Every speaker design is a based on compromises, and how you react to those compromises, what your room is like, and how loud you listen will determine whether or not you like the single driver sound. I'm setup in a small room with a near field arrangement. 80 db at the listening chair is very loud for me. Most of my listening is done at lower levels.
If I was in a bigger room and if I liked to crank it up and if I wanted to really get quality bass below 60hz, I would not be happy at all with my system. For me, these are compromises I can easily live with.
After having lived with single drivers, I'm always shocked when I place conventional speakers in my systems. My first thoughts are always gosh, the sound is so muddled and for lack of better words kind of phasey and echoey sounding. I hear things from speakers that I'd lived with prior to my single driver setups that I'd never noticed at all in hundreds of hours of listening. I suppose I'm reacting to crossovers, sound coming from multiple sources, voices being played at the same time by two different sources and maybe drivers operating out of phase with each other. Things I suppose my ear had become accustomed to in the past and my brain learned to ignore.
That said, with conventionals I can start to now turn it up and appreciate the bigger more visceral sound attainable with multiple driver setups. It's nice, but not a trade off I like to make. I've played with my single driver setup in a larger room, and then all of the sudden, I can start to hear the flaws and limitations as volume requirements are now completely different.
Live music is big, impactful and can be full of low frequency energy. It also has a speed and a presence; an immediacy. For some reason, it is that speed and directness that I react to, and I get it with single drivers more than multiples. Like I said though, I think it works for me because of my room size and listening levels and I can completely understand how it's not a trade off that others can't appreciate.
If I was in a bigger room and if I liked to crank it up and if I wanted to really get quality bass below 60hz, I would not be happy at all with my system. For me, these are compromises I can easily live with.
After having lived with single drivers, I'm always shocked when I place conventional speakers in my systems. My first thoughts are always gosh, the sound is so muddled and for lack of better words kind of phasey and echoey sounding. I hear things from speakers that I'd lived with prior to my single driver setups that I'd never noticed at all in hundreds of hours of listening. I suppose I'm reacting to crossovers, sound coming from multiple sources, voices being played at the same time by two different sources and maybe drivers operating out of phase with each other. Things I suppose my ear had become accustomed to in the past and my brain learned to ignore.
That said, with conventionals I can start to now turn it up and appreciate the bigger more visceral sound attainable with multiple driver setups. It's nice, but not a trade off I like to make. I've played with my single driver setup in a larger room, and then all of the sudden, I can start to hear the flaws and limitations as volume requirements are now completely different.
Live music is big, impactful and can be full of low frequency energy. It also has a speed and a presence; an immediacy. For some reason, it is that speed and directness that I react to, and I get it with single drivers more than multiples. Like I said though, I think it works for me because of my room size and listening levels and I can completely understand how it's not a trade off that others can't appreciate.