What type of speaker would sound better?

ALL other components of the system being equal & IF the room is decent sized I would take a good 3 way floorstander first..

There are many choices… you have to match the flavor of sound that pleases you as well as pick and choose the very best. So, are you spending the same on both? So $5K on mid-tier 3 way or $5K on a high end 2 way? 
 

Assuming careful choice then under these circumstances I would expect the three way to outperform.

But if we are talking about a $2K 3 way and a $5K or more two way… then the 2 way will outperform… it will sound tighter, image better and have a much better cabinet design. It will contain much more design thought and better components. I have heard some breathtaking 2 way high end speakers… leaving nothing wanting.

I will take a high end high performance 2 way over an average less expensive three way any day.    Actually doesn't matter if it's the same price, it's the design ,execution  and parts quality that makes a speaker great.  

I recently bought these , phenomenal speaker

https://www.studio-electric.com/M4.html

One of the best speakers I've owned regardless of size or price.  

There is a myth that many people believe. "If it costs more it must be better." 

Because the speaker is $5k doesn't mean it sounds better.

In fact, there are marketing strategies used to trick the puplic by simply raising the price on an item to change the perception and desirability.

Here is a recent video about the marketing of Grey Goose vodka you may find interesting. Highest price for the affluent crowd that thinks they deserve the best. And the vodka wasn't that good! All a very well done marketing scam. A 2 $billion lie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npHi2YnLNwI

@gdaddy1 hear hear

This video is a good one too - https://youtu.be/JFXmIh4P2dM?feature=shared

Note I have expensive speakers (A Pair of MoFi Sourcepoint 888s and a pair of Genelec 8361As). We seem to forget than anything more than $1000 is expensive luxury purchasing to the average human when it comes to audio

@kofibaffour  Thanks!  Amazing. Palessi. LOL.  

I look at high end audio speakers that cost as much as a luxury car and I have to ask why?

The car is incredibly more complex to make, has thousands more custom parts. Shipping cost, dealer showrooms. MUCH more technology in a car than any speaker. Not even close!!

Here's a mechanical/ electric device been around for a hundred years placed in a fancy box. Costing as much as a car. Come on man!

You can't build a Mercedes but a speaker is an easy project comparatively.

There are great and poor examples of all kinds of speaker designs, so it depends.  I’ll take better parts and better design any day over more of something lesser.

Better parts and better design at a given price point tend to lean more towards neutral with better clarity, so it’s easier to evolve the system with placement and associated gear to sound natural with a wide range of music.  I can easily add an active subwoofer to smaller high quality speakers if bass seems shy in a given space.

Bigger boxes and more drivers of lesser quality tend to have more of a sound signature or coloration, which to me makes it tougher to ever achieve clarity and  neutrality for a wide variety of music.  A colored speaker can still sound good, depending on how you define good, but clarity can’t be added after the fact.  To get the best of both worlds tends to cost more. 

There’s really no way to do it wrong as long as you enjoy what you hear.

Bruh why was my comment deleted? I didn't say anything denigrating anyone so why? This is the 7th time a comment of mine was deleted because I used something like "ass" "trash" in my comment.

Anyway here's the comment again and I won't add the supposed words that apparently triggered someone here to report my comment.

"no tier. A well designed with the least compromises for your space is what you should be aiming for. So, doesn’t matter if 3-way or 2-way if it is not designed well it will sound terrible. You can get exotic drivers like Purifi Ushindi Woofers and Scanspeak, SEAS, Bliesma tweeters. With exotic crossover parts. If you use the wrong parameters and modeling, you'd make this sound terrible and there are examples of that @dtapo 

The drivers matter but the room and integration do as well.

Even in driver manufacturing there's an issue of diminishing returns and questions about whether you can hear the difference between say a specific $500 midrange and a $50 dollar one.  Money here is also subjective.

Having said that, I think Fritz repeatedly demonstrates what a good 2-way system in a modest room with proper mid-treble absorbers can do. 

