Seeking full range single driver speaker recs

A little over your budget @ $1750, but you might take a look @ carolinaaudio.com (the JTM model).

They are similar to the Konus Audio speakers in that both use modified cabinets based on the same Ted Jordan design (both speakers also use the same Jordan driver).

The Jordan 92's are not efficient speakers/drivers, but considering your room size and amplifier they should be a decent match.

I have listened to them (the Jordan 92 drivers) in two different types of cabinets (one based on the Ted Jordan TL design, the other being sealed) and was quite impressed with the sound.

I alternate between three sets of 8" vintage drivers in our living room setup. One pair of single drivers, one pair of coaxial drivers and one pair of triaxial drivers, so am somewhat accustomed to single driver sound (Sean, may need to bone up a tad based on his concern regarding the time coherence of FR single drivers:-).

Have listened to a few Fostex based speakers, but as they used their entry level drivers I will not comment on the sound, considering your associated gear and budget. Would like to listen to some of their better drivers in TL and back horn enclosures @ some point, which I should be able to do @ one of the LA area DIY/horn/FR get togethers.

If vintage is of interest then take a look @ the drivers listed with my system. However, a tentative problem with these types of drivers is locating "matched" pairs in good condition. I was fortunate in that both pairs of my Coral drivers are not only sonically matched, but they were NOS as well when found. With my Stephens I was able to hand/ear select a pair from an assortment of like drivers (this sort of opportunity does not arise too often I would think).

Sean:

You looked @ measurments while I instead listened to the Jordan drivers in two different types of enclosures. The Jordan drivers offered an amazing amount of separation (single instruments and musical lines in complex material) which in turn made for great deal of realism.

To compare time coherence between the drivers I use and the typical, popular 2/3 way cone based speaker is like comparing apples to oranges. The single driver speakers (and even the coaxials) sound very much like decent planers, but with greater dynamic swings and a very 3D effect. My drivers are neither bright/lean nor are they lacking in bass/mid-bass while playing popular music (considering the size of the cones). The Stephens would be considered to be forward sounding by most (I enjoy this type of sound) and the Coral speakers are more middle of the road in this aspect. The Stephens 8" drivers present stronger (if not deeper) bass/mid-bass response than most of the 12" FR drivers I own or have owned, so go figure.

If you place any driver in a poorly designed cabinet (or mount it poorly in a well designed cabinet) there will be problems such as you mention (there were also problems with the early Lowther driver designs, in general, but from what I have read this has been addressed with their most recent offerings). I would not own vintage Lowthers on a bet having listened to various driver and cabinet combos over the years, but then this is but a small selection amongst a sea of FR single drivers of which to choose from.

Though I have not had any of my speakers set up properly for a while (we need to do some serious sorting/cleaning), when I did the desirable listening area covered pretty much the width of the living room with the Stephens drivers. These are a bit odd for vintage FR drivers in that their desired baffle width (in a non sealed enclosure) is approx. 11 inches. My current cab's are slightly wider than this so I do expect an even more open sound (wider/deeper presentation) when proper/narrower cab's are used.

I do agree that some of the older box/cabinet FR designs requiring a wide baffle area do seem to restrict the size (width/depth) of of the listening area, but then again the few open baffle setups I have listened to had quite the opposite effect, and the baffle area was huge. As I do not have room for large open baffle designs, I try not to dwell on this, but I suspect that open baffles with the right driver, and perhaps subs, are the way to go.

Why not pick up some FR's and experiment with them yourself?

Sean:

If you spend any amount of time @ thrifts/garage sales (you know the sales where the stuff actually comes from garage/basement/attic storage) you are bound to run into desirable vintage single/coaxial drivers on the cheap.

These types of drivers were very popular when I was little and growing up in the Midwest, though most of their user's were usually more interested in woodworking (building nice show piece cabinets) than fine tuning their mono/stereo systems.

An exception to this were a couple of our neighbors. One a wood craftsman that could have taught Norm a few tricks and the other an electrician for Westinghouse. Together they built great sounding/nice looking speakers and tube amps based on Klipsch, Stephens, Marantz, Williamson, other designs of the time.

These were the very first killer Hi-fi systems I heard. One of the neighbors (the woodworking guy) hosted a couple of parties a year @ which the grownups used to dance to music later on in the evening. His living room speakers looked to be Klipsch Cornerhorns done in a variety of hard woods. He cut his own trees (ran a selective one man tree service on the side:-) and/stored/aged the wood himself.