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SILICON
CHIP
www.siliconchip.com.au
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
Leo Simpson, B.Bus., FAICD
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Greg Swain, B.Sc. (Hons.)
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2 Silicon Chip
Publisher’s Letter
Is a large loudspeaker
an anachronism?
This month, we have gone out on a limb and published
details of a large hifi loudspeaker system. Might it be an
anachronism? Well possibly, given that the vast majority
of the population are never exposed to really high quality
sound and most are not interested anyway. The majority of
people who do listen to music do so from MP3 recordings
via those ubiquitous white-corded thingies hanging from
their ears while they walk, jog or travel on public transport.
And those who don’t listen with ear buds probably listen
in their cars. Either way, it is far from the best listening experience.
This is a marked change from about 30 years ago when the many homes had a
hifi stereo system, usually with a turntable, FM/AM tuner and a Dolby tape deck.
Nowadays, such a system would be based around a high-quality CD player but
most homes don’t have them, being more likely to have a tiny console which can
play MP3 files, with questionable sound quality. Sadly, very few people are ever
exposed to unamplified music so they have no benchmark to compare with the
recorded music they listen to. They simply don’t know what they are missing! In
fact, these days about the only time that people are ever exposed to unamplified
music is when they attend a classical music performance. How many people do that?
All of which means that few people have any concept of what high-fidelity
sound reproduction is. Fewer still will ever have the means to obtain the necessary
equipment. Over the years, SILICON CHIP has produced a number of high-quality
amplifiers which have been very popular but we have never produced a really
high-quality loudspeaker to match. Now we have the Majestic, as described in the
article starting on page 22.
As stated in the article, it has a bass response down to 20Hz and below. That is
literally unheard of these days. Why would you want it? Well, how else will you
hear the lowest fundamental frequencies produced by a pipe organ (with a 32-foot
pipe) or a Bosendorfer grand piano (with a 97-note keyboard) or even a tuba? But
even if you don’t listen to pipe organs, the typical loudspeaker really doesn’t do
justice to the bass output of most large stringed instruments, including a harp. How
many people have heard the bass output of a harp? It is impressive.
Not only that, the Majestic is very efficient, so it does not need a high-powered
amplifier to drive it to very loud levels in the average lounge room. If you do have
a big amplifier, it would enable a pair of Majestics to easily fill a large auditorium.
So why is it so big? If you want a really wide-range loudspeaker with very good
low-frequency response this is the only way to do it. Small drivers in small boxes
cannot produce really low frequency sounds. That is why home-theatre systems
usually have a sub-woofer. But the vast majority of sub-woofers cannot produce
any output below about 35Hz, are usually quite inefficient and need a big amplifier
to drive them. And if you have a system with a subwoofer, the chances that you
have a flat response down to very low bass is, well, almost zero.
So we have produced what is superficially a large bass-reflex system which looks
similar to those large systems that were popular way back in the 1950s and 1960s.
Now you can see why it may be an anachronism. But it works. It is very efficient,
has very wide range and has low distortion. And it is much better than any speaker
system produced in those days of yore.
Apart from that, its bulk has another advantage. Unlike a tower system, it can
never be tipped over by toddlers. Even so, it takes up little more floor space than a
typical tower loudspeaker system or smaller systems sitting on ugly stands. To be
frank, you do need a reasonably large living room but if you have a home-theatre
system you probably already have the space.
If so, you can build a stereo pair of Majestics and dispense with your dodgy
home-theatre speakers and subwoofer. You will be amazed at the difference.
Leo Simpson
siliconchip.com.au
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