Okay, the gloves are off. Let the fur fly

Actually, I applaud Twl's beliefs, efforts, and persistence. It's probably people like him that do eventually make the major breakthroughs in any field of endeavor. But as I personally don't know diddley about speaker construction or theory (and have little interest in it), as an end user I can only judge products by listening-- regardless of what they are. I'm in it for the music, and if Twl can improve on what we've got, I say he deserves to get rich and famous. Cheers. Craig

I let most of my fur fly about 20 years ago so will not be able to participate in that part. I am now in the SET/ single driver camp. I think it easier to get there with that approach than trying to integrate a bunch of drivers and crossover components. Notice I said easier, not that it can't be done the other way. However, I cannot get the deep bass I want from my speakers (Lamhorns) so I am using an MBL sub to fill in the bottom. I guess that means I agree with both sides. I may run for congress.

I believe that a lot of the advantages that a single driver system may have are compromised by two technical problems. First, is modulation distortion that is the product of having all frequencies in the music present and modulating one another on the surface of the driver cone. This is certainly also present in mult-way systems but an order order of magnitude lower due to the seperation of the crossover. Second, although high freqency response may be "acceptable" on axis the size of the cone used in single driver systems usually results in increasingly diminishing high frequency response the further one gets off axis. This may be an acceptable tradeoff if one wants to sit alone off axis or if one has a very live room. Of course, the obvious limitations of ultimate dynamic range, power handling, bass response and the increased harmonic distortion resulting from the longer excursions required of a small driver handling bass response are other tradeoffs involved. In the end, as in all things audio, you accept the compromises that are most consonant with your inner musical soul that defines how music communicates best to you. In my limited experience single driver systems can sound fabulous on many types of music, but the tradeoffs are not consistant with the musical model that I carry within me.

Please keep in mind that i am a fan of "single driver" or "point source" designs and own two such speaker pairs. However, being the realist that i am, i can not overlook the flaws that go along with ANY design. Nor should i think that there are only benefits to that design just because i happen to like that specific product or concept.

The basics that any speaker systems have to work with include mass, transient response, radiation patterns, resonances, impedances, output levels, Xmax ( maximum excursion capabilities ), damping / suspension characteristics, etc... One can not achieve the necessary traits with high accuracy in all of the aforementioned categories within the audible frequency range using one driver. As such, the end result of a design that tries to do so is simply a matter of selected trade-offs.

Deep bass requires large surface areas to move a lot of air and mass to achieve a low resonance. It also requires long excursion. What it takes to achieve extreme high frequency response is completely contradictory to those requirements. Clean treble response requires small surface areas to minimize beaming and low mass to respond quick enough for good transient response. Since very short and rapid excursions are what is required for high frequency reproduction, a driver that is simultaneously trying to make large excursions to cover the bass range will end up fighting itself. The end result is distortion. Measurements show that THD, IMD and several other types of distortion sky-rocket to various levels when this takes place.

Trying to achieve excellent results in one area of the audible spectrum over the other ranges results in an unbalanced approach. This is therefore not acceptable to most avid audiophiles. One can achieve a good balance of many of these attributes, but this requires compromises in almost EVERY area of performance. The normally chosen path is a driver that works best over a wide frequency range but not have to cover the extremes with as much finesse.

The end result of almost all of these designs is exactly that. A point source that sounds quite fabulous over the upper bass / lower midrange, up through the midrange and into the lower treble. If one tries to push deep bass out of something like this, the necessary excursion tends to create a "warbling" or "tremolo" effect at upper frequency ranges. This becomes far more apparent as volume levels are increased. On the opposite hand, if one expects "purity" out of the top end, then the driver must be excursion limited and this hurts bass.

As such, if one is willing to live with phenomenally seamless midrange response that is very liquid and coherent at the expense of deep bass, extreme highs and limited SPL capabilities, a single driver system may be for you. Otherwise, you'll have to choose what is acceptable to you in terms of other trade-offs and go that route. Sean
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Have any of you thought about the fact that headphones are probably the most accurate and wide frequency response in high end audio. I'm talking about Stax and similar high end products, not the $19.95 Sony Walkman variety.

Anyway, the principal is the same, only difficult to pull off in a living room, compared to the tiny space between the ear cup and your eardrum.

I think this is one for Twl's side, and I must admit, I am thinking up things to keep the scales balanced.