the other identical large advent speakers in discrete stereo pairs in 2 channel. Would your point still hold true about loss of stereo imaging and high frequency cancelation or would it enhance the sound accuracy?

I was wondering if you could use a 4wire 14ga and power one speaker with left front and left surround (and right front with right surround) with their distance set the same.

I run 2 pair simultaneously and it’s fantastic. Go figure I got the idea from my car 30 years ago. Seems like a no brainer. Park yourself in the middle and enjoy the X-Factor

I dont know if i even qualify as an audiophile. I have svs ultra towers and a legit 100 watt rms yamaha integraded. It will pound your chest and the imaging is very exceptional. How do you feel about stacked speakers, one on top of another? My dad's system is 4 pioneer hpm 900s 2 stacked left and 2 stacked right, powered by an a pioneer sx1280, and 2 1000 watt subs. It sounds like your at a rock concert. Just interested in your opinion. Thanks for the video

Hi Gene, Great information. I was thinking about doing it... Do to lack of space, I must install the front speakers in the ceiling. Which are the best speakers to do this job, without having to put double speakers ? Thank you,

Not needed comb effect turns into roar. In small home room the sound field needs point source , an accurate sound field need less drivers ,and I use a ribbon tweeter, subwoofer and use duo 2 in open baffle on top top and 8in carbon fiber woofer 70hz and cut the 1k to 5k hz and it sounds great, my subs are 70hz down. Omg the duodayton18s play the room and do not give listener fatigue. I dont build anymore 50 year experience in car an home an clubs. Retired and blind crippled but not crazy, tinnitus and 13,000hz audible to me . ❤ your comments

Even though I know little about these concepts, you have a wonderful way of explaining them. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and doing what you do!

I have weird multi level vaulted ceiling and found focal domes mounted wide up top as fronts along with ADS SAT7’s mounted next to tv seems to make some incredible soundstage, but maybe I just got lucky?

I was hoping you were going to talk more about how best to set up two sets of speakers for A-B testing. Of course it is better to not have two sets of speakers next to each other, even if only one pair is playing at a time, for a long-term setup. But say you are demoing a new pair and want to switch on the fly with your current pair for a comparison before you complete your purchase (like you did with the RTJs and RBHs.) Was your setup ideal, or would something else have been better for A-B testing? Like could you have theoretically spaced the speakers a little further apart from each other? Or perhaps could you have put right-Speaker-A on the outside and right-Speaker-B on the inside but set it up vice versa on the left so that each stereo pair were equadistant from their mates (like I see some retailers do)?

I run two pair of Klipsch klf30 with a Rotel 4 channel amp for woofers and Harman Kardon 4 channel amp for horns and tweeters and for me sound amazing even in low volume, it feels the power of bass, I am very happy with the result, I try wit a pair and don’t like it

I think if he’s stacking up all those Cerwin Vega speakers ,he’s not worried about hi fidelity 😂 He’s rocking!!🤘🏻🤘🏻

I made it. I have 4 Sony speakers (okay, I already know that Sony doesn't serve as a reference in the audiophile world) and each pair does left and right. One on top of the other. Each pair has the original amplifier, exactly the same model. The signal source is a dvd player. They are interconnected by Y audio cable. All audio cables are shielded. I got a powerful soundstage, but the sound was muffled. The solution was to add a crossover. Result: I hear a powerful, clean sound, dry and defined bass sounds. Excellent for rock/pop.

Hi Gene, are those RTJs ( the ones in your system) or JTRs? Just curious since they resemble JTRs. I agree with you that speakers that close together will excite the ones that are not in use, happen to me some time ago, early in my journey.

I'm getting higher in fidelity blending old school and new school speaker systems together. ❤

I run two pairs of Klipsch kg 5.5 fronts speakers but got them to sound better if I put them in stacked position and the top pair upside down so the horns are close together and I love it for now but I always try different things so until a new idea comes along I'll leave them like that .

I run two pairs of speakers carefully positioned vertically stacked tweeter to tweeter. I also use a tuned baffle between the tweeters. Frequency sweeps indicate the linearity is better with the two pairs than with a single pair. This configuration is based on the Advent stack principle with the baffle my contribution. Imaging does not suffer. I must point out this is a proof of concept setup using four Sony SS-CS5s.

How would you do the wiring in case I wanted to try it????

Thanks

Gene, I’d like to see you review the Halo Spring 3 KTE and or the Halo May KTE. These are R2R DACs and your review would be worth hearing. I expect honest and open reviewing from you. Some may not agree, but it will be fact based. The truth isn’t guaranteed to be pretty.

Many years ago Paul Klipsch advocated a well separated center channel.

If you have a big room you need big towers. I got rid of some Polks and replaced them with SVS Ultra's and the Ultra's can easily fill my large room at concert level volume.

