Opinions on Full-Range/single driver speakers

I would have suggested looking at Madisound, but it looks as though their sold out. The last time I checked on the SEAS they were around $1500 a pair.

I concur with the statements about the F200a drivers. I've been listening to mine for roughly 4 yrs now. They've been here longer than any other speaker. You may find a driver with better highs, but the mid-range and bass of these drivers will be hard to beat!

You still should beable to order f200a from madisound. They have become popular again maybe I shouldnt talk them up so online;) I would suggest a 90 liter BR or TL. f120a is also a great little driver but best for near field or use as midrange. fe138esr while one can get great sound are hard to use so if you have built designed before its worth a try. SEAS X-1 prices are lower now check madisound I use a sealed birch ply cabinet very over built design, madisound offers a cab for x-1 its a MDF ported floorstander nmade in china. Sorry thought it was apequark. Not known for my gifts with the wrighten word. I will remeber its aptquark.

Wonderful Electric you came to this conclusion after only hearing 1 pair of fullranges? And that one only used a wee driver and greatly over priced? Keep in mind many dont suffer so from the problems you list. The wee little wide bands dont have the range,dynamic range, mag power or cone area of the drivers were talking about. The f200a, SEAS X-1 do not need horn cabinets to produce bass so your reply[bass loading usually messes up the otherwise perfect impulse response] isnt a issue and they are in phase and a 4in will not do bass no mater what. Treble can be a problem the x1 and fostex do well but not as good as a raal or t500amk2 covering the same range. But you do win in intergration and point source, phase and time correct. No perfect transducer or loudspeaker since all are made by humans. We as designers work with compromises to bring the best sound we can for price range. Fullranges can make a wonderful loudspeaker but since only 1 driver cheaping out anywhere will be highly audible. But I find this to be true with most loudspeaker designs.

Great...thanks. You will now be forever bugged for your knowledge. Cheers.

Here at The Galileo Company (a research firm; we don't sell any audio equipment) we've designed systems (Wh3) to evaluate single drivers. You can see the systems here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/listiac
Over the past several years, we've evaluated quite a few single drivers. I can't publish our numerical results, but I'm allowed to give my own impressions:
My opinions change, but, as of tonight, my favorite all time single driver is the Altec 755C, built about 40 years ago. Some fanatics will pay $3000 a pair for Altec 755A's, but we can't afford them and haven't tested them.
Many of our listeners prefer the Fostex 200A. It's got great tonal balance, but our research with the Audio Nirvana super 8 cast frame has caused some of our best listeners to switch allegiances. The AN can seem thinner in the bass, but the clarity and imaging is quite special. The Fostex 206E is quite similar, and I'm not sure our listeners can distinguish them in a blind test.
We've tested many, many other speakers, but I don't want to speak disparagingly about any brand. Other speakers we like a lot are the JBL LE8T, the ElectroVoice SP8B, and the 8" Stephens, all over 40 years old. They have nice balance, good imaging, but not at the level of the Altecs, Audio Nirvanas and Fostex 200A and 206E.
We make measurements galore, but I'm not sure we know what to measure. Frequency response is only a very small part of the package. My best measure of a good speaker is that I listen to the music I'm using to test it. I know a speaker isn't very good when I keep switching songs and albums to find something that sounds great. I know I'm listening to a great speaker when I forget I'm testing the speaker and spend too much time listening to the music.
I also know now that a lot (most?) of high end audio is self hypnosis. Listening is the only cure.