Home Speaker Asylum

General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

Re: McIntosh LS-360 Speakers

Karl,

In today's speakers some issues need to be addressed. Every manufacturer will have their own solution. Due to the very high dynamic range of DVD, DVD-A, SACD and film sound tracks a single tweeter speaker design is power limited. Very few single dome tweeters will handle over 100 watts, for very long without mechanical or thermal issues.
One popular solution is to cross the tweeter over higher like 3500 Hz and this seems popular. This high crossover point will limit the size of the midrange as it will beam at this high frequency unless the size is kept down to around 5 inches or less. The smaller mid will limit the acoustic output and or the woofers will have to crossover higher than ideal.
The LS360 crosses over the bass to mids at 200 Hz and the mid to tweeters at 1500 Hz. You could look at it as a very high powered 8" two way with a double 10" sub below 200 Hz. The five tweeter array will handle lots of power at the crossover point which will allow the eight inch mid to do the same and the crossover point will prevent any mid range beaming since the dispersion remains good.
Two trends which are common in speaker design today are a rise in below-150 Hz base response which will balance a speaker when placed out in a room far away from a wall. The LS360 does not have this bump and may be moved back or close to a wall. The in room response of the 360 will extend below its' 29 Hz anechoic response due to room reinforcement.
The second popular voicing scheme is to depress the mid range in the middle of its' response to give the illusion of added depth. This is a tricky slope and will result in an uneven response on some recordings. Romantic yes but accurate no. The LS 360 remains flat through the mid and will reproduce voice very accurately.
Speakers are very subjective of course. The LS360 is a very neutral low distortion design which can also play at extreme volume levels normally reserved for PA type designs.
Thanks again,
Ron Cornelius


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