You get lobing no matter what you do. A center channel causes lobing, a subwoofer crossing over to the main L & R fronts causes lobing, surround channels cause lobing. The biggest issue for most people isn't the type of lobing detected in a perfect test room, it's what's happening in YOUR room. For the most part, reflections will be the big problem. USE TWO SETS OF SPEAKERS IF YOU WANT TO and don't worry about lobing. I've done it several times. If you have the ability to vary the loudness and equalization for each pair, you can play to their strengths. You might be surprised at how much you can approach what sounds like a near field listening experience. Mostly though, IT'S JUST FUN, and you could be very happily surprised.

what make and model floor speaker do you use...shown in backround of this video?

Thanks for clarifying. What are your thoughts on a 3.1 channel setup (center mono summed) for stereo music?

I have the same problem here ,I have to put pics here ,I was looking for a video like that

Well said.

Not sure my friend, possibly. I run HDI3600 (per your other video) with some B&W CM10s , there is a small amount of distance between them, both running from the same preamp, 2 identical amps driving each pair - 2 left, 2 right, and I find they compliment each other very nicely. The HDI add to the LF, CM10 to details. I'd say having both is a net improvement from a subjective standpoint.

I have an old system where I run a pair of Infinity Entra 2's floor standers with a pair of Mission 761i bookshelves sitting on top of them with my Marantz 1150 integrated amp. The Infinity are very warm and the Missions are very clear, so a great combination as far as sound tone. Clear and detailed with a fullness around it. In my room in my old house the imaging was rock-solid. You could pick out the location - horizontally, vertically, and depth of each instrument or voice. Very even volume (no peaks or lobes) and clear throughout the frequency range I could hear. In my new house, I haven't been able to get the imaging solid. I am limited in my placement options, but I've tried several things. Right now, I have the Infinitys toed in just a little and the Missions toed in a lot so that they are crossed in front of the primary listening position. It does an okay job but the Instruments or voices seem to move around as frequency changes. Still a nice listening experience - I do have to focus to notice it - and of course I don't notice it if I'm in another room working or cooking dinner. As far as comb filtering, I haven't heard any but I can't hear anything over 10khz anyway, so it might be there above that range, but I wouldn't know it.

Just putting it out there but COULD some of these setups be running surround from an AV amp for movies and separate stereo using a dedicated, quality stereo amp with different speakers?

So I've got a pair if technics SB-CL50 bookshelf speakers, and sat the moment, on top of a customized pair of Sony towers. Nothing used in the sony speaker is original, its definitely all much better quality, but the woofer is still un crossed over, but I dont hear any audible break up at its higher ranges. The technics have like a 3rd order crossover, forgive me I dont remember exactly what all the crossovers are, but I know it's the type that does like 18db per octave and I've heard they also can cause phase to change with frequency, so it's not easy to mate it up with more ordinary crossover type speakers. I also have the bookshelfs on top set up straight ahead, whilst the towers are slightly towed in. I know theres probably some reflections from the top of the towers but from what I hear they mesh well in this room, which is by no means ideal. The woofers are like 2 ft away and the tweeters are slightly offset and about 12 inches away. I know there may be some unwanted audio interference, but it may be possible that the phase thing from the technics crossover might actually be helping out in this scenario. It seems the highs are ok, I can hear it to 16khz, but it's the same with only one pair and my ear right next to the tweeter, so that might be something along the way in the proccessing.. I know my phone I could hear to about 18khz, and it fades out but still feel "pressure" from it up to 22.5khz. My main reciever is a pioneer vsx-815, in case theres some numbers to support that or just that in its age, it might have lost some high frequency capabilities. My custom towers have gold wood GW-12PC/8 12s, 1 per tower, and some dayton audio tweeters, with the caps from some others I swapped in, that definitely had some distortion(but they were very loud, and good for party speakers back then) I used to need the bookshelfs to fill in the mids as I had some pioneer car subwoofers and the aforementioned distorting tweeters in it. Now I dont need them, but I from what I've listened to maybe because I have one slightly towed in and one straight, it seems to sound quite good. I was supposed to have already built a new pair of towers using two of those gold wood woofers in each tower, and some audiopipe tweeters that some may scoff at for being a car audio brand. But they are 4 ohms, can absolutely handle alot of power for tweeters, and at least in the past, they both sounded more crisp and clean than even these daytons sound, although once more recently, I heard a discrepancy between the pair. All on their own even.. might be the caps being a bit older now, or maybe it was just the specific music I had been playing had weaker highs to the right.., I havent even done more testing since, but obviously when I make them I will be retesting, and if there is definitely discrepancy, I'll swap the caps out, if it's still uneven, I'll use something else. I'll probably still set those bookshelfs on top, they'll be on much less power, and I may even use the mounting arms that I got with the speakers to mount them up and farther away.. though I obviously dont have atmos. If I do that i may get a new seperate crossover to use some time delay between the main reciever and the crown amp i have powering my towers.. i heard paul McGowan trashing crown amps in a video, but I'm assuming hes talking about the very old school club amps as this one is much newer and sounds good to me, did exactly what I wanted to, actually drives my 12 inch woofers properly, unlike the pioneer reciever, which definitely had a bit of lacking bass(at least after I found out the prior owner had the 40hz eq boosted up like 10db. Reset it all flat of course.)

absolutely right ✅.

