Roscoe Primrose wrote:
SoundMods wrote:
Of course Magnepans and electrostatic speakers are time-aligned by default.
Except that they're so large that they're not, unless they're curved. The top & bottom are much further (>4" for a 6' tall driver at a 12' listening distance) away than the middle... Somewhere in the garage I've got a pair of line arrays I built with 18 lousy 3" or so full range drivers, curved so they're all the same distance from the listener. Of course, the curve is only "right" for a specific listening distance, but the design of the speakers is such that it wouldn't be too hard to change the curve. Interesting, despite the lousy drivers...
Roscoe
I could be wrong on this, but I think concern over time alignment of a planar magnetic or electrostatic is mental masturbation. The vertical dispersion from any one spot on the diaphragm is so limited (except as Roscoe points out in the case of curved diaphragms) that the HF and upper mids are so rolled off, that time alignment is pointless.
Perhaps the late arriving lower frequency sounds muddy up the presentation (sort of an echo effect), but given the sound of Maggies, Carvers, Acoustats, Soundlabs, etc., the time alignment error is not an issue and not the weak point of the speakers I've heard.