single driver speakers


Someone please help me out here...

I am struggling to understand how a single driver system can sound anywhere near as good as a multiple-driver system with crossovers...

I understand that crossovers and multiple drivers can have issues with interference, phase, etc - but those drawbacks would seem to be vastly outweighed by the increased frequency response and clarity within a frequency spectrum that a multi-driver system produces.

I see these

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis8ij2i-voxativ-ampeggio-due-70-off-priced-to-move-full-range

and just can not wrap my mind around how they could sound better than a multi-driver system costing 1/10 as much. (no knock intended on the seller of these speakers, I was just browsing listings and saw them so it made me wonder)

Thanks!
babyseaotter99
Czarivey,

I do not know how they work but I can give you my opinion for what is worth. I have owned two different single driver speakers.

I owned The 2nd Rethm with an upgraded Lowther driver with an upgraded silver voice coil driver and wired with Crimson speaker cable for 15 years. I enjoyed ther clarity but they were a little too “shouty”. It is hard to beat the huge soundstage, midrange and bass clarity. The limited bass depth was sufficient for me. However I found that the treble was a bit too cut off and grainy. They were also hard to integrate into my living room decor.

I now have a pair of Audience 1+1 V2+’s in my main system and the  smaller version called The One in my office system. I maintained the midrange clarity, soundstage and gained treble focus. 

I won’t tell you that multi driver speakers are better or worse but I all I can say is that once I compared single driver speakers to multi driver speakers is that I preferred Single Diver speakers since then. You might want to get a hold of A pair of the Audience 1+1’s, try Galen Carol Audio, he may have a thirty day return policy and are only the size of a medium sized toaster. This makes them easy to move them around and set up.

I have also heard the Tocoro’s, another single driver speaker, I found those quite compelling as well. Dreamonoids, in San Antonio, TX  sells them so you might want to give those a try if you are curious about a larger single driver speaker. You might want to audition those as well. 

One thing I have experienced through the years is that the cleaner the power delivery, power chords, speaker cables and interconnects of good quality elevates their musical clarity.

Have fun,

rc




Really nice cabinets but 35k drivers on those? These are outliers for sure so I wouldn’t make too many generalizations based upon them. 
Altec 755's in a two-cubic foot sealed box will give you satisfying bass and enough treble for pleasurable listening!
A lot of folks like Zu  fans is considered thah single driver with supertweeter  or without is the best
I think some of this is mythology, and much of it is personal taste. In the past integrating multiple drivers was really difficult. Multi-way speakers pre-date the electronic spreadsheet, PC’s and of course crossover simulation tools by decades. A lot of trial and error and wasted time IMHO. This is why some of the Genesis speaker crossovers are so utterly wonky.

Some of this has to do with where we hear individually. My suggestion, rather than going on argument, is build a pair for yourself. Some kits start at $150 per pair:

https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/full-range-speaker-kits/

Some advantages are time co-incident, and point source behavior. That is, going off axis there are no possible lobing or interference patterns (depending on the actual driver design). In this way they act like the old thiel, and modern co-axial TAD or Kef designs. 

And let's face it, they appeal to the purists. Multi-way speakers, on the other hand, are complicated. Lots of capacitors, coils, resistors, etc. are all participating in the final result. It is fair to question whether any of this detracts from 

If you want a multi-way with an absolute minimalist crossover, consider the A26 kit:

https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/2-way-speaker-kits/seas-a26-10-2-way-kit-pair-based-on-the-cla...




Best,

E