"The only non-linearities I have to deal with are the ones inherent in the driver/cabinet combo." Sez who? What of non-linearities inherent in the speaker/room inteface, or, for that matter, the interaction of the amp's output impedance with the complex load of the driver itself? And don't minimize those driver/cabinet non-linearities, you may just be trading one distortion for another that you prefer the sound of. Single driver systems can have challenges at the frequency extremes, and we are not talking DC to light here, compromises in power handling/dynamic range and most of all modulation distortion resulting from a moderately sized cones having all frequencies present on the diaphragm at one time.
How come that when most audiophiles
follow the philosophy of "shorter, less complex signal path is better", they then wire their carefully chosen equipment to speaker cabinets filled with a boatload of transformers, capacitors, resistors, and drivers which exhibit gross non-linearities which are only compounded by adding them all together? I believe that the reason is the "specification game" again, where people believe that speakers must have a frequency response from DC to light +-3db, and as a result, speaker systems must have many drivers to cover the range. Notice the specs only show freq. response, and nothing about phase non-linearity induced by multiple crossover components. This seems to be a non-linearity in system philosophy where short signal path does not apply to speaker systems, but is paramount in all other aspects of the system. I use a direct input from source to OTL amp and DIY Fostex based 1-way speaker cabinets. The result is very natural, dynamic, phase-coherent,detailed, and revealing. The only non-linearities I have to deal with are the ones inherent in the driver/cabinet combo. With some careful design and impedence curve mods, I get a more musical sound than any "high end" speakers I have ever heard(and I've heard alot) as well as any of the multi-way speakers I've ever designed and built(also alot). Why do you think that there is this disconnect in thinking regarding short signal path as it relates to speakers?