Quote Originally Posted by soundpurist
By audiophile standard, does nearfield speaker set up catch up the ideals of hifi sound reproduction?
Indeed this is a highly subjective topic and depends upon three factors I can identify: musical preference, speaker design, and room acoustics. While my musical tastes vary and include pop, new age, jazz, etc., I have optimized my main system around reproducing acoustical genres. I would like to be transported to a larger venue than the confines of my room along with hearing the kinds of reverberant cues one experiences in a music hall.

It is for that reason I prefer bipolar speakers and in particular, full range electrostatic ones. While they are demanding in placement and room size, I find they do the best job for creating the acoustical space I seek. I am blessed with having a dedicated listening space with dimensions of about 25’ x 16’ (with a short, less-than-full-width extension at the rear), so I can place the speakers, room treatments and listening couch wherever I please. Placement is critical not only because it affects the apparent space, but the tonal characteristics of the bass response as well. I spent considerable time experimenting with several variables measuring the results with test CDs and a SPL meter to determine where they needed to be situated for the most neutral response. That resulted with the panels about eight feet out from the back wall. Then I added some absorptive wall treatments to control the back wave and first reflection points. Bass traps were found to be most effective ganged up in the back corners.

Speaker design comes into play with regards to driver blending. Quite a few speakers like the Advents in my garage require some space between them and the listener so that you cannot easily localize the frequency ranges. The Bass. The Treble. Since I used a stacked double pair, that choice requires even more space for optimum performance due to comb filtering effects. I like to get at least 12 to 15 feet away from them for that reason. The full range electrostats, however, are immune to that effect since there is really only one (big) driver. So, while I could listen to them in the nearfield, the third factor comes into play with my choice of listening position: room acoustics. In most rectangular rooms, there is a bass suckout in the center of the room where the lowest bass is absent. I found that I needed to be just behind that center line in order for the bass to be the most accurate. My listening position is therefore further back than one would consider nearfield. Every room and speaker combination should be considered separately.

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