@tomthiel - happy birthday. I'm certainly happy you're here. There aren't a lot of places for audio enthusiasts to get knowledgeable opinions from someone who doesn't need to be biased because their livelihood is wrapped up in selling something.
@beetle - I'm not sure if the phase coherence is the difference either. I've wondered if the biggest difference isn't that designers who believe that everything makes a difference are forever listening for changes in sound due to small changes in materials or design. Even if they were wrong about some factor making a difference their belief could lead to them developing a better ear and being very careful about a wider variety of factors. I'd expect that to ultimately lead to better products. I know Charles Hansen of Ayre was like that. He believed that everything made a difference. I don't really believe it's possible that everything he believed was true but I'd guess that his beliefs led him to be a more careful and open minded designer. Regardless of the minute details of what does and doesn't make a difference in amp design, it seems everyone agrees the end products were great.
One speaker that is readily available and is most likely much more phase correct than average is Martin Logan electrostats. I don't know if anyone has mentioned them but the panel typically only has a single crossover point to the woofers and that is at a fairly low frequency. I doubt the crossover is first order but everything above that point would be coherent. They're available at a lot of Best Buys, they're probably among the most available brands out there.
@beetle - I'm not sure if the phase coherence is the difference either. I've wondered if the biggest difference isn't that designers who believe that everything makes a difference are forever listening for changes in sound due to small changes in materials or design. Even if they were wrong about some factor making a difference their belief could lead to them developing a better ear and being very careful about a wider variety of factors. I'd expect that to ultimately lead to better products. I know Charles Hansen of Ayre was like that. He believed that everything made a difference. I don't really believe it's possible that everything he believed was true but I'd guess that his beliefs led him to be a more careful and open minded designer. Regardless of the minute details of what does and doesn't make a difference in amp design, it seems everyone agrees the end products were great.
One speaker that is readily available and is most likely much more phase correct than average is Martin Logan electrostats. I don't know if anyone has mentioned them but the panel typically only has a single crossover point to the woofers and that is at a fairly low frequency. I doubt the crossover is first order but everything above that point would be coherent. They're available at a lot of Best Buys, they're probably among the most available brands out there.