Best new loudspeaker

hi techmachine:

it may be a great speaker. i visited the web site, read a review and briefly studied some of the technical details.

the speaker might be too revealing. until i hear it (i can't lift it at 295 pds), it represents an if.

for $7200, i can purchase stacked quads unlimited quads.

i would love to compare the two speakers, each having a different driver type to determine the merits of the polymer.

i doubt it would be possible to do that. where did you hear them and who carries them ?

i find that ultimately, panels come closer to my experience of listening to live unamplified instruments.

When you continually state that all cones have fundamentally wrong timbre is where I tend to get cross-threaded. I have, however, absolutely no problem with the above statement - panels, setup correctly - well out into a room, can sound absolutely awesome! I tried to explain how the larger radiating surface of a panel will excite the sound field and room reveberation in a fundamentally different way (especially a panel that radiates forwards AND backwards)... this will make a sound field that is much more like listening at the back of a hall - higher proportion of reverberant energy will reach your ears than from a conventional cone speaker setup.

However you continue to insist that it is a fundamental "coloration" or timbre problem with all cones - as if it were some scientific principle, like Force= Mass times Acceleration. I simply do not believe that coloration or wrong timbre can be behind someone disliking 1000 audiophile quality cone speakers (wow that is a lot of auditions - there must have been a few extremely good ones in that mix - and yet they ALL had wrong or inferior timbre?).

Lets face it - I believe you prefer the way panels radiate and excite the room - that is what I believe is at the heart of your issue with "point source" speakers or cones. Otherwise I can't see how anyone could be so categorical about the inferiority of 1000 cone speakers versus practically ANY panel/electrostat/ribbon.

Back to the topic at hand, the D3 Sonata. Has anyone else heard these?

the speaker might be too revealing.

Can a speaker or any other piece of equipment be 'too revealing'?? This is not something I've ever heard of before. Is it possible that you prefer equipment that is chosen with a preference for a lack of detail (perhaps to cover up deficiencies in recordings or other equipment)?

I've also noticed that you've not responded to any of my prior posts in this thread. Did I hit a nerve? If so that was not my intention; the point of my other posts was not to make you wrong, but to get an actual answer.

hi ralph:

there is no best anything. however, at a point in time, one can say that given say 5 speakers, one of them is least inaccurate timbrally. that doesn't make it the best, but does establish performance in that regard.

timbre is one of several components of music. it is most important to me.

regarding "revealing" speakers, if a spekaer reveals both musical and non musical information in a manner whcih is not realistic, then it is too revealing.

i will provide an example in the visual realm. i was watching a commercial in which a part of brick building appeared on my lcd screen. i observed that the level of resolution exceeded what i would experience if i were viewing the building from a distance of 20 feet.

sometimes one listens to a stereo sytem which cone might say is overly articulated. when in attendance at a concert, i would never use the word "detail" as part of my description of the music i heard. if the same term is used when describing the music heard through a pair of speakers, it is possible that one is listening to music "under a microscope".

back to the topic. martin logan will be introducing its clx, a full range electrostatic speaker at the denver cedia show, later in the ear. priced between $8000 and $9000, it has the potential for being a fine product. i received information today from a representative of the company. it is too bad it is not in production yet, as i would order a pair with out an audition.