Can you get "bookshelf sound" from a floorstander?

Bobby,

Yes, Merlin BAM and OHm SBA do appear to be very similar in concept.

Cheers!

m, is the sba passive or used in the line level signal path like the sbam?
there is no doubt that these types of devices work and work very well indeed. i am totally surprized that more are not using them. the positive aspects totally out weigh any negative ones that you could think of. however, they are not easy to make sound like they are not there.
best ,b

Ron,

Your capacity for error is impressive.

I never said 1st order crossovers were worse than any other design, merely that they presented their own advantages AND disadvantages. I assure you that Thiel, Vandersteen, and Dunlavy would be the first to agree with this statement. They prefer working around the trade-offs presented by first order crossovers.

OTOH, designers from several other respected companies go a different way. Current favorites from Magico and YG are good examples as are the most recent top models from Revel, among many, many others. Maybe they missed the news. But I'm sure you can point out their errors to them - maybe in a peer review journal.

Now, let's talk about someone with real credentials - Sigfried Linkwietz, who literally wrote the book on modern crossover design. If you have any willingness to explore the issue (which I doubt), I'd suggest you look at the work posted by Linkwietz at his website where he explains the advantages and disadvantages of various crossover designs. Oddly, he uses different crossover slopes for different projects, as he deems optimal. He rarely first order designs, though, finding that the DISADVANTAGES usually outweigh the advantages. Of course, I'm sure you'll explain to him why he is wrong. In one of those peer review journals you seem to enjoy so much.

Are you really arrogant enough to believe that every attempt at SOTA loudspeaker design must perforce employ first order crossovers? Because less than a handful of respected designers chose that route? While so many others have gone a different way?

I guess you are. And just plain smug, to boot. And wrong. Again.

Marty

"m, is the sba passive or used in the line level signal path like the sbam?"

It is mounted within the speaker box and connects inline between the crossover and woofer, so I suppose it would not be considered line level.

m, is the sba plugged into the wall (ac) or is it passive?
thanks, b