You have a point, but here's where you're wrong..... - John Ashman - Speaker Asylum

Speaker Asylum

General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

You have a point, but here's where you're wrong.....

John Ashman

In Reply to: Re: Is The NHT T- 5 A Stupid Design ? posted by Godzilla. on October 19, 2005 at 10:01:27:

The M5/M6 concept is a unique one. The question being "how could we make a speaker that functions well as a left, right AND center and how do we take any downsides and work it to our advantage?"
Looking at it as a center speaker, the layout is ideal. Good midrange dispersion, high output, low profile. Way better than an MTM. But as a left/right speaker, it would have some potential issues. But NHT has long moved the tweeter around on the front baffle in order to get the sound and imaging they wanted, at least on mirror imaged speakers. Sometimes on the outside, sometimes on the inside.
The M5/M6 simply "aim" the best sound part of the midrange/tweeter overlap at the person furthest away from the speaker on the couch. The speaker is actually about 1-2dB hotter about 20-30 degrees to the inside than it is directly in front of it throughout the upper mid/lower treble. To the outside, near the wall, it's actually *down* about 10-12dB. That means less sidewall reflection. And that means more consistent sound in asymmetrical or overly reverberant rooms.
AND, you get a less expensive product. If these had to be mirror imaged, individually labeled and all that? It would probably add about $50-$100 to the price. So, they were able to take a design with some potential issues, make lemonaide out of lemons and keep the price low at the same time.
Is it perfect? No. It will sound better in mediocre to bad rooms than most speakers will. But maybe sound a bit more closed in or lack some of the precise imaging of other speakers in an ideal room. Still, it's accurate, low distortion, has a wide sweetspot, deep bass and a lot of output, something most speakers in its price range can't do. It is measurably one of the most accurate speakers ever made, consistently measuring +/-1.5dB from top to bottom.
The Classic Four has a vertically stacked midrange/tweeter array and goes for very wide dispersion. It will sound more open in a bigger, better room and also image more precisely, while still having a wide sweetspot. BUT, it will be more easily thrown off by a rooms asymmetry or a bright room with too much reverberation.
So, each design will work better than the other in a different environment. Unlike most companies, NHT actually assumes less than ideal setup in a less than ideal room.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Is The NHT T- 5 A Stupid Design ? - ka7niq 07:12:47 10/19/05 (10)

Re: Is The NHT T- 5 A Stupid Design ? - jimmyjames 18:48:00 10/20/05 (0)

Clever Design - John Ashman 08:09:44 10/19/05 (1)

Re: Clever Design - Godzilla. 09:54:17 10/19/05 (0)

Re: Is The NHT T- 5 A Stupid Design ? - Godzilla. 08:00:09 10/19/05 (6)

Re: Is The NHT T- 5 A Stupid Design ? - Ozzy 08:18:02 10/19/05 (5)

Re: Is The NHT T- 5 A Stupid Design ? - Godzilla. 10:01:27 10/19/05 (4)

You have a point, but here's where you're wrong..... - John Ashman 13:56:45 10/19/05 (3)

From what you describe.... - Ozzy 16:07:56 10/19/05 (1)

Correct - John Ashman 17:33:34 10/19/05 (0)

Re: You have a point, but here's where you're wrong..... - Godzilla. 15:32:07 10/19/05 (0)

Follow Ups

You have a point, but here's where you're wrong..... - John Ashman 13:56:45 10/19/05 (3)

From what you describe.... - Ozzy 16:07:56 10/19/05 (1)

Correct - John Ashman 17:33:34 10/19/05 (0)

Re: You have a point, but here's where you're wrong..... - Godzilla. 15:32:07 10/19/05 (0)

You can not post to an archived thread.