Radio advice - stereo?

R

RichA

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 24, 2021
Messages
4,606
Location
UK
Visit site
I'm looking at DAB radios to replace MrsA's Roberts radio from the dawn of the DAB era.
I'm a bit out of touch - is having stereo speakers in a smallish radio not really a worthwhile thing anymore? Most of those I'm looking at don't even mention whether they're stereo or mono.
I get that 2 speakers right next to each other in the corner of a room is a bit pointless, but do modern speakers actually emulate the effect of stereo from a single one?
 
Already got speakers wired into a Bluetooth receiver and a couple of Megaboom speakers for tunes from the phone, but they don't honestly get used that much. As soon as you get a text or phone call or leave the room, you disconnect and forget to patch it back in.
We like having a radio burbling away in the background, uninterrupted.
 
[QUOTE="RichA, post: 2455981, member: 29828"
I get that 2 speakers right next to each other in the corner of a room is a bit pointless, but do modern speakers actually emulate the effect of stereo from a single one?[/QUOTE]

I do not see that as being possible unless there are actually two speaker cones inside the enclosure aimed in slightly different directions.
 
quite a lot of audio is recorded “on channel” and so phases between L & R as an effect.
The benefit of stereo, even in a small unit, is that you hear the phased channel effect whereas mono you would only hear one phased channel.

Think of only hearing every other reverb of an echo.
 
GreiginFife said:
quite a lot of audio is recorded “on channel” and so phases between L & R as an effect.
The benefit of stereo, even in a small unit, is that you hear the phased channel effect whereas mono you would only hear one phased channel.

Think of only hearing every other reverb of an echo.
Click to expand...
Just imagine for a second that you're explaining that to a simpleton and try again please. ?
 
RichA said:
Just imagine for a second that you're explaining that to a simpleton and try again please. ?
Click to expand...

Ok so some audio is programmed to flip between left and right channels, like an echo so that the sound “phases” from left to right (it’s a method of making the audio more “dimensional” by all accounts). If the word “hello” was phased left to right 3 times each (so six “hellos” in total) with mono you’d only hear the hello on one channel so only 3 times.

Having a second speaker on a separate channel, even in a small enclosure, would eliminate that effect.

A single mono speaker running a single channel audio feed can’t emulate stereo no matter how good it is.
 
GreiginFife said:
Ok so some audio is programmed to flip between left and right channels, like an echo so that the sound “phases” from left to right (it’s a method of making the audio more “dimensional” by all accounts). If the word “hello” was phased left to right 3 times each (so six “hellos” in total) with mono you’d only hear the hello on one channel so only 3 times.

Having a second speaker on a separate channel, even in a small enclosure, would eliminate that effect.

A single mono speaker running a single channel audio feed can’t emulate stereo no matter how good it is.
Click to expand...
Got it. Thank you.
So how do, for example, the modern Roberts radios deliver what is supposedly a rich sound without stereo speakers? I can't find any description of the speakers(s) in the technical description.
 
RichA said:
Got it. Thank you.
So how do, for example, the modern Roberts radios deliver what is supposedly a rich sound without stereo speakers? I can't find any description of the speakers(s) in the technical description.
Click to expand...

We have a Roberts DAB clock thingy and it does produce a rich sound, but when passing what I know to be phased audio through it it's not reproducing as it should.
A way that some manufacturers have tried to fool the ear by using a certain type of speaker driver that has a co-axial tweeter built in to it but is wired to a second channel. it provides some separation but again it's not as accurate as "true" stereo. The thinking is that the mid range can produce some higher frequencies, like vocals, and the co-ax tweeter will produce the rest. It works, absolutely and it's often hard to tell the difference.

But the principle remains the same, if a single driver unit (or mid/tweeter combo) is being fed a mono signal, you will get mono audio no matter how fancy the speaker is or whatever special name they give the technology.

Edited to add: "Rich" audio just means that it is able to produce lows and highs with clarity. It's not anything to do with channel separation.
 
