The downside to multiple pairs of speakers in one room

my member picture shows the warehouse...my main listening room has one pair of speakers.....I find the more speakers you have the more you play around adjusting to hear them all blend nicely....but what we all need is a nice listening room with no furniture and flower pots...2 speakers..amp for each...lol..thats just me
 
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In the front, center of wall, are stacked DQ-10's on a rack with a 36" square base which easily slides on carpet, so that I can pull them out into the room for use. When not in use, they go back againt the wall, but the base keeps them about 18" out. I discovered (a "happy accident") that the K-horns in the corners sound much more 3 dimensional when the DQ's act as some sort of room treatment. In other words, if I only had the cornerhorns, I'd have to score some DQ's to make the K-horns sound their best.
 
How about two systems each with a connected pair of speakers? In other words, no unused speakers.

As presently constituted the two systems suit me fine. One is my "work" setup (preamp has a remote for changing volume and input) and the other is for all other listening. Pretty much no downside here. This is not a dedicated listening room. That comes later after kids have moved on to their own quarters.
 
Maybe all you need or want is two speakers, but many find that boring. Many enjoy the sounds of different speakers and systems......but thanks for telling us what we all need.

Indeed; I know I had a lot of fun back in the day stacking speakers and seeing which pair worked well with the other. One thing I did find is that stacked Mcintosh ML1C's sound much better than a single pair; comb filtering and other supposed issues be damned:)
 
Maybe all you need or want is two speakers, but many find that boring. Many enjoy the sounds of different speakers and systems......but thanks for telling us what we all need.
I used the word "you" in its second-person plural form. I did not mean anyone specific. Thought that was obvious, but if it wasn't I hope it is now.

Now as for me, yes, all I want are two speakers and a system that play what should be played (music-wise).

As the OP wasn't crystal clear what type of speakers he was referring to, I did not think to included iPod speakers, or computer desk speakers. "Large bookshelf, 3 way type" is what I read and seeing as we are in an audio forum, I presumed he was talking about left and right channel from ones' amp.

I use two, others may use six speakers.

Whatever floats your boat.
 
The size of the room will affect sound quality more than having "multiple speakers".
Now if the number of unused speakers cuts into the size of the room making the room size too small is problematic, imo.
 
Indeed; I know I had a lot of fun back in the day stacking speakers and seeing which pair worked well with the other. One thing I did find is that stacked Mcintosh ML1C's sound much better than a single pair; comb filtering and other supposed issues be damned:)

All of my speakers in a room are hooked up to a system, I keep the extra ones in a spare bedroom. I just rotate a pair out when I want to hear them.
 
Since I have no dedicated listening room, or man-cave, then I find two major downsides to multiple speakers in a room. One is clutter, the other the deleterious effects on SQ - and those are not restricted to in-room bass response only. Imaging also suffers. My opinion is that more isn't always better, and if a speaker needs help to sound good to my ear, then I need a different model. I don't insist that I'm right - some of you love using multiple speakers, and I have come to believe that there are no one-size-fits-all speaker solutions, and we should all use what we like.

And, yes, even when not in use simultaneously, most all of us know that speakers not in use affect the sound. I really liked restorer-john's nomenclature in this thread - passive absorbers.
 
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In the front, center of wall, are stacked DQ-10's on a rack with a 36" square base which easily slides on carpet, so that I can pull them out into the room for use. When not in use, they go back againt the wall, but the base keeps them about 18" out. I discovered (a "happy accident") that the K-horns in the corners sound much more 3 dimensional when the DQ's act as some sort of room treatment. In other words, if I only had the cornerhorns, I'd have to score some DQ's to make the K-horns sound their best.
Thats pretty extreme.

So you find that the unused speakers become acoustic room treatment?
 
The way I figure it, if the (unused) speakers are absorbing sound energy, how could that be any different than applying absorptive room treatments?
Unless you want the reflections...

*disclaimer: I don't make any claim to know what the heck I'm talking about :)
 
The size of the room will affect sound quality more than having "multiple speakers".
Now if the number of unused speakers cuts into the size of the room making the room size too small is problematic, imo.

You should know, lol. Won't spill the beans but if you are not reporting effects from multiple large speakers in the same room, then this myth is busted.
 
You should know, lol. Won't spill the beans but if you are not reporting effects from multiple large speakers in the same room, then this myth is busted.
Yes.
I have no measurements to quantify or bust the myth, however in my particular situation there's a good possibility of beneficial SQ improvement.:dunno:
 
The right way to find out is a blind test. Curtain in room and see if listener can tell the difference with and without other speakers present.

It's been mentioned that shorting stored speakers has benefits. Shorting does not stop the cone from moving or reflecting sound waves. There may be some electrical magnetic benefits in that when kinetic energy is applied to a woofer, current is generated. A woofer has a copper coil moving across a magnetic field. In other words, a cone can be thought of as a kind of dynamo. So, if un-driven speakers are vibrating such that current is generated, and it is enough to drive the woofer beyond what is reflected, shorting could stop that. Conservation of energy law says no additional energy can be generated so I have my doubts.
 
The right way to find out is a blind test. Curtain in room and see if listener can tell the difference with and without other speakers present.

This may provide the best and most reliable data, but who in their right mind would go to this extreme ?
 
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