Soundstage with all-in-one and popular multi-room style systems

[onthebeat13]

Hi all,

I'm curious if anyone has thoughts about the soundstage and imaging produced by systems that have a relatively narrow fixed separation between stereo channels, like all-in-one speakers, sound bars and some of the popular multi-room/WiFi systems.

For my primary sound system, I do use a pair of bookshelf speakers but I had been trying to find something affordable and relatively small that has decent connectivity (that preferably would allow for WiFi streaming) for another room. I bought a Klipsch One II on sale (it is indeed stereo) and while I'm impressed with the dynamic range and clarity (considering the price and size), the narrow soundstage and subpar imaging is bothering me a lot. I'm not surprised considering there is so little space between the two drivers, but there do seem to be a lot of all-in-one speakers and multi-room systems on the market that would not appear to produce a great soundstage or image.

Is this something that just isn't important to that many people? Even those who are spending a few hundred dollars or more on a system? Or do these type of systems do a decent job when placed properly in the right room?

 

[TheOctopus]

Klipsch One II is a box with some drivers in it. You can not expect to get good imaging and a soundstage when the drivers are inches apart from each other. Any stereo pair of speakers will produce decent imaging and a soundstage when apart from each other and out from nearby boundaries/walls. If that is what you are trying to achieve on a budget, even Sonos speakers on stands will give you that. Plus you can room tune them to produce a more balanced presentation which is pretty effective through Sonos tuning software they use.

 

[joeinid]

Would you consider using something like a Sonos speaker but using 2 as a wireless stereo pair?

I have Sonos Play 5’s and they can be setup as a stereo pair further increasing their usefulness.

The smaller models can be used in a similar manner.

 

[onthebeat13]

I've considered getting a pair of the Sonos One SL or a pair of the Ikea Symfonisk, but they're pushing my budget a bit and I wasn't sure about the low-end frequency response considering some of the music I listen to. At the price of the Sonos, I'm not in love with the lack of some sort of physical audio input, as it would be nice on occasion to have the ability to plug it directly into a source for music thats above lossless CD quality.
I thought about buying a Chromecast and using some sort of HDMI audio extractor to hook it up to a pair of (probably second-hand) powered bookshelf speakers, but wasn't sure how well that would work and if it might create a noticeable degradation in audio quality.

I realize I might also be expecting too much for my budget, but I suppose it's somewhat surprising there aren't more options out there for this sort of thing--either something with Wifi built in, or something Chromecast Audio-like to bridge that gap. Especially considering that there are some solid-sounding inexpensive speakers out there.