Woofer-Assisted Wide Band

In the old days of dynamic speaker drivers everything was done with a single driver. Now multi-way speakers with multiple drivers covering different ranges are the most common. With this of course come some issues, and all sorts of ways to fix them.

But even today in the 21st century there are some interesting varietals of single-driver speakers attempting to claim a spot on the high-end though. Some use little paper "whizzer" cones and transmission lines. Some use mechanical crossovers (no caps). Others like Kef and Thiel attempt to solve some of the issues by using a coaxial arrangement.

One of the cool ideas I have seen lately is "woofer assisted wide-band." The idea is that the main speaker is a single driver that covers from around 400 Hz on up. This keeps the crossover well out of the midrange and treble. An additional woofer is used to cover the lower octaves.

What about you? Are you a firm believer that multi-way speakers are the wrong way to go?


erik_squires04-04-2018 12:04a


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The truth is

 the 2/3 way xover things , hijacked the REAL TRUE speaker designs,,~~single source/wide band/high sens~~~.
After I heard a wide band,,,I dumped the worlds best tweeter, The Millennium, for a wide band, and then  keeping the Seas W18E001;’s as padded bass, with  a MISERABLE 87 db sens.

Its amazing,a mystery, a joke, a scam, a fraud
That folks keep pursuing the 2/3 way designs /xovers. As IF, wide bands do not even exist..

But obviously its a psyche issue, humans are known as creatures of habit, and as the old saying goes, ~~Old dogs cant learn new tricks.

For me there is only 1 speaker for real true msic,,,that is  wide band, and thats it.
I would never even think, consider, ponder, neither tempted to go back to midrange via a 2/3 way xover low sens driver design.
Not even Troels best of, would even slightly tempt me.
I look at Troels beautiful speakers as ~~dinasaurs..
Even might I say,~~ridiculous.

I actually despise , cant stand, even HATE all Wilsons, Vandersteens, Thats entire A=Z bunch of 2/3 ways.
YUCKKKKK
You can have them.

I've  racked my brains past 2 years, spent $$$$$$$ upgrading the Thors. 
Then I placed a  wide band next to the  Thors,, hahahaha
Dome tweets are ___________
Fill in the bland
Next to a  true hifi wide  band, no dome tweet in the universe can stand up to a high quality wide band.
And as for Scanspaek, /seas midwoofers
Once again
A true hifi wide band blows every mid woofer away. woofers are only good for 30hz-300hz, thats it


I will be double stacking 2 sets of wide bands
Video comming. My speakers will blow away any Wilson. Even their $1million dollar model. 

Middle C is 256 Hz. 400 Hz is smack in the middle of the midrange.
What you describe is a two way speaker. The only viable full range speaker that just needs a subwoofer is an ESL.

Mozartfan, I am left speachless.

@erik_squires  i use assistant woofer and also assistant  supertweeter in all my models  bacheaudio to help wide band driver, Adding  subwoofer is not help to cover 150 -350  hz. All wide diver and  some  woofers also got poor ability to reproduce this freg,  I dont  understand  why so many audiophile like full range drivers , No punch, Thin sound

mijostyn4,935 posts08-20-2021 12:47pmMiddle C is 256 Hz. 400 Hz is smack in the middle of the midrange.
What you describe is a two way speaker. The only viable full range speaker that just needs a subwoofer is an ESL.

Mozartfan, I am left speachless.

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We could discuss this subject for,,well til the end of time.\
I am aware the commiment audiophiles possess (are possessed) by the woofer/midrange/tweeter,,or really if you look at Troels designs, most are midwoofers + tweeter. 

This concept will not work for my classical music. 
I need rich, complex, details, with a  sensitivity greater than 91db
IMHO woofers should be dedicated to voice the 30hz-say,,,200 hz range, well lets go 300hz. 
Thats it. 
I am not looking for a  ~~midrange~ + woofer combination.
The db sens is too low to do justice to the 300hz-say, 2khz range. 
at 87db-say 90db, Its not ~~quality mids. The driver is attempting to perform 2 tasks, same cycle, bass+ midrange.

Seas and Scann speaks have made some incredible attempts at bridging these 2 feats all into 1 driver.
But when you place a  high quality wide band up next to a midwoofer,,,you will understand, as i understand the issues involved.

Then we have the ~~Midrange~~ tweeter, = midtweet.
Again, nice try, but no cigar.
The tiny 3/4 inch dome tweet is making attempts to voice both mids and highs,,but in the end,,No Cigar.


What everyone should do, is what I did,. 
Start buying wide  bands, take out your tweet, and listen to how the new rick detailed mids come through.

I am not looking for a  wide band to carry anything other thahn say 100hz- 10khz. 
I can find woofers and tweets to  voice the lows/highs.
The W18's will stay to give a  padding to kettle drums,  bouble bass, low cello notes. I have them xossing at 1200ish..??
At 87db, and  near field listening, you really dont get much bang.


Anyway.
I could never go back to midwofers/tweeter things.
That is history.