Your premise is flawed. There are many, myself included, who consider a 2-way or 3-way with 15” vintage paper cone woofer to be more musical than a 2-way bookshelf or slim modern speaker. The key is the “vintage paper cone” part. These woofers have little in common with a modern era 15” woofer with a heavy synthetic cone. The vintage woofer is more efficient (99 dB for example) and super-fast; it can blend seamlessly with a lightning fast horn/compression driver. Forget the 8” driver in your example. A good vintage woofer can easily cross over to a horn at 800 or 1200 Hz. Having a driver in between would simply make the sound less coherent, less seamless.
So why aren’t speakers with a 15” woofer and big horn more common today? Size is the main reason. The woofer is big, the cabinet for the woofer is much bigger than normal today, and the horn is also big. And then you need a pair for stereo. But for those who have the room to accommodate a pair of large speakers, this is the way to go in my opinion.
So why aren’t speakers with a 15” woofer and big horn more common today? Size is the main reason. The woofer is big, the cabinet for the woofer is much bigger than normal today, and the horn is also big. And then you need a pair for stereo. But for those who have the room to accommodate a pair of large speakers, this is the way to go in my opinion.