Speakers to run Hammond C2/Ventilator through in living room

[Skinny]

I picked up a Mini Vent from a forum member a while back, with the intent of connecting it to my C2, since I sold my other C2/122 rig - right now my C2 is running through a PR40 tone cabinet that, although it works fine, I want out of my living room (and it's not a Leslie )

 

I am imagining a setup with the Vent installed in the cabinet, with my remote footswitch connected. But my big challenge is what speakers to buy, and along with that, the placement of them. I'm thinking nice studio monitors (either sitting on the organ, or wall-mounted... I have a toddler, so speaker stands might not be a safe option), and a powered sub. I already have a sub with a built-in crossover, but it only has options of 120, 90, and 60 Hz, so that would not be ideal to simulate a 122's crossover point of 800 Hz.

 

So, any ideas as far as speakers or speaker placement? With the right speakers and the right placement, will I even need a sub?

 

My goal is to keep it looking nice in my living room, yet being good sounding; I don't need the volume or wall-shaking low end of a real leslie - but I want to have a nice stereo image. I can control that somewhat with a small mixer, though.

 

Thanks

[WesG]

I was really impressed with the Yamaha HS8s I tried once. These were for piano, though.

 

What I liked about them was that it was hard to spacially locate them without using my eyes. The sound seemed to come from everywhere.

 

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/music-production/speakers/hs_series/hs8/

[LX88]

I have tried something like this with an A105

 

The speaker I used was a 12 inch EV Force. No crossover, no high frequency driver at all. I got all the frequencies I needed and it sounded smooth.

 

Hammond tone cabs had no tweeter - for a reason.

[ClavAnother]

Hammond tone cabs had no tweeter - for a reason.

 

 

I always thought the reason was that they had no idea how to design speaker cabinets

[AnotherScott]

I think the CPS Spacestation would probably be about perfect for this.

[Bif_]

I think the CPS Spacestation would probably be about perfect for this.

 

Agreed. It will provide a more room-filling listening experience.

 

Keep in mind that studio monitors (when correctly placed) have a very narrow sweet spot.

 

[Skinny]

Actually, yeah, the Spacestation was the first thing that came to mind; however, I'm not sure I'd love the look of it sitting in my living room. However, the organ is in the corner; do you guys know if the Spacestation's spatial capability would be greatly diminished if it was kind of hidden in the corner between the wall and the organ?

 

Also, thanks for the tip about studio monitors having a narrow sweet spot. I did not know that.

[RABid]

Right now I am using a Spacestation in the living room connected to a Montage. To be honest, I was happier with the sound when I was using a pair of EV ZLX-12P's positioned like floor monitors.

[AnotherScott]

Right now I am using a Spacestation in the living room connected to a Montage. To be honest, I was happier with the sound when I was using a pair of EV ZLX-12P's positioned like floor monitors.

Having done a somewhat similar comparison once, I'm not surprised. I needed some EQ to get the Spacestation to sound as tonally pleasing as the EV ZXa1, particularly for piano sounds. But if we're talking about a playback system that is dedicated to organ, I suspect that the spatial quality of the Spacestation would outweigh the tonal accuracy of an EV. The sound simply emanates in a way that I think more faithfully recreates the experience of playing trough a Leslie.

 

Getting back to the OP, then, remember that the Leslie, too, is a single box. The sound doesn't emanate from drivers placed six feet apart on either side of you. I think the idea of taking a Vent output and sending it to speakers placed that way is not going to get as close to the sound of the real thing. Although the technology is different, the Leslie and the Spacestation share the attribute of having the entire sound emanate from what is almost a single point, and both are basically taking advantage of things like phase differences and room reflections to create a room-filling sound of spatial depth, despite all the drivers being in very close proximity to each other.

[Delaware Dave]

Motion Sound used to make a powered speaker cabinet (don't recall the model #) which provides a 3D sound because it is open on all sides. I believe they made two models that had different wattages. I found a picture of it in the link below, it is the top right speaker enclosure in the picture:

 

link

 

It would be perfect for your application. As the enclosure is open on all 4 sides it would provide an effect similar to a leslie cabinet. It's a low profile speaker in fruitwood that should somewhat match your Hammond.