I have to agree with Lrsky, although I usually prefer not agreeing with anyone. The theories of speaker designs are interesting, but the actual experience is what matters ultimately. All speakers are compromises - and overall it's pretty amazing that you can etch a pattern into plastic with a cutting head, play it back with a tiny diamond, amplify that signal a gazillion times, and then have it come back at you sounding ALMOST exactly like it did going in.
I've heard many of these new "wonder-speakers" with all sorts of expensive drivers and internal wires that are just unlistenable (to me), and I've heard 20 year old designs with some updates (like my Dahlquist DQ-20i's) that keep beautiful music sounding that way. And despite whatever a designer does with Phase and Time, room interactions play a huge, huge part in what you'll actually hear.
I have heard both Joseph Audio Pearls and Green Mountain C-3's a fair bit and they're both great speakers with different attributes for people with different "ears".
I had a trade pass at the last HES San Francisco and went back and forth without having to wait on lines between Joseph Audio and Avantgarde Trios and came to the conclusion that if I had to live with one or the other at home, I'd pick the Pearls as less fatiguing - not what you would predict for a steeper slope crossover.
I also have spent a few hours audiotioning GMA C-3's and found them to be spectacularly dynamic, very detailed, and also a bit bright/forward in the mids (for my taste) - also not what you'd predict from a 1st order design.
So go figure...
I've heard many of these new "wonder-speakers" with all sorts of expensive drivers and internal wires that are just unlistenable (to me), and I've heard 20 year old designs with some updates (like my Dahlquist DQ-20i's) that keep beautiful music sounding that way. And despite whatever a designer does with Phase and Time, room interactions play a huge, huge part in what you'll actually hear.
I have heard both Joseph Audio Pearls and Green Mountain C-3's a fair bit and they're both great speakers with different attributes for people with different "ears".
I had a trade pass at the last HES San Francisco and went back and forth without having to wait on lines between Joseph Audio and Avantgarde Trios and came to the conclusion that if I had to live with one or the other at home, I'd pick the Pearls as less fatiguing - not what you would predict for a steeper slope crossover.
I also have spent a few hours audiotioning GMA C-3's and found them to be spectacularly dynamic, very detailed, and also a bit bright/forward in the mids (for my taste) - also not what you'd predict from a 1st order design.
So go figure...