So many drivers.....better sound or just more sound?


I am sitting in Seattle cut off from my job by the virus: the world all around me is going nutsy....so naturally my mind drifted to the question....."why so many drivers in some speakers?"  This has bugged me since i first heard the Pipedreams (twenty or so 4 inch drivers all the same in a row.... such a different design principle.  I would think you would want the best driver you could afford for a given application....cover the frequency range as accurately as you can afford and then worry about volume level, air moved etc.  For instance, i heard some McIntosh speakers at a friend's house a few months back.  they had 12 mids and 4 high drivers if i remember.  I guess maybe a bigger sound stage ?  That wan't obvious to me in my listening to them.   Am i missing something obvious?   Legacy speakers use like 11 drivers in a set of speakers.....how can they do that?  I would love to know the cost per driver of various speakers.    Not a deep subject but,  i am addled by rain, boredom and the fear that my 401 k is gone..........
Thanks
sm2727
Got to jump in on this one.  Having heard both the Tekton Double Impacts and the same with SE version and thought they both sounded pretty good, but maybe not quite what was being posted repeatedly on the Forum, I have had the pleasure of hearing the Bill Dion (grannyring on Audiogon) version of the Double Impacts where he added better drivers on the mid bass and bass and much better crossovers along with direct wiring of each driver with Duelund wire, all on a massive outboard crossover board for each speaker.  My good friend lives about 20 minutes from my house and we get together for music many times a year and enjoy the sessions greatly.  He's had Bill's DI creations for about 2 years now, but the changes in his system and finally getting the setup much better in his room, this last time caused me to have a major geek out for over 4 hours straight--almost embarrassing!  I have a very good system that has been getting better with each add lately.  BUT...I have never had that much fun listening to a stereo in the home or at a show as I did that day and probably will every time from now on.  The sound was so jumping' live, dynamic, with stupendous bass in all ways, yet the upper registers were also fantastic.  Bob is going to be a lucky fella, as am I.  I don't think my system is quite as dynamic nor is the bass quite as deeply textured and as punchy.  I'm happy for him, rather than jealous or wanting to improve my own.  It is possibly equally outstanding in slightly different ways--but the fun factor and feeling like I'm at a really well recorded show, Bill's addition to a good speaker made them as good of a Tekton as I have ever heard by a good margin.  So many drivers CAN make for a great sounding system--with nothing I could find to harp about. 

Just so I can feel the path some of you seem to feel is necessary, my speakers are on of the 2-3 greatest ever VMPS RM40 BCSE w/ MLS cabinets to have been built.  They were the reference speaker for years for Marty DeWulf at Bound For Sound until I bought the pair.  The rest of my system has been researched, tried and improved upon with a plan I started about 6 years ago.  Many of the tweaks you all seem to know are used and quite a few most of you will not have heard of, with many of the PPT products being used toward the end of assembling it.  I was a VMPS demonstrator for the several years prior to Brian Cheney's passing.  Tuned correctly there aren't many speakers systems that can match these for sound, let alone beat them except for sheer volume capability.  The pair of speakers I have and system can mop the floor with the other 2 Tekton DI's I heard.  Check my system page out and know the other parts are also up to it and work together beautifully.

I stand on my statement earlier about the fun of listening to those SPECIAL Tekton DI's.

Bob

2 and 1/2 way speakers?  What is the 1/2?

When they say 1/2 it usually means say you have a tweeter and then two identical 6" drivers that both go from low bass 40hz to say 500hz upper bass/lower-mids, then one of those bass drivers rolls off at that 500hz where the other one keep going to service mid range and upper midrange to 2.7khz then the tweeter comes in.

Cheers George  
Miller Carbon...I enjoy your logical comments. Always let your ears determine your preferences. I went from listening to electrostatic speakers for 20 years to Tekton Double Impacts. The switch in speakers was driven by what I heard and not Eric's patent. I am not an electrical engineer but I know the sound that brings me JOY!
Tekton seems to be everyone’s favorite punching bag on this subject. I started in that camp too. Bigtime, in fact. But unlike most attackers, I actually purchased a pair of Double Impacts for a trial to prove the point. But, with great distress, they made my much treasured B&W 804Ns sound very bad in comparison. I was shocked a pair of 3K speakers could be so much better. Eventually I upgraded to Ulfberhts. And when you watch the GR Research propaganda video, know that none of Eric’s speakers have multiple drivers in the frequency range that would cause a combing problem. The remainder of the units are midrange drivers. Just wanted to add these facts from someone that has actually been in the same room with Tekton products. I don’t claim to be an audio engineer or reviewer. Nor have I heard every speaker on earth. But these are the facts of my experience with Tekton.