The answer to this is surely partly about how good your ear is at picking these things up. @GreiginFife is a specialist in this field, builds speakers, and so will be hugely sensitive to speaker variables. Top man for advice. If you are a regular Joe then some of this stuff will be wasted. We have an Amazon Echo at work for the radio, at home we have a dot for the kitchen. Both give really clear and solid sound for our purposes. My SiL has a Bose internet radio, small thing but brilliantly clear to my ear. These will do the job for many, unless you have a sensitive ear or live in a house with big rooms. That is when Greig is your man and the pound signs get bigger :LOL:
 
Lord Tyrion said:
The answer to this is surely partly about how good your ear is at picking these things up. @GreiginFife is a specialist in this field, builds speakers, and so will be hugely sensitive to speaker variables. Top man for advice. If you are a regular Joe then some of this stuff will be wasted. We have an Amazon Echo at work for the radio, at home we have a dot for the kitchen. Both give really clear and solid sound for our purposes. My SiL has a Bose internet radio, small thing but brilliantly clear to my ear. These will do the job for many, unless you have a sensitive ear or live in a house with big rooms. That is when Greig is your man and the pound signs get bigger :LOL:
Click to expand...

I see that I may have muddied the water slightly so apologise. I was answering the question "can a single speaker emulate stereo"?

The application of a single speaker in a small device which is not designed to be used at high power outputs will work with the limitations I posted above when audio is being phased. If the manufacturer actually employs a stereo amplifier to a single "bi wired" speaker then at low power you are not going to hear that difference. But again, that's not emulating stereo, it IS stereo just carried out using one unit with multiple drivers.

If the amplifier is mono then there it only has one channel by definition and so can't emulate stereo.

I have built many single speaker "sound boxes" for customer, often despite me saying that it won't sound right, with the result being that most are returned for a redesign which often includes upgrading the amp to stereo and using either a co-axial speaker or adding a small tweeter in stereo.

But, as LT says, in low power applications you're probably not going to notice unless it's "true mono" where you might notice some "gaps" in the music.
 
I have a Pure Evoke 2 speaker jobbie. Wooden body, and sounds delightful for a smallish unit. It lives in my garage , hanging from a beam. It certainly lets the neighbours know when there’s some Pink Floyd on the radio;)
 
Bunkermagnet said:
I have a Pure Evoke 2 speaker jobbie. Wooden body, and sounds delightful for a smallish unit. It lives in my garage , hanging from a beam. It certainly lets the neighbours know when there’s some Pink Floyd on the radio;)
Click to expand...

It's always of huge importance that the neighbours know when Dave is going to make the guitar sing :)

I built a "boom box" for the garage out of an Alpine car head unit and a par of old Alpine S series 6 x 9s, it's quite... powerful. Has a DAB radio and bluetooth connectivity to is great for many purposes.
 
Bunkermagnet said:
I have a Pure Evoke 2 speaker jobbie. Wooden body, and sounds delightful for a smallish unit. It lives in my garage , hanging from a beam. It certainly lets the neighbours know when there’s some Pink Floyd on the radio;)
Click to expand...
I've had an Evoke and a larger Pure stereo with separate speakers. Both looked the nuts and sounded great for a few years but the electronics in both packed up disappointingly soon after the warranty periods.
The Roberts has been better, so I'll probably get another one.

Thanks all for the advice.
 
Worth noting that many of the Roberts units (even the small ones) do actually use stereo speakers. The drivers are small, of course, but realistically a set of 1.5" full range drivers would comfortably fit in a 4" chassis with enough cabinet behind them to tune the frequency responses nicely.

Just checked the model of Roberts we have, it's a Blutune 50 and despite it's alarm clock size, it's actually a 2.1 system internally, albeit compact drivers and a "subwoofer".

Speaker drivers, like everything else, are evolving and becoming lower and lower profile. BMR drivers are becoming more common, these are essentially "flat cone" speakers that produce both Mid and Treble by limiting the bend in resonance.

I have an order in my book that will look to deploy a 10" subwoofer that only has a chassis depth of 3" and still sound like a "traditional" full depth subwoofer (usually 6"+ in depth).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

N
Filling the Gaps
Replies
6
Views
3K
ntommo
N
U
Android auto
Replies
0
Views
582
USER1999
U
SwingsitlikeHogan
Any Audiophiles Out There
Replies
4
Views
979
SwingsitlikeHogan
SwingsitlikeHogan
C
Would new clubs really help me?
2
Replies
24
Views
3K
Hosel Fade
Hosel Fade
virtuocity
Cobra Fly Z
Replies
7
Views
5K
One Planer
One Planer
Top