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soffit mounting for mastering/critical listening...thoughts?

Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 11:22 pm
by genericperson
i did a search on here, and it's kind of been batted around ("should i soffit mount my genelecs?" "what's a good way to...")

but i'd like to open up an abstract thread:
discuss the pros and cons of soffit-mounting speakers for critical listening/mastering.

basically, soffit-mounting seems like such a sensible thing. but there *are* top mastering houses that don't soffit mount. maybe even 50% or greater don't soffit mount.

so i'd like it if we could hack it out here, so i could form more intelligent opinions in the process... :P

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 3:48 am
by barefoot
Here are some excerpts from my posts on Gearslutz to get things started.
"The reason I think many people prefer the basic sound of freestanding speaker implimentaions is because soffit mounts have a flat power response. Like I explained earlier, freestanding speakers necessarily have a "hyped" bass power response in order flatten out the on-axis (anechoic) response. Many people (myself included) prefer this hyped bass response. In fact, one could reasonably argue that the freestanding power response is more "correct" because most consumer speakers are freestanding. Even so, soffit mounting is still superior. The room response can be tailored to provide the desired "correct" ambient (power) response. And the soffit mount still has the advantage of the ability to create an early reflection free zone - avoiding comb filter ripples. So, with soffit mounting you can still have the power response you want while gaining a more accurate and detailed midbass-midrange response.

So, I'm not completely disagreeing with the conventional wisdom. I'm saying, if properly implemented with the room reponse, soffit mounting can provide superior results - without sacrificing the overall "SOUND" of freestanding speakers."
"Just because there's a "best known method", doesn't mean it can't be improved upon. And I think there is a very good reason why freestanders dominate. In my opinion, the majority of great speaker design innovations over the past decade or so have come from hi-fi manufacturers (certainly B&W is on the top of that list). And of course, the consumer market dictates freestanding speakers. So, MEs looking for the very best sounding speakers are naturally going to gravitate towards these products.

In this case, however, some of the baby was thrown out with the bathwater. Old school monitors are out and the new school is in. The new school by virtue of their heritage happen to be freestanding, so soffit mounting must not sound as good... right? Well, I'm saying "not right". Yes, the newer generation of hi-fi type monitors sound much better than the old style soffited monitors, but this doesn't mean that soffits were the problem. The pro speaker designs themselves were the problem (and in many cases still are)."

Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2004 1:56 am
by genericperson
thanks Barefoot.

well articulated thoughts. kind of says it all really.

Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2004 2:55 am
by Consul
Hi everyone. This is my first post to this forum, so please go easy on me. :mrgreen:

Unfortunately, soffit-mounting monitors in my room (the living room of my house) is out of the question, so I have to ask, is there a way to "fake" soffit mounting? Maybe a big cabinet made with MDF?

I looked through the rest of the forum and I didn't turn up anything that seemed applicable, but that of course doesn't mean I didn't miss it. ;)

Thank you for your help.

Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2004 4:07 am
by Consul
Okay, nevermind. It seems I misunderstood what soffit mounting really is. A few pictures cleared it up for me, and it does appear to be an option. Thanks anyway!

Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2004 6:03 pm
by barefoot
Welcome to the forum Consul! :)

Yeah, the true active ingredient of a soffit is the front baffle (panel) that the speaker mounts flush into. The rear cavity can be used as a bass trap or to absorb some of the speaker cabinet vibrations, but mainly it's only dressing. A large standalone panel will still do the job. It just needs to be rigid and well damped so it doesn't amplify vibrations from the speaker.

Also, as long as the soffit baffle is about 4 or 5 times wider than it's distance from the wall it will acoustically "blend" in with the wall, as if you had mounted the speakers flush into the wall. Make sense? :)

Thomas

Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2004 7:07 pm
by Consul
Thank you for the explanation, Barefoot. I'm actually looking at building my own monitor speakers, and am hoping to hook up with an audio club up in Denver this weekend to talk to people more knowledgable than I. The 6" to 6.5" mid-woofer dipole design has most of my interest, as do open baffle designs. I'm seeing these two design ideas come up a lot in most folks' "no-compromise" designs.

As for soffit mounts, I'll have to see what I decide on speaker-wise.