Why not horns?

Frogman & Tubegroover, thanks for your comments. Yes, I recall the saga of the Fourier Systems speakers quite well.

In fact I auditioned the substantially redesigned second version of the Fourier I at Lyric's White Plains store in 1983, as I was shopping for speakers at the time. In Aczel's own words (Issue 10, published in 1987 following the long hiatus), the redesign addressed "some driver-related problems that had eluded our attention in the laboratory, [which] made its interface with certain rooms unpredictable." Shortly after the release of the initial version a generally negative review in "The Sensible Sound" (not exactly the most hyper-critical of audio review publications) had cited a "silvery spacey effect" created by its subsequently replaced tweeter. The mid-range driver was also replaced in the redesign.

The version I heard sounded generally ok during my fairly brief audition, but left me unexcited.

Aczel's lengthy recounting in Issue 10 of the Fourier saga and his involvement in the company is persuasively written, as might be expected, and if taken at face value would dispel any cynicism about it all. But who knows?

One thing is certain. Both the timing and the degree of his ideological metamorphosis were striking, and, as you indicated, fascinating and mysterious.

Best regards,
-- Al

"Mapman, I remember there was an Ohm model that got good reviews back in the early 80's in Stereophile and maybe TAS too."

I've seen Stereophile reviews of the first and second generation Walsh 5s. Stereophile review of gen 1 directly influenced gen 2 as I recall.

That's about it though. If TAS ever addressed any Walsh designs, I am not aware.

OHM is a more "blue collar" type brand that has never specifically targeted the "High End" buying community, TTBOMK but rather just let teh pecking order of things fall out naturally over time as determined by the consumers, not those in teh media who might assume ownership of what is or is not "high end".

In real instruments and voices are very direct to point out and very small in proportion. At shows you often hear that voices become bigger and less sharp focussed. I would never choose for this. It is less realistic.

Thank YOU Al for your informative and interesting contributions to this forum.

"Julian Hirsch, Leonard Feldman, Rok2id :), Pete Azcel and about 99.99999999999% of all HUMANITY, both past and present, KNOW, that all amps sound the same. Meaning, if they are well made and engineered correctly, they have no 'sound'."

Hey Roks, no offense but don't you ever get tired of trying to convince a collective group that gather together to discuss their experiences with different audio products that they are just wrongheaded and that your light of absolute correct conciousness is going to somehow sway them to your belief system? Why do you do this and often relent to the pressures you are subject to endure? I really dig your appreciation of music but for the life of me wonder why a guy in the 99.99999999999% percent of humanity feels SO compelled to mandate the rest of us in see the errors of our experiences on a forum dedicated to this concept. BTW, when was the LAST time you compared different amplifiers in the past 5 years,(not to mention cables, I won't even bother to go there, we know, right?) Competent design indeed and indeed what do you mean by that aside from the electrical compatibility of a specific speaker to a specific amplifier aside from the room? I'll give you this, you ARE a persistent pest but I still love you man! I would however suggest you stay within that which you know unless you are willing to offer more than what you believe, your specific experiences maybe? Or is it all for your personal amusement? Inquiring minds really want to know :)

PS Why did I "go there". Well Roks, you and I have gone head to head before several years back yet you still adhere to the same balderdash yet have to date given not one example of your personal experiences. At least I havent't read it, maybe I'm mistaken. In any case, its all good, enjoy!