Doc, Lowthers are great speakers, but they are not for everyone. Like anything else, they have a particular sound. If you are a 3-way with a subwooofer type of guy, you may not like them. They have extremely good detail and efficiency levels, but the bass only goes to 50Hz or thereabouts and there is no subwoofer that can blend with them really well. Most Lowther owners do not use subs. Also, there is a distinct peak around 1500-2000Hz that is present. Most Lowther designs use a back loaded horn design to bolster the mids and bass below 1500Hz to even out the response with the peak as best they can. This works, but some don't like the colorations imparted by the horn design. With that being said, however, I think that Lowther speakers are one of the finest speaker systems that money can buy. If you have not listened to an efficient 1-way speaker, then you likely do not even know what real detail is. The overall strengths of Lowthers far outweigh the weaknesses IMHO. Much of the strengths of Lowthers come, not only from the Lowthers themselves, but from the 1-way design that I am a strong proponent of. Elimination of the crossover network is one of the best things you can do for a speaker. I have posted ad-nauseum on this subject on other threads. They are worth a listen, but make sure the ones you listen to are broken-in. They take about a year to break-in. Once they do, they sound like a very efficient set of electrostatics, except with great dynamics and the ability to play quite loud. The midrange peak will be tamed, but still there though. Other speakers that you may try in this category would be the Lammhorn with the REPS-1 fullrange driver which is excellent, but expensive. Carfrae horns with Lowthers, Hedlund horns with Lowthers, Beauhorns, Oris horns, Avantgarde horns, and various DIY kits like the Voight pipes or Ace are available for consideration. With SET amps, the single driver system is the only way to experience what is possible with an amp like that. There are trade-offs though, and you have to be sure you can do without the bass "thump" of your subwoofer, in order to get the great advantages in the rest of the spectrum. As far as whether it is a move up from what you have, I would say emphatically yes, but you are the one who has to decide that. You really must go to listen because nobody can really describe the sound of a loudspeaker adequately. If you are handy, a good way to start is to get a set of plans for Voight Pipes from the Single Driver Website and a set of Lowther DX-2 or DX-3 drivers. This is a simple project and will get your feet wet with the sound of Lowthers. While they are breaking in, you can decide if you want to go all the way to a high end Lowther system or not. You could do this for under a thousand dollars for the drivers and the materials for the Voight pipes. The Voight pipes, while not the ultimate Lowther design, are VERY good and will outperform 98% of the speakers on the market today. Many SET owners have gone this route and never changed away from the Voight Pipes they built because they were so happy with the sound and the low cost. They are a combination of a transmission line and horn design in a vertical wedge shape. No curves or anything difficult, you could probably make them in a day. And they look very cool too. I hope this helps.