I didn't know people did this with two pairs up front. Seems overkill but I must admit it looks cool lol. I like to utilize my surrounds for 2 channel music listening. I have a 5.2 setup but in my Anthem receiver I have a profile for music where I use 'all stereo' with the center off & the rear speakers at a much lower level than the fronts, you almost can't even tell they're on until you turn down the fronts. The effect is a much wider & "wrap around" stereo image. I know this is sacreligious to 2 channel purists but I find it hard to resist once I've dialed it in. It's kind of similar to the old Pro Logic 2 music type DSP's but much cleaner & fuller sounding when I compare the two modes. So with what was said about comb filtering, does this mean bipole speakers are an inherently poor concept? I just ditched some Def Tech SR9080's that seemed to have lots of comb filtering when I slightly moved my head, I could hear the highs coming & going... Failed experiment, back to monopole & happier.

this is a bit unrelated but, I have an mp3 stereo music file that I want to play outputted to two separate (L & R) speakers. I'm using a phone to play the file. Output via mini plug adapter chord that converts to two RCA outputs (L & R, red & white). As I approach the back of each speaker I notice each has two RCA inputs (L & R, red & white) 🤔. Is it OK to just plug each of the two cables to its corresponding color on each speaker?

Regarding running 2 pairs of speakers in stereo. I'm running two Klipsch 620's on the main Denon receiver but I also bi amped a 4ohm JVC running two Polk RT 35's . The Klipsch towers are 6 feet apart, then the bi amped Polk's are 3 ft farther and 1 ft forward and pointed at the main seating position . I wish I could just send you a picture. I use them both Klipsch and the Polk's in surround as well, so with the Klipsch center, it's a gentle curve in the front. (Worst room Ever! ) I love it but I haven't tried any other configurations yet.....any input? And I'm stuck against the back wall so I still have to figure out sub placement, 2 Klipsch 12 " subwoofers. But that is a different question for a different video. Any positive input is welcome.

Hi, I have one pair of Monitor Audio silver 6 floorstander speakers on the outside of a pair of Quad Esl63 electrostatic speakers. Looking from the left- 1 Monitor Audio cabinet then 1 electrostatic speaker, then TV table with 49inch TV, then 1 electrostatic speaker and finally 1 Monitor Audio cabinet speaker. I swap the speaker pairs over occasionally but I have never had both pairs of speakers running at the same time. The Quad speakers sound totally different from the Monitor Audio speakers ,more detailed but with less bass. Don't think I will ever play music through both pairs at the same time. My amplifier only has one set of speaker outputs and it's not much hassle to swap the cables from one pair to the other, especially with banana plugs on the end of each cable. Don't want to risk damaging my classic Roksan Kandy KA1 MK3 amplifier. Plus, most music has been mastered for 2 channel stereo and not 4 channel stereo. Okay, you can get 5.1 sound now but that's for surround sound systems.

Good video Gene, I enjoyed it. My only comment would be I find the use of four speakers up front a terrible waste when they could be used to expand the system into a multich rig. For music there's no need to have a center channel and running 5.1 source in a quad playback system will work just fine. I was confused by your comment against using towers for rear channels since bookshelf's are always placed on ear level stands anyway? What's the difference? cent' anni. Sal1950

sir,i have 2 pairs of speakers 1 pair is towers with KLH book shelf speakers crossnetworked on top ,2nd pair are beasts dual 12 inch woofers with a 8 inch woofer cross networked on top,can i hook them both togetyher in paralel?

Very true. Just follow the path of a voice or instrument all the lonng way down to your listening room - then your setup, YOUR room, YOUR hearing, YOUR taste - it's literally indefinite. Adding another pair of speakers to the pair you already have most likely will NOT better the experience. Better to put the money into romm treatment.

Perhaps the photos illustrate one pair playing as part of a home theater setup and one set which is used when they play stereo music. I concede the wide baffle is a problem but with how loud people play this stuff they probably couldn’t hear anything outside of 50 - 2000 hz anyway.

Great explanation as always... (off-topic) Could you please debunk the myth of audiophile "feet" for electronics? Some audiophile magazines claimed the isolation feet under the amps or dacs could change the soundstage, the bass response, or the details of their music! then they go on reviewing some of these feet claiming this has better midrange this has better depth in soundstage, and of course the best rating were the most expensive ones (500$).

What if you STACK two different types of speakers in 2.0 stereo setup? Use two amps, boost highs on top, lows on bottom, bi-amping the system? I have done this many times and got sound greater than the sum of all parts. Any thoughts on this setup regarding interference patterns? Thanks.

I believe this is all done for looks as you'll notice the shiny copper k lips h woofers everywhere. Some folks are just more concerned with looks which is understandable but I don't think they really care much about imaging or soundstage vs lots of shiny speakers.

When I see two speaker pairs like that I assume the person is running just one pair sometimes and the other pair other times. They might have some particular reason to run one pair like they have two very efficient speakers and run off a low wattage SET amp and then a big pair that run on a high power amp. But if I were doing that I would put the speakers: AB AB not like shown at 3:00 which is AB BA because you'd think the separation for each pair should be the same. Depending on which pair is in use you'd sit a bit to the left or right