On the other hand, if you must rock, those excellent speakers with excellent parts won't fully satisfy you.

Whichever ones your ears like best. I prefer horn loaded speakers some do not.

A big part depends on who the designers are. Is the same person designing both speakers? A designer can make a huge difference in speaker performance.

Which sounds better depends largely on synergy and the room the speakers are being used in.

The idea is to match the amp/pre with the speakers. You might be wasting 245 watts of amplifier on speakers that really would sound good with 25 watts or less. 

I had a 30 watt class A amp that far out performed a 200 watt mono blocks especially the bass.

A good idea to decide your listening position.  I would not think in terms of "filling " the room. You don't want a PA system.  Micro details and dynamics are special if you can get there. 

I've heard some 2 way speakers that sounded better than everything else in the same line from the same manufacturer! Power, room, placement all play a part, but unless you're just looking for loudness usually the 2 way with better components ought to win.

3 way 2 way allways have a midrange hole 
what would sound best is the 3 way of the vintage allison AL130 w/ the unique proprietary and inovative  sealed cabinet dual 8" push pull woofers and the CONVEX cones of the tweeter and midrange  nothing since is as inovative and amazing 50+ years old tech not surpassed 
Roy Allison was amazing ! 

My all allison 11.2 HT  is pure sweetness ! total envelopment ! has taken a bit of time to find all the speakers!  

2 way allways have a midrange hole 

Not the case.  Some speakers with a very large woofer mated to a tweeter that doesn’t play low perhaps, but most 5-8" woofers can mate seamlessly with many tweeters.  Their downside would be tend to be limited of deep bass output, not a midrange hole.

@gdaddy1 

+1 I have used your automotive manufacturing analogy many times to debunk the need for a Speaker to cost $100K+ (or $50K for that matter!!). Speakers just aren’t that complex and science on good sound is pretty much decided outside of driver technology and exotic cabinet materials. None of which cost anywhere near as much to design and manufacture as an automobile, even a crappy car! 
 

To the OP’s question, do a deep dive into either the 2 way or the 3 way and see how the thing is built. What separates a good speaker from a great speaker is the driver technology (think ScanSpeak, SB Acoustics Satori, Purifi), and cabinet construction. Cabinet bracing is SOOOO important and the brands that cheap out on it are putting one over on you (Klipsch, Tekton, Zu Audio, etc.). People like to talk down about B&W and Wilson because the voicing is a little hot, but their cabinet technology and drives are top notch! If the 2 way has better drivers and cabinet than the 3 way, it has a strong chance of sounding better. 

Sadly or maybe not so sadly, there is no magic formula for what is going to sound best. The room itself, its size and shape, listening position, acoustic treatments, type of music and whether or not you intend to augment low frequency response with subwoofers or not all play into what will work the best for you. In general, the larger the room the more low frequency cone area you need to have for full bandwidth response. The louder you want to listen, the more low frequency cone area you want in general. In your room I would want something with a couple of 12" drivers for low frequency support so that almost certainly means at least a 3 way system if not 4 way. A pair of Legacy Focus SE for mains would likely work very well in your room. Not cheap but this is a full bandwidth solution with a very healthy dynamic range and by some reviewers among the very best available at any price. Worthy contender at the very least. 

There is also the one driver option.  Can be magical when done correctly!

I agree with @knotscott, my speakers are two way, no hole in the middle and they have low bass. 

Mike

You say lower quality vs higher quality and that’s a very subjective decision to make. You should get an idea what matters to you. Personally I would always go on the quality side, but I haven’t experienced much hearing degradation and understand what I like. If those circumstanced changed, it’s always nice to have the full range speaker if it fits the room better.

Another thought is that sometimes a great 2 way and a high quality pair of subs betters a 3 way speaker. It’s hard to get good bass in a speaker for under 15k at least.

Gaddy, I appreciate your opinion and agree with it, however when a manufacturer that has hundreds of thousands of employees and an incredible economy of scale significantly drives down the cost over time- 94 million cars made each year. A car door might cost $20 after the first 5 million. Still, I'm generally in agreement with your point.

