Why do only US makers focus on time coherency?

Phasecorrect - then one throws in the whole Walsh 360 degree design theory into the mix as we did last week and it becomes even more baffling! ;-)

Sean - here is the link to the thread I started last week.
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1090433671&read&3&4&

Personally, I'm struggling with the choice between time and phase based designs and others such as Ohm, Dueval, Gallo and others that throw a much wider sweet spot at the listener. Those 360 degree despersion designs sound the same in almost any location within a room and at the same time are very accurate at imaging and have excellent dynamics. For those of us who don't have a 4 walled dedicated listening environment, it would appear a Walsh type design may be the best solution. But then again I'm not sold yet. I own Hales T-5's which are time and phase coherent and they have a pretty large sweet spot and sound damn good whether I'm standing in the kitchen or right on-axis.

LOL! I'm still doing research!! ;-) I'm well beyond analysis paralysis, I've officially got Jean Quary's disease... flip-floppatosis!

I'm actually going through a major speaker design theory shift right now. I have time/phase coherent speakers, so I'm now thinking about something along the lines of Ohm, Dueval, Gallo, ESS and a couple other 360 degree designs. In any event, I haven't heard anything yet that is urging me to unload my Hales.

No, there is no such thing as a "best speaker design", but not all speakers are created equally. I think speaker design/theory/approach/methodology/materials etc. is extremely important, otherwise designers wouldn't spend the extraordinary number of hours and cost to research and develop different approaches. The sound of these design theories will vary greatly in different situations and with associated upstream equipment and even with varying types of music.

If one is going to make a sizeable investment in a speaker, then it behooves the individual to do their homework. Buyers remorse is not an experience I'm interested in becoming intimate with.

Thanks Sean, I thought the Hales were almost identical in design to Theil's speakers. I stand corrected.