High order crossovers


Do or can high order crossovers rob a speaker system of more dynamics?
koestner
There is one company that I think deserves mention here:

Induction Dynamics.

I've only heard their two way speakers.  They use a 4th order "brick wall" crossover in their speakers.  My (admittedly limited) experience with other higher order crossover speakers had been that, to me, they didn't have the same expansive soundstaging as did well-executed first order designs.

The Induction Dynamics speakers (remember--I only heard the 2-ways) were a striking exception to this trend.  I was shocked at how expansive and 3D their soundstage was.  Tonality was excellent also.  As I recall, the drivers were said to be "inductively coupled" or something like that.  In any case, this inductive coupling seemed to compensate for any "problems" (timing artifacts?) that may have introduced by using such a high (4th) order crossover.  


JSE (John Sollecitto Engineering) speakers from the mid -late 80's had the best implementation of high-order x-overs!  I have a pair in my collection. Later adopted by Joseph Audio (Pulsars).
No problem with the dynamic performance and coherence of my JSE Infinite Slope speakers!
Well thanks to all who answered. My speakers are Montana XP that are 4 way with 24db/oct. crossovers. They are 4 Ohm with an efficiency of 93db @ 2.83V. Some people have told me that all these crossover parts are absorbing the dynamics to the drivers. While I feel the speakers are very neutral, not having any emphasis at certain frequencies, they don't seem to have the "aliveness" that I have heard from other brands like Spatial Audio. Now that may be something I would tire of in a short while, but without a long audition I wouldn't know. I have owned my speakers for many years now, and I don't have any immediate plans on changing them out.
@kestner 24db/octave slopes help maintain smooth response when you are off the tweeter axis. 

You need to evaluate the entire speaker, not just the possible imperfections of one specific parameter. 

Best,

E