Okay, the gloves are off. Let the fur fly

Well, now that TWL has revealed himself to be the "agent provocateur" some of us suspected all along, I will add this caveat to my comments above: It is doubtlessly true that many speaker manufacturers' design "choices" are in fact dictated to some degree by the selection of conventional OEM drivers available to them (when such manufacturers don't make their own). This, plus the the existing body of engineering knowledge pertaining to the building of yet another dynamic box design, makes it much easier for a start-up to enter the fray with this type of product, rather than to finance and carry out all the research that would be needed to bring new technology in single-driver design to market. Seen in this light, one might conclude that not only is the dominance of multi-way dynamic boxes somewhat self-perpetuating, it may actually be inhibiting the further development of potential alternatives.

Zaikesman, I completely agree with your insightful observation on the box speaker evolution/development. I hope that in coming days, you could change your view of me from "agent provocateur" to "interested participant with a unusual point of view" or something. You obviously look for more in these posts than just the factual statements, or you wouldn't have even noticed a two pronged approach in my question. So maybe our points of view aren't all that different. I can see that your insight is not limited to the box speaker development path. I very much look forward to having the opportunity to have future discussions on this forum with people like yourself. After all, audio is not just the equipment alone. It is the interaction of music and the listener that makes the magic. The perceptions of the listener is at least as important, if not more important, than the gear producing it. Cheers.

TWL - Of course that descriptive was meant in fun. Your statement at the beginning about slings and arrows - maybe you're trying to catch some where there are none? No need to apologize for having a point of view here (or to ride in on a Trojan horse just to stir the pot!). BTW, I happen to have a fascination with line-source panels, and hope to one day own some as well (my speakers are Thiel CS 2.2's). But in the meantime, do you have any hot suggestions about what to listen to in the way of crossover-less single-driver designs? Cheers yourself!

From a simplistic view, I might ask: if a single driver speaker system is -40db down at 25Hz, could that be considered musically acurate? While it is clear that many trade offs are made using cross-overs, such as the current being out of phase 90 deg. This fact creates a strong argument for electrostatics. Please don't hammer me if my "numbers" are not factual, I am simply trying to present a point.

Cheers, Paul

Zaikesman, I currently use a Fostex FE103 based single driver system in a tubular transmission line configuration, tuned to 41.7Hz. Since the FE103's are only 4" drivers, they will not be everyone's cup of tea. But they are common in high end systems here and in Japan.I drive them with a 1 watt Berning OTL and they give me satisfactory results for my application. With the impedance curve mods I did, and the T-Line loading, the 41.7Hz bass response is achieved. I am not in need of lower bass than that for my listening. SPL levels are low by most audiophile standards, but reasonably loud levels are possible without much compression except on full symphonic and heavy rock. Jazz, vocals, pop, folk,etc. are breathtaking in detail and naturalness, and imaging and soundstage is typical point source perfect(dare I say it?). They won't rock the house down, but I live on a large lot and when I walk the dog, I can hear the music faintly from 30 yards away with the windows closed. They do not suffer the usual HF rolloff of single drivers because of my impedance re-curve mod.(also greatly helps bass response.) So a usable bandwidth from 41.7-20kHZ is not bad for a single driver and SPL's in the upper 90's to boot. The whole ball of wax ran me $250 for the pair. Now, I've worked in high end audio stores and been around, so I've heard plenty of good stuff and these babies are good! If you really need that bass kick, then you could cross in a sub pretty low and you've got it. But when I put on Sade(Best of)I can feel that low bass in my body - with no subs. This type of design can also be done with 6's or 8's too, and you'll get more SPL and lower bass that way. But, the 4" is fast,light, and easy to control at all frequencies. As this whole thread demonstrated, tastes vary. Whether you could live with this sound, I don't know, but I sure can.And I saved alot of jack in the process. I've heard multi-thousand dollar speakers that can't match these within their limitation range. So, if you can live with lower SPL,bass to 40HZ, some compression in the really big music, and stunning, highly detailed and natural sound in all other aspects, these will please you.