2-way design vs. 3-way design means ?

@grislybutter 

I am with you!  The corollary is that if a two-way speaker and a three-way speaker are the same price, it is London to a brick that the two-way will sound better.

It is equally disturbing that given the choice, most buyers will go for the 3-way as they seem to be getting more for the money.

A case of less really being more!

Wow.  East vs. West coast sound is the answer to JBL ve Fritz.  2 or 3 way have nothing to do with it.

A 3 way, properly executed, may have better off axis and dynamic range. 

The problems all 2 ways suffer from include having to stress the tweeter by attempting too low a crossover point

  At the same time the mid woofer starts to beam at the top of the range.

I just built a 3 way center and the dynamic range and off axis response is outstanding. 

Having said all that, there are many good 2 way speakers and for my money Fritz is among the very best.  Would you like it more or less than a JBL classic?  You should listen.

I am with Erik. And Richard. 

And I added crossover values to my list

https://speakerchoices.com/

The problem with questions like these is that not all 2-ways and 3-ways are created equal. There are high end 2 and 2.5-way speakers that can do everything better than 3-ways employing lower quality parts and materials.

Some 2-ways like the aforementioned Fritz speakers can sound more refined and play nearly as loud, or even louder, than many of the common $5000/pair 3-way from the likes of Revel, KEF and Paradigm.

IMHO, most 3-way designs, especially those under $10K/pair, don’t actually capitalize on the theoretical advantages of the design. Perhaps some of the newer value leaders from Arendal actually do, but then I wouldn’t be surprised if speakers like the 2-way JBL 4367s perform better subjectively.

The more experience I gain with DIY modding and building of speakers, the more I am becoming convinced that a speaker’s driver quality is what matters most. I would take a 2 or 2.5-way with some properly implemented Satori Textreme drivers over nearly any 3-way I’ve heard from the major manufacturers. 

A speaker like this will slaughter many/most 3-ways under $10K/pair:

https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/2-way-speaker-kits/satori-helios-textreme-9.5-2-way-speaker-kit-pair/

My understanding is that a 2 1/2 way runs the middle speaker full range (at least it does in the Wilson Benesch world). The woofer receives a low pass signal and the tweeter a high pass signal from the crossover, but the midrange is direct coupled to the amplifier and is not connected to the crossover. Theory being there is a purity of sound associated with eliminating the crossover component. The crossover points in my speaker are 5 kHz and 500 Hz, with the midrange acoustically rolling off to blend with the other drivers.