2-way speaker with best bass

It is impressive, at least to me--the Shearwater's bass, that is. For a two-way, it's exceptional. Mr. Atkinson is more rolled-off in his praise:

reasonable bass extension

--this from the link you kindly provided, Shadorne.

I can see the dishing in the upper mids from 1K to 5K in Mr. Atkinson's tweeter-axis plot, but like other points he brought up in his test series, it didn't seem to bother the reviewer (Chip Stern). I can't say it bothers me either, perhaps because my as-yet-untreated room is quite lively.

If you'd like to hear for yourself how Pat McGinty managed his tradeoff in the Shearwater design, you're welcome. Drop me a line if you come to Montreal.

Pubul57,

Yes I was. I must admit that when it comes to the Merlin VSM though and I
did take a look today - they are exceptionally good - great example of
getting everything right in a two-way - you and Tobias picked out a real
winner there! About as good as can be physically achieved in a two way
design - probably the only limitation will be how loud they can play (you can't
have it all but I am sure these are more than enough for most domestic
environments)

So what is the trick - smallish woofer (less beaming) and I think the key is
the tweeter - he gets it down to 2.2 Khz with the crossover - that is hard
work for a tweeter - this probably requires something out of the ordinary
with the tweet. This means you get about as beautiful an off axis response as
you ever see (I looked up the the Stereophile review of the VSM Millenium). A
keeper for sure. Actually the Meadowlark is good too - both designs are
pushing the envelope of what two-ways can achieve.

I've not heard the Shearwater, but I did own the Hot Rod Kestrels and they were very good indeed. I wonder what the designer is up to now; it seems he had a real good way with speaker design.

The Altec Model 19 has very good bass, but it's a tad larger than some of the other two-ways mentioned in this thread.

Duke

Yeah, Altec model 19. someone else besides me putting forth 2 ways with big cabs and drivers. Why settle for 6" drivers trying to reach the depths, when the right size ones will do it with ease.