2. speakers
  3. 141405-8458

Speakers with the most detailed midrange? (non-ESL/planar)

Anyone care to give their opinion on what dynamic speaker has the most detailed/revealing midrange? Not including electrostatics or planar speakers. Approximately between the frequencies of 400Hz to 3kHz. Also, just to clarify what I mean by detail: when there is a musical passage that entails many different layers of instruments, the speakers' ability to separate all the elements so all the instruments are heard clearly and nothing is obscured. Also the ability to retrieve every last bit of information on a recording, such as random sounds in the studio, distortion in recordings and reverb tails.

As far as price goes... 2 categories... below $12,000 USD (new) and any price range. Thanks.
woofer72

Showing 2 responses by cd318

cd318
2,636 posts
 
Different designers have taken different approaches to dealing with what might be the greatest problem faced by all box speakers - the internal pressure behind the cone.

Some go for ported designs like Harbeth with their proprietary radial cone material.

Some go for sealed boxes like ATC with their highly acclaimed midrange unit.

Others, like the fabulous Kerr Acoustic K320s I heard a couple of months ago feature transmission line loading. As do the highly regarded PMC brand.

And then there's some who go for partial or total open baffle designs. There was a lovely sounding model from ProAc a few years which had nothing behind the midrange. It's difficult to think of any popular open baffle designs but the Linkwitz LX521.4 and the previous model the Orion must be in the running also.



cd318
2,636 posts
 
It was mentioned before but its worth repeating - prob some 3 way design in which one driver handles only the midrange. Sure there may or may not be integration / crossover issues but you can't get a purer midrange than that.

ATC, Harbeth, Linkwitz and PMC all have obvious examples but there must be many others. 
More to discover