Vintage JBL's are my pick.

Whatever sounds best to you. Because speakers sound different to everyone and we all have different preferences. Go demo some.

Actually, a high end 2-way would be better depending on transducer specs.  A good wide range speaker that can produce good lows and mids along with high end high frequency driver would sound fantastic.  Less losses in crossovers for 2-way vs 3-way. 

@dtapo 

With symphonic music and your room size a two-way stand mount speaker will struggle to deliver appropriate scale and dynamics unless a higher efficiency larger speaker like a DeVore Fidelity or Audio Note. 

I suggest you state your budget and ask for recommendations. 

High end 2 way.

Two way every day.

@gdaddy1 

Grey Goose is French. What do the French know about vodka? Vodka is serious business, you can't leave it to the French! I won't buy Grey Goose. I won't buy Polish champagne either. 

Belvedere is my go-to. Who owns Belvedere you ask? A French conglomerate. Oh well.

High-end 2 ways, probably, just so you can add a good sub later. But the premise of this thread is spurious. Driver number and quality are just data points. A talented designer works wonders with SB or even Dayton drivers.

It’s hard to get good bass in a speaker for under 15k at least

this is why I come here

On the subject, not a meaningful question, there are 1000 of speakers, different designs, prices. If I had 10 criteria to go by, 2 or 3 way would be down my list.

Because speaker sonics depends on speaker materials, design, and execution, the OP’s question is so general that’s it’s difficult to give specific advice beyond generalizations which offer very limited value.  

@bjesien lol what? It is not hard to get good bass in a speaker under $15,000. What bass lite speakers have you been listening to? Cos I can list speakers that do 20 to 20kHz under $15,000

@kofibaffour   #1

Plenty of speakers put out plenty of bass for a fraction of that cost.

Higher end speakers have a lot of attention/money go into the cabinet design to make it attractive to the buyer. This expensive appearance doesn’t really do anything to make the speaker sound better.

Clearly several people responding have no clue about bass. I have Emerald Physics 3.0s (2 way 12" open baffle- super efficient) in a large room and get ample bass. If I wanted more I could add 1-2 subs, but that only complicates overall sound reproduction. Also, look to amp preamp, dac, and/or source, cables...

First, think about the available amplifier power, room/listening area size, your musical preferences, and your preferred listening level.  Consider whether you have a preference for horns or dynamic speakers, since they can offer two different presentations.  At least be aware of the different driver, cabinet, and design choices, and how each may affect what you hear.  Decide how important the level, quality, and dynamic impact of the bass frequencies is to you.  
 

After considering the above, then purchase the speakers  which sound the best to you, within the budget you have available. IME, you may experience better sound quality by choosing a pair of mostly full-range main speakers (down to about 40Hz) and then adding two (or more) subs.  There are more speakers available that can deliver good sound down to about 40 Hz than can convincingly reproduce the lowest octave, which can be very expensive and difficult to do well.  Having the benefit of flexibility in the placement, frequency, and level of two (or more) subs allows you much better control over the bass frequencies and ultimately much better bass in your room, IMO.

@gdaddy1 people confidently peddle falsehood without just checking. A little googling would've saved them from making that comment. But I guess to them expensive means more bass lol

I would say a high-end two way, especially if it has a decent sized woofer that can push a fair amount of air. I think, however, that you might want to add a few other variables. What kind of music do you listen to? How loud do you usually play it? If you want rock-down-the-house rock n' roll... ? I'd probably still go high end.

Depends on how the extra cost is applied to the cabinets. If you are just making a thin walled ply or otherwise look pretty with a very nice veneer and finish then you are correct. If the money is put into making the cabinets inert, eliminating parallel surfaces, etc then this money is very well spent and is not aesthetic. Cabinet resonance is a real problem, although some manufacturers have embraced this cheaper technique as the best way of eliminating energy. I love the term "tuned cabinet".