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So many drivers.....better sound or just more sound?

I am sitting in Seattle cut off from my job by the virus: the world all around me is going nutsy....so naturally my mind drifted to the question....."why so many drivers in some speakers?"  This has bugged me since i first heard the Pipedreams (twenty or so 4 inch drivers all the same in a row.... such a different design principle.  I would think you would want the best driver you could afford for a given application....cover the frequency range as accurately as you can afford and then worry about volume level, air moved etc.  For instance, i heard some McIntosh speakers at a friend's house a few months back.  they had 12 mids and 4 high drivers if i remember.  I guess maybe a bigger sound stage ?  That wan't obvious to me in my listening to them.   Am i missing something obvious?   Legacy speakers use like 11 drivers in a set of speakers.....how can they do that?  I would love to know the cost per driver of various speakers.    Not a deep subject but,  i am addled by rain, boredom and the fear that my 401 k is gone..........
Thanks
sm2727
larry5729's avatar
larry5729
1,008 posts
 
I would think too many drivers would affect bass response.  The real question to me is I purchased a pair of Paradigm towers which are 2 1/2 way.  Two weeks after I purchase them a friend sent me an article explaining way 3 way cross overs are better.  This was after he went with me over a year period to listen to over 60 pairs of speakers.  I felt dooped and he is no longer my friend.
erik_squires
16,021 posts
 
2 1/2 way speakers have real advantages. Like any other speaker, cons too, but I've sometimes thought that these speakers were the ideal small home speaker.

Small foot print, high sensitivity, plenty of bass.

Are you going to find some super speaker which is better? Of course. Are you going to find a more expensive speaker? Sure.

But for the foot print, and live-ability factor, 2 1/2 way speakers have a lot going for them.
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,895 posts
 
Charlie...

Ego and a poor memory ? Shall we dredge up that post of yours where you recommenced Tekton while admitting you had never heard them ?

I was very very careful to not call out Tekton because they are just another in a long list of companies using a bunch of inexpensive drivers in an excitable box. Lots of bang for the buck, if bang is the objective.

OF course I have heard them, 3 models in three different systems, 4 different rooms. they certainly have ear candy that some people like, where is that hat of yours ?????.

and since you are trying to deliver a partial lecture on comparative advantage to a retired Economist. When the car or in this case comes back with an orange peel paint job, I would ask why ?

when you graduate from ear candy you discover why your ear brain likes certain things like distortion, loud, hyper dominant leading edge, etc...some of us ask why...others are hooked on the loudness button at any volume level.
speedbump6
760 posts
 
Tomic, it’s seems you have your opinion of the Tektons, that some of do not share. I don’t see or understand why anyone puts down products that they don’t care for themselves. I and many others seem to feel there’s a lot more to the Tektons than an excitable box of cheap drivers. If a box full of excitable cheap drivers just happens to sound better than a “properly” designed speaker with expensive drivers to my ears, so be it. 
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
So many drivers.....better sound or just more sound?
Or just BS.
Ask your self this, how can that many, even "expensive" let alone "cheap" mechanical pistonic drivers "operate in perfect unison" with each other, at up to 20,000 in/out movements in a second!!.
Ask this of them without them being perfectly matched to each other, electrically and mechanically and then have to be used in the same controlled environment they were matched in??.

Cheers George
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