Sonic Differences Between 2-Way and 3-Way Speakers

Well said Twl...the immutable laws of physics trumps all.

Seandtaylor99 is right about 2-way design constraint. 3-way or higher do offer drivers to operate in linear region where they are designed for. But like everyone knows, cross over is extremely complicated to design in 2-way already, 3-way is a million times more difficult. In electrical term, we called impedance because it's freq & phase combined.

You will also notice the best speaker on earth usually employee drivers from ONE manufacture. When manufacture design and build drivers, they apply their know-how from one to another and tend to behave similarly in electrical term. So designing a speaker with mulitiple drivers is easier when drivers are from one source.

Among all the speakers I have owned, my all time favorite were Sonus Faber Extrema & Dynaudio Confidence 5. A 2-way & a 3-way. Extrema got everything right, but C5 made everything better. So yes, a well designed 3-way can sound better than 2-way.

If adding a sub solve all the problems, I doubt manufactures can sell those $10k+ speakers as easily as they had. Till this day, I still haven't heard a sub that fully integrated to main speakers seamlessly. My last sub was a REL Stadium III and I ran it very conservatively (in volume) to make integration easier. Even then, I could still hear it from time to time.

For most...2-ways in a small room...such as hi end Brit monitors...are really the most cost effective way to get coherent sound and precise imaging (even with the lack of bass argument)...decent 3-ways really start with the Vandy 3 series...and as everyone knows...this is the 2k range...and if you factor in you dont need a sub...and have the room...then a 3-way design would be more appealing...

Socrates...although bass is important...specs can be misleading...I have heard speakers rated considerably lower than my Quad 12Ls(45hz) that sound lean,hollow,and thin...the new Meadolark Swifts (35hz) being one of them...on paper the Swift should have a fuller presentation...unfortunately they dont...it really comes down to design...

I hope nobody thought my post was about bashing two ways. In fact the intent was to defend three ways. Speakers with less bass out put are much easier to fit into more rooms. Many rooms dictate bass constraints. I think most people would prefer to have as much appropriate quality musical information (including bass output) as possible. There are pretty good examples of many different approaches out there. I think we all agree that a single crossoverless driver that could play back the full musical spectrum with all the speed, dynamics, volume, harmonic integrity, etc., etc.,not to mention affordable price would seem to be ideal. I don't think that vehicle has been created yet. Till then we each decide for ourselves on what our priorities and subsequent compromises best suit us individually.