Von Schweikerts or Coincidents or ?

to integrate subs, use nothing more than a GOOD cap in series w/ your amps inputs, matched to your amps input impedance. this will give 2db per octave, and sound 100x better than a sub's internal (or a marchand / bryston external) x-over. this is the only way to integrate a sub properly (assuming you know your subs rolloff slope).
i've done this w/ merlin vsm-ms, and to my knowledge i am one of the only people to integrate subs w/ merlins and make a $10k speaker investment trump anything under $15k (soundlabs are at that point).

my point is if you have a limited budget, full range speakers are DAMN expensive to do right, or you could do what i described above.

btw: i never said albert made "bad" speakers. i've heard better (at the price, i liked celestion better for a 4-way). his are ok (better than krell, wilson, thiel). but i do what i will given his business practice: i vote w/ my $$ and buy elsewhere. frankly i wouldn't consider his products for that very reason; i am not alone, just alone on this post.

one more thing: no speaker is a lifetime purchase. if you own AVS, good luck w/ a resale value (hint: yes, everyone DOES want to own the latest thing).

rhyno

Rhyno, thanks for the valuable tip on the crossovers. However, until I get a 2-way for a second system this doesn't apply to my already good primary system using full range speakers, but don't you think more 2-way spk users (Merlin's) deserve to get more out of their speakers, since you personally stated you're among the very few using this? You ought to post the tip on AA.
You said: <<< at the price, i liked celestion better for a 4-way >>>, great, we're different people sporting different tastes, and that makes the hobby great. I personally prefer the 2-way Sonus Faber to the 2-way Merlin at the same price, and so what? But please note that SF's top speaker is a full range one, and so will be Merlin's when they come out with their statement product.
You also said: <<< i vote w/ my $$ and buy elsewhere. frankly i wouldn't consider his products for that very reason >>>, and I did precisely this (voted w/ my $$$) by buying from Albert, because I didn't see his struggle to keep up with the latest spk technologies, but at the same time offering upgrades and support for older spk as being bad business practice. Making 4 speakers in a lifetime cannot possibly shake hands with keeping up with the technology. So I still fail to see where the problem is.
Low resale value for VSA speakers? Where? When? No VR-7 has ever been offered for sale on the 2nd hand market to my knowledge. The older models are, indeed, great values as 2nd hand purchases, but that's good, isn't it?
As a side note, I see that you sold your Joule Electra preamp. What's next? A CTC Blowtorch?
Regards,

romandoc

i'll be taking ownership of a custom made preamp by tony at G&D. its rank is 2nd, behind the CTC. i'll let you know...

i've posted enough tips over there and been told i'm wrong on so many things. and frankly, i dont like tipping people off on vintage gear that I WANT. now that i own my pair, i can say conclusively that there are few subs that can compete w/ the entecs (yes, the watchdog is nice--bring your checkbook). so many people think REL is the answer---what a joke. why dont i just listen with my nose in the carpet?

resale value is very much a fxn of age & style (like automobiles, when a model changes body style, the previous body style goes down in value). if you're a buyer for life, dont sweat it. if you're like me and you don't like losing money in this hobby (sold the joule for a profit), it does matter....and thus limits the products one would consider.

rhyno

I'm surprised no one picked the Coincidents.

Silverline also makes some really nice tube-friendly speakers. I just heard the LaFolias at the Stereophile show and were quite impressive. Best of luck.

Tim