Wilson Sofia 2 vs marten dajango L

George what speakers do match the phase of McIntosh ?

Here are just some in the same’ish price range class that the OP mentioned, from Stereophile impedance v -phase angle graphs that transformer coupled amps like push/pull tubes and McIntosh should have an easy time with.
There are many many more, it’s all about doing your homework, understanding what amps are capable of doing by their measurements/topology, by reading about them and understanding graph of speaker measurements.

http://www.stereophile.com/images/416Van7fig1.jpg
http://www.stereophile.com/images/714R208fig1.jpg
http://www.stereophile.com/images/713YGS13fig01.jpg
http://www.stereophile.com/images/615KEF2fig01.jpg

Cheers George

Clearly, not everyone can hear the difference nor can they be expected to understand how ultra light rigid cones might behave differently from soft fabric or paper/pulp or "intrinsically damped materials". For those mentally challenged, imagine a wine glass versus a pillow - which one will ring most when you tap it - extreme example of course.

If what you are saying has any reality attached to it, then the MBL 101E must be the most metallic sounding speaker on earth.......also, any vintage Apogee cannot possibly sound musical.....

Drivers are made of hemp, paper, plastic, carbon fiber, woven products of all exotic variety, even wood products.....they are made of metal, metal ribbons, folded metal, mylar with magnets......tweeters of berillium and coated with crushed up diamonds (wow, that must sound like someone working in a mine LOL)

The material of the driver has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with what it projects into the listening room......

As beautifully simplistic as your wine glass versus pillows and cymbals analogies are, they are simply fantasy...........you need to go out and do some listening and when you are finished I hope you realize that speakers don't consist of apparatuses actually STRIKING the driver..like a gong.........LOL

Stewart,

Of course the material and construction of the driver influences the sound. Basically, hard material cones are less damped and tend to ring but can be more pistonic (broader frequency operating envelope) - allowing the use of small voice coils on larger woofers. Softer materials such as damped fabric cones often have the least coloration but suffer from a reduced operating envelope as the cone can break up and to have a good operating range they may need enhancements like more support from a much larger expensive voice coil.

There are are pros and cons to everything and then there is aesthetics and marketing (choice of material may influence buyers) - as you alluded, there are so many ways and combination of materials used to make the cones that the only logical conclusion is that it DOES matter.

BTW - the rubber damping dots on Accuton drivers - any idea what they might be for - could it be Accuton’s approach to reduce ringing?

BTW - I can hear the difference. You are blessed if you cannot as a variety of materials and a much larger number of speaker designs will work equally well for you.