The only experience I have are with my own Lamhorns with DX-3 Lowthers and a friend's Beauhorns with I believe, EX-4. Both systems have high quality subs. Based on this, I disagree with Ultrakaz' observation that they are not the best choice for rock. Both of these systems are capable of very high SPL and do not "unravel." Quite the opposite.
As for poorly recorded music being unlistenable, you can't have it both ways. If your system hides the flaws in poor recordings it will also hide some of the beauty in good ones. I would rather the best be better and the worst be worse than everything sounding mediocre
I guess if rock was all I wanted then I might go with a multi-driver, mega-watt setup, but Eclectic listens to a wide range of music and I think this is the way to go.
One thing to consider with AER drivers, and the reason I went with Lowthers, is that the AER driver was only available in 16 ohms. Perhaps this has changed since I bought mine, but a 16 ohm speaker limits your choice of amplifiers since many SET amps don't have 16 ohm taps. I had a Wavelength amp at that time with 4 and 8 ohm taps. Gordon Rankin was very adamant about using a matched speaker with his amp to obtain best performance.
As for poorly recorded music being unlistenable, you can't have it both ways. If your system hides the flaws in poor recordings it will also hide some of the beauty in good ones. I would rather the best be better and the worst be worse than everything sounding mediocre
I guess if rock was all I wanted then I might go with a multi-driver, mega-watt setup, but Eclectic listens to a wide range of music and I think this is the way to go.
One thing to consider with AER drivers, and the reason I went with Lowthers, is that the AER driver was only available in 16 ohms. Perhaps this has changed since I bought mine, but a 16 ohm speaker limits your choice of amplifiers since many SET amps don't have 16 ohm taps. I had a Wavelength amp at that time with 4 and 8 ohm taps. Gordon Rankin was very adamant about using a matched speaker with his amp to obtain best performance.