How come that when most audiophiles

OK, your looking for the impossible, how about this?

A single driver speaker that is pretty much flat from 24 Hz to ultrasonics, and can be driven by amplifiers from as little as 21 watts to over 700 watts?

This speaker would have no crossover, less than 36 inches of wire and exhibit an impedance of 8 Ohms.

It must have a radiation pattern that remains IN PHASE from 24 HZ to ultrasonics, and yet produce between 88 and 95 BD sound pressure level at 1 watt, measured from 12 feet, rather than the industry standard of 39 inches.

This speakers single driver must be engineered where it is so lightweight and quick, that it measures and weighs less than the air it moves.

It must use a magnet that will deliver equal force and power distribution over it's single driver at all times. This must remain true, regardless of the total power applied to the driver, the sound pressure level required, and regardless of the frequency it is producing.

Last, it cannot occupy any more floor space than a Vandersteen 2C speaker.

So Onhwy61, are you directing your comments to the topic posted by Twl, or to my post about the impossible speaker?

My post described a speaker that appears to have all the attributes that Twl was searching for.

Your argument as to the possible merit of that technology should be directed at him.

Drubin is right, my punch line is that the speaker I described already exists, the Millennium One by Soundlab.

I might have fudged a bit on one part of the description. The Soundlab employs dual transformers separated by resistors, making for "sort of " a crossover. Other than that the specifications are correct.

Twl's speaker achieves it's musical magic by eliminating much of the multiple driver / crossover errors, producing a purity that attracts many to this type of design.

In addition to the designs high efficiency advantage, it allows use of ultra low powered SET amps, many of which have their own magic.

As Onhwy61 says, all of this is subject to each persons personal preferences. However, I admit I have been attracted to Hammer Dynamics and a low powered SET as a second system for many of these same reasons.

Here is an excerpt from Twl, the creator of this post.

Notice the specs only show freq. Response, and nothing about phase non-linearity induced by multiple crossover components. This seems to be a non-linearity in system philosophy where short signal path does not apply to speaker systems, but is paramount in all other aspects of the system. I use a direct input from source to OTL amp and DIY Fostex based 1-way speaker cabinets. The result is very natural, dynamic, phase-coherent, detailed, and revealing. The only nonlinearity I have to deal with are the ones inherent in the driver/cabinet combo.

MY POST BEGINS HERE, ON THE TOPIC AS BEGUN BY TWI:

His point being that simple, single driver systems retain more of these specific properties than the more complex designs.

My "impossible" speaker posting was exactly on topic because it listed ideal standards for that single driver system, including the crossover design and ability to be driven (impedance load and efficiency specs).

If you do not believe that these are important to a speakers design and performance, you have much to learn. There is no free ride in the realm of high performance audio, and the better and more coherent the speaker, the more likely the amplifier will deliver the information from the source and electronics that follow.

The speaker is the most flawed component in any system, it must convert electrical energy to mechanical energy. This is an extremely difficult task with the best conditions, and if the speaker has any design flaws to overcome, the ability to produce near believable results become impossible.

Phase coherency, driver mass, crossover phase distortion, notch distortion, cabinet resonance and wildly varying load impedance are but a few of the obstacles to making a speaker behave properly when driven by the electrical signal.

My "ideal " speaker addresses more of these problems than most designs and may be proven in the real world by auditioning the speaker these specifications represents. Twl's ideas are not new and they are not incorrect. He is seeking to accomplish this goal with dynamic drivers, I simply pointed out that an electrical version already existed that conformed to these ideals.

No doubt, and I am pleased that you found happiness with your system. The important thing is finding the special combination of equipment and speakers that allows you to listen to the music without constantly thinking about how the system "sounds".

If you are there then you are successful, regardless of how much money is spent.

Within my own post is the following: "it listed ideal standards for that single driver system."

The topic as posted by Twl is on the subject of single driver systems. My post addresses that subject much the same as an opinion as to the best CD player, preamp or turntable.

In Twl's world of single driver speakers, most if not all are powered by low output SET amps (as already mentioned in my post). Those designs REQUIRE the efficiently, impedance and other factors that I listed as ideal.

Simply put, a valid opinion and answer on this topic.