Okay, the gloves are off. Let the fur fly

Well I am told and I will be able to atest to it eventually, that Mike's system sounds well I hate to say it............uh here it goes perfect. In fact it is common for an applause from the listeners after a song. And if I recall I don't think he is planning any upgrades, though he will try new things, it usually isn't an improvement. My question is do you applaud when you are listening by yourself Mike?? heh heh heh, my system sounds as good as yours does after about the 5th drink any way!!!! booze is the best tweek regardless of drivers!!

I agree with Twl, common sense will tell you that a feather lite driver freely suspended will give more microtransient info than any dynamic driver. Planars and ribbons will also be able to dynamically rise and fall with ease. Seamlesness is not possible with box speakers using different driver construction and materials, whereas it is a natural fit for single source.

Ljgj, I had planned to stay out of this discussion so as not to color the responses, but since you ask, I'll be brief. Since I don't design drivers, I have primarily done various designs with stock/modified drivers. I started out with multi-way systems with simple and complex crossovers. I studied diligently, believing that if I could just get the right drivers and the right..... So, then I tried 2 way designs, same story. Now don't get me wrong, these were all good sounding speakers. But, all the tradeoffs. Slopes, cascading phase shifts with varying slopes, overlap problems, beaming frequencies, signal losses, driver matching, impedance fluctuations at varying frequencies with the corresponding response fluctuations, different driver phase shift angles added to the capacitor/coil phase shifts, corrective circuits, zobel networks, information loss, etc,etc. At some point, I became aware that if the whole ball of wax was simplified, more information could get through to the driver, with more coherent structure, due to the lack of the above. I am not promoting that any system is perfect. However, I am standing on the premise that more musical information, in a more coherent form will yield a more natural presentation, even if some aspects such as frequency extremes and even some dynamics are somewhat limited by the nature of a single driver. The idea being that a usable frequency range of extremely well resolved information is better than a wider range that has lost some of the information, and muddled it. Add point source imaging and my choice became clear. This information retrieval/retention theory has been standard in analog source design for years.You cannot retrieve musical information that has been lost earlier in the signal chain. I think it also applies to all other aspects of the system including speakers. I can see that I am in the small minority in this belief, but that does not deter me, nor does it mean that I am not correct. Perhaps the perfect driver has not come along yet, but if/when it does, the theory will prove itself. A driver connected directly to the amp, with no intervening components other than the necessary wire is the least offending structure to the signal we are trying to listen to.

What speakers have you designed?

i'm with Tim and Craig....the only "facts" that matter to me are my ears....technical theory regarding loudspeaker design is just that....rationalizations not realizations.

when you hear a very coherent, seamless, full range, dynamic multiple driver design like my Kharma Exquisites and compare them with a planar, stat, or horn enclosed single driver there is simply no contest IMHO in regards to recreating the original event and drawing me into the music.

this may be a case of where a "C" plan with "A" execution (multiple drivers) beats an "A" plan with "C" execution (single drivers). maybe someday enough research and energy will be put into the challenge of the "perfect" single driver to allow the "theoretical advantage" of the single-driver approach to finally win out.

i respect the many "single driver fans" out there who have a different experience than mine.....someday i may have an experience that could change my mind.

but so far single-drivers have not won out to my ears.

Fact: I enjoy-- tremendously-- the music that comes out of my four driver speakers when I push "play"-- after suitable system warmup of course. I'm in Tim's camp. Cheers. Craig

I suppose a single driver can be accurate in it's own frequency range. But if a driver cannot reproduce a part of the signal, how can it be accurate? And electrostats usually have transformers that contain hundreds of feet of wire. But, I am no proponent of any particular type of speaker. I have heard many types that I like and dislike. It largely depends on the type of music being played through them.

Well I use my ears, I don't know about the rest of you but I trust mine. If I can't hear an improvement I don't do it. I find the multiple driver speakers sound more musical/lifelike, YMMV. I am sure Sean will be able to whip up some technical stuff that I won't understand, but will satisfy your question. There is NOTHING technical about music, this reminds me of the endless trolling threads about cables in particular PC's, if you can't hear the difference then don't spend your hard earned dollars, plain and simple.

~Tim