single driver speakers

Dear Otter Water , I had the same question 2 years ago . So I asked around like you did .  After some research , I purchased a pair of used Zu Omens . The gentleman I purchased them from went on to buy Voxative and   
DeVore speakers ( both expensive ) . It’s apples to oranges for the comparison to big multi speaker systems . So on a budget ( $8k ), I have a tube pre, SEP 12 wpc amp , DAC , CD transport,  Sub , and quality cabling . It does lack in certain areas . But the clarity , imaging and depth is phenomenal ! But you have to be in the SWEET SPOT . It’s like being in a pair headphones . Vocals and strings are unreal . Simple rock is clean . But something like “ Supertramp , Crime of the Century “ will have my system stumbling all over itself . I find my system best suited for late night listening alone . However Pink Floyd and the Beatles sound exceptionally good, and the bass is really impressive . If I jump from an El 34 to a KT 120 and play Grand Funk or Canned Heat, I can leave the sub off. If you remove the “ My dog is bigger then Your Dog “ comments , the info provided in this thread is correct , based on my limited experience . My next system will be big again. But before that happens , I’m going to get back into vinyl . My Schiit Yiggy and my MF transport can only do so much . The other big caveat is that my system will not make up for lesser quality recordings. Best wishes to you and if you take the leap , many places have a trial period. Respectfully, Mike B. 
                         

Hello babyseaotter99,

i can speak a bit to this topic, with limitations, of course. I built a pair of single driver speakers to use with a tube amp kit (Bob Latino ST-120 kit, 70 wpc).  The drivers are Mark Audio Alpair 12p, cabinets are a slight variation of the Pencil design.  The rest of the chain is Rotel CD player with Arcam irDac, ProJect Carbon Debut w/Ortofon Blue cartridge, Schiit Mani phono pre, Schiit Saga preamp.  My experience has been this: single drivers are very nice for smaller scale music, but they fall short on bigger more complicate stuff, as to be expected.  These particular drivers have a very long break-in (Mark Audio suggests 300 hours, the first 100, I think at very low volume), I’ve had them over a year and it feels like they are still mellowing out.  Bass is very substantial for an 8” driver, and of nice quality too, considering the cabinet is vented (I’m learning that sealed cabinets are my thing!).  Midrange is very pleasingly detailed on good recordings, especially on those less complicated ones (think jazz trios, chamber quartets, etc.).  Where they fall very short is in treble quality, which can often sound etched and unnatural, sometimes even at low volumes.  The pros: you can build your own speakers for pretty cheap, $300 drivers, $80 MDF, $30 other parts, no crossover, so simple and straightforward.  The cons: they simply will not rock like a multi way, of course, so the program material they can handle is limited. Rickie Lee Jones and a piano will sound great, Metallica will not, especially as the volume goes up. For an investment of $400, you can have some fun and some speakers that can go head to head with ones I heard at Axpona this year that go for $4000. It’s much harder to get that kind of value in a multi way speaker.  

@seanheis1 Wow! Life must be tougher for audiophiles in America. So many choices and so much happening in the world of loudspeakers.

Along with Devore and Zu there seems to a trend towards minimalist drivers and crossovers - and high efficiency paper cones too.

This could well be another golden age of loudspeaker design. 

I have Loth-X Troubadours with 10 inch Stamm drivers in a folded horn construction. They are not made anymore. They are 104db so keep mobile phones away...they can be driven of a headphone amp! Using them with either 8 W pc 300b or 25 W pc 211 amps. Better than multiple drivers? Put it this way, I am also mastering and cutting records for a living, and I always bring the test pressings home to listen on the Loth-X set up. We have an awesome multi driver and 95db efficient setup using 211 tubes in the studio for mastering, which has superb resolution to 0.5 db, but it is the "nothing there" clarity of the Loth-X that is unbeatable. 

gotta have yourself a listen. I used to pick them apart, couple songs later, their magic simply takes over. a quality set amp and high efficiency speakers are very rewarding. I ditched the multi drivers (;