Best Loudspeakers for Rich Timbre?

@prof

I suggest you watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2pvz6RDBCE

It will explain to you some facts; they correlates perfectly with what mheinze is trying to say (Unfortunately, JA can not be trusted when it comes to UK made loudspeakers, read the comments on his ridicules conclusion, they are much more in line with reality).

For someone who puts so much time in to this hobby (or at least writing about it), some education may go a long way; you should give it a try, your long posts will be much more interesting and relevant.

I was hoping that the very simple explanation of why a speaker cone should be pistonic will enlighten you (this has nothing to do with Vandersteen, he just happened to explain it well). These are all very basic concept of physics, but you have to embrace real science first, which I now understand you are not willing (or capable) of doing. 

 BTW, "POLYPROPYLENE" cones are actually much worse, i.e less pistonic,  then harden "PAPER CONE", which is what typically is used in today drivers.

So if cheap parts, none pistonic jello cones, no coherent signal above 12K, a cabinet that produces noise that accounts for a significant portion of the overall output do not reduces resolution, what does?

Would it helps if you look at the gross THD between 200Hz and 500Hz? Last I checked it was part of the midrange (https://www.soundstage.com/measurements/speakers/harbeth_30_domestic/).

If it makes you feel better, I am willing to let go of the 50% mark; you seemed to be stuck on that. After all, I actually didn’t say that but hey, could be more, who knows, you want to define resolution now??

How about 47%, would that be better ;)
If you are going to continue and quote the SP review, I would have to question your own ability to reason, but I will try one more time.
Today, you can have a pistonic cone that will be well damped and will outperform anything Harbeth’s cone material is doing. There are no reasons to use a polypropylene cone anymore (maybe cost - but you can find much better drivers on a similar priced Focals etc). How about putting two tweeters (covering the same frq??!) one on top of the other? Look at the measurements, a complete mess above 12KHz, due to phase discrepancy between the tweeters, or breakup (even JA said something about that - forgetting that these measurements are "beyond reproach"). Did you see the parts quality of the XO? The cheap magnets on the drivers, and what about the enclosure, my god, it produces so much noise, it is like having another speaker within the speaker playing uncontrollable signals at all time. I am very sorry, it is clear that Allan Show didn’t leave his basement for 40 years. If this was any other product that objectively needed to perform, he would be out of business a long time ago. To look at something like that and have the nerves to say that it performs better then, just about anything I can think of, not to mention the Magicos, is a sad jock, which, sometimes, is what this hobby is :(

It is neither rigid, (nor pistonic), if compared to CF, aluminum, or ceramic cones, all you have to do is touch one (You can actually see that in the measurements as well, if you know what to look for). I have seen a dealer stand on a Magico 6" cone, that is rigid.

@prof
Looks like you were on the debate team at school right? I have an allergic reaction to these circular debating techniques that lead nowhere since the debater has a very shallow understanding of the subject he was just asked to debate.
It is too bad, you should have taken some science classes instead, this could have been a much more interesting discussion, and at the end, you could actually have better sound as well.

That is why the cones should be sandwiched, creating a constrained layer damping mechanism. See Magico and Zellaton. Focal does that as well, but uses fiberglass, somewhat less effective.
Magico uses 3" and 5" voice coil, btw.

@duckworp
I am a Fanboy of good engineering. Unfortunately, in our hobby, and particularly high-end loudspeakers, they are hard to come by.
  
BTW, I travel a lot to Europe, and I am familiar with the foreign audio press. Don’t kid yourself; they are just as “colored” as the one in the US; try to find a bad review of a high-end German product in a German magazine, or a UK made one in a UK magazine, good luck ;)