Which SPEAKER for the 21ST century?

Paul its true all speakers have their limitations: sound size weight and last but most certainly not least the price. What irks me to the max is the claims that advertising makes about a speaker that to me falls way short of those high praises. As well the amount of hype that surrounds certain speakers that to me is not justified...Where are Mr.Plato and Mr.Gassman when you need them most...

Cones have a lot more potential than they seem because they are almost always put into a highly compromised cabinet with suboptimal crossovers (both parts quality and filter type). Most of the complaints about box speakers can be traced to these two areas, and this is where big gains can still be made. I agree also that active systems have a lot of potential, but if done properly will cost every bit as much as a separate amp and speakers, with less flexibility, so in the end I'm not convinced they will take over the world. The biggest problems with stats and planars are efficiency and room interactions, and these are both more or less inherent to the design itself and cannot be fully solved.

Personally i've never in my life have heard a midrange cone that produced high fidelity sound. Its always a mid/tweet that worked to the best of its potential. Think about it. The size of a electrostat panel takes MUCH more energy to drive than a two way (tweet/mid + woofer) Efficient cone speaker. But the one t/m cone driver has a very small surface area thus BIG soundstage will never be realized to the degree we all like it. Which leaves us the ribbon to consider. Ribbons are more efficient than electrostats = better performance from our amps( sorry big high quality watt ss amps are not considered i'm thinking of high quality tube amps with say 50 to 100 watts). Midrange ribbons have a much sweeter sound than any cone mid and can almost match the electrostats superior mids. Ribbon tweeters are comparable to high quality cone tweeters. Ribbon tweeters are a tad superior to electrostat panels for the broader imaging. On to woofers/bass. The electrostat produces the superior mid/bass over both ribbons and mid/woofer cones. For the lower bass frequencies woofers do what electrostats cannot. So a good sub can be added to electros but more$$. Ribbons possess the best qualities of both. Albert says that Sound Lab has a superstat in the works maybe 10 years. Some of ya'll say the cone will soon correct its deficiencies. I'm saying the ribbon is here and now and will be choice of speakers for the new decade. I say decade because with computers around who can really say what will be the choice speaker after 10 years. At present its the ribbon hybred design. I may be mistaken on some points and so open to correction.

Hi tweekerman. Have you heard a Lowther driver or it's equivalent? From your statement "never heard a midrange cone that produced high fidelity sound" I would have to venture a guess that you have not, or that you've heard them in highly colored boxes. Of all the things you can say bad about these drivers, midrange is not a weak point. That is the very reason most people buy them. The midrange is world class.

Have you heard the pipedreams? They use cone drivers and sound exquisite? Very expensive, but they sound great.

My dream speaker, for the 21st century, would be extremely efficient (+100db), full range (goes down to 20hz), have a generous sweet spot, and be relatively compact (48x10x20). And, of course be musical, dynamic, and have an accurate tonal balance. One more thing it would cost less the $5k retail.

Now back to reality.

Currently, ribbons are too inefficient to be used full range, and would preclude SET amplification, but may have no peer when it comes to speed and producing a natural sound (Apogees were great but needed a lot of power). Single drivers (Lowther, TAD, Mits) do not have the extension (on the top and bottom), weight, and they beam. Also, they are too big if you want to get any bass out of them. Dynamic cones are cheaper and easier to manufacture and can move a lot of air, but give up the immediacy of ribbons, especially from the midrange up.

I actually do not care what drivers this new 21st century speaker uses so long as it all works well together. Extrapolating on the current technology this "speaker" would have to be some sort of hybrid with dynamic cones, possibly active and hopefully have a ribbon midrange and/or tweeter. I think some older designs with new technology might be viable. How about redesigning the Infinity RS-2bs (with their open baffle "ribbon" tweeter and midrange and sealed subwoofer) to become more efficient with an active subwoofer?