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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
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,468 posts
 
I am using Vandy 5A's and truth be told, my earphones are more detailed...though they don't have the depth, air, bass, etc.
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. 
t66supra
4 posts
 
Another vote for the Personas.  And to answer a question farther up, I did not hear a difference in midrange resolution up and down the Persona line.  They were all spectacular.  The main difference was in mid bass, and bass energy and of course overall SPL capability.
helomech
1,673 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.
My experience has been quite the contrary. I believe the multiple filter slopes and phase issues involved with a dedicated midrange are of a bigger detriment, especially when the crossover is right at the middle of the mid freqs where our hearing is most sensitive and music is most energetic. 

Dollar for dollar, I find that a good 2-way nearly always outperforms a 3-way in the midrange. 
woofer72 OP
27 posts
 
@gosta
Thank you for taking the time to make a comparison! I have to say I'm a bit surprised at the outcome, but I have to admit I was a bit biased based on the higher cost of the ATC (I know cost doesn't always correlate to quality though).

May I ask what kind of amp/preamp you used with the L707? Also, what kind of preamp did you use with the active ATC?

Based on your excellent review on the L707, I wonder how much better they would be with the upgraded drivers.




"And the winner is Lipinski L707. For their dynamics, resolution, 3d imaging and beautiful sound. But you need to xo them them to good subs. And they are hard on bad recordings. A little eq-ing down 3db in the 2-4 khz region will help. I use the ATC 15" basses."
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