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single driver speakers

Someone please help me out here...

I am struggling to understand how a single driver system can sound anywhere near as good as a multiple-driver system with crossovers...

I understand that crossovers and multiple drivers can have issues with interference, phase, etc - but those drawbacks would seem to be vastly outweighed by the increased frequency response and clarity within a frequency spectrum that a multi-driver system produces.

I see these

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis8ij2i-voxativ-ampeggio-due-70-off-priced-to-move-full-range

and just can not wrap my mind around how they could sound better than a multi-driver system costing 1/10 as much. (no knock intended on the seller of these speakers, I was just browsing listings and saw them so it made me wonder)

Thanks!
babyseaotter99
larryi
4,347 posts
 
Sunshdw,

I hope you are willing to share details about your single driver system, such as the kind of driver and the type of cabinet it is in. 

I have heard systems built around a pretty wide assortment of drivers--from modest Tang Band drivers (quite good) to Feastrix field coil drivers (a friend got them at a super bargain price of $18k for a pair) to 1940-50 drivers--and they all share an immediacy and liveliness that is quite addicting.  I have also seen such drivers used in a wide array of cabinets--transmission lines, back-loaded horns, open baffle, sealed box, bass-reflex--so I am curious how you did your system.  
sunshdw's avatar
sunshdw
280 posts
 
Larryi,
Its a Audio Nirvana/ Schiit combo w/ a subwoofer xover at 45hz. The boxes are a internally braced/insulated bass reflex type with a large port opening and is made from 1" Birch. Someday I'll add to the virtual systems portion but chances are I won't due to threads like this. 
larryi
4,347 posts
 

Sunshdw,


Thanks for the information.  I looked up the Audio Nirvana drivers.  I like what I saw.  I am a fan of drivers with pleated fabric surrounds; they tend to be more lively sounding than drivers with the half-roll soft surrounds that are common these days. 

nickolaspappas
40 posts
 
You can’t understand what “coherent” means until you’ve heard a good single driver speaker. They have their weaknesses (like everything), but they have a naturalness and coherence that nothing else can compete with.
mozartfan
2,143 posts
 

cd3181,708 posts05-13-2018 10:08amSingle drivers must be the future, we just need the engineering to catch up. Overnight multiways will become obsolete.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This has been my mantra here on audiogon past few months, Single/Point Source is the Future, but the future is NOW. 
PS is The 21st Century Speaker.
Its just that the audiophile community and I fully understand why,,,has yet to awaken and grasp the new technology, The why is this.
We were all raised on going to our local audio shops, with rooms full of *speakers* We called them *loud* speakers.
Little did we know the old old technology, = Field Coil, has been scraped, for the *new* xover box things.
No wonder we would test endlessly, A/B/C , etc, using the rotary switch in the listening room, walking away abit disappointed.
The one line that did offer some high fidelity was Jensen, with horns and Field Coils. 
But of course that did not hold, away they went.
fast forward, Folks continue to this very day, June23,2021, to purchase box/xover designs with absoluetly no thought whatsoever about Point Source/Field Coils.
My guess is even IF FC's sold for $1,000, folks would continue to pass and purchase $$$$$$$$ brand X,Y,Z box/xover dinasaurs. 
Such is our world today.
No the world is  not flat. 1000 years ago  they would have thrown you in prison for lunacy.
Nice Day
The Hifi Guy
New Orleans
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