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Can a Quality Full Range Speaker be the Limiting Component in a system?

Can a quality full range speaker be the limiting component in a system?

Can it be surpassed by the quality / performance of the upstream chain? Therefore, becoming the bottleneck for overall system performance?

No? Why?

Yes? How so?

Examples for both scenarios, if you have them.

For the sake of argument, assume that the speaker's performance has been fully optimized. In other words, the room, cabling, isolation, setup/positioning etc are not factors. In other words, assume it's the best it can be.

Thank You!

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Note: this is not about any specific speaker I own or have demo'd/heard. 
david_ten
inna
7,296 posts
 
Well, $50k speakers in half a million dollar system is not something that I would do unless there are no other speakers that I would like more. Bought new, I mean. When buying used all the proportions may go to hell, you could get $300k speakers for $50k.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,864 posts
 
I find that most 'full range' speakers aren't. If you really want the bass right, you'll need a sub, if you really want extension in the highs, a tweeter.

Most full range units don't make it much below 50-60 Hz. That's a bit of a bottleneck.

Because they have low frequencies on the cone that they can't reproduce, they can have higher distortion as well. A lot depends on the source material- with the right stuff they can be wonderful.
inna
7,296 posts
 
Gryphon Kodo go down to 6 Hz, or so they say.
erik_squires
16,245 posts
 
I am having trouble not reducing this down to a very simple question:

"Are quality loudspeakers ever non-linear"

to which the answer is of course yes. But if you want some simple terms, how about dynamic compression? That is, +3dB input results in less than 3dB increase in output. Very common situation which many speakers suffer from.

Best,

E
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