General Speaker Advice and Recommendations

It depends on a full-range driver

Jokes aside, we resonate with many things you wrote.

 

Indeed, much of the audio vocab is technically speaking nonsense. It's got little to nothing to do with dx/dt.
It is what it is. Most agree that low Qts high mech Q ,light coned large bass drivers sound 'fast', but what they really mean is perhaps ''explosive'', not any less nonsense word .
I think the characteristic goodness has mostly to do with low 2. harmonic and good dynamic performance, esp in high bass.
Anyways, it seems I'm on a different page here. I speak of performance up to 150..300 Hz (high bass).

 

The Special Fortys are excellent, but the rear port is a real challenge with them. They need a lot of space to breathe, more than other ported bookshelfs I've owned, so I didn't bother mentioning them. Bass bloat is a real problem without pulling them far into the room. They do come with port bungs, but this limits the low end response obviously, and I find them a bit constrained sounding with them in.

Compared to the ATCs they are more forgiving up top, smoother and clearer in the mids, warmer overall with a much bigger soundstage. They don't sound as 'neutral' as the ATCs - they're voiced a bit more for euphony, but not overly so. Very easy to listen to for long periods with low fatigue. The ATCs soundstage is just 'ok' but they sound far more dynamic with more punch and sparkle on the top end, and are insanely clean sounding at high volumes with zero compression. But they are less forgiving. The ATCs sound more like live music, and the S40s are clearly voiced to sound more pleasurable to the ear, with almost anything playing, but still have excellent resolution.

 

I have dual 3-way 12" JBL's set up at my desk in midfield position. Am I crazy? Maybe. Yes.

 

Overkill for sure, great bass though! I haven't measured but they're 5-6ft away. Imaging starts to break apart quickly as you get closer but at their present distance I'm pretty impressed with how coherent they are, especially the L112's considering their HF/mid aren't vertically alligned (the 4412A's are, though).

 

It's definitely been a challenge. I'm fortunate to have my own office at work to arrange as I please (at the expense of my coworkers' perception of my sanity). One pair is on lower stands at ear level and the other immediately above on telescoping stands angled downward (I'll try to add a picture to the speaker setup thread tomorrow).

Lots of trial and error with placement and measurements, particularly with such large woofers in a smallish room. Plenty of treatment still needed.

EDIT: Picture added

 

A picture of this setup is now a requirement

 

I mean, I sit about 2 meters away from my 15" woofer/altec 811b Horn system.
Worked pretty nice for watching RoboCop today.

 

A small PA top should be mounted up on stands well above ear level to avoid precisely that. Bounce it off the back/side walls so everyone can hear. I've DJ'd a wedding with a pair of 2way horn/10" speakers (plus a single sub) that worked well, and it was a moderately large room; wide and shallow which is a weird space to bring sound for.

In small PA setups, those Bose L1 or similar stacks are actually decent choices.

 

I also have a soft spot for soft domes, SB dimple domes especially. As for non-domey tweeter tech, RAAL, Beyma and Mundorf have nice reputation, but none of these are as magic as claimed by the sales peeps. RAAL and Mundorf seem cutting edge for what they do, but they hate going low and loud. Dedicated mid drivers that like playing up to 4k aren't exactly abundant and most aren’t very efficient and can’t play loud. Beyma tweets might not be the bees knees up high, but they sure like going loud, low and clean. As @ultrabike mentioned, polar response vertically can be an issue due to radiator dimensions, but it also tends to avoid bouncy surfaces.

As for metal and other hard dome breakup, it is absolutely necessary that it happens in ultrasound. The SE.AS 1” domes in my 8050A Gennies break up in the lower twenties and I can actually measure the slight rise circa 19k. I can’t really hear that being a problem, but potentially ultrasonic stuff can cause IMD effects in the audible range.

 

Hey, im not a loaner, I have friends.
Although they don't care as much about sound, so I can just sit in the sweet spot and give them the other places. Plus the horns should help disperse the sound a bit better, creating less of a sweet spot.

 

If you were a loaner it would need a sign of @Warrior even more urgently, hope he is well and all the little lo(a)ners, too.
Don't be ashamed of a small sweet spot. I once bought a coupe and told a friend that I prefered a sedan because it had more room for the back benchers, he asked me "are you ever going to sit on the back bench of your own car?"