Any of you Audiogon guys that are coming through the Dallas/ Ft. Worth Airport, that can work your schedule to have an extra evening, I would be willing to come pick you up to listen here. If you want to meet the entire group, Tuesday evening is the magic day. As far as bass, the sound of the big Soundlab is certainly not the same kind of bass as a piston woofer. However, there are times, like the cut, "Oh Yeah" from the rock group Yello, where I would swear I have at least two 15" woofers per side. Other albums, like "Some Like it Hot" where Barney Kessell is accompanied by a big acoustic stand up bass, your brain tells you that it can only be the real instrument. The only thing that is really hard to adapt to, coming from dynamic drivers, is getting accustomed to the absence of woofer lag. This is the sound of the excursion of the bass driver not returning to neutral position instantly. Of course, the weight and diameter of the driver plays as great a role in this as the magnet size, back wave pressure in the box and the damping factor of the amplifier. Considering the Soundlab only has to move a few thousands of an inch, and can speed along at the same intensity as 1.5 MM of compressed air, the speed, coherency and phase accuracy is undeniably only Soundlab. The total area of the face of the U-1 is over 15 square feet. I don't know how many 15" woofers that would equal, but it certainly would be more than four. The total excursion of this huge area is very low compared to modern woofers, but what it lacks in excursion, it makes up for in size. No doubt the sound is different, but once you get the associated equipment right for this speaker, the thought of returning to another design does not cross your mind.
