A Speaker That’s Good For Music Is Good For Movies, Right?
I’ve written this in order to explain, in simple ways without getting too technical, how speakers that are designed for movies differ from hi-fi speakers. Many people refuse to believe this is possible, but it’s a difference that can be demonstrated.
Your room will have a huge effect on a loudspeakers performance. Because of this, the sound from large hi-fi loudspeakers will vary wildly from room to room due to the amount of bass they produce, and because most hi-fi speakers are of a ported design, which makes them extremely sensitive to room boundaries. This is why THX recommend the use of small satellite speakers, which are of a sealed design. Because they’re sealed, they produce a much smoother in room response in comparison to ported speakers. These satellites generally roll off at 80Hz, minimising the interaction of the bass and room boundaries. Frequencies from 80Hz and downwards are dealt with by a subwoofer, dedicated to the job of reaching down to 20Hz, as recommended by THX. Again, this is a sealed design which achieves a flatter frequency response.
Because movies are mastered on sub/sat systems like MK, playing them back on the same type of speaker system will get you closer to what was intended by the Director at the mixing stage. Larger speakers have a different tonal balance and timbre to small satellite speakers, making the end result unpredictable. Driven properly, MK speakers delivery punch and slam that hi-fi speakers are just not capable of. Due to the very nature of sub/sat systems, they sound very different to hi-fi speakers.
The majority of hi-fi speaker packages don’t have a “matching” centre speaker, even if it does come from the same range. A truly matching speaker would have to be identical to the front left and right speakers, otherwise panning effects and voices on and off camera are going to sound very different. All MK speaker system use identical left/centre/right speakers, to produce a far more convincing front soundstage.
Also, hi-fi speaker packages generally use direct firing loudspeakers as rear effect speakers. These, like left and right hi-fi loudspeakers, produce a sweet spot, which is fine for listening to music, but not for producing rear effects when watching a movie. Some hi-fi speaker system use di-pole loudspeakers at the rear. These fire along two planes, spreading the sound a little more, giving a wider soundstage for rear effects. MK use, exclusively, patented Tripole rear effect speakers. These fire along three planes. They have conventional direct firing drive units for precise rear effect placement, as well as side firing drivers, which spread the sound even wider than di-poles. This is to recreate the multiple speaker systems that cinemas employ all along the side walls.
MK use sealed subwoofers. Once again, this is to eradicate excessive room boundary effects and give a smoother in room response. A sealed subwoofer also suffers from less distortion, and is capable of greater speed and agility.
Having been interested in hi-fi since I was about 7, I started work for Radford Hi-Fi in Plymouth in 1990. I moved back to Birmingham in 1996 and worked for Bob Griffin for a while, before moving on to work for Superfi Birmingham. After a 7 year stint there, the next stop was Sevenoaks Birmingham. After the owner decided to call it a day, I started work for Frank Harvey Hi-Fi Coventry, where I have now been for over 4 years.
My main hobbies are music and film, and also enjoy cycling, photography, F1 and architecture.
I found David’s speaker item interesting. My home cinema system consists of Toshiba DVD/HDD recorder with Freeview, Fortec Star Innovation FTA receiver, Optima ThemeScene projector, SONY TA-FE370 amp and Tannoy MX3 speakers. At the time I got the speakers – September 2002, at your store – FHM magazine had reviewed them and were amazed at the sound quality when watching DVDs. Even now, people think I’ve got a 5.1 home cinema set-up and are surprised that it’s just the Tannoys. My room measures approx. 10ft x 14ft x 8ft high and has double-glazed French windos at one end and two doors at the other. A good example of the sound with this set-up is the film L.A. Cofidential where the bullets sound as if they’re whizzing past your ears. The speakers are located beneath the screen.