Full Range Drivers

Fin1bxn. That's what I'd like to hear is vocals like the singer was in my room. I'm toying with the Tekton Kat's Meow. The price is great and the designer/owner of the company said he'd pay to see the look on my face when I compare them with my B&W CM7's. He has a lot of back ground working with various speaker manufacturers and it sounds like he knows what he's doing. With a 30 day money back guarantee and a 5 years warranty, why not have them around? I'd like to be able to chose speakers based on what music on want to listen to.

One thing that should be made clear is that "Full Range" is a bit of misnomer for the average listener of moderate income and room size. Very, very, few speakers of any driver design actually cover 20Hz-20kHz(-3dB) accurately. Very few do 30Hz(-3dB) accurately. Those that do are usually very big, very heavy, and very expensive.

Fullrange single drivers have their advantages and limitations. I think the first sonic benefit that most fans, like myself, will tout is their musical "coherence". What does that mean? That the entire musical spectrum seems to emanate from one, seamless, sonic tapestry without any inconsistencies. It's very hard to describe in words, but once you hear it, it is very hard to accept anything else.

Why do they seem more "coherent" to some people than other multi-driver designs? I think most of us, like Macrojack, will cite no, or 1st order, crossovers and no need to transition between differing drivers at the crucial midrange frequencies where the ear is most sensitive to anomalies. Seamless transition between drivers of different size and construction materials is not easily done and fairly rare.

The downsides - like all speakers, bass. There are only three ways to deep, accurate, bass; 1) large driver surface area, 2) long driver excursion, 2) big cabinet. Usually, two of the three are necessary unless lots of power is needed.

And single drivers generally need really large cabinets to go deep with any authority. Even then, they won't move the same amount of air as good multi-driver designs. But, well-executed designs will have very fast and clean bass, which can be supplemented by good subwoofers.

Which brings us back to - is that really a single driver system? No, not in the strictest sense. But, single driver advocates are primarily concerned with a driver covering the most critical section of the frequency range in it's entirety - the full midrange (400Hz-6kHz). Most single driver proponents would even like to push that out to 8kHz-10kHz.

BTW, Tannoys aren't single drivers, they are coaxials with a center-mounted tweeter. But, their 12' or 15" driver does cover the entire critical range anyway. And they are pretty awesome when properly implemented in the right cabinet.

You may want to consider this article::

http://www.passdiy.com/pdf/cs-amps-speakers.pdf

These speakers work BEST with current source amps for which Pass provides a workaround.

Wow. Excellent information everyone. This has given me a lot to think about. I have a feeling I'm on a long journey which probably translates to upgrade fever, in the long term. I think I'll start to play around soon. I should be able to dabble in it without having to shed gear which will allow me to make comparisons. I'm on my first tube amp so there's so much for me to experience. I still haven't tube rolled and hope to try out some different 12ax7's soon. I greatly appreciate the information everyone shares on this site. If I ever win the lottery, I hope you guys will help me tweak the Wilson's after the crane lowers them into the new music room.

Donjr, try and find some people within driving distance who have single drivers. You really should hear several different types before making the plunge.

Check out The Fullrange Driver Forum, that's where all the fanatics hang out. Drop a post looking for people in your area, I'm sure there are a few. That's also the best place to ask any questions, members there have tried every possible of driver, cabinet, amplifier, etc.