Single driver point source speakers vs. the world?

Time, phase correct, point source. Easy load for amplifier,lower power requirements are all benefits of fullrange drivers. There are many available but I feel the cheap ones only give a small taste of what a proper fullrange design can do. Weakness extremes of frequency. Only a few can produce bass below 40hz. Most have issues with treble reproduction but its slight and only compared to the better high frequency transducers. They also have limited SPL but this is not a issue in most systems. Best to look for 8in fullranges. These give the max performance per $ outlayed. Still the 6 1/2in fe166e like in most abbys is a fine affordable driver and will give a taste of whats possible if one more fully explores fullrange options. My son build the nagaoka design for fe166e a better cabinet for fe166e now en than abby. The plan ships with driver. Another option is madisound bk20 kit with fe206en or fe208esigma with t900a tweeter. A massive step up over abbys performance. To me the best performance for funds is SEAS exotic. In fullrange doesn't get much if any better than SEAS X=1 no mater what they charge.

There are two issues here that tend to get lumped together when they should be addressed separately. The first is the point source driver. The second is crossoverless designs. You can have the former without having the later. Tannoy, Thiel, Cabasse, Gradient, TAD and others have done point source drivers with crossovers. Typically a tweeter is placed in the center of a midrange or full range driver. These designs are noted for their coherence and the ability to soundstage/image. They are also not necessarily limited at the frequency extremes or suffer the volume limitations of single driver crossoverless designs. Designing a transparent passive crossover is a major technical, but at a practical level it is more achievable than a full range single driver crossoverless speaker.

"for those with point source design experience is does the lack of a crossover in designs equate to these types of results in other point source or single driver designs?"

As pointed out, lack of crossover and point source are two different things both of which can help produce better results. That aside, I would say the answer to your question is a resounding yes.

I'd really like to put a pair of C&C Abbeys in my living room some day. I love the look and can imagine how they sound.

The high efficiency & the absence of X-over is the only common thing among the 8" full range drivers.
BUT :
There is a world of difference between (ie): a Lowther PM7A and a WE 755 or a Fostex Fe206E and a Feastrex Naturflux.
Also you can consider some coaxials (ie): an Altec 604 and a PHY-HP KM 30. (from different planets also)
While the coaxials are using a minimalist X-over, there are not less atractive than the single F-R drivers, most (if not all) of them are asking for an added tweeter, so in the end you are forced to use a minimal X-over also. (not to mention an active sub.)
If you prefer the single F-R driver instead of the 3 way compression drivers, I'm sure its not because of the X-over... that is not the limiting factor of these speakers.
So, maybe the attractive factor is not the absence of X-over. I suspect is the time coherency of their nature.
When you keeping low the expectations, everything are going fine. But the day that you start thinking for the upper limits... the experience will come to you only with hard work and after many failing projects. The point is that the success & satisfaction probably would never come.
It is the nature of the beast. We love it but we are not accept it's limitations and we were going for tweeks & mods until the end of the world.
Oh yes Sir.

George

cwlondon, my computer speakers are Merrill Zigmahornets. 4" single driver speakers with surprising bass for the design. The lack of low bass makes them office friendly by not bugging my co-workers. The lack of exaggerated highs mean that they are non fatiguing. I used them 4-8 hours a day every day!

Single drivers are great. In an ideal world though, I think my Acoustat 2+2's were amazing. I just need a 20 x 30 living room with 12 foot ceilings, not kids, no dog and a blindly devoted wife who can overlook the entire room.