David Looser wrote:
"Laurence Payne" wrote in message

My practical experience of large speakers - some much larger than
anything found in a domestic setup - is that they generally sound MUCH
better mounted at least a small distance away from any flat surface,
wall or floor.

At one time there was a fad for mounting speakers as far into room corners
as possible. My granddad, who was something of a "HiFi" enthusiast in the
1950s built a speaker cabinet which used the walls and floor as part of the
cabinet. I seem to remember that a barrow-load of sand was part of it as
well.

The corner horn had some advantages: first of all it meant that you could
take advantage of the edge effects of the corner to provide increased bass
response, and secondly that bass boost was predictable because everyone would
put the speaker in the same place in every room, rather than have it an
unknown distance from the rear and side walls.

It made sense back in the fifties when loaded horns were essential for high
efficiency at low frequencies, in an era of low amplifier power. Back then,
systems were mono and so the inability to place the speaker for good imaging
was a non-issue.

When stereo came in, corner horns went away.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."