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Time for Two Ways !

There are as many types of speakers are there are human languages and dialects, but we have to agree one of the most popular formats is the two way system, with a tweeter and mid-woofer.

Sure, they are imperfect, often limited in bass or dynamic range, but they have major advantages as well:

  • Small Footprint
  • Small baffles
  • Single crossover point
  • Easier to integrate with a room’s acoustics

These are some general ideas. Of course, you don’t have to like 2-way speakers. You may prefer full-range single driver, ESL or 5-way beasts, but I hope we can please keep this thread 2-way friendly!

I’d love to hear from others about 2-way speakers you adore. Are you a 2-way only kind of audiophile?  How do you like yours? Horn loaded? Transmission line? Desktop?
erik_squires
ejr1953
900 posts
 
For four years we enjoyed a pair of Totem Fire monitors, with a Velodyne sub woofer.  Yes, it's not always easy to get a sub to "integrate" with the main speakers and the room, but once I got it as good as it gets, we enjoyed that....

Until I moved my system down to a much larger "man cave".  The Totems sounded really good, but the Velodyne just couldn't keep up.  So after much searching and replacing, I now have a pair of Focal Sopra No2 floor standers with a pair of JL Audio F113V2 sub woofers!

I understand and appreciate the appeal of two way speakers, but I am just awestruck by the detail and clarity of the midrange on the Sopras.
schubert
7,386 posts
 
+1 carmenc , If I won the lottery my first stop. after church, would be a Tannoy dealer .
giantsalami's avatar
giantsalami
211 posts
 
Odyssey Kismet reference monitor. Scanspeak woofer and tweeter. I have two sets of floor standers and prefer these over them. I don't think these will leave the house! 
audiokinesis
2,724 posts
 

Imo speaker design is always system design, wherein the room and even the amplifier are parts of the system.

I've done two-way speakers that have good in-room response from the mid-20's up to 18 kHz or so, but these were not polite little mini-monitors.  They were big floorstanders that used components designed for recording studios, which could deliver 115 dB peaks anywhere in their passband with less than 1 dB of thermal compression. 

Why use a two-way in a size and price range that left plenty of room for going three- or four-way?   Because a pair of high-quality large diameter midwoofers kill three birds with one stone:  They move enough air down low; they are directional enough up high (for good pattern-matching with a constant-directivity waveguide-style horn); and they have the efficiency, impedance, and thermal power handling that I wanted.  This adds up to good synergy with the room and with the amplifier types I had in mind,  

I have since come to embrace more complex approaches for some applications, but the core element is still a high output, controlled-pattern two-way.  

Duke

erik_squires OP
15,877 posts
 
@audiokinesis

Have to agree. I use 2-way systems which have amazing output in the lowest octave. Not perfect, but wow. In the right room and correctly placed they are nearly perfect.

Best,

E
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