speaker for listening to violin recording?

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Гага́рин
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speaker for listening to violin recording?

Post by Гага́рин »

Hi,

Reading wikipedia's entry about violin it has a picture of its sound frequency.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... string.jpg

And it seems to show volume as well. Unfortunately that's only the G string, I need the info on ALL strings.

I want to pick a tweeter or speaker (bass included) to reproduce a violin sound. It can be a little bit more in numbers but not less.

The reason is simple I want good quality that fits violin's frequency range without having to overspend cash on unnecessary features and power (triggering rain with sound is not my aim here).

Could this be done by buying a single tweet? Does a tweet fullfil violins freq range? Does a violin need a bass? Where to find highest and cheapest quality tweets? I don't mind if it's unbranded and the DIY tweet. I don't think tweets need intrincate casings.

thanks I need to know this.
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Capoeira
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Re: speaker for listening to violin recording?

Post by Capoeira »

Гага́рин wrote:Hi,

Reading wikipedia's entry about violin it has a picture of its sound frequency.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... string.jpg

And it seems to show volume as well. Unfortunately that's only the G string, I need the info on ALL strings.

I want to pick a tweeter or speaker (bass included) to reproduce a violin sound. It can be a little bit more in numbers but not less.

The reason is simple I want good quality that fits violin's frequency range without having to overspend cash on unnecessary features and power (triggering rain with sound is not my aim here).

Could this be done by buying a single tweet? Does a tweet fullfil violins freq range? Does a violin need a bass? Where to find highest and cheapest quality tweets? I don't mind if it's unbranded and the DIY tweet. I don't think tweets need intrincate casings.

thanks I need to know this.
you'll need a whole speaker. and, to make it sound as real as possible, nothing better than a powered studio monitor. but yes, it can be a small one; KRK's Rokit 5 for example
Гага́рин
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Re: speaker for listening to violin recording?

Post by Гага́рин »

"you'll need a whole speaker."

Why? I see cheaper tweeters with betters specs:

http://nipponamerica.com/car-audio/twee ... ct_id=4318

There's no doubt it'll be powered. But could you tell me why isn't a stand alone tweeter better than a whole speaker? That tweeter above has better specs:

• Sensitivity: 105dB
• Frequency response: 2K-25KHz

Again, I don't mind hand wiring afterwards, just want best price/quality wise.

A could be needed possibly as well.


p.s.: is 2K-20KHz better? Does this refer to amplitude of the sine wave?

thanks.
tnovelli
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Re: speaker for listening to violin recording?

Post by tnovelli »

Гага́рин wrote:...I see cheaper tweeters with betters specs:
Specs are not the whole story... and some specs are pretty bogus. But anyway...
Гага́рин wrote:p.s.: is 2K-20KHz better? Does this refer to amplitude of the sine wave?
That means the speaker has a "flat" frequency response in that range, they don't say /how flat/ and they don't promise anything beyond that range.

The violin A string is 440hz, so low A is 220... so you need to get down around 200. Really. Try listening to some violin music on headphones, then drop the 200hz band in EQ. Sounds thin.

20khz is kinda overkill on the high end. I'm *guessing* there are small speakers (not tweeters) that cover the 200hz-15khz range...
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Re: speaker for listening to violin recording?

Post by Capoeira »

it's like tnovelli said.


you could go with a speaker with 4" or even 3" woofer but you wont find a good monitor of that size. If you want it to sound really good, buy a 5" studio monitor. (KRK, Alesis, Yamaha, or even Behringer (last choice))

if you want to spend less buy a good 4" or 3" multi media active speaker, Edifier, Behringer, M-Audio, Samson
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Re: speaker for listening to violin recording?

Post by Capoeira »

another thing is, some of those specs only mean they will sound at that frequency, it doesn't say they willl do it without distorsion.
Shadow_7
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Re: speaker for listening to violin recording?

Post by Shadow_7 »

You want specs that exceed the used range. Gear that actually does that struggles less at the extremes. Human hearing tends towards 20Hz to 20kHz. But speakers tend towards 50Hz to 16kHz. While many speakers cannot reproduce the full range of human hearing, they'll try to reproduce it when sent the signal. Which muddy's the result.

My computer speakers basically go dark at 50Hz or lower, as in no audible frequencies of importance. Which is still in the used range of somewhat typical bass lines and tuba solos. You want at least a 5" speaker imo. And even then you may still lack a full representation. When I had 8" studio monitors I found out a lot about handling noise at the mic that I would have otherwise missed. But 225W * 2 was a bit taxing on this old house. And way to loud for my space.
Гага́рин
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Re: speaker for listening to violin recording?

Post by Гага́рин »

ok the reason I ask about the tweeters it's because they are way cheaper on top that I am not planning to throw a party at an Olympic stadium.

I am concerned about specs adjusted to a violin.

For instance, car tweeters, apparently good quality go for $20. That looks pretty good for one's wallet.

Mmm... another thing. What about that vacuum tube 'warmifier'? That would go into an amp before the tweeter?

PC -> amp+vacuum tube -> tweeter

??

thanks
Shadow_7
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Re: speaker for listening to violin recording?

Post by Shadow_7 »

It would probably help if you gave an actual tweeter you were looking at so we could spec it out. Tweeters tend towards high frequencies, which leaves a void on the low frequencies. For example the boss tw-30 bullet tweeter is 2.5kHz to 21kHz by specs and around $20 on some sites.

$ sox -r 44100 -n test2500Hz.wav synth 1 sine 2500 gain -1

to generate a 2.5kHz sine wave audio file of 1 second of duration. And that's the "low" end of that tweeters spec. Bearing in mind that tuning A is 440Hz or 0.44kHz. (or 442Hz depending on region/genre). Boosting the high end helps with the clarity on spoken words. But not really that useful in terms of acoustic instruments.

EDIT: alternatively use a highpass filter at 2500Hz on your favorite track of music and see how that sounds. You can do that with the filters available for audacity and other means.
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