as pointed out above, and a point with which I agree, the 'pudding' in speaker design and manufacturing lies in the crossover - any decent cabinet maker can copy a speaker enclosure design and produce a nice looking cabinet, line it with damping material and cut out holes for the drivers; anybody can get online and sort through a variety of very high quality drivers that have worked together in existing speaker designs and screw them into the box; but without a properly designed crossover, built with quality parts, all you have at that point is a nice looking box with really good drivers in it. Now what? I have recent firsthand experience which supports this opinion: based on a plethora of raving reviews, I bought a pair of highly acclaimed monitors in which the factory drivers and crossover were installed; the speakers were broken in. This well known U.S. speaker maker sold them to me directly, (he does not sell through dealers) and he assured me they'd be a great match with my pre-amp and amplifiers. I won't mention the name, but this producer sells speakers that many on this site are in love with. I was sold and I was excited! Given that the speakers were used and well broken in, my expectation was I'd be hearing a finished product immediately. Less than two evenings into the experiment, my wife and I looked at each other and said we either need to turn them down permanently and listen only at low volume, or get rid of them. They were fine at low volumes (though missing the great bass everyone raved about), but as soon as some juice was applied, the high end turned harsh and the musicality of the speaker just disappeared. Enter Mike Farnsworth previously of Talon Audio. I described my dilemma to Mike and after I told him what I had, he offered to install new crossovers in the monitors. He said the box is fine, the drivers were fine, but based on what he read about the circuit, he said a circuit change would result in a truly great speaker. He spoke in terms of 'linearity'. Increasing the power to the speaker should not change the nature of the sound; tone and character should remain constant, with everything sounding louder, but not different. By no means do I have any technical expertise, I just know what I hear. And I certainly have not heard even a fraction of the components that are out there. Once free to design the speakers he wanted to, Mike (as I understand it) is responsible for designing several truly great speakers: Firebird, Khorus X mk II, Raven C, Thunderhawk. All with the CMRC circuit. Once the CMRC circuit was installed in my monitors, with the exception of the bass response, they rivaled the clarity, musicality, effortlessness and soundstaging of my Khorus X mk II's. I don't know anything about the Salk or the PMC circuits, but my opinion is the circuit matters, and not in a small way. FWIW, my pre-amp is a First Sound and my amps are Jungson JA-50's.
