Sophia 2 vs. Vandersteen Quatro

From John Atkinson:

"In the time domain, the Sophia's step response (fig.7) reveals that its tweeter and woofer are connected in positive acoustic polarity, the midrange in inverted polarity—which is what is needed, in conjunction with the phase shift provided by the crossover, to ensure that the outputs of the drive-units add to give a flat response in the farfield in the crossover regions."

So my question is, if you have to invert the polarity of the midrange driver to balance against the steep crossover, what impact has that done to the complex harmonic content that provides timbre accuracy? A flat frequency response won't help if this fundamental aspect of speaker design isn't intact.

Steve,

You sound like you are on a Vandersteen crusade. They are wonderful speakers as is the Sophia. I can't imagine anyone hearing them not being impressed even if they prefer
something else. I could live, happily, with either.

Have not heard the Vandersteen. Although I'm sure it's quite good. The wilson is fantastic. Expensive, yes, but good sound will cost you a little.

Steve, just because you don't understand the idea behind a 7" driver doesn't mean it doesn't get the job done.

FYI, wilson is not the only one that inverts the polarity of the midrange driver. Have you ever heard a pair of wilsons?

Add the Green Mountain Audio Calypso to your short list.

I listened extensively to the Sophias, the Watt Puppy and the Maxx (the last I could no way afford) when I was on my quest to replace Dynaudio Contour 3.0s. I liked the Sophias at first because the bass and high treble were emphasized. After awhile I noticed the mid range was not to my taste.

Having said all this, one of the most impressive demos ever was a Watt Puppy powered with Classe amps and Levinson front end at the audio show in Montreal a few years ago. They were playing soem big band Count Basie music. But the room had been treated to the gills and there was no way this type of set up could be found in my home. I'm not bashing Wilson, I just question the design philosophy; why not use the reasearch resources and focus on accuracy is what I don't understand? Because it's not